Jan. 08--The winter season at the Jazz Showcase got off to an encouraging start Thursday evening, with one of Chicago's more magisterial tenor saxophonists reminding listeners of the plush beauty of his work.
Ari Brown remains a soft-spoken figure when he leans into the microphone to say a few, carefully chosen words. But once he picks up his horn, the sheer size and depth of his sound leave no doubt as to who's playing. If you're a Chicago jazz devotee and had your eyes closed, the first few notes to issue from Brown's saxophone clearly announced the larger-than-life presence of a hometown master.
Early in the set, Brown reminisced about the two-plus decades he spent touring with one of the greatest drummers of the 20th century, Elvin Jones. The rigors of that work kept Brown in fighting form, he told the audience, so much so that by the time he got home after each outing, "I felt so strong, as if I could tear the keys off the horn."
But Jones died in 2004, at age 76, and chances to hone one's art in that kind of hothouse environment are hard to come by, leaving Brown to assure the crowd he'd get fully warmed up as this four-night engagement unfolded. He needn't have offered the disclaimer, however, for even with a few rough edges, Brown's long-standing band had a great deal to say.
The saxophonist opened the evening intimately, leading a trio with bassist Yosef Ben Israel and drummer Avreeayl Ra in an old standard, "Secret Love." The tune inevitably evokes associations with Doris Day, whose famous recording bursts with sunshine, but Brown steeped it in shades of blue. His enormous sound, throaty tone and knack for unspooling phrases that seem to go on forever represented a distinctive response to a well-worn melody.
But that was just the beginning of Brown's discourse, the saxophonist soon putting the theme through profound transformations that illuminated his conversance with classic bebop. Unencumbered by piano accompaniment, Brown was free to take flight, venturing to far-off harmonic regions.
The work of post-bebop saxophone giants John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter long have served as icons for Brown (and for generations of jazz musicians), and he explicitly addressed his artistic debt to them in an original composition, "Wayne's Trane." Leading his quintet, with brother Kirk Brown on piano and Dr. Cuz on percussion, Ari Brown somehow merged the questing spirit of much of Coltrane's playing with the intricate, circuitous phrase-making that forms Shorter's signature.
Playing lines that relentlessly ascended in pitch and intensity, culminating with rasping cries in the stratosphere of his instrument, Brown gave searing testament to the musicians who have influenced him most. No wonder drummer Jones, who collaborated so brilliantly with Coltrane, had sought out Brown's work, its echoes of Coltrane's playing surely a balm to him.
In "Waltz of the Prophets," another original, Brown said he was paying homage to Eric Dolphy, though the wide-open intervals and heroic scope of Brown's playing proved autobiographical. Pianist Kirk Brown weighed in significantly here, the poetry of his right-hand lines and the overall seriousness of his solo befitting the occasion.
"That's the first time we did that tune in a while," Ari Brown told the audience. "Sorry you guys have to be guinea pigs, but we'll have it together by the end of the week."
In truth, it's already quite far along.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@tribpub.com
When: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4 and 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Tickets: $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or www.jazzshowcase.com
