While there are still no clubs in order to hear the great sounds of jazz artists, creative performers like pianist Tamir Hendelman provides us the best alternative with a series of solo “streaming” concerts in the privacy of his home.
The fun aspect of a gig like this is that you get to see via ZOOM the various attendees of the private performance, as the 88 “Participants” included the likes of Terry Gibbs. The other positive aspect is that a) the gig actually starts on time b) you don’t have to worry about parking and c) everyone in attendance is on mute so there is no background chatter to battle with the music.
This evening’s focus was on the music of Johnny Mandel and Ennio Moriccone, two well known composers for film. The concert was introduced by wife Sherry Luchette (as the couple was celebrating their anniversary), with Tamir opened things up with a classical intro to a flowing and thoughtfully romantic read of “Close Enough For Love” followed by a slow, patient and undulating “One Cold Day In The Park” and ebullient “The Shadow Of Your Smile”.
Hendelman then told some stories of his working with Roberta Gambarini before he delved into the Morricone Songbook with some full block chords swinging on “Cinema Paradiso” and a thoughtful “Elena”. Returning to Mandel themes, Hendelman swung like Basie with some hip blues on “Low Life,” mixed melody and mirth on “A Time For Love” and created a dramatic and dynamic read of “Theme From M.A.S.H” before flowing like a stream on “Emily”.
Hendelman then interpreted material from the relative obscure film Legend of 1900 with a mix of Jelly Roll Morton stride and modern harmonics. From there, Sherry Luchette entered stage right (just off the kitchen) and with bass in tow contributed to a pair of duets, a glowing, crystalline and conversant “Solitary Moon” (with a richly bowed bass) and a fun, tasty and bouncing “Hershey Bar”.
For an “encore”, Hendelman did a pre-recorded duo with Tierney Sutton (previewing the upcoming show) that had the two deliver “You Are There” and “Where Do You Start”. For an extra bonus, jazz icon Terry Gibbs ZOOMed in to share some thoughts of his 76 year friendship with Mandel. While the music wasn’t “in person”, it was definitely personal, and that’s half the battle.
Upcoming shows via stream by Tamir Hendelman include 08/05 with Tierney Sutton and 08/08 “Tribute to Ahmad Jamal and Dave Brubeck”