After a four month drought finally got to hear some good live jazz Sunday night.

Drove the 60 miles or so to Grand Rapids in the afternoon to catch a traveling exhibit organized by the Holocaust Museum in Washington about the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. I hadn't known of the strenuous efforts that were mounted to try to convince the AAU to have the U.S. team boycott those Olympics. Came pretty close. And the exhibit did not stint on the irony of the fact that while the boycott would have been based on Germany's various forms of ("mere") discrimination against Jews--the Nuremburg laws, this was before the death camps or even before most concentration camps--the black athletes on our team were subject to the same kinds of discrimination here that Jews in Germany were subject to under the Nuremburg laws. (And in terms of nostalgic homeboy interest, the great star of those Olympics was, of course, Jesse Owens and numero dos was Ralph Metcalfe. Decades later, among his other activities, Jesse DJ'ed a jazz show on AM radio in Chicago and Metcalfe was a city councilman).Certainly recommend that exhibit if it comes to a place near you.

Tana Reid performed at the magnificent Royce Auditorium that I've written about before, the place where the concerts mounted by the West Michigan Jazz Society take place.

In case any of you don't know, the group is named for its co-leaders, drummer Akira Tana and bassist Rufus Reid. And much more than on theirrecordings that I'm familiar with, in concert _they_ are highlighted. The rest of the quintet consists of altoist Craig Bailey, tenorist Mark Walker, and pianist John Stetch. (Tana said that Stetch is originally from Edmonton so I assume he was on Maurice's list of a couple of weeks ago).

This group does not simply engage in blowing sessions. As I said, things are arranged to highlight the leaders. For instance, the group opened with Dizzy's "Con Alma." Bailey and Walker stood in profile on either side of Rufus and played a kind of counter fanfare as he played the head. Those jazzlers who have heard Rufus in person know what a great sound he gets out of his instrument. The two saxes then did some rather outside noodling before there was a series of solos.

The second piece was a happy tune that I wasn't familiar with. After a Tana lead in, Walker's extensive solo at times vaguely evoked "Giant Steps" or at least the kind of playing that permeates the album of the same name. It turned out that the piece was by DC pianist Reuben Brown, (last week synchronicity) titled "Billy" for Billy Hart.

Next came an Ellington medley. It started with Rufus alone on stage doing the head of "Sophisticated Lady." Then as he went into his solo, Tana gently played brushes on cymbals behind him. Next the two saxophonists in profile on each side of the stage played in unison some bars from "In a Sentimental Mood" and then there were some solos on "Prelude to a Kiss."

The saxes laid out for "Embraceable You." Stetch played an unacc extensive intro in which a trace of the original melody was only heard at the very end when Tana came in, again with brushes on cymbals. The group played just one chorus together and then Tana soloed. It occurred to me that this was remarkable: when do you hear a drummer solo on a ballad like that?

The first set ended with a piece by Turner, "Mr. Brown", which reminded me of "All Blues" but had a more complicated structure.

During the intermission there was more jazz-l synchronicity. I was rapping with Lazaro Vega, the voice of jazz radio on WBLV, the radio station of the (I believe) well-known Blue Lake Music Camp in extreme western Michigan.(It would be overstating things to call Lazaro a protege of mine, but when he was a student here he did refer to me in the _State News_ as the hippest economics professor he'd ever met. That was in his review of a concert by a campus group. I was feeding him the names of some of the bebop classics they were playing). Lazaro told me that he had promoted a concert in Grand Rapids the week before. Had brought Vandermark, Fred Anderson, and Kent Kessler, up from Chicago. Hamid Drake bowed out and the group had some other drummer. I told him about our thread of last week when I said that, as a Chicago guy, I wish I could take more home-town pride in those players.

Tana set the mood for the first piece after the intermission by sounding a large gong mounted behind his drum kit, then playing the snares with his hands. A kind of dirge was played by Bailey on unacc. flute, followed by Turner on unacc. soprano, followed by Reid's unaccompanied bowing, followed by Stetch monkeying with the piano strings as he kept hitting the same key. Then the rhythm section played in a sort of Bill Evans-ish way followed with intermittent flute or soprano. The title of this piece was not given.

The next piece was a showcase for the leaders as the other three players left the stage. Rufus played an intro and then I recognized the theme of "Freedom Jazz Dance" as Rufus continued a display of virtuosity with Tana supporting. Then there was an abrupt switch as they reversed roles. A second switch had both of them, in effect, out front. For my money, "Freedom Jazz Dance" doesn't have too much melodic or harmonic interest so it's an ideal vehicle for this sort of bass-drums virtuosity. Afterwards, Rufus mentioned that it was on the group's first CD, "Yours and Mine".

Tana's "Dream Catcher," which will be on the group's forthcoming CD was a pretty ballad.

Next a piece by Reid, "Elegy" which struck me as sort of a minor key "No More Blues" (don't know the original Portugese title of that tune). Bailey reminded somewhat of Richie Cole and Bobby Watson on this piece. During Turner's solo Rufus put down his bass, came to the front of the stage and got the audience clapping, 1--2--3-4, 1--2--3-4.

For an encore the band did the title tune from that "Yours and Mine" CD. It's a Thad Jones piece but I wasn't familiar with it.

I was kind of surprised that my friends, Bob and Phyllis MacKercher, who are the moving forces behind the West Michigan Jazz Society told me they were disappointed with the concert. Bob said, "it didn't swing, man." All I could do was say, "well, I really enjoyed it so thanks for bringing them."