Hampton Jazz Festival Opens On A Powerful Note

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival,

Pepsi International World Jazz Concert

Wednesday, Feb. 21, University of Idaho’s Kibbie Dome, Moscow

This is the most important message I bring you from Wednesday night’s opening concert in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival: Get yourself down to Moscow for one of the remaining concerts (tonight and Saturday).

If you are a jazz fan or have ever toyed with the idea of becoming one, you should not miss this event. People come from all over the world for this festival, so I don’t think 80 or 90 miles is too far to go (assuming the weather doesn’t turn too nasty).

The opening concert Wednesday night went according to the festival’s usual formula, which means that every two numbers, another jazz giant stepped out onto the stage and proceeded to surpass what had already gone before.

The show started with an intimate, jazz club feel, with the Festival Quartet: Hank Jones on piano, brother Elvin Jones on drums, Brian Bromberg on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar. The Kibbie Dome is cavernous (it holds 5,900 in this configuration), but the sound was good and the feel was personal. The set was punctuated by virtuoso solos from Bromberg and Elvin Jones.

They remained on stage to back Shirley Stewart Farmer, a New York vocalist (once married to Art Farmer) with a seductive, torchy sound.

The quartet also backed alto sax man Greg Abate, one of the evening’s knockouts. Abate, well known among jazz aficionados, proceeded to light a fire under the audience with his brilliant, creative and technically beautiful solos.

Then out came Japanese pianist Kuni Mikami, who played brilliant, swinging runs on the piano, his head thrown back in elation. A member of Hampton’s big band, his first number was strictly Western jazz.

But his second number came from the East. He brought out a trio of traditional Japanese dancers, with fans and kimonos, who proceeded to perform gracefully while Mikami played an Eastern-tinged number.

Next up was Russia’s Igor Butman, a phenomenal tenor saxophonist, clearly awed to be on stage with the Jones brothers and the others.

“I can’t wait to call Russia and tell everyone,” said Butman, who then proved he belongs in their company.

The big star of the first half was the legendary Belgian harmonica player Toots Thielemans, who can make a harmonica sound like a clarinet, an accordion, an organ and practically an entire orchestra. He also has a funny and engaging personality. He earned a standing ovation.

Lionel Hampton made his appearance after intermission, saying a few words to the crowd and playing a tune on the vibes (along with pianist Oliver Jones, bassist extraordinaire David Friesen and Elvin Jones). Age seems to be taking its toll on Hampton, but his presence remains practically a spiritual one at the festival.

Then the Ray Brown Trio came on stage and proceeded to blow the roof off the place. Brown is a breathtaking bass player, and pianist Benny Green and drummer Greg Hutchinson are equally brilliant. Hutchinson played a fabulous drum solo with brushes, and Green and Brown were endlessly creative in exploring a Duke Ellington medley.

Then came British Columbian singer-pianist Diana Krall, the true discovery of this concert. She has a voice like a young Peggy Lee (she opened with a Peggy Lee song), and she is also a brilliant pianist in the mold of Nat King Cole. The resemblance ends there; she has a habit of flinging her mane of blond hair out of her eyes during particularly impassioned passages.

After a stylish version of Harold Arlen’s “I’ve Got the World On a String,” the audience demanded her back for one more tune.

And all of this was just the opening salvo of this festival.

, DataTimes