A gathering of New Orleans Modern Jazz Legends
17th July 2017 · 0 Comments
By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer
“I’ve played with all of them at one time or other,” James Rivers says of the musicians that will be reunited Saturday night on the Snug Harbor bandstand as The New Orleans Modern Jazz Legends. Ditto for the rest of the artists on the gig including vocalist Germaine Bazzle, pianist David Torkanowsky, bassist/vocalist George French and drummer Herlin Riley. “Nobody on the bandstand is going to be strange,” Rivers, a saxophonist, singer and harmonica and bagpipe player declares. “Once a week I used to play at Tyler’s with Torkanowsky, Singleton (bassist James Singleton) and Vidacovich (drummer Johnny Vidacovich) and that bunch and play with my own band (the James Rivers Movement) on Friday and Saturday. He played in a band behind Bazzle at Tyler’s, the long-defunct uptown, Magazine Street club, as well as filling in for the late Alvin “Red” Tyler at S. Claiborne Avenue’s Maison Las Vegas Strip.
JAMES RIVERS
Rivers figures he’s play with George French more than anybody else in the Modern Jazz Legends and their gigs together extend the furthest back.
“I played with (drummer) Bob French and the Continentals and George was on bass and singing – back then we were playing jazz and blues and (guitarist/vocalist) Al “Shine” Robinson was in the band. That was in 1970 right after I left Deacon John & the Ivories. I also played with Bob and George on Bourbon Street where we’d mix it up with some Dixieland jazz.
“Every chance I get for my whole life, I’d play with these guys,” declares Torkanowsky who praises bassist French by saying that everything he plays should be transcribed so bassists can see how bass lines are supposed to look.” Of Riley, Tork says: “Herlin’s (rhythmic) pocket is so deep you could dip in it and not know where you were.”
Rivers, who leads his own set at the Jazz Playhouse every Thursday night, digs playing the gig with these old friends and musical partners because he has the opportunity to play more bebop — more jazz. At the Playhouse, he likes, and people expect him to perform in a variety of styles. “I like to go around and do things that other bands don’t do — I even do some country.” And, of course, he pulls out his bagpipes. “That’s what the people come to see,” he says with a laugh.
Being on a bandstand with musicians who have been a part of one’s life — a part of New Orleans — for decades naturally contributes to a laid-back atmosphere.
“We all just have fun,” Rivers says with what could be imagined as a smile on his face. We just go on the gig. Someone says, ‘Hey we’re going to do this tune’ and we do it. We’re doin’ things everybody is hip to. “
Jon Cleary
Live at Chickie Wah Wah
(FHK Records)
Pianist and vocalist Jon Cleary began soaking up the styles and nuances of New Orleans piano masters — Fess, Toussaint, Booker, Dr. John — from before he crossed “the pond” from his homeland of England and landed in, and now longtime resident of, the Crescent. Live at Chickie Wah Wah represents the Grammy-winning artist’s first solo and much-anticipated release. And it’s a beaut.
Cleary and the Canal Street club’s 100-year-old piano, Ella, were all that was required for a varied and exceptional set that included his original hits like “Unnecessarily Mercenary,” well-known New Orleans classic such as Guitar Slim Jr.’s “Things that I Used to Do” and some more obscure material like Jessie Hill’s “Sweet Jelly Roll.” On this tune, Cleary demonstrates that he was also paying close attention to this city’s vocalist by the way he lifts and accents a word.
This article originally published in the July 17, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
