Seeing The Jazz Elders Live

by Patrick Jarenwattananon
When was the last time you saw a jazz legend perform?

For me, it was last night, at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual jazz concert. It's a free event, held in a boomy ballroom at Washington, D.C.'s convention center. The musicians are always top-notch, and jazz's biggest legislative booster, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) is always in the house. Featured performers this year included Geri Allen, Marcus Belgrave and John Blake Jr. with Howard University's Afro Blue jazz choir.

Charley Gallay/Getty Images

We're pretty sure the hair was even bigger last night.

But the de facto guest of honor was composer Gerald Wilson, who conducted the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra through a few of his classic tunes and arrangements. He's 92, a thin stalk of a man whose white billows of hair spilled over outside a black ballcap. His eyesight is not optimal, and he had to be helped on stage. But when he got up in front of that band, there he was, clearly invigorated to be in his element, spry and full of energy, as if the passing of time were incidental. It was heartwarming, and awe-inspiring, and sounded great.

There's a certain feeling I always get in the opportunities I have to see aging musicians of great stature perform: the Sonny Rollins, the Ornette Colemans, the Dave Brubecks, the Roy Hayneses. Perhaps you get it too. Physically, they often initially appear somewhat delicate. But there's instantly a deep respect and humility when you're in their presence — you're confronted with so much wisdom and experience that it's almost intimidating.

At the same time, you want to distance yourself in order to evaluate the sound around you. This might be the last chance you get to see Legend X perform, after all, so you try extra hard to register the deepest impression you can make in the limited time you have. There's pressure to see profundity in every small gesture. If it's a joyous event, you're even self-conscious about that: This is joyful! I am overjoyed!
Thankfully, last night was pretty overwhelmingly joyful.
 
Gerald Wilson only came on for four tunes at the end of the evening, but he was able to disarm everybody by the end of the first one. Part of it was that he told charming stories: "Blues For Yna Yna" was for his daughters' cat, for example; or how his uptempo full-band arrangement of Miles Davis' "Milestones" won him instant and enduring affection with the cold-blooded trumpeter. (I sat near Lida Baker, the wife of Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra leader David Baker, and she said Wilson was filled with anecdotes for days.)

Complete on  >>  http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2010/09/17/129941575/seeing-the-jazz-elders-live?sc=nl&cc=jn-20100919