Guests Push The Sjo To New Heights

Spokane Jazz Orchestra Saturday, March 18, The Met

It’s an ill wind that blows no one good, and when one McDougall stood in for the other Saturday night, the old cliche proved doubly true.

When guest trombonist Ian McDougall canceled, the SJO scrambled to find a replacement. Fortunately, Spokane’s new Brazilian-jazz band, Desafinado, was waiting in the wings.

That was the first piece of good fortune; the second came in the form of Laura Landsberg, nee McDougall.

Landsberg is Ian McDougall’s daughter and a first-rate singer with connections to Spokane via her new husband, guitarist Paul Landsberg, a jazz instructor at Selkirk College in Nelson, British Columbia, and a member of both the SJO and Desafinado.

Saturday, Laura Landsberg fronted Desafinado in its opening set, and then sang with the SJO. She’s a remarkably fresh and unpretentious singer with a terrific voice and enough versatility to deliver the sultry sound of Desafinado and the brassiness demanded by the SJO.

Desafinado’s set showed off the easy blend of accessibility and complexity that defines Brazilian jazz, best demonstrated Saturday by the Sergio Mendez/Cannonball Adderly tune “Sambop.” Its boppish attitude fitted nicely over hipswinging rhythms and provided lots of room for soloing Desafinado’s excellent soloists.

Drummer Rick Westrick and percussionist Paul Reymond got off a hilarious duet during “Samba de Orpheus,” Reymond playing a wonderful drum called , which makes an intriguing jungle squawk when rubbed with a rag.

The SJO wasn’t about to be upstaged by an upstart Brazilian group, though. Their adventuresome set highlighted a high-test version of “Jeannine” featuring an outstanding ensemble sound from the sax section and a tasty Karl Meister trombone solo. Under Paul Davis, the SJO just gets better and better.