One of the chief people forget about jazz is that it is a verb, as in the phrase “to jazz things up.” The current state of this genre is that it is being ignored by a large segment of the population because it is speaking a language that very few understand, which is 180 degrees from its initial intent at conception. One of the solutions to this problem is to look for “songbooks” that jazz artists can use in order to c reach out and attract a fresh set of ears. But, where to start?
How about with an artist like Rosanne Cash, son of Johnny and wife of guitarist John Leventhal. The husband and wife came to Santa Monica, and the Broad Stage was packed with a crowd that looked like the Silver Anniversary Reunion at McCabes or the Palimino, people who love a good story and melody. Cash and Leventhal didn’t disappoint; her voice is in clarion call strength, and the multi-Grammy winning artist did what is that number one rule of a jazz soloist; tell a story.
With Leventhal’s strong mix of strumming and picking, Cash delivered tales about floods in Arkansas on ”The Sunken Lands,” back porch memories of relatives on the bluesy “Etta’s Tune” and Appalachian ballads during the rural “When the Master Calls The Roll.”Cash was able to growl out a fun boogie as Leventhal bent the strings like a chiropractor on “I’m Movin’ On” and did a nice eight to the bar boogie during the picking and grinning of “Tennessee Flat Top Box.”
But it was the fact that these songs touch the marrow of Americana, in both mood and message, that rang with the audience. In contrast to today’s shallow messages of lust and nihilism, Cash displayed “it ain’t what ‘cha say, it’s the way that ‘cha say it. “Sea Of Heartbreak” hits you in deep spots that you might not want to resolve, but will be better off for doing, and Cash’s read the classic “Ode to Billie Joe” was a stark commentary on superficiality and hypocrisy.
Closing with her “Seven Year Ache” and encoring with “500 Miles From Home,” Cash and Leventhal created a mood with song in the same way that Count Basie or Bill Evans could, first delivering a style, then perfecting it and finally embodying it. When asked after the show why she still sings Americana, she responded “That’s who I am.”
Material such as produced by Cash and Leventhal begs to be interpreted by modern sounds; the melody and message are already there, they just need to be swung.
Upcoming shows at the Broad Stage include Lucian Souza Mar 18 and Pedro Martinez Apr 23.