Jazz Orchestra Salutes Ellington, Holiday

The Spokane Jazz Orchestra Saturday, Dec. 7, The Met

The second installment of the Spokane Jazz Orchestra’s season of tributes to the masters doubled as a Christmas celebration.

Duke Ellington, the acknowledged genius of jazz composition, was the subject and his version of “The Nutcracker Suite” the vehicle as the SJO inaugurated the season with all the charm and warmth that great music offers.

It was an all-Ellington evening, so the band had the luxury of exploring several facets of the Ellington repertoire. Such hits as “Satin Doll” and “Chelsea Bridge” put listeners in a nostalgic frame of mind and the swinging “Johnny Come Lately” recalled Ellington’s ballroom days. The “Nutcracker” and the rarely heard “A Tone Parallel to Harlem” represented Ellington’s more ambitious side.

Music director Dan Keberle added to the audience’s appreciation of the music with nuggets of information about the master’s working style. “Perdido” was based on a three-note rhythm tapped by a band member on a train-car window; “Isfahan” was inspired by a trip to a Persian market.

There were rousing solos Keberle, a trumpet player, from tenor player Paul Plowman, who took a gorgeous turn on “Isfahan” and from Greg Yasinitsky, the WSU prof who loves to turn up the heat with solos that push harder than expected.

Alto saxophonist Bruce Hume is the SJO’s most sensuous player, so it was appropriate that he soloed on “Warm Valley,” a piece inspired by the mountains of southwestern Washington. The reminded him, Ellington said, of reclining women.

The sax section, which played beautifully throughout, was especially impressive on the harmonically challenging “Chelsea Bridge,” and the rhythm section is jelling into a tight unit as the newcomer on bass, Amy Nelson, finds her place alongside veterans Brent Edstrom, piano, and drummer Scott Jones.

Ironically, the concert had only one weak spot, the ballyhooed “A Tone Parallel to Harlem.” The intense musical portrait shimmered with exciting ideas but lacked a centralizing theme.

The accounting firm, Coopers & Lybrand, was saluted at the concert’s opening for long-standing support of jazz in Spokane. , DataTimes