Feb. 06--Last March, the admired Chicago trumpeter Bobby Lewis underwent major back surgery, requiring months of recuperation and physical therapy.
On Thursday night he returned to the stage, kicking off a four-night run at the Jazz Showcase. Though Lewis has worked a few engagements as sideman to rebuild his stamina, this performance leading his quintet marked a new test of his energies, as well as a return to the room where he made his final appearance before going under the knife.
If you didn't know of Lewis' travails, you would have guessed that he had spent the past year simply playing his horn, just as he has done since moving to Chicago from his native Oshkosh, Wis., in 1961. All the signatures of Lewis' work were in place: warm tone, sleek phrasing, nimble technique and, above all, elegance of delivery. Surely this opening-night performance testified to both the wonders of modern medicine and the resilience of a great Chicago musician.
For at 79 Lewis played with equal parts buoyancy and control, the joy of his music palpable in every phrase, yet the man's even-tempered nature apparent in the characteristic understatement of his work. No one else past or present sounds like quite this, and you could recognize Lewis' distinctive tonal sheen and pervasively melodic impulses in just a few beats.
Lewis made his case convincingly from the outset, in the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer standard "Out of This World." The unhurried rhythms and silken melodic lines were pure Lewis, while the man's ability to deliver barely articulated, fast-flying notes that skittered over the surface of the ensemble's sound piqued the ear.
The band, indeed, was integral to the impact of this opening piece and the others that followed, Lewis' quintet firing on all cylinders from the outset. You could hear it most notably in saxophonist Pat Mallinger's front-line partnership with Lewis, the two men sharing unison lines with as much ease as precision. Add to this Jim Ryan's carefully voiced pianism, Larry Gray's all-encompassing virtuosity on bass and Jeff Stitely's crisp and alert drum work, and Lewis clearly was in very good company. When Lewis and Mallinger finessed the final phrases of "Out of This World" in tandem, minus the rhythm section, you knew that no warm-up was needed.
Lewis turned to flugelhorn on "Bahia," by the pre-bossa nova composer Ary Barroso, and forged melting lyric lines with Mallinger on alto saxophone. Both soloists dispatched phrases that floated over the beat in the Brazilian manner, an idiomatic way of playing that's harder to come by these days than one might imagine.
But there was muscle in the evening's music-making, as well, and in an unlikely place: Chuck Mangione's "Land of Make Believe," which Lewis recorded on his album "Inside this Song." Lewis opened gently, playing flugelhorn over a wash of romantic pianism from Ryan, taking his time in unspooling unmetered phrases. Once Mallinger began to solo on alto saxophone, though, the intensity factor leapt exponentially, a performance that had begun with a whisper now evolved into a roar.
Drummer Stitely, who's not heard often enough in Chicago clubs, turned in a solo rich in musical incident and meticulous in development of phrase and motif. When Lewis and the band returned to the fray in the final recap, it was clear how far they had ventured from Mangione's original.
Comebacks don't get much more appealing than this.
When: 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday; 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday
Where: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Tickets: $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or jazzshowcase.com
hreich@tribpub.com
Twitter @howardreich
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