Legendary drummer Steve Gadd has had his band of Mike Landau/g, Jimmy Johnson/b, Kevin Hays/keys and Walt Fowler together for almost a decade (when they aren’t touring with James Taylor), and they have been p laying like a well tuned and oiled machine. This time around, bringing in material from their latest album, Gadd added son Duke as percussionist for an extra dose of octane, and the 6 man engine had enough horsepower to drive the 90 minute set of music into jazz overdrive.
Known as the Master of the Groove, Gadd didn’t disappoint, setting down a deep soul rivulet under Hays’ soft keys and Fowler’s muted trumpet on the noir funky “Where Is Earth” as Landau supplied a rich spacey solo that had the notes twisting in the breeze. A supple swing from Gadd’s sizzling high hat mixed with Johnson’s jogger’s pulse of a beat while Landau and Fowler volleyed back and forth like jai alai master on “A Long Way Home”. Gadd’s ride cymbal bounced around Johnson’s resonant foundation on the lyrical “Timpanogos” before Hays got the audience into a gospel mood, singing and playing to the deep and churchy “Walk With Me” with Gadd providing the Baptist beat.
Gadd then showed how to shift gears like a Formula One driver, as he proceeded to lay down a tricky Latin beat with Johnson on “One Point Five” creating ricocheting accents before switching to relentless brushes on the suave “Way Back Home” that slowly upped the Butanes, causing Hays’ striding piano, Johnson’s snappy fingers and Landau’s riffing strings to percolate into a rousing avalanche of rhythm.
On the softer side, Laundau’s strings bent in resignation and Fowler’s lonely trumpet sighed to Gadd’s deft subtle strokes on “Aukland By Numbers” while the leader’s sticks on the cymbals trickled like morning raindrops on the graceful “Foameopathy”. But just when you thought Gadd and company were finished with a tune, new directions were taken as Johnson redirected traffic and teamed up with his boss for a three legged race to the finish line as Landau finished the wondrous journey with a searing laser work on his 6 string wand.
The team closed with a drum clinic as Gadd went from a jaunty two stepping hoedown to a festive street dance without batting an eye during “The Window” as Landau supplied some rockabilly riffs and Gadd added about degrees to the room with a torrid drum solo. The encore, with Hays singing a hip shaking shuffle take of Bob Dylan’s “Watching The River Flow” showed that no matter what the style of jazz, jazz rock, jazz funk, soul jazz or jazz jazz, it only makes sense, as Art Blakey once said, if the music is made for dancing. Gadd and company showed that there are “50 Ways” to get the toes tapping Thursday night.
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Suren Arustamyan 02/08, Steve Tyrell 02/14-16, Marcus Miller 02/20-23 and Stacey Kent 03/01