Jazzville, NJ

George Wein’s Newport Allstars & Legend Ahmad Jamal Grace The Stage At The Newport Jazz Festival (Newport 2010 Recap, Part 4 of 6)

Posted by Maria Miaoulis in Jazz Events, Recaps & Reviews

August 18th, 2010   No Comments »

Torn between hearing music legend Ahmad Jamal and George Wein’s Newport Allstars, we thought it best to split our time between both. (Each concert was an hour, with the Allstars taking the stage a half hour earlier than Jamal’s set was scheduled to begin.) Theoretically this should have worked, but in reality we ended up missing some great routines from both. Oh well, at least we got a piece of the action!

Quad Stage was buzzing with excitement as we waited for the man who founded the Newport Jazz Festival to perform with some of the most important names in the genre – bassist Joe Martin, drummer Jeff Ballard, saxophonist Harry Allen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, guitarist Howard Alden and trombonists Randy Sandke and Randy Brecker. Their set was a throwback to traditional sounding jazz – the smooth music you yearn for to help escape the daily grind – compared to the more modern stuff that was being showcased that day.

Each musician took turns proving why they were especially picked to be part of this mélange of talent. All the while, George Wein accompanied them on piano. How my heart melted at the sight of this cute elderly man tickling the ivory! He was clearly bursting with pride, not only for the artists, but for how far this music festival has come since he first organized it 56 years ago.

With a final clap following a spirited jazz standard, D.A. and I made our way through the masses to find available spots for Ahmad Jamal (unfortunately quite far from the stage). But considering this man is seen by many to be only second in importance to Charlie Parker when it comes to the development of jazz, our seats were close enough.

I once read that even jazz greats like Miles Davis and Randy Weston said they were influenced by Jamal’s music, specifically his use of rhythms and melodic lines. So it was quite surprising to see this great artist walk onstage and humbly sit at his piano bench just like any other ordinary person!

The roar of the crowd was so loud that most of the smooth jazz numbers were muffled, but the Latin beats of later tunes did reach us, making our bodies sway to the music. The most memorable number featured a conga solo in which the drummer and Jamal played off one another. Everyone was amused by the drummer’s energetic manner, wildly catcalling and pounding his instrument, bringing everything to a standstill as we waited to see what would happen next.

But before I knew it, it was time to head to another show! If, like me, you want to hear more from this esteemed performer, head to his website for the latest Ahmad Jamal news.