Jazz at its most improvisational was on display on a myriad of levels this weekend at Catalina’s Jazz Club. Wallace Roney brought his bopping trumpet into town for a show that was supposed to include local stalwarts Eric Reed/p, Rashaan Carter/dr and Miles Davis alumni Lenny White/dr and Bennie Maupin/ts-bcl. Due to last minute difficulties, Maupin was unavailable, so Reed called up his own sideman, local alto saxist Danny Janklow, for a hard swinging baptism by fire. The guy sitting next to me asked aloud, “Who’s this white kid who looks like he’s in Junior High?” Well, as Roney said while introducing the twenty something, “He joined us on Friday, and we liked him. He played with us last night and we liked him even more, so here he is tonight.” Hang on for a white knuckler!
The opening piece “Metropolis” was a gauntlet of a test for any artist, new or veteran. White’s rapid fire drum work served as a volcanic foundation as Roney and Janklow created an AK-47 rapid fire front line. Roney was in perfect tone, clear and sharp like a red-hot poker while Janklow seemed completely in control as he seared through the race track of a piece. Carter’s loping bass teamed with White to form a rumbling pulse on “Elegy” as Reed delived some typically erudite and swinging treatises between Roney’s muted musings and Janklow’s strong yet lonely aria. Roney’s sharp shot pellets on the funky and soulful “Wolfbane” and Janklow reflected hints of Cannonball Adderley as the trio locked in step like a front line on a screen pass, clearing the field of any intruders. Reed took the club to church as he mixed shades of gospel on his contemplative solo during “Mademoiselle Mabry” as Roney and Janklow swayed like a pair delivering a testimony on the shadowy and reflective recitative. And, if there was any doubt that Janklow had learned his stripes over this weekend, they were allayed when he was in perfect sync with the rhythm section of the fiendishly tricky stop and start sequences on “L’s Bag” which would have had a lesser artist trip over the hurdles and fall on his face. Instead, he rode over the crescent of waves like a long boarder.
The ability artists to be able to create such cohesive music while still able to improvise with both technical skill and lyricism at such short notice shows what that the true sense of “jazzing up” applies to life as well as music. And keep an eye out for Janklow! WHEW!
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Poncho Sanchez 09/11-12. Kyle Eastwood 09/15, Denise Donatelli 09/24 and Roy Hargrove 09/30-10/-03
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