Last night I had the joy of hearing the eldest statesman in jazz, alto saxophonist Benny Waters, play a set at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. The Jazz Showcase is probably one of the top clubs in the country(probably simply because I am not a travelling man, yet).
When you enter the foyer you are greeted by the owner, Joe Segal. Mr. Segal is probably one of the saviors of jazz in Chicago, through his work with the Jazz Institute and his ownership of the Jazz Showcase and Joe's Be-Bop Cafe and Jazz Emporium in the newly renovated Navy Pier. Joe is generally in good humor, joking about the no smoking policy of the club and the noise level at his other club. Directly behind Joe's seat in the foyer is a giant black and white photo of a smiling Bird, alto in hand, welcoming you. Once you pay your cover, you are escorted inside, and given your preference of seating depending on what's available. There is an elevated seating area to your right, as well as one slightly to the back on your left. Directly to your left is the main seating area, going up to the stage in front of you. The chairs are packed in and oriented around tables for drinks, even though there is no drink minimum. The left side of the stage contains some additional seating since the quartet does not take up the entire stage. Jazz photography covers the walls, with the support pillars showcasing old posters announcing concert line-ups from the 60's. Directly behind the stage is a giant black and white poster of Duke Ellington. To the left of that is a picture of Wes Montgomery playing at an outdoor venue. Turn to your right and see Trane playing the soprano, eyes closed, intent on the music. Smaller photographs adorn the other walls and bracket the pictures, but these are the attention grabbers.
Benny Waters is helped up onto the stage, his vision obviously deteriorated, although I don't know that he is completely blind. He sits there a while discussing whether or not he is up to playing with the gentleman who helped him up there. They agree that he will play a couple of tunes, but maybe let the trio take over if he feels poorly. Then Joe Segal comes up to introduce the band. He talks about the club, and the upcoming shows (the Sunday 4pm Matinee, part of his "Save the Childen" program to show them that what the radio is trying to make them believe is music really doesn't compare.) and then he introduces the band. The rhythm section appeared(from all comments) to be Chicago based, and were led by pianist John Young. Also in the trio were bassist Eddie de Haas and drummer George Hughes.
The trio opens the show with a nice cover of Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove." I was instantly surprised to notice that the piano was not miked, making it hard to hear over the drummer's insistant snare attack. However, once Young began his solo you could hear his playing better, as he explored the upper registers of the piano, and playing some marvelous call and response between his left and right hands. He was followed by de Haas, who took a loping solo keeping in the lower register of the bass, but occaisionally jumping up to make an accent.
Next came another trio performance, this time of "Milestones." The ensemble playing was the highlight here, as the trio collectively played with the melody. There was a nice drum solo by Hughes near the end of the tune where he set up some interesting polyrhythms between his hi-hat, snare, and tom-tom, quickly followed by a call and response between his right hand on the tom and his left hand on the snare.
Now Waters removed the cover from his mouthpiece and grabbed the mike stand. This was his first stint in Chicago since 1938 when he was here with Jimmy Lunceford's band. His face lit up as he talked the to crowd, and you could see him filling up with energy. He announced that they were going to start with a Gershwin tune "Strike Up the Band....in B flat." The rhythm section started off the tune, with Benny joining in. The first thing that struck me was his embouchure. He holds the alto off to his right side, with his left cheek remaining flat while his right cheek fills with air. However, I didn't dwell there long, as his playing was captivating. Waters has a light, airy sound on alto, without a lot of vibrato. He also solos heavily around the melody, making it fun to follow as he played with little phrases of the melody and twisted them around. Near the song's end Benny exchanged 2 choruses of 4's with the drummer. It was interesting that Benny didn't do the usual thing with letting everyone trade with the drummer, keeping that duty for himself the entire night.
Next he announced that they had a request for "Night and Day as a bossa nova, so here we go, Night and Day as a bossa nova, in E Flat." Keeping the bossa rhythm going kept Hughes from playing too loudly on snare, opening up the sounds of Young's piano. You could hear the lyrics as Benny played the head, and then he played lightly in his solos which bookcased a light hearted solo by Young. At the conclusion of the song Benny joked that the song was one of Sinatra's "thousands" of theme songs, and that Ol' Blue Eyes would have asked him "What da hell did you do to my song?" if he would have heard that bossa take of it.
Then we got to hear "Lady Be Good" in E Flat(the pianist groaned and Benny gleamed, talking about how it was written in F but that they'd play it in E Flat, can someone explain this to me? I am pretty sure this meant that they'd have to transpose how they normally play it, but I'm not completely sure how.) Benny used Lady Be Good as a vocal showcase playing with the lyrics talking about being lonely in here in Chicago so be good to me. He also took a couple of choruses to scat, bringing applause from the crowd and a joyful look from Young at the piano. Probably the biggest smile Benny showed came after he finished scatting. Then Young got a nice solo where he set up a repeating figure with his right hand and played part of his solo in the left hand before switching back. De Haas soloed throughout the range of his bass, and Benny came in a little early on alto, backing off after about eight bars to let de Haas finish. I was struck here by Hughes's backing for de Haas, tapping a closed hi-hat and the stand for the hi-hat. Very subtle, but very efficient, opening the hi-hat simply for accent. Then Benny bacme back on alto and traded fours with Hughes, who finished with a full chorus solo before Benny took the tune out.
Next came what Benny called a "Don Byas-type blues" because it was a real slow, ballad like blues. As Benny went through his original "Blues Amour"(sp?) he showed that old big band showmanship playing a blues lick and popping the horn out of his mouth to visually accent the music. Then, after saying he'd play some "gutbucket" blues in the next set, went and got everyone smiling by digging deep into the blues for his second solo.
With only 5 minute remaining Benny announced that "It's time we all get a piece." Then everyone started laughing and he grinned and said "We don't have much time left, so the pianist gets a piece, the bassist gets a piece, the drummer, well, he's gonna get a little bigger piece. But I'm definitely gonna get my piece." Then he paused as everyone continued laughing and said "Now at 96 everyone says that I'm too old to be getting pieces. I was getting pieces before these guys," as he motioned to the trio, "were even born. And I'm still I was marveled at Benny's energy, especially since before the show he was worried about not being able to play at all. The problems occuring for solo starts and interruptions can probably just be chalked up to working with an unfamiliar rhythm section. Overall a wonderful show in a wonderful venue.
Can't wait to see him there at 100.