Now in its 29th year, that’s right, The Berks Jazz Fest has been taking over downtown Reading, PA for the first two weekends in April for 29 years. Festival general manager John Ernesto is immensely respected within the jazz community and never fails to produce a dynamic series of events. With multiple venues, and a wide mixture of styles ranging from smooth to straight-ahead jazz, jazz fusion, R&B, and blues, one must carefully select the shows to attend, as each are individually ticketed. Many are sell-outs. We will cover the shows that this writer attended during the two weekends in two separate installments. This first one will cover: 1) Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Tribute, 2) I Got Life: The Music of Nina Simone, 3) Art Sherrod & the ASJ Orchestra’s Motown, Soul Revue, and 4) The Allman-Betts Band. That’s music across 70 years.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Tribute (4/5)– Given that Miles Davis made the seminal recordings for what ultimately became the iconic Birth of the Cool album in 1949-50, this music is 70 years old but has held up remarkably well. This session was a collaboration of mostly Reading and Philadelphia musicians, saving alto saxophonist Albert Rivera from New York City. Miles, of course, had the famous nonet (9 players) which was replicated here by eleven musicians as two trumpeters and two alto saxophonists shared solo spots. As leader Mike Eben said, ‘‘to save their chops.” Eben was one of the alto saxophonists and tuba player Ken Kemmerer is credited with the concept of making this music come alive again. And, did it ever? With extended solos, and a couple of bonus tracks, the group played the album in its entirety using the original arrangements, stretching the program to over 90 minutes in performance time. As listeners know, the music contains elements of bebop but was smoothed out with more relaxed tempos and more textures. Consider the instrumentation – piano, upright bass, drums, tuba, trumpet, trombone, baritone sax, French horn and alto sax.
The show was held in the packed smaller ballroom of the downtown Doubletree hotel, and the audience was respectful and highly appreciative of the many great soloists. Eben commented at one point during the show, “it all sounds so smooth, but wow! it’s much harder to play than it sounds!” Many of the tunes owed to composers Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan. Eben had done his research and relayed some pertinent information. The original songs were recorded on 78rpms and ran for only three minutes due to technology limitations, No LPs existed at the time. The album itself was not issued until 1957 and it only ran for 35 minutes. Eben also knew that Davis’ group let the music breathe a bit when onstage and took the same approach. “Some of them we’re going to do pretty much as recorded, and some others we’re going to open up and let the guys solo a little bit,” he said. “We have some great soloists in this band, we have to let them go. Indeed, each got a turn and played brilliantly.
I Got Life: The Music of Nina Simone – featuring Carol Riddick and Gerald Veasley (4/6)
This was a show for the ages – simply breathtaking. As bassist Gerald Veasley, MVP of the Berks Jazz Fest (you’ll see his name in other shows too) and one super cool cat, introduced the program, he said that this would be music “in the spirit of Nina Simone- songs of quest, love, outrage, and hope.” Veasley fronted a trio that included drummer Marcus Myers and keyboardist Aaron Graves, a group that has performed this show in Philly clubs. They began with an instrumental take on “I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free” with Veasley soloing on his signature six-string bass. Philly vocalist Carol Riddick has both an extraordinary voice and presence. She is highly regarded in the music community for her vocal dexterity, mesmerizing performances and genuinely warm personality, all of which came through glowingly. Fortunately, she did not try to act like Nina (no walking offstage, or silently staring at the audience for five minutes). Vocally, she didn’t try to sound like Nina either. These tunes were done with a contemporary flair and buoyant attitude.
Riddick’s first tune was “I Ain’t Got No/I Got Life,” immediately gaining audience applause. That was followed by just she and Myers for “Sinnerman.” Then the “Passion” portion of the program ensued with a playful “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” “Be My Husband” and “I Put a Spell on You” that was mind-blowing and goose bump inducing. Naturally, we also got the songs of outrage – “Mississippi Goddam” and “Strange Fruit” with Ridddick wrenching every bit of emotion from each. Two songs of hope followed with the bright “Her Comes the Sun” and “I’m Feeling Good” which had the audience singing along with Riddick and Veasley broadly smiling and clearly “feeling good.” If you get a chance to see this show in Philly or elsewhere, Go!
