Holding Back Gibson Was Good But Lacked All Out New Orleans Jazz Energy

Spokane Symphony with Banu Gibson and her New Orleans Hot Jazz Saturday, Feb. 4, at th Opera House

Banu Gibson and her New Orleans Hot Jazz brought the fun of the Crescent City and Tin Pan Alley to the Opera House Saturday night, but by evening’s end the Spokane Symphony had once again emerged as the true stars.

This is not an uncommon turn of events for SuperPops concerts - just when you’re wishing the symphony would play forever, a guest appears and, good as they may be, the quality of the entertainment slips a notch or two.

Sometimes, the symphony is just a tough act to follow.

Saturday, the orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Fabio Mechetti, opened with an inspiring rendition of Aaron Copland’s “Buckaroo Holiday” and “Hoedown” from “Rodeo.” The vivacious Copland music has so many magical moments that the listener is swept along on its novelty, warmth and wit. It’s a pastiche of sounds - now flutes, now brass, now strings - that looks like a lot of fun to play and was certainly a joy to hear.

Soloists got a chance to shine during Calvin Custer’s arrangement of “Dixieland on Parade.” Trombones slid and slurred, clarinets wailed and trumpets splattered dizzy high notes all over the place. Drummer Rick Westrick got a chance to show his jazz colors with a ripping solo on the trap set.

Great fun.

Gibson’s sextet took the stage and launched into a rag, with subtle support from the orchestra, before the red-and-white garbed star appeared for a growling version of “Swanee.”

Irving Berlin’s “I’d Rather Lead A Band” followed and showed individual members of the symphony to good effect in solo spots.

Gibson has a fine, strong voice that works best in the lower and middle ranges; wisely, she shied away from the high stuff.

Her six-piece group includes reeds (sax and clarinet), trumpet, trombone, piano, bass and drums, and they all played mightily, especially pianist David Boddinghaus.

The trombone player was a lastminute stand-in, but his tasty licks gave lie to the fact.

But competent as it was, Gibson’s portion of the show peaked early and leveled off, never achieving the kind of intensity for which New Orleans music is known - or which the symphony had created earlier.

This may largely have been a matter of formats: Gibson is a pleasant enough singer and her material is outstanding - with Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen penning the songs, how could it be otherwise? - but her show is too polite to rise to the music’s potential.

Spokane singer Ann Fennessy brings more brass and sizzle to this kind of music.

And this reviewer kept hoping Duke Heitger, the Hot Jazz trumpet player, would square off against the symphony’s Larry Jess in a good oldfashioned cutting session. The smart money would have been on Jess.

On the other hand, Banu and her group received prolonged applause from the large crowd, which she acknowledged with an upbeat encore rendition of “Dinah.” The audience seemed on the verge of cheering that performance, but held back.

There should have been a little less holding back Saturday night.

ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo