Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration

We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Day with about 100 others at Jazz at Lincoln Center.  Featured was Cyrus Chestnut, pianist, backed up by the Julliard Jazz Ensemble.  It was my first time hearing both Chestnut and the Julliard Jazz Ensemble.  We were invited by Barbara Barnes, who knows how much I loved the work of Billy Taylor.  As a younger person, I used to go around to jazz clubs to hear the Billy Taylor Trio.  Barbara thinks Chestnut's playing is reminiscent of Taylor's, so she was anxious for me to hear him.  This evening, though it was less pure Chestnut than I would have liked, was an exhilarating event.  The young people were, in general, terrific.  I was very impressed by the trombonist and pretty impressed by the saxophone player.  I am, usually, very partial to the bass, and the young man in this ensemble shows a lot of promise.

I was quite taken aback by the fact that the three "front men," the saxophonist, trumpeter and trombonist, were all white, and the bassist and drummer, who were behind them, were black.  I'm sure it just happened that way, but the visual was not what I thought should have been conveyed, especially on Martin Luther King Day.  Even if that is the traditional set-up for a jazz ensemble, surely they could change it up somewhat.

Cyrus Chestnut played alone on only one piece, Precious Lord.  It had me in tears. My mother and I spent many an hour at the piano, with her playing and singing soprano and me singing alto on all those old hymn tunes.  Chestnut brought out themes and nuances of that old song that I didn't know were there.  It was lovely and poignant. I look forward to hearing more from Chestnut.