The Jazz Culture Feature
The Heath Brothers Quartet at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center
The Jazz Culture, VII:3
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The Heath Brothers Quartet By L. Hamanaka
Caught the Heath Brothers Quartet at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Friday, July 19, 2013 with Jimmy Heath, Tenor and soprano saxophones, Albert “Tootie” Heath, drums, Jeb Patton, piano, and David Wong, bass. The club is about two stories high with floor to ceiling windows on one wall. The Quartet took off with “A Harmonic Future” an original by Jimmy Heath, at about 132=quarter note, a song about harmony in the world, a groovy tune with an engaging melody, where Mr. Heath played a tenor solo that was a lyric plea, sometimes starting with a memorable lick trailed by scalar thoughts, sometimes using persistent rhythmic patterns, with a drumbeat effect starting on a high note and cascading downward. The impression was of expertly deft playing with perfect rhythmic support and counterrhythms from his brother Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums, adding sparks that flew through the dimly lit room, partially illuminated by the setting sun. Jeb Patton, in the middle register, played a
Albert "Tootie" Heath and Jimmy Heath 2
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couple of funky licks that he expanded with humor in well articulated lines and his own sound, inserting a lot of triplets. David Wong on bass had a full propulsive tone using short rhythmic licks through the lower to middle registers; able to select meaningful phrases that traveled through the changes. The group then traded 4’s. Tootie Heath then opened up the space during his solo and used the lower register of his drum set to dramatic effect, seeming to wake the room up as Jimmy Heath took the tune out like a clarion call. Mr. Jimmy Heath is a world famous musician, composer, arranger, and educator who also wrote a seminal book “I Walked with Giants,” available at Barnes & Noble, and with his brother Albert "Tootie" Heath epitomize the "band" concept (Mr. Patton has been with them a mere 13 years) with one of the longest and profoundly supportive relationships in music. “Project S” another original was next, based on Love for Sale. At about 200=quarter note, starting in minor, with a motif ascending like a stairway, and then a contrasting section with a wavelike melody. Mr. Jimmy Heath burned on his solo, showed a driving spirit, sometimes with a five note lick, long tones that seemed to fly over the rhythm section that he then expanded, playing off the rhythms of the standard. Jeb Patton played some intricate minor licks on different modes off the scale, inserted modal ideas and whole tone motifs, playing in tandem with the drummer, Mr. Tootie Heath, who did a furious drum solo evoking the street, building in intensity, but never got loud, with sudden stops, counterposing short and long licks on the drums. An exciting song with a good arrangement. Third was another jazz standard (“You or Me”) Mr. Heath composed over the changes of “There’ll Never Be Another You,” (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon) featuring David Wong, at a groovy tempo of about 138=quarter note. Mr. Wong had a bit of a mysterious aura in his performance (which at first was not really clear through the sound system, but got much better after the head), playing counterpoint contrasted by long tones, then some The Jazz Culture, V.II:3
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Albert "Tootie" Heath, Jimmy Heath and wife Mona
scalar runs, soloing for a couple of choruses and showing himself to be a talented and growing jazz artist. Jeb Patton then played a swinging solo which Albert Heath played with him, coming up a little in volume. This jazzy melody, kind of boppish sounding, sticks to you, especially when scatted by Mr. Jimmy Heath, which he treated the audience to on taking the tune out. He mentioned at this time that Dizzy Gillespie was his mentor and friend, and he and John Coltrane had started playing with Dizzy around 1949, and thanked Wynton Marsalis who named the club after Dizzy, and said it was a pleasure playing in a place named after him. The standard “Invitation” by Bronislaw Kaper followed, medium tempo, with the head played Latin and the solo section in a swing mode. Then on soprano saxophone Mr. Jimmy Heath played with great spiritual quality, like a seer, with a fat tone, a really exquisite swing with the intriguing drum framework set by Mr. Tootie Heath, who really does play “the whole drum truth.” Mr. Jimmy Heath knows how to play sinuously, widening or narrowing the tone at will, with a middle eastern haunting effect, which so suits the timbre of the soprano saxophone, with David Wong playing a steady swing to support. Mr. Jimmy Heath was using a lot of oddly numbered licks, floating on a tapestry of 4
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swing. Jeb Patton fully expressed his joyful personality, balancing long scalar passages with contrasting persistent rhythmic patterns that fit perfectly with the drummer’s ideas. A master who does not waste notes, Mr. Jimmy Heath has a unique sound on soprano saxophone, and took out the song on a short repeated phrase that was built into a crescendo by Albert Heath. Jeb Patton was featured on the next piece, an original of his, “Gigi” (about 126=quarter note) an unmistakably jazzy tune full of insouciance, a melody that has to swing in two sections. Mr. Patton double-timed on his solo, doing some double handed riffs, and inserting some blues lines toward the end. A groovy and charming song that shows he has listened to and played the jazz composers and is continuing the tradition. “You’ve Changed” was played as a ballad, starting with a column of descending triplets, rubato, with a radiant, sonorous sound that filled the room, Mr. Jimmy Heath’s notes ascending to an elegant spire, seeming to cry through the melody. Mr. Jimmy Heath’s solo was in double time, (from 68 to 140=quarter note), with brilliant 16th note passages. Mr. Patton played a lyrical solo
Jimmy Heath at the Louis Armstrong Museum The Jazz Culture, V.II:3
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up to the bridge, and then Mr. Jimmy Heath played the song to the finale with a suspended sound to the ending. A jazz calypso followed, “Fungi Mama,� leaving the crowd in a happy, celebratory mood. Audience members were bobbing their heads and shoulders, and clapped in time. Both Tootie and his brother Jimmy had wide smiles on their faces playing this song. The crowd applauded enthusiastically as they took the song out, and played the head of their theme song.
Another view of the Heath Brothers Quartet band
This band ofjazz brothers delighted audiences in Old Lyme, CT at a new club: David Glasser Quintet (alto) Alvester Garnett, (drums), Mark McGowan (trumpet), Larry Ham, (piano) David Glasser. Photo: Andrew Glasser 6
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