Art Sherrod &The ASJ Orchestra’s Motown, Soul Revue, and Aretha Franklin Tribute (4/6)
This show happened almost simultaneously with the Nina Simone tribute where this writer spent more time. However, I did witness the Maryland-based 14-piece orchestra, all dressed in white, backing a wide array of soloists. Band leader Art Sherrod is an alto saxophonist who soloed, even at one point strolling the aisles while playing. In addition to a few of Aretha’s tunes, there were nods to other familiar Motown hits from Marvin Gaye, Smoky Robinson, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations and many more.
Sherrod favors authentic instruments, saying, “When you heard a horn in the Motown era, it was really a horn. If you heard an organ it was a real B3 organ. So it’s fun, and with the festivals it’s cool because a lot of the musicians there, you bring them on as guests, So they get a chance to play music they not have played in a long time and have a huge band behind them, and we just have a blast.” The audience was having a blast too, singing to some of the choruses and dancing on the sides of the grand ballroom. Special guests include Jeff Kashiwa (sax), Elan Trotman (sax), Paul Brown (guitar), Kevin Whalum (vocal), Tracy Hamlin (vocal), Jeff Bradshaw (trombone), David P. Stevens (guitar) and Benjie Porecki (trumpet).
The orchestra had five horns, three background vocalists, two keyboard players, a drummer, a percussionist, bassist, and lead guitarist. Many of these spotlight stints were outstanding, especially Whalum’s, who gave ample opportunity for each band member to solo (no horns present during his song). These band members were clearly veterans as Sherrod pointed out, “My guitarist used to play for Teddy Pendergrass, my trumpet player played for Bootsy (Collins), Chuck Brown and a whole bunch of people, my keyboard player used to play for Aretha: and the list goes on and on.”
Allman-Betts Band (4/7)
This highly anticipated event filled the Grand Ballroom on Sunday night as the Allman-Betts Band has just begun touring as a seven-piece unit. The ABB (note the same initials) features the offspring of three original band members – Devon Allman (guitar/ vocals), Duane Betts (guitar, vocals) and Berry Oakley Jr. (bass). Enhanced by two large video screens that flanked the stage, it’s remarkable how both Allman and Betts resemble their dads in looks, and to some extent, vocally too. The ABB has a new album due in June and played selections from it, some from Allman’s previous bands, and, of course, Allman Brothers tunes too. These guys know all too well that no band will ever capture the deep bluesy feel and instrumental chops of the originals, so they did it their way, faithfully but a bit differently too.
First of all the best two musicians in the band are slide guitarist John Stachela, who did Duane’s parts and the more complex guitar solos; and renowned keyboardist John Ginty. Like the originals, the band has two drummers – R. Scott Bryan and John Lum. They covered “Blue Sky,” “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” Seven Turns” and the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil,” the latter in semi-acoustic mode. Allman often played acoustic guitar, leaving most of the electric parts to Betts and Stachela. The three strongest performances were Allman’s “Left My Heart in Memphis, a tune he recorded with Royal Southern Brotherhood. Allman’s vocals were deeply soulful and Stachela’s piercing slide took it home. The encore was the title track from the forthcoming album “Down By the River,” with Allman again performing well. The overall highlight though had to be their 15 minute version of “in Memory of Elizabeth Reed” with guitar solos from Betts and monstrous solos from Stachela and Ginty on B3.
The audience was a bit rowdier, as one would expect than the typical Berks Jazz Fest audience because so many folks long to hear Allman Brothers tunes. I heard one fan say, “this is as close as you’re going to get to the Allman Brothers.” To be fair, this new ABB captures the spirit of the Allman Brothers but doesn’t reach the same bluesy emotional depths. After all, who can sing like Gregg or play like Duane Allman? Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how they bridge this dilemma going forward – playing their own material while giving the crowd the favorites they want to hear. They’re off to a good start.
