May 13--The last time singer-pianist Judy Roberts performed at the Jazz Showcase, the great Rusty Jones was playing drums.
That was in the spring of 2015, when Roberts -- who moved to Arizona in 2007 -- was kicking off her annual homecoming residency in Chicago.
But Jones, a universally beloved figure in Chicago jazz, died last December at age 73. So Roberts' return to the Showcase on Thursday night marked the end of a musical relationship with Jones that stretched back to the late 1960s.
"I hope I don't cry," Roberts said a few minutes before taking the stage.
She didn't, at least not outwardly. But Roberts and her quartet offered about as warm a tribute to Jones as was possible, focusing mostly on the tunes he loved to play -- and letting the music speak for itself.
Jones was a larger-than-life personality, onstage and off, the exuberance of his manner expressed equally in rhythm and conversation. As if to make the point, Roberts and friends opened the evening robustly, with a full-throttle account of "There Is No Greater Love" by Isham Jones, the eminent bandleader-songwriter who was Rusty Jones' great uncle.
Here was the essence of Jones' persona articulated in sound, the band playing big and conjuring the vigorous swing rhythm that was at the core of the drummer's work. Roberts' opening piano solo said a great deal about her affection for the man, her pianism deep into the keys, her rhapsodic passages stretching the full breadth of the keyboard, her sound immense. Though Roberts can play just about anything for any occasion, this all-out statement clearly was for Jones.
No Jones tribute worthy of the name could bypass reference to George Shearing, the ultra-elegant pianist-composer who often played Chicago's long-gone London House. That's where Roberts came to know him, encouraging Shearing to hire Jones -- and losing her drummer's services in the process. But Jones famously went on to collaborate with Shearing around the world, a development for which Roberts always felt grateful.
"Thank you, George Shearing, for taking on Rusty," she said to the crowd before launching into Shearing's most famous song, "Lullaby of Birdland."
After singing lyrics in her signature whispery way, Roberts again offered up an avalanche of notes on the piano, producing complex harmonies of a sort not often encountered.
"George Shearing taught me how to do these chords," she said between phrases, forging ahead with parallel harmonic movement in both hands. As she traded riffs with drummer Phil Gratteau, you almost could see her collaborating with Jones on that very stage, the two beaming at each other as they played.
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Roberts, however, wasn't the only one who had a long history with Jones, for saxophonist Greg Fishman, the pianist's husband, shared the bandstand with both musicians for years. As a teenager finding his way in jazz, Fishman early on befriended Jones, who became a lifelong mentor.
Fishman tipped his beret to Jones in Charles Lloyd's "Love Song to a Baby," a kind of lullaby in three-quarter time. For all the bonhomie of Jones' playing and personality, he loved jazz waltzes and ballads, and the quartet explored the subtle sides of the drummer's art with a soft and lovely reading of Lloyd's piece. Fishman's ornate flute solo showed delicacy and craft.
Elsewhere in the evening, the band touched upon Jones' partnership with pianist Marian McPartland in her classic "Twilight World," bassist Jim Cox's gently melodic playing quite appropriate for the tune and the occasion.
And in a solo performance of Isham Jones' "I'll See You in My Dreams," Roberts combined nostalgic sentiment with sophisticated harmony, playing at a hush, as if she were performing for her friend alone. What a privilege to listen in.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@tribpub.com
When: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday
Where: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Tickets: $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or www.jazzshowcase.com
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