Native son comes home to perform

10th April 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

New Orleans native, saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines performs at two different venues – the Little Gem Saloon and Snug Harbor – with two different bands playing different repertoires this weekend. Both gigs, however, will be all about jazz music.

The date at the Little Gem on Saturday, April 15, was actually put together by alto saxophonist Zakk Garner, who for several years studied with Goines at Northwestern University. Dubbed Victor Goines and Zakk Garner Play the Music of Cannonball and Coltrane, the show’s focus will be on the music heard on the 1959 LP, Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago. In 1964, the album was re-released on the Mercury label as Cannon-ball & Coltrane, a more descriptive title to be sure as the chatter was aimed on the teaming of these greats, alto saxophonist Adderley and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. The band included the genius of pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

“Mr. Goines once told me that Coltrane was one of his biggest initial influences and that changed everything for him,” Garner says. “For me, it was Cannonball. When I first heard him, I said ‘Yeah, this is the guy.’”

When Goines first experienced the music of jazz giant, John Coltrane, he was studying with the ambition of becoming a classical clarinet player. Though he had heard great musicians in his hometown, Goines has said that after that, he more clearly understood the technical ability and proficiency that jazz demands and the freedom that it affords.

“Classical music didn’t really allow for that kind of freedom,” Goines explains. “You play what’s on the page. That became intriguing to me and something I wanted to pursue. I immediately became very intense about it, as I do with everything, and started finding every record that I could find that had to do John Coltrane and people – tenor players – who did what Coltrane did.”

Garner, a native and resident of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, got hip to Adderley and jazz after hearing the alto saxophonist’s now classic album, Somethin’ Else. He sees getting together with Goines for this project as a great opportunity noting that they are presenting this package for the first time. “It’s always an honor to play with Mr. Goines he’s incredible – as a musician, mentor, person – in every way.”

Garner and Goines will perform the entirety of the album that includes memorable cuts like the moving “You’re a Dream Weaver” and bustling “Limehouse Blues” plus other selections that the legends recorded together. The saxophonists will be backed by a rhythm section made up of young New Orleans residents including drummer Trenton O’Neal, bassist Stuart Coles and pianist Daniel Meinecke.

“Cannonball and Coltrane were the two greatest saxophonists of all times,” Goines declares. “You can’t get more special than that.”

At Snug Harbor the following night, Sunday, April 16, Goines will be leading a quintet boasting two longtime friends and musical bandmates. David Torkanowsky, who back in the day, Goines played with at the now defunct but well-remembered club, Nexus, mans the piano. Herlin Riley will be behind the drums as he was as a member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the trumpeter’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Goines was right there too, joining both ensembles in 1993 and still holds a seat with the orchestra. These guys clearly have some history. Bassist Jasen Weaver stands as the much-called upon young musician in the rhythm section who has played with Goines and more than likely Torkanowsky and Riley as well.

“We have a common repertoire,” Goines explains of his and Tork’s and Herlin’s musical lineage. “New Orleans is a whole repertoire in itself. My roots come from New Orleans,” he adds, saying the band will also be exploring some standards and more.”

“I’m so excited to be meeting and playing with Herlin and Torkanowsky,” Garner says with a sense of eager anticipation of his first time sharing a bandstand with these stalwarts.

Goines sums up his outlook on the wonders of jazz saying, “There are only two kinds of people. People who like jazz and those who haven’t heard it yet.”

Cornell, Big D and Jellybean – The Absolute Monster Gentlemen Go It Alone at Chickie Wah Wah

Bassist Cornell Williams, guitarist Derwin “Big D” Perkins and drummer Jeffrey “Jellybean” Alexander, who perform Sunday, April 16, at Chickie Wah Wah, remain best known in the secular music world as the extraordinary, longtime rhythm section for pianist/vocalist Jon Cleary. All three can really sing too and provided superb harmonies to some of Cleary’s biggest hits.

In the gospel world, Williams and Perkins were well-known long before Cleary “discovered” them. Since childhood, they were involved in gospel music and they performed with such noted groups as the Friendly Travelers and were often a part of the “house band” at the Jazz Fest’s Gospel Tent. Alexander was a fan of the Travelers and would often go and check them out. Williams and Perkins, who also used to go hear Jellybean playing on Bourbon Street, recruited the drummer for Cleary’s band.

These hugely talented guys’ gig is at 3 p.m. on Easter Sunday so it wouldn’t be surprising if they didn’t offer some gospel music in keeping with the holiday. There’s a crawfish boil to go along with the show so getting down to some funky rhythm and blues will surely be in the mix.

This article originally published in the April 10, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.