Locals Jazz Up Their Saturday Night At the CFA

By Broadside Staff Correspondent Amanda Loerch
Photo by Broadside Photographer Randy Urick

On Feb. 8, under artistic direction of Jim Carroll, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra performed at Concert Hall with special guest Byron Stripling on trumpet, vocalist Delores King Williams and guitarist Rick Whitehead.

What other reputable jazz group contains an entire rhythm section of jazz studio faculty members from the same university?

In Mason’s music department, Rick Whitehead is the professor of jazz guitar, Glenn Dewey is the professor of jazz bass, Harold Summey is a professor of jazz percussion and Wade Beach is a professor of jazz piano. It’s even rarer to find any professional ensemble that also includes students; there are two trumpet players, Ben Malick and Charlie Mitchell, who are studying music here at Mason, as well as a recent graduate saxophonist, Dustin Mollick.

The Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra’s program began with the lights down, as the musicians played Gordon Goodwin’s “Cut ‘n Run,” which Carroll later mentioned was his selection in honor of the current stock market situation.

Carroll then brought out a returning favorite to the ensemble, Williams, who sang Goodwin’s arrangement of “Too Close for Comfort.” Besides her frequent visits with Carroll’s ensembles, Williams was also among familiar faces from when she performed with the Army Blues last spring in a concert dedicated to women in music. Her rich voice blends well in jazz repertoire, and it was a treat to also hear her sing Dave Wolpe’s arrangement of “Summer Wind” in the second half of the program.

Whitehead was third on the program with Roger Hogan’s arrangement of “What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life,” composed by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Michael Legrand. Ever since Whitehead retired from the Air Force Band’s Airmen of Note in 1991, he has been in constant demand throughout the Washington Metropolitan area. His passion for guitar and jazz was recently recognized by his colleagues, who voted him to receive the Washington Area Music Association award as Jazz Instrumentalist last month. My favorite number of the night was Whitehead opening the second half of the concert with Mike Crotty’s arrangement of Harry Warren and Mack Gordon’s “The More I See You.”

Next came the Metropolitan Jazz’s main event: Stripling, an accredited actor, sensational singer and a trumpet virtuoso. Stripling was also formerly lead trumpet for the Count Basie Orchestra. When he played along with Dennis Mackrel’s arrangement of G. Brackmann’s “St. James Infirmary,” the audience also discovered Stripling’s voice was an instrument as strong and as solid as the horn in his hand. In the latter of the second half, Stripling demonstrated another one of his fortes, scatting with a small side of opera, in Mackrel’s arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Ooh Pa Pa Da.”

The concert began to come to an end when Stripling led the orchestra in a New Orleans-style rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” When Carroll pulled out his alto saxophone, saxophonist John Desalme switched to clarinet, Graham Breedlove chimed in on trumpet and John Lewis slid through the song on trombone. It was wonderful to hear Carroll improvise so energetically, but Stripling jokingly grew jealous of the attention and grabbed a chair to stand about Carroll, holding a B-flat for as long as it would take for Carroll to get the hint.

Many had the opportunity to get to know Stripling beforehand during Concert Hall’s pre-performance discussion at 7:15 p.m. Stripling is the Artistic Director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra in Ohio. It was obvious to anyone listening to his portion of the discussion that he and Carroll had caught up on their connections and compared notes on jazz performance and education.

Stripling’s goal as of late has been to continue with the classics in jazz, but strive to open listeners’ minds to the latest jazz composition creations, and ultimately, “bring the Big Band into the 21st Century.”

Stripling shared his opinions on jazz and classical genres, frustrated that classical music seems to be selling more than jazz, which many assume to be unlikely. He wondered, also, how orchestra directors are never respectfully recognizing their players, never shouting, “Give Joe a hand for that oboe solo” to the audience and felt how that elitist attitude was one of the bigger reasons why classical music is losing their audience.

The audience for this performance was here and happy to stay. The only complaints circulating were not about the tunes, but the traffic. During the pre-performance discussion on the Grand Tier, I could see through the large windows the long lines of cars waiting to get on campus and into parking lots. It’s interesting that two directors of two different jazz ensembles can get along so well, but two venues located on the same campus can’t seem to ever keep in touch.

Had the Patriot Center figured out the flow of 10 thousand Matchbox Twenty, Alanis Morissette and Mute Math fans was going to take longer to file in than the Metropolitan Jazz’s manageable maximum of 2,000 patrons, many jazz supporters would have been able to make it to the concert in time to see much more of what they love. Tickets at the Patriot Center were $55 to $75 to sit in a stadium.

The Metropolitan Jazz was pumping, but they didn’t need huge speakers to bring out their sound. The seats were comfortable, the floors weren’t sticky, the musicians were personable and tickets were $19-$38 and free for a good amount of Mason students.

Stripling said the best part of jazz is during the improvisation sections, when “watching them is like watching them think on their feet.” Carroll added that jazz is so fun because not even his groups can be entirely rehearsed, which keeps the concerts a surprise for everyone. He guarantees that in improv, “there will always be wrong notes, just how basketball players never make every single basket,” but it’s all part of the creative process, to see what everyone makes of what they have.

The Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra is far from any jamming jumble, but rather, in my opinion, contains the best of the best musicians in the business. I have been a groupie for many an Army Blues concert and to spot two of their saxophonists (Antonio Orta and John Desalme), two of their trombonists (Matt Niess and Jeff Cortazzo) and three of their trumpet players (Liesl Whitaker, Craig Fraedrich and Graham Breedlove), was impressive.

Betty J., an usher volunteer I spoke with, exclaimed, “What a gift we all have, and it’s all in our backyard!”