John Beasley wasn’t far off the mark when he half-jokingly stated at the start of the Vitello’s gig that “I’ve been on a city-wide tour this year.” For the past 6 weeks, the keyboardist has rolled back into his tin can of a jazz home town and has lead bands ranging from funk trios to vocal duets with Dwight Trible to modern Brazilian combos. But as he demonstrated at a couple of shows at The Blue Whale, as well as this night at Vitello’s, what project promises to have the most traction is his 17 piece nimble-on-its-toes behemoth MONKestra which turned the cozy club into an “al forno” oven with some of the hottest music of the year.
Simply put, Beasley took a handful of the famed bop pianist Theolonious Monk’s prismatic works and not only further put them through a color kaleidoscope of sounds, but then pulled, stretched and remolded the original song like taking Silly Putty to a Sunday comic. A piece like “Epistrophy” mixed crisp and snappy horns while Justo Almario piercing tenor weaved through the various moods like a US Marine through a tactical training course. Rickey Minor’s funky bass laid down an infectious groove with drummer Tony Austin and Beasley’s keyboards on “Little Rootie Tootie” while gurgling horns and the slithering sax section set up a framework for Andy Martin’s trombone and Tom Luer’s tenor sax. A tongue twisting bopper like “Skippy” turned into a jazz version of the “Surprise Symphony” with a brass knuckle punch of a bluesy backbeat, complete with hand clapping percussion, while Bob Sheppard’s soprano weaved around like a Marrakesh cobra.
A bold, bright and beautiful “Ask Me Now” featured Beasley on the whimsical melodic, while the woody and reedy harmonies created a sweet outer layer until they finally bit down into the blast of a chocolate center . A closing “Nothing Left To Say” brought the club into a gospel groove, with Minor delivering a recitative meditation just before Wendell Kelly delivered a Pentecostal testimony with his foot stomping trombone. A big band concept this clever, as well as delivered, needs not only to be seen, but recorded. Anyone got mics set up for his next gig at Typhoon March 11 (www.typhooon.biz). Do yourself a favor and DON’T MISS IT!!!!!
Don’t forget that guitarist Graham Dechter is hitting Vitello’s the 27th!