Last night the SFJAZZ Center provided the venue for a free concert performed by the Oberlin Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble, launched and led by Bobby Ferrazza, Professor of Jazz Guitar at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The group was a septet with a front line of vocalist Gabi Allemana, Harrison Fink on saxophone, and trumpeter Avery Ghose. Rhythm was provided by the “standard trio” of piano (Matthew Tanner III), bass (Ahmed McLemore), and drummer Aaron Yanda, joined by Tim Picard on guitar. The repertoire included a few Rollins originals but overall, like Rollins himself, spanned a fair account of the twentieth century.
Overall, the experience was an uneven one; but there was no questioning the impeccable musicianship and capacity for invention that could be found in the rhythm section. Each of the four players had his own turn to take as a soloist, and I suspect that all of the serious jazz lovers in the audience would have been more than happy to hear more of them. Unfortunately, discretion required that they withdraw into the background for the better part of the gig, which lasted about an hour.
Sadly, none of the front line performers came anywhere close to the technical skills of their accompanists. Allemana’s lack of clear diction was matched only by the uncertainty of her sense of pitch. Both of the horns, on the other hand, played as if they were not listening to what they were doing. Quality of tone was distressingly shallow and the few ventures into improvisation could not have been less imaginative. As a result, we had four skilled musicians that may well have a promising future as a quartet unto itself; and we have three other individuals on stage that might be better off looking into their respective family businesses.
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