Benny Green, Live in Santa Cruz! + Bill Charlap Trio concert

[Tom Storer]

Live in Santa Cruz!
Benny Green, piano; David Wong, bass; Kenny Washington, drums

Bill Charlap Trio at the Duc des Lombards, Paris, July 16, 2015
Bill Charlap, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Kenny Washington, drums

***

Benny Green is a keeper of the flame of the hard bop tradition. I've enjoyed his performances on several occasions over the years, from his beginnings in Betty Carter's trio through his time with Art Blakey and on to sideman responsibilities with various like-minded members of his generation. I've never seen him with his own trio, though, which is his main gig these days. Although Green's abilities are impressive, I've sometimes found him a little too orthodox. But I think his latest release, Live in Santa Cruz!, might be his definitive recording, at least so far. Comparing it to a recent performance by the Bill Charlap Trio is illuminating.

Green is accompanied on the CD by the excellent David Wong on bass and the superlative Kenny Washington on drums. Washington is also a member of Charlap's longstanding trio (with the unrelated Peter Washington on bass). In both contexts the drummer plays the purest bebop drums, crisp, snapping, and booting the rhythm propulsively forward with exquisite balance.

"Live In Santa Cruz!" rocks and stomps joyfully. Green plays hard, communicating the force of his swing through his strong chords, chopped and bounced and dug in with athletic determination, and his single notes, drilled with hydraulic precision. He's not a Brubeckian--there's no bombast or pounding. He swings all the way, with the rhythm section surging underneath. In the hard bop manner, the tunes are all about the swinging arrangements. The piano solos are expert and exuberant, showing Green's great ease and familiarity with the jazz piano tradition. But they serve the swinging arrangements above all. That is no doubt part of what makes the performance so strong. It practically glows with a delightful, communicative warmth. Here Green and his trio seem not conventional but inhabited by great conviction.

In the Bill Charlap Trio's recent Paris performance, which I have heard in a format not commercially released (send me a private message if you want to know more), Charlap inhabits a similar space in the piano trio universe, but drawing more from Tommy Flanagan's elegant and inventive trio. Kenny Washington is just as great here as he is with Green, and Peter Washington's bass is given more pride of place than Wong. In general, the arrangements are more elaborate. Charlap himself occupies the spotlight as a virtuoso instrumentalist full of ideas. The interplay among the three is both worked out through long practice together and through the arrangements, and seemingly more spontaneous. Compared with Benny Green's CD, there is also more lyrical invention.

Taken together, Green and Charlap's trios are evidence for what I sense as a strengthening of the "swinging tradition" faction in today's jazz, as the rancor of the Wynton Wars fades to a (persistent) memory. A significant number of musicians, younger and older, continue to choose the historical mainstream and to shine, without polemics, influencing the up and coming generations. Long live the power of swing.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks so much for the two trio reviews, Tom!

Similar, yet often contrasting styles are employed by these two remarkable pianists. And, they're working within one of my very favorite group structures, the piano trio.

I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing Bill Charlap in person, but have enjoyed his recordings for many years. On the other hand, my wife and I got to experience the very engaging Benny Green a couple of years ago when he was touring with the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour lineup. Christian McBride was on bass and Lewis Nash was in the drum chair for this tour, and they were on-the-money. Green is a very powerful, percussive player at times, but he also understands and employs dynamics wonderfully.

[makpjazz57]

We had the good fortune here in Boston of having both Benny Green's and Bill Charlap's trios at Scullers Jazz Club within the last year. Just outstanding. Benny has performed at Scullers 2 years in a row and I'm crossing my fingers for year 3! In the meantime, excited to hear Anat Cohen this week at the club. She's touring in support of her new CD, Luminosa.