Chicago saxophone legend Von Freeman probably would have been delighted to hear the city's mayor sing his praises Thursday night at Millennium Park.
Citing the prestigious Jazz Masters Award that Freeman will receive from the National Endowment for the Arts in January, Mayor Rahm Emanuel invoked the nickname by which the tenor man is known around the jazz planet: "Vonski." Then Emanuel declared Chicago "the center of the world for jazz," as if to give some of the credit to Freeman, who certainly deserves it.
For during the 70-plus years of his career, Freeman has set an impossibly high standard to which other musicians in Chicago – and beyond – have aspired. More directly, he has trained generations during jam sessions at the New Apartment Lounge, on East 75th Street, inviting all comers to share the bandstand with the great one – if they dared.
To launch the seventh annual "Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz" series, musicians from across the country converged on the Pritzker Pavilion in "Truth Be Told: Celebrating the Legacy of Von Freeman." Unfortunately, health reasons prevented Freeman, 87, from attending the event, according to a spokesperson for the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture.
Freeman's absence was deeply felt, and not only because he projects a singular voice in jazz. Moreover, for all the talent gathered on stage, no individual commanded or drove the proceedings the way Freeman would have. But if the evening lacked genuine fireworks, it certainly gave off a fine glow, reflecting the warmth Chicago feels for its leading jazz musician.
Perhaps it should have come as no surprise that the best music of the night, by far, came not from ensemble playing but from several vividly stated solos. Freeman himself always has been a jazz outlier, his fantastically ornate and eccentrically free-wheeling statements setting him apart from anyone else playing alongside.
The soloists in "Truth Be Told" clearly learned a great deal from Freeman about the art of crafting a pungent soliloquy, none more than tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. A former Chicagoan who's a couple generations younger than Freeman, Alexander turned in some of the most propulsive and compelling work of his career, hitting hard in blues, reveling in the bebop language of Freeman's youth, even venturing near "free" or experimental territory.
In Freeman's "Portrait of John Young," for instance, Alexander articulated imperturbable swing rhythm and an unexpectedly dark, majestic tone. The evening held no greater tribute from student to mentor.
Alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, another former Chicagoan who came home to pay homage, offered a distinctly forward-looking perspective to the music-making. His keening tone and wide-open, appealingly ambiguous harmonies prevented this concert from devolving into a nostalgia bath.
Among the evening's elder statesmen, trumpeter Art Hoyle brought silvery lyricism (and a few muffed notes) to his solos; trombonist Julian Priester found much poetry (and a few tenuous moments) in Freeman ballads; pianist Jodie Christian sounded a bit fragile, producing spare but noble melodies in duetting with Hoyle; and Willie Pickens heroically restrained his typically volcanic pianism so as not to overwhelm everyone else.
But the ensemble at large didn't really cohere until midway in the program, during an extended blues medley, and not much after that, either. Even so, the rhythm-section support proved predictably strong, considering that guitarist Mike Allemana, bassist Matt Ferguson and drummer Mike Raynor have been playing Freeman's repertory with him at the New Apartment Lounge for years.
Allemana and Coleman penned the arrangements of Freeman's tunes, which cried out for the tart, somewhat acidic sound of Freeman's horn.
If nothing else, this concert reminded listeners that Freeman remains irreplaceable.
Grady Johnson closer
Another esteemed Chicago saxophonist, 88-year-old Grady Johnson, on Sunday will conclude a 20-plus-years run at Bistro 110, which is closing on Aug. 4. As always Johnson will lead his quartet in New Orleans repertoire, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at 110 E. Pearson St.; 312-266-3110.
Twitter @howardreich
"Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz" continues with "Otis Clay: The Gospel of Jazz and Soul," 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, near Randolph Drive and Michigan Avenue; free; 312-742-1168 or millenniumpark.org.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Chicago salutes Von Freeman at Millennium Park
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