JazzNights 15

Coming up April 7th is a wonderful JazzNights 15 - the return of tenor saxophonist Bennie Wallace. Two years ago he played for us with Mulgrew Miller and Bill Huntington; this time he returns with his working trio, Danton Boller on bass and drummer Alvin Queen. In this setting you'll hear more of Bennie, and that's always a good thing - in my view there is no better tenor player today.

If you read reviews of Bennie Wallace's work, you often see the claim that he plays like Ben Webster. Well, I don't think so. It's surely no criticism to play like Ben Webster, he was, after all, one of Ellington's greatest soloists - Cottontail, and many others, but I just don't think it's a proper comment. First of all, I think Mr. Wallace plays far more interesting material, including many of his own compositions (hardly fair to Ben as he played decades ago), and second, I just don't think he sounds like Ben. To my ear anyway, he's more edgy than the classic tenors. In his playing there is surely a reverence for Coleman Hawkins, but there is also a touch of Sonny Rollins, or Charlie Rouse, or even Don Byas. Maybe the comparison with Webster - or Hawkins - is meant to imply that he is a modernist who has absorbed the past. Or maybe it is code for "is not a clone of John Coltrane." Fair enough, if so. But enough about influences - they don't really matter, and everyone playing tenor saxophone today has to have listened to these folks, especially Rollins. Bennie Wallace has a voice you can't miss - his sound and style are completely unmistakable, and he favors interesting tunes. His personality comes through his playing very strongly.

I heard him - and drummer Alvin Queen - for the first time on CD, "Bennie Wallace" on Audioquest, which I bought just because of a good Downbeat review. I was knocked out, and soon was hearing him as often as I could in person and buying a lot of his CDs. I find his work fascinating, sometimes a little difficult, but invariably interesting. He works at the tunes, and transforms common songs into something you have never heard before.

He has an interesting history. After emerging on the jazz scene in the late '70s, with "The 14 Bar Blues," he spent much of the last decade as a composer of film scores including Betty Boop, White Men Can't Jump, Blaze, and Bull Durham. He returned to the East in the late 90s, and has played in and led groups containing Chick Corea, Tommy Flanagan, Dave Holland, Jimmy Knepper, John Schofield, and many others.

His recent (1999) "Bennie Wallace in Berlin" with the fabulous rhythm section of George Cables, Peter Washington, and Herlin Riley, is a special favorite of mine, but I've never heard a CD of his that I didn't like. Take a look at the list below.

Bassist Danton Boller has played with many of today's established jazz stars - Roy Hargrove and Brad Mehldau, for example, as well as outstanding young folks - Seamus Blake, recent winner of the Monk award, and someone we should bring to JazzNights, and Robert Glaspar, recently signed to a Blue Note contract and someoine who is coming to JazzNights next January. Mr. Boller has a wonderful imagination, great time, and an attractive tone. Take a look and listen at this small video:

http://www.thejazzcat.net/MOV07944.MPG

Alvin Queen was a drum prodigy, playing professionally at the delicate age of 11 and sitting in with John Coltrane at 13. He was later a member of the Horace Silver quintet, and the drummer in Oscar Peterson's last group. He's lived in Europe (lucky guy) since 1979, but travels frequently to the US (lucky us).

This trio has played together for some time here and in Europe; they are a unit not a pick-up group. They return from a Holland-Germany-Austria tour in early April and will be well warmed up for their Princeton appearance - we are very fortunate to have them.

Selected Discography - there are many others:

Bennie Wallace

The Fourteen Bar Blues (Enja3029-2) 1978

Bennie Wallace Plays Monk (Enja ENj30912) 1981

The Free Will (Enja, R279613) 1982

Brilliant Corners (Denon Cy30003) 1986

Bennie Wallace (Audioquest AQ-CD1051) 1998

Bennie Wallace in Berlin (Enja ENJ94252) 1999

Moodsville (Groove Note GRV1010-2) 2002

Danton Boller

several mp3 files are available on: http://www.dantonboller.com

with Ron Stout (JazzHouse B0009FZU06)

Alvin Queen

I'm Back (Original Cast 9470)

Lenox and Seventh (Black & Blue BB9282)

With Bennie Wallace: Bennie Wallace (Audioquest AQ-CD1051) 1998