The Blue Rhythm Quartet:
Stellar Jazz Talents Reunite for January 23rd Performance at the Grace A
Dow Memorial Library
By Robert E.
Martin
While it may not
carry the institutionalized flair or the roster of performers as The
Newport Jazz Festival, on Saturday, January 23rd
at 7:00 PM, The Grace A. Dow Library Auditorium
will nonetheless be host to a rare evening of Live Jazz, featuring a
respective pair of eagerly anticipated and long awaited performances
that in terms of experienced talent, could arguably compare with the
cosmopolitan buzz of catching Miles Davis throwing down with the boys at
Carnegie Hall.
The evening kicks
off with the debut performance of The Blue Rhythm Quartet – a
regional Jazz ‘supergroup’, if you will, consisting of a line-up that
includes Mike Brush on piano, Nick Calandro on bass,
Jim Fulkerson on drums, and Jeff Hall on saxophone – each
numerously honored over the decades and respected as some of the finest
jazz artists within the state.
Following their
performance, the equally honored Review Artist of the Year
Bryan Rombalski & Three Worlds will close out the evening, with
Rombalski focusing upon fresh original material from his upcoming new
CD.
Tickets for this
unique performance are only $10.00 adult; $5.00 for
students; with a $21.00 family rate.
A few days prior
to Christmas, I sat down with members from The Blue Rhythm Quartet
as they prepped for their first rehearsal, even though the
relationship of these four musicians dates back decades, as both Brush &
Hall performed together under the direction of the late Dr. Charles
Brown in the SVSU Jazz Ensemble; while Fulkerson and Brush
once were a staple feature in clubs back in the ‘80s as members of
The Mike Brush Quartet and later Brush, Fulkerson, Lopez.
Collectively, the
group admits its been a “good 10 years at least” since they’ve performed
together, so the excitement is high – not only between the artists in
terms of what new scales they can achieve given the legacy behind them;
but because it’s been many a moon since a jazz event of this caliber has
converged within the area.
While Hall (who
teaches jazz at SVSU) and Brush & Fulkerson have been tight over
the years, Calandro notes that he met both Jim & Jeff through legendary
Flint musician Joe Freyre, who sadly passed away several years
ago.
“Back in 1990 Joe
put together this thing called Old Man & the Sea,” reflects Nick.
“Joe was like the Art Blakely of Flint, giving young musicians
their start; and Jeff played with a group called Method at the
time. I was about 18 or 19 years old and it was a conceptual kind of
thing, with Joe being the old man and the three of us on the front
line.”
“As for Mike, I
met him through Jeff,” continues Nick. Because I live in Flint, Jeff is
my ‘Saginaw Connection’, but I go back and have performed with guys like
the late Felton Sparks, Jerry Holmes, and Level Five.
Unfortunately we don’t get the chance to play together as much as we
would like, so we’re all very excited about this.”
According to Jim,
the idea for this show came together when he was talking to Rombalski,
who has a new album coming out, and the two thought it would be a great
vehicle to team up and feature all top notch jazz instrumental groups,
which sadly don’t have the opportunity to perform that regularly at
local clubs anymore.
“We wanted to
keep it going and I also thought it would be good representation for my
teaching and studio as well,” notes Fulkerson.
When asked what
they intend to feature musically, Hall laughs and says, “We’re going to
try and be hip and come out swinging strong and really hit it hard!”
“We’ll be
performing in variety of styles,” reflects Brush, “and feature some
originals. One original song we’ll be performing is entitled For
Charlie, which Jeff wrote and is dedicated to the late Charlie
Brown. But frankly, we don’t really know for certain what the set list
will consist of yet. We have about 10 songs picked out and will probably
perform eight or nine.”
When asked their
thoughts about the ‘state of jazz’ in the Mid-Michigan area, and in
general, as to how the idiom has changed over the years, all four
musicians are optimistic and hopeful.
“The kids that I
teach at the University are playing pretty good and seem to be
listening,” states Jeff. “I think there’s an interest and young
musicians are listening.”
“As kids get more
involved in music and understand it more, it’s kind of a natural
progression to move towards Jazz because more harmonic opportunities
exist there,” reflects Brush. “Musically, it’s a natural place for
talented artists to go.”
While Fulkerson
has been teaching over the years at his studio and also assembling a
jazz percussion group called The Resonators, he notes that
currently he has six kid groups and two adult groups with non-stop
rehearsal and performance all the time. “I currently have 40 private
students that I teach as well,” he notes, “so I miss playing
professionally with this type of setting. Playing with these guys was a
big part of my life.”
“There is a high
level of musicianship with each of these guys,” concludes Mike, “so it’s
a pretty cool experience for me.”
“It’s exciting
for me to play with Jim and Mike again,” states Jeff, “because I don’t
perform with them often enough; plus it’s fun to play with new guys
outside the university. As with a lot of talent in a bad economy, too
often the really good players tend to move out of town, because it’s
hard to make it cost effective and feasible. So yeah, this is very
exciting to me.”
“As a working
musician, there is a constant attempt to pursue my art and still be able
to buy food to put on the table,” summarizes Nick. “You have to play
what’s contemporary and it’s a great challenge to dig back and isolate
into those great old recordings and discover something that maybe
existed 50 years ago that you’re just discovering for the first time.
That can be a very enticing experience.”
“Sometimes I’ll
lay some Mingus on the kids that I teach lessons to and watch their
faces light up,” laughs Nick. “I’ll tell them this isn’t what you listen
to on the radio or your I-pod, because you don’t hear it that often on
the radio anymore. Basically, I convince them that the pursuit of jazz
as an art form is not a futile endeavor. As long as I keep my fingers
wiggling, I feel that I’ll always develop as a musician. I’m always
preparing myself, but once we all start making noise, it feels really
good, which is part of the gratification in doing it.”
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