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Smooth jazz to resound at PlayhouseSquare. Trumpeter Sean Jones at Hanna on Saturday
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Thursday, Dec 03, 2009
I'm still in a bit of a post-Thanksgiving daze (family plus meat plus booze equal a happy holiday) but there's a bunch of stuff happening.
Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare has a busy weekend with a bunch of shows, beginning Friday night with Dave Koz & Friends at the Palace Theatre.
This is the 12th annual (and wildly successful) Christmas tour for Koz and friends. This year's edition is a reunion featuring trumpeter Rick Braun, keyboardist David Benoit, guitarist Peter White and singer Brenda Russell.
Koz's most recent release is a greatest hits compilation featuring popular tunes such as Castle of Dreams and Together Again and four new cuts. The Cleveland show should be a great night of hits and holiday favorites.
If smooth jazz doesn't float your improvisational music boat, on Saturday night at the Hanna Theatre, jazz trumpeter and Warren native Sean Jones will open the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra's 25th anniversary season as its first featured artist and as the orchestra's new artistic director.
The 31-year-old Youngstown State grad's resume ain't too shabby, having served a stint as lead trumpet in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis, from whom, Jones told me, he learned quite a bit about running and rehearsing a big band.
Jones has released five albums of mostly straight-ahead post-bop jazz, with the most recent being 2009's The Search Within. Jones was also named a Rising Star by Downbeat Magazine in 2006 and 2007 and was voted best new artist by readers of JazzTimes Magazine.
He takes over for his former mentor, retired CJO main man and educator Jack Schantz, and promises ''a fresh vision for the future of the CJO while maintaining its wonderful tradition of artistic integrity.''
The concert will feature guest drummer Jerome Jennings and several of Jones' tunes arranged for big band.
If that weren't enough action for PlayhouseSquare, the venue will close the weekend with singer R. Kelly at the Palace Theatre on Sunday.
Kelly has a new album out, Untitled, that continues his multiplatinum string of bedroom jams, musical booty calls and whispered sweet nothings into the ears of his female fans.
He may be an alleged child-molesting piece of crap (acquitted in a U.S. court of law), but Kelly is also unquestionably the master of his musical domain.
The current jaunt is called Ladies Make Some Noise and Kelly knows exactly how to make the ladies make some noise, because he sings what they want to hear (clunky sex metaphor-filled lyrics that mix his ''need'' for pleasure with his ''desire'' to pleasure the ladies) and he's able to fold the latest musical/pop culture trends into his carefully arranged and much copied sound.
I saw Kelly on the failed Best of Both World's tour with Jay-Z and live, he is as subtle as he is on record, which is to say not at all. Again, his plain-spoken desires are a big part of what his fans love about him (''We'll be bangin', bangin', b-bangin' the headboard'' goes the chorus to the new ballad Bangin' the Headboard) and he's perfectly happy to oblige.
I'll say this, one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen at a concert happened at that show, during one of his many booty call ballads. As he stalked the edge of the stage, a grown woman held up her 4- to 6-year-old daughter as if she were some kind of offering.
That's just conceptually gross and irresponsible.
Also, why wasn't that child in bed at 10 on a weeknight? Yuck!
Moving on. . . .
There's an old saying among touring musicians that goes never leave your ''stuff'' in the van. In other words, when you're crashing on someone's living room floor or staying in a hotel overnight, remove any and all important items, because for some nefarious passersby, an unattended tour van/trailer is like having a sign on the side of your vehicle that reads ''free instruments to decent lock picker.''
But it's hard to live by that bromide when your entire truck is stolen.
That's what happened to singer/songwriter Zach Deputy (not to be confused with monomonikered local singer/songwriter Zach).
The South Carolina-based one-man band, who will perform in the Tavern at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on Wednesday, uses his guitar and gear to layer loops.
Deputy's tour truck was stolen from a La Quinta Inn in Paramus, N.J., while he was on his way to record some new music.
Deputy, who spends about 300 days a year on the road, lost $85,000 worth of gear, clothes and recordings — almost none of which will be covered by his insurance.
Despite the loss of the gear he uses to make a living, Deputy, whose music falls pretty squarely in the mellow, singer/songwriter (one-man) jam band arena, with a healthy dollop of reggae and Caribbean influence, has continued to tour with help from his friends. So if you go to the show, buy a T-shirt or one of his two CDs (assuming he still has any to sell) and give him a big hug.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Details:
What: Dave Koz & Friends: A Smooth Jazz Christmas
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Palace Theatre, 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Tickets: $10-$65
Information: 216-241-6000, 866-546-1353, www.playhousesquare.com
What: The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra: Introducing Sean Jones
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Hanna Theatre, 2067 E. 14th St., Cleveland
Tickets: $18-$30
Information: 216-241-6000, 440-942-9525, www.clevelandjazz.org
What: R. Kelly
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Palace Theatre, 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Tickets: $47.50-$96.50
Information: 216-241-6000, 866-546-1353, www.playhousesquare.com
What: Zach Deputy with Jones for Revival
When: 9 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo Road, Cleveland
Tickets: $8
Information: 216-383-1124, www.beachlandballroom.com
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Mogadore, Oh
Posted 11:07 PM, 12/05/2009
No story on Tim "Ripper" Owens doing a free unplugged set at The Tap House in Akron Friday the 4th? Great performance by the guitarist Scott Jones as well as Rippers vocals. Nice crowd.
