The ten-day 2023 Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest held in Reading, PA, held during its usual time slot, spread over the last weekend of March and first weekend of April, wrapped up its 32nd year in fine style. While last year’s attendance was somewhat muted due to lingering fears of COVID, the audiences returned to their usual healthy levels. Other than such long-running festivals as Newport and Monterey, Berks is enjoying one of the nation’s longest runs. The lineup for Berks differs from those festivals in that it tends to favor smoother and straight-ahead jazz artists rather than say, the contemporary, the genre-crossing, and traditional artists of Newport. That steers this writer in a selective direction so we will focus on just a handful of shows.
On Saturday, March 25th, The Manhattan Transfer delivered a strong two-hour performance as part of their “Fiftieth Anniversary and Final Tour” at The Scottish Rite Cathedral in West Reading, PA. Following a video that honored founding members Tim Hauser (bass) and Laurel Masse (soprano), Janis Siegel (alto), and Alan Paul (tenor); current members Siegel, Paul, Cheryl Bentyne (who replaced Masse in 1979) and Trist Curless (who replaced Hauser in 2014) performed a career retrospective. They were backed by their regular four-piece band as well as on many numbers by the all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra under the direction of drummer/ bandleader Sherrie Maricle. The group stayed animated throughout, changing outfits at intermission, and their act involves a bit of choreography as well, quite impressive considering their longevity. They performed recent songs from their 2022 Grammy-nominated FIFTY as well as favorites from their catalog – “The Junction/Tuxedo Junction,” “Java Jive” “Corner Pocket” (Count Basie), “Route 66,” “Operator,” “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” “Birdland,” and “The Boy from New York City” among them.
Returning to Reading’s DoubleTree Hotel that same evening in a crazy segue, NEA Jazz Master bassist Stanley Clarke and his band, N 4 Ever held court and blasted through an explosive 90-minute electric and acoustic set. Clarke has an international band with each member under twenty-five, as he carries on the jazz tradition of mentorship to the next generation. They are drummer Jeremiah Collier, pianist/keyboardist Jahari Stampley, guitarist Colin Cook, and saxophonist Emilio Modeste. Clarke began by asking the audience what they wanted to hear first and proceeded to deliver a loud, fifteen-minute version of “School Days” with his thundering electric bass filling the Grand Ballroom. While he made room for each of his members to solo, his electric bass dominated although his exchanges with drummer Collier were especially fiery. He stayed with the eclectic bass for 1974 hit, “Vulcan Princess,” which did feature a reaching, explorative solo from Modeste on soprano. After than Clarke switched to the standup bass that he played with effects for the remainder of the set which included “Brazilian Love Affair” with an impressive turn from Cook on acoustics and Return to Forever’s “No Mystery” with Stampley’s effervescent playing of both acoustic and electric keys. Yet, most of the show was devoted to Clarke’s mind-bending solos as his band members merely watched. As impressive as those were, this writer at least would have preferred more group interplay.
On Wednesday, March 29, John Pizzarelli and Catherine Russell performed at Kutztown University’s Shaeffer Auditorium in a program entitled “Nat King Cole & The Ladies of Song.” Guitarist/vocalist Pizzarelli began with his longstanding trio featuring the emerging piano great Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karn, a drummer-less trio purposely modeled on the original Nat King Cole Trio. Their Nat King Cole set included a breakneck tempo Pizzarelli original, “Nat King Cool” where the guitarist and pianist played in unison at such a remarkable pace. Pizzarelli is a host with a profound sense of humor and terrific vocal phrasing among such fare as “My Ideal,” “Nature Boy,” “Sweet Lorraine,” “I Love You for Sentimental Reasons,” and “Paper Moon,” among others. Russell joined midway and shined on “I Only Have Eyes for You,” a killer guitar-vocal duet on “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “How Deep Is the Ocean,” “I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone,” “Damn That Dream,” scatting on “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” and a rousing “Ain’t Got Time to Shake Your Hand.” Some were performed as duets but as this writer has mentioned many times, there is no better singer of vintage jazz material than Catherine Russell and she certainly excelled in this setting.
On Friday, March 31 at The Miller Center for the Arts hosted Frank Vignola’s “Birdland Guitar Night” featuring a three-guitar lineup of Vignola, Pasquale Grasso, and Vinny Raniolo backed by Vignola’s customary trio mates, bassist Gary Massapropi and drummer Vince Cherico with special guests – saxophonist Houston Person and trumpeter Randy Brecker. The duo of guitarist Brian Betz and baritone saxophonist/flutist Denis DiBlasio opened with a 30-minute set that featured such tunes as Miles Davis’ “All Blues,” Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone” “Broadway,” and “One Note Samba.” One doesn’t usually hear the baritone as a lead voice nor paired with just a guitar but DiBlasio played with a rich tone and the combination worked surprisingly well. DiBlasio also played flute on two numbers and his intonation and Jethro Tull-like staccato riffs thrilled the audience, especially on “One Note Samba.”
Vignola’s assembled quintet with the three-guitar front line dazzled. Grasso is an adept student of bebop and played his custom-made Trenier guitar that has extra frets, which he originally established to play the runs of pianists Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk as well as Charlie Parker. It’s not accident that the set began and ended with Bird’s tunes, Grasso in a star role of course. Vignola played a pure hollow body electric while Raniolo played brilliantly on an arch top. True to the club’s name, they serenaded, each trading solos on mostly bebop material before bringing out the 88-year-old crowd favorite Houston Person who played with such a deep feeling for the blues across “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me,” a chilling “Misty” and “I Only Have Eyes for You.” Person brought the adoring audience to its feet. Randy Brecker then joined on resonating flugelhorn for two numbers, with all seven concluding the enjoyable set with Parker’s “Au Privave.” It was enough to make one want to attend Guitar Night at Birdland in NYC each Wednesday.
Threatening storms prevented my attendance on Saturday, April 1 but these shows collectively exceeded expectations. Kudos to General Manager John Ernesto and his staff of over 300 volunteers that make the festival possible each year. They are especially proud of their role in jazz education, launching the inaugural getJazzed@berks Scholastic Festival that featured nearly 1000 students and dozens of high school bands this year. The future of jazz is in great hands.
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The photo credit is wrong. The photo of Stanley Clarke at Berks Jazz Fest, is my photograph. Andrew Lepley does all the videos, I do the still photographs. Please correct the photo credit to, Kevin Brett.
Thank you.