Having already tackled the legacies of Duke Ellington and Count Basie at medium-sized band concerts at Orchestra Hall last June and August, trombonist/curator Delfeayo Marsalis returns tonight with a tribute to Louis Armstrong, and wisely decides to deploy two musicians—Nicholas Payton and Kermit Ruffins—as stand-ins for Satchmo.
As with his paeans to Ellington and Basie, Marsalis is using seven or eight pieces and a vocalist or two to capture both the jangle and intimacy of Armstrong. His stewardship of this project seems especially appropriate, given that the Marsalis clan has become the first family of jazz in New Orleans (in the eyes of the nation if not the city), the crossroads of African, Creole, and Cuban cultures that was so vital to Armstrong’s distinctively American, iconic music and persona. Significantly, among tonight’s eight performers, only pianist Bill Charlap and local singer Charmin Michelle were not born and/or raised in the Crescent City.
Successfully recruiting Payton was an artistic and commercial coup for the event. The 34-year old trumpeter shares Satchmo’s stolid physical stature, bold brassy tone, and even some of Armstrong’s startling originality in his improvisations. What Payton’s lacks, however, is Armstrong’s gravelly vocals and penchant for mugging melodramatically for the audience. Presumably this is where Ruffins comes in–although that probably damns him with faint praise. Ruffins is a fine trumpeter in his own right–just not in Payton’s, never mind Armstrong’s, league. His CDs on the Basin Street label have demonstrated his ability to have fun with the music, however.
The rhythm section–bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herlin Riley– is comprised of Marsalis family stalwarts, having played with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis for long stints extending back into the 1980s. They know their Armstrong backwards and forwards. Ditto saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines, who played Armstrong’s legendary Hot Five tunes alongside Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center recently. Charlap is a refined and accomplished pianist, who likewise seems at his best reinterpreting classic material (a disc entitled Stardust and an entire album devoted to Leonard Bernstein are the highlights of his catalogue). I haven’t been a fan of Michelle’s work in the past, but it has been a long time since I’ve heard her.
The promo materials promise such crowdpleasers as "West End Blues," "What A Wonderful World" and "Mack The Knife." Personally, give me that three-horn front line on vintage stuff like "Muskrat Ramble" and "Twelfth Street Rag," with Payton wailing away in brassy splendor.
Ironically, Payton’s latest recording, Into The Blue (due out April 22 on the Nonesuch label), almost couldn’t be less like Armstrong. It features a quintet, with Payton as the only horn, and eight of the ten tunes Payton originals. Some are the songs are atmospheric and breathy, as if Payton was aping Chet Baker; some of them find Payton shadow-boxing riffs against a funky matte thrown up by his sidemen, in a manner reminiscent of some of Miles Davis’s recordings after he returned from retirement in the 80s.
The best-known of the sidemen is keyboardist Kevin Hays, whose impeccable credentials include a long stint with Sonny Rollins and a tremendous recent turn with organist Larry Goldings on drummer Bill Stewart’s Incandescence, released this month. But Hays plays a lot of electric piano and Fender Rhodes on this outing, which further fuzzes up Payton’s soft-focus leanings. I much prefer the still reflective pieces where Hays is on acoustic, including "Drucilla" and "The Crimson Touch." And there are occasions when electric Hays does a nice job of stoking and engaging Payton, as on "Triptych" and "Fleur De Lis."
Payton is as technically unassailable as ever, with crystal clear intonation, geometrically sound improvisations, and rhythmic precision both solo and in tandem with the rest of his ensemble. I don’t begrudge him trying new things either, although his vocal on "Blue" demonstrates why Kermit Ruffins will likely be singing most of the Armstrong parts tonight, and the in-the-pocket groove of "Nida" could have used just a tad less cowbell (seriously).
Bassist Vincent Archer, drummer Marcus Gilmore and percussionist Daniel Sadownick round out the quintet. Into The Blue is neither a terrible disc nor one that will crack my "selected discography" of Payton’s best work. ** (Two stars out of five.)
Leave a Reply