Citizens Jazz Plays Tribute to Billy Strayhorn

Citizens Jazz leader Caroline Chung (from the event page for last night’s concert)

Citizens Jazz is a collective that forms jazz combos that provide an opportunity for rising talents in the Bay Area to perform with seasoned veterans. The group is led by bassist Caroline Chung, who brought the latest version of those combos to the Red Poppy Art House last night. The “senior members” of the group were the two saxophonists, Riley Bandy on alto and James Mahone on tenor. In the rhythm section Chung was joined by Grant Levin on piano and Hamir Atwal on drums. The program consisted primarily of music that Billy Strayhorn composed during his productive relationship with Duke Ellington, which got under way in 1939, when Strayhorn was twenty-three and continued until 1964, when he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

The Ellington-Strayhorn partnership was so close that if is often difficult to tease out who composed what. Publication credits almost always single out only one name, but it is hard to imagine that the other one did not exercise influence in one way or another. One possible exception came at the end of the first half of last night’s concert. Ellington is listed as the composer of “C Jam Blues,” which originated in a 1942 black-and-white film entitled “Jam Session.” The tune, as such, is all rhythm, alternating between G and C; and, to the extent that it requires a “composer,” it supposedly originated with Ellington’s clarinetist Barney Bigard; and the film presents a series of solo improvisations by many of the members of Ellington’s band. Last night’s performance reflected the spirit of that film, giving everyone a chance to serve up their own take on a tune that contemporary listeners might call “minimalist.”

The other name that figures significantly in the “Ellington sound” was his lead alto saxophonist, Johnny Hodges. Bandy, who had studied in New York with tenor saxophonist Frank Wess (best known for his work with Count Basie), shared some reflections on Hodges with the audience based on what he had learned from Wess. For me that was a somewhat poignant reminder of how many generations now cover the period between Strayhorn’s productivity and the present day. Hodges also figured in last night’s program because his band, rather than Ellington’s, gave the first performance of the opening selection, “Day Dream,” one of the better examples in which Strayhorn worked on his own (at least initially), rather than with Ellington.

All of last night’s selections tended to provide an opportunity for each player to explore some solo work. Chung herself has a solid command of her instrument. Nevertheless, I found myself wishing that she would explore styles other than the traditional walking bass. However, it may just be the case that she ventures into alternative sonorities when playing the music of composers from late in the twentieth century or those currently active.

I also missed the duo practice of “trading fours. It was only at the end of the program, with “Take the ‘A’ Train,” that Bandy and Mahone got into such improvised exchanges. On the other hand, when either of them took on solo melody work, the other was almost always there improvising a contrapuntal accompaniment, more interested in developing a line with a complementary shape than in honoring any of the harmonies indicated on the charts. This put a decidedly contemporary spin on selections that are now well over half a century old.