Jazz for Life

Sanders Theater

February 12

THE fifth annual Jazz for Life concert more than met the high standards of previous years' concerts. Even if the more than 900 listeners who packed Sanders Theater last Friday night had not been spending their money on a worthy cause--fighting hunger through Oxfam America and the Phillips Brooks House homeless committee--the price of admission would have been well worth it to see some 19 of Harvard's greatest acts in a single show.

Jazz for Life brought together many performers who regularly grace Harvard concert stages, but it also provided a rare opportunity to listen to talented alumni, many of whom only return to Harvard once a year to perform at this very event.

The show opened with the Harvard Jazz Band playing some laid-back blues, followed by an uninspiring arrangement of the Duke Ellington standard "Perdido." Their rousing rendition of Oscar Peterson's "Hallelujah Time" elicited delighted applause from the audience. Excellent solos were performed by Chris Carter, Anton Schwartz, Mark Kaufmann, and Josh Shedroff.

Brother Blue followed with his traditional invocation, a characteristically enchanting melange of narrative poetry and scat with saxophone accompaniment by Don Braden, who backed up many of the singers in this show.

Also ubiquitous were the H Band, featuring the members of Men of Clay (Ben and Tom Hammond on guitar and bass, respectively, and Shankar Ramaswami on drums) and Fred Heiberger on keyboards. They served as the pick-up group for several of the acts and rocked out on their own with "Trim." This was a piece of driving fusion, with throbbing chromatics, and a bit o' Hendrix in Hammond's solo. This otherwise excellent piece fizzled out, however, in banal repetition of a one-measure motif.

The H Band's funky accompaniment complemented perfectly the frenetic dancing of the moppets of Citystep, launching them into a frenzy of break-dancing, skipping, and otherwise irresistably cute dance steps. The young dancers--Allysha Collins, Cynthia Germain, Ricardo Ellyse, Lorenzy Lescano, Kristin Matthews, and Trieu Tran--earned a standing ovation.

HARVARD'S a capella groups were, for the most part, in fine form. The Din and Tonics provided an exquisite rendition of "Nica's Dream" with soloist Ian Sterling. The Krokodiloes countered with an equally thrilling performance of "Lullaby of Birdland."

Not to be outdone, the Radcliffe Pitches waxed hip and humorous on "Is You Is or Is You Ain't my Baby," with a faultless solo by Samantha Ho, and stunning scat by Julia McDonald. The Opportunes, as usual, provided solid performances, including "Still of the Night." The Impromptus, a subset of the Kuumba Singers, battled microphone problems to deliver a capable rendition of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love."

The Veritones, in contrast, were beleaguered by tuning and arrangement problems. On both "Stormy Weather" and the upbeat "Sunny," their lugubrious tempo seemed better suited to a dirge or a tune by Stephen Foster.

Tuning was keyed in with uncanny accuracy by the brilliant Brian Williams as he soared through the upper reaches of his falsetto on "Get Ready, Get Set." The ever-popular Fiona Anderson backed him on that song, and later sang one of her own, "No Regrets." As always, her technical prowess was dazzling. Her delivery, though, leaned more on gospel than on jazz, and therefore seemed a bit out of place in this venue.

NOT to be beaten by mere undergraduates, several alumni performers provided exceedingly memorable performances. Cornerpocket's scat chorus renditions of Count Basie's "Corner Pocket" and "Everybody's Bopping" were witty and technically excellent. It's no mean feat to interpolate into a single passage scat syllables and lines from both "I Got Rhythm" and the theme from The Flintstones--all while keeping a straight face.

Rex Dean, who founded Jazz for Life five years ago, crooned a melancholy, Nat King Cole-esque "Stardust." Bryan Simmons sang a broodingly beautiful "Round Midnight," and Daniel Banks an equally melancholy "Angel Eyes."

Finally, justifiably famous alum Braden, who took time out of his no doubt busy schedule of playing sax behind world-famous jazz artists, got to strut his stuff on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven." After his usual humorous sermonette on the nature of jazz improvisation, and the explanation "I'm tryin' to make something nice," he launched into an improv stunning in its dexterity and almost symphonic development.

Jazz For Life closed with an everybody-on-stage rendition of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," led by Fiona Anderson, Brian Williams, and Daniel Banks. This beat the mushy "We Are the World" hands down, though the message was the same. Great show, great ending.

Jazz for Life served as an indelible reminder of Harvard's seemingly bottomless well of musical talent. Don't wait until next year's show to see these performers again.