Jazz fans feast on a season fat with music
By Bob Blumenthal, Globe Correspondent, 09/13/98
Sometimes it's feast, sometimes it's famine on the local jazz scene. This fall most of the feasting will be done in October, with a couple of September buffets and a notable decline in major events after Halloween.
The ebb and flow of concert and club scheduling is often no more than chance, though this season we witness the downside of having our two major clubs in hotels. The DoubleTree's policy of booking Scullers for private functions makes that room unavailable for jazz on Saturdays more often than not, while the limited number of guest rooms open at the Charles has inhibited the Regattabar's ability to bring national acts to town. The Boston Creative Music Alliance and other independent producers also find themselves working around space availabilities. The result is an extremely concentrated fall schedule.
Tonight provides Exhibit A. The season's most ambitious concert, the Zildjian Cymbals tribute to drummers Louie Bellson, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, and Max Roach, is at Berklee Performance Center. Those unable to obtain tickets might consider the more avant-garde offerings in Cambridge's Central Square, where Don Byron is at the Middle East, and Green Street Grill has a double bill with Daniel Carter/Saturnalia and Joe Maneri. Guitar fans should have a less conflicted time of it this weekend, since the John Scofield/Charlie Hunter concert at the Roxy on Friday overlaps only with the first night of Ronnie Earl's stand at the Regattabar.
Things get crowded again next week, especially for alternative music fans, with David S. Ware's quartet at Emmanuel Church (Sept. 23), Michael Ray's Cosmic Krewe at the Middle East (Sept. 24), trombonist Roswell Rudd and bassist Fred Hopkins playing duets while Nancy Ostrovsky paints at Green Street (Sept. 25-26), Debris hosting guests at Zeitgeist (Sept. 25), and the Lounge Lizards holding forth at the Paradise (Sept. 27), with lengthier stays by piano greats McCoy Tyner at the Regattabar (Sept. 24-26) and Danilo Perez at Scullers (Sept. 25-26) and a concert by Armen Donelian at Tufts's Alumnae Hall (Sept. 25).
Another bottleneck in mid-October is eased a bit by multinight bookings, as Roy Haynes visits Scullers (Oct. 15-16), the second annual Autumn Uprising of the local avant-garde stretches over the weekend at Elliott Hall in Jamaica Plain (Oct. 16-18), and Joshua Redman brings his latest quartet to Berklee (Oct. 17). An extended booking of the Illinois Jacquet Big Band at Scullers (Oct. 21-24) also will give listeners the opportunity to attend the two-part John Coltrane Memorial Concert, where Ostrovsky will again be painting to the live music on Northeastern's Blackman Auditorium stage (Oct. 22-23) and two major CD release events at the Regattabar with Luciana Souza (Oct. 23) and John Patitucci (Oct. 24).
The season's final major scheduling jam involves Eliane Elias at Scullers (Oct. 29-30), bassist Dave Holland's new quintet at the Regattabar (Oct. 29-31) and, for the smooth-minded, Spyro Gyra at Scullers (Oct. 31-Nov. 1).
Things tend to be less congested during the rest of the fall. Among the Regattabar's remaining attractions, highlights include Garrison Fewell with Jim McNeely (Sept. 16), Greg Hopkins's Big Band (Oct. 6), Yellowjackets (Oct. 10), John Tchicai/Charlie Kohlhase (Dec. 1) and CD release events for David White (Sept. 15), Patrice Williamson (Sept. 23) and Cercie Miller (Nov. 11). Water Music/Mainstage, which books the Regattabar, also has important concerts by Chick Corea's new band Origin at Berklee (Oct. 4) and Diana Krall at Sanders Theatre (Nov. 22).
Additional Scullers best bets include Kenny Garrett (Sept. 15), David Sanchez (Oct. 1-2), Weslia Whitfield (Oct. 6), Jim Hall (Oct. 7-8), Marian McPartland (Nov. 5-6), Al DiMeola Nov. 17-18, the New Orleans-based Astral Project (Nov. 24) and Larry Carlton (Nov. 27-8).
In other clubs, the quintets of Ken Vandermark and Kohlhase are at the People's Club in Central Square (Oct. 2), Green Street has Borgmann/Morris/Nicholson (Oct. 11) and the Daniel Carter/Sabir Mateen band Test (Nov. 1). Important local CD-release events will be held at Ryles for Bruce Gertz/Ken Cervenka (Sept. 18) and Bruno Raberg (Sept. 22), and at Chops for Mitch Seidman (Nov. 15).
On the concert front, Jordan Hall will be the site of a solo piano recital by Fred Hersch (Oct. 13) and the Monk Institute/NEC Ensemble (Dec. 8); the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra splits its season between Brookline's Church of Our Saviour (Oct. 4) and Cambridge's Harvard-Epworth Church (Nov. 14 and Dec. 13); and the Boston Creative Music Alliance plans Emmanuel Church events with Ned Rothenberg (Oct. 14), Marty Ehrlich (Nov. 21), and Mark Helias (Dec. 11), as well as a Sun Ra Festival at the Brattle Theatre (Dec. 4-5).
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