Nov. 13--During the past decade, Orbert Davis and his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic have given listeners performances of a sort available nowhere else in American music.
From the multimedia sprawl of "The Chicago River" to the vividly pictorial scenes of "Havana Blue" to the brashly experimental sounds of "Collective Creativity," Davis' world-premiere scores have been presented on the grandest scale possible, performed by the 55-plus members of his CJP (and variations thereof).
That a start-from-scratch organization as ambitious as this should survive -- even flourish -- for fully a decade is cause for celebration. And that's precisely what Davis and colleagues have planned for this season, starting with a "CJP @ Ten" marathon concert Friday night at the Auditorium Theatre. The season-opening performance will revisit highlights of scores Davis has composed for his jazz-meets-classical band, as if to take stock of what has happened before pushing ahead into what comes next.
"It's sort of reflecting in an audio mirror," says Davis, who serves as artistic director, conductor, trumpet soloist and, of course, resident composer of the CJP.
"Think of it as a rewind button. One of the downsides of the way that we work is that we do these monstrous performances, and then they're over. Very rarely do I get to revisit music that we've played."
But that may be more a function of building an orchestral ensemble from the ground up than any peculiarities of the way the CJP operates. When Theodore Thomas launched the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1891 -- at the Auditorium Theatre -- he had a couple hundred years of symphonic repertory to choose from. The catalog for a jazz-classical crossbreed that performs what's often called Third Stream music was rather more slender.
Equally important, Davis was an interesting composer long before he and business partner Mark Ingram decided to invent the CJP. But once they did, Davis had at the tip of his baton an orchestral palette of the sort many musicians dream of but few manage to create.
Davis made maximum use of the opportunity, penning composition of vast stylistic range. The clarion horns of "Fanfare for Cloud Gate" (from "Collective Creativity") sound nothing like the plush pastels of "Sketches of Spain (Revisited)," which was inspired by the masterwork of Miles Davis (no relation) and Gil Evans. The ebullient Afro-Cuban spirit of "Havana Blue" draws on an entirely different set of colors and rhythmic ideas than the gritty tones of "The Chicago River," which depicts a rough-and-tough city on the make.
The "CJP @ Ten" concert will excerpt all of these works in its first half, the second portion featuring four noted Chicago singers as guest soloists: Dee Alexander, Bobbi Wilsyn, Terisa Griffin and Maggie Brown. Davis will close the evening with two more orchestral pieces: the melancholy "The Best of Jackson Payne" and Davis' rousing "Variations on 'A Train,'" his treatment of the Billy Strayhorn classic.
"At first, when I made the set (list), I said: 'Holy cow, it's a five-hour show!'" recalls Davis. "But it's actually not nearly that long -- it's a good amount of time for a concert. It's going to be an experience."
Considering that the evening also will include two tap dancers improvising to Davis' jazz arrangement of the "Hoe-down" movement from Aaron Copland's "Rodeo," that may be an understatement.
And what about the future? Shortly after the concert, Davis and a few CJP colleagues will head to Poznan, Poland, to work with young musicians there in a venture organized by the non-profit Jazz Institute of Chicago (a reunion after an earlier such trip several years ago). Then in December Davis and colleagues will make a return trip to Havana to develop music that will be presented in Chicago next year.
Not a bad way to mark a decade's work.
Also worth hearing
Bobby Broom: The Chicago guitarist returns to the spotlight at home after a busy period touring the country opening for Steely Dan. Broom surely will play music from his latest album, "My Shining Hour," sharing the stage with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Makaya McCraven. 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday; at the Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court; $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or jazzshowcase.com
Alfredo Rodriguez: The rising young pianist, who is being championed by Quincy Jones, plays his Chicago debut on the second season of the Jazz at the Logan series. He'll lead his trio. 7:30 p.m. Friday at the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St.; $35 general; $5 students; 773-702-2787 or ticketsweb.uchicago.edu
George Freeman/Mike Allemana: Two generations of Chicago jazz guitarists come together here, octogenarian Freeman (brother of saxophone legend Von Freeman) sharing the bandstand with prot駩-colleague Allemana. They're joined by organist Pete Benson and drummer Mike Schlick in the latest installment of the JazzCity series presented by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Park District. 7 p.m. Friday at Tuley Park, 501 E. 90th Pl.; free; 312-427-1676 or jazzinchicago.org
Pharez Whitted: A mighty Chicago trumpeter, Whitted will lead his quintet. 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; 773-878-5552 or greenmilljazz.com
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Orbert Davis' Chicago Jazz Philharmonic
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy.
Tickets: $27-$72; 800-982-2787 or auditoriumtheatre.org or chicagojazzphilharmonic.org
"Portraits in Jazz": Howard Reich's e-book collects his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and others, as well as profiles of early masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Get "Portraits in Jazz" at chicagotribune.com/ebooks.
