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Jazz MN—Slide Hampton and Big Band “Festival” Closes Season |
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Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
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Sunday, 18 April 2004 |
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Page 2 of 2
Mary Louise Knutson is always a pleasure to hear on piano, although in the Big Band segments it was sometimes hard to pick her out of the mix, which was unfortunate given her talent. The multi-trombone rendition of her ballad, “How Will I Know?,” played in medley with Roberta Flack’s “You’ll Never Know,” was the only miss of the evening, at least to my ears; I may have played her stunning CD too often to accept such tonal change for this beautiful melody. Yet the Flack worked well as did everything else in the All-Stars sets.
The Big Band sets were glorious, energetic showcases of both swinging ensemble playing and captivating solo efforts. The student musicians were particularly impressive on McConnell’s “Tribute to Art Farmer,” giving Minnesota jazzaholics plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future of local music and the status of jazz education. Particularly enjoyable was the soloing of and interplay between Kathy and David Jensen (bari sax and trumpet) on the DiBlasio “Cajun Cooking.” Cooking indeed! The Big Band’s closing set with Hampton featured his high-energy arrangements of Monk and Joe Henderson as well as his own “The Blues Ain’t Necessarily Bad,” and rousing encore of “Cherokee.” Throughout the evening, Tom Lewis (bass) and Joe Pulice (drums) were simpatico foils for all that brass. Lewis provided several masterful solos as well as strong rhythmic leadership across all sets, while Pulice’s explosive highlights kept the band in overdrive.
Director/trumpter Doug Snapp again led the www.jazzmn.org or call (612) 242-4791.
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