The 20th at the Mt. Hood
Jazz Festival is over. The return to "Mainstream" is complete.
The partial "Smooth Jazz" format is no more.
Many "Smooth Jazz" performers
can play "Mainstream" very well. They have chosen "Smooth"
for economic reasons or to reach a wider audience
that "Smooth" sometimes attracts.
Tom Grant played the second stage Friday
night and has been a successful "Smooth Jazz" player. He hosts
a program on KJZZ, Portland's "Smooth Jazz" FM station. For
his Friday night performance he took the stage with Ron Steen on drums
and Dave Captaine on bass, playing a "Mainstream" concert. From
"One Note Samba" to "My Funny Valentine", Tom an original
performer from 1982, the Festival's first year, jazzed the audience with
his lyrical playing. He was a time machine as he brought back my memories
of him in Portland's Jazz Club Scene of the 1970's. At Ray's Helm with
Jim Pepper on Sax he would Witcha-Ti-Toe through the night.
Nicholas Payton's tribute to "Satchmo"
topped Friday night. From "Potato Head Blues" to the "Saints
Go Marching" Payton and his Norleans crew stepped to a contemporary
"Satchmo" beat.
On Saturday, Steve Turre's transition from
Conches Shells to Trombone during the Miles Davis "All Blue"
brought the jazz fans to their feet. Dianne Reeves in her "Sassy"
tribute was another Saturday
feature.
Roy Hargrove played a "shining trumpet
and Dr. Billy Taylor and Ramsay Lewis made house calls on Sunday. It felt
to good to sit in the Sun and Jazz Out at Mt. Hood's 20th. Check it out
at Mt. Hood's 21st next year, the first weekend in August.
HUBBLE'S EYE
Looking through Hubble's eye
We see a hole in time
Is it the outside of the inside?
Do opposites attract?
Is it the all of time?
In the middle way
we look for the answer