Gerald Veasley

Gerald VeasleyThe joyful jazz ambassador goes all in at the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest

“When you play live in front of an audience, they also inform the music with the energy they bring.”

By Ken Capobianco

JAZZ BASSIST GERALD VEASLEY

is not only one of the finest bass players of his generation, he’s also a jazz ambassador. The veteran bassist who has established a strong solo career after playing stints with the late Grover Washington Jr., the band Reverie and a variety of musicians including Joe Zawinul, will be one of the most prominent presences throughout the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest in April, spreading his love of jazz through multiple performances and tributes.

One of the rare players of the six-string bass, Veasley will co-lead the Chuck Loeb Memorial All-Star Jam with Rick Braun, participate in the celebration of the music of both Grover Washington Jr. and Weather Report, which was led by Veasley’s mentor, Zawinul, and play his tribute show to Nina Simone with Carol Riddick. All this in addition to hosting his “Unscripted Midnight Jam” shows with an array of jazz’s most vital players.

An expansive list of performances, indeed.

“The diverse experiences the festival offers to me is second to none. This year touches on some of my major influences,” Veasley said via phone recently from his home in Philadelphia. “John Ernesto, the [festival’s] general manager, is really good at finding unique things to present in addition to the fan favorites, who are the bedrocks of a festival. He’s a risk taker who will present things you wouldn’t see anywhere else. I also love to perform with musicians who are not only my colleagues but my friends, so every year at Berks, I get to see my friends who I might not see the rest of the year.

“And I also have gotten to know the volunteers and the staff at Berks after going to the festival the last 27 or 28 years. The people who make the fest go behind the scenes, they are friends of mine, so it’s like coming home.”

The 63-year-old bassist, who spent nearly a decade playing with both Zawinul and Washington Jr., respectively, says his appearance this year will be particularly meaningful because he will get to celebrate the lives and music of the men who helped him define his identity as a musician.

“This year’s festival is probably above all the others for me,” he said. “To perform the music of Weather Report is beyond words. Jason Miles has done a great job of pulling musicians together and coming up with arrangements that are organic and work in a live setting. I had the pleasure of playing with the co-founder of Weather Report, Joe Zawinul, for eight years. I learned so much

from him as a musician and as a person. To play this music, which has informed so much of what I do and my career, is very special to me.

“And I can say the same thing about playing the music of Grover. With the celebration of Grover Washington’s music, we will have some great saxophonists that night––Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright and Andy Snitzer—these are friends of mine. We are bringing together Grover’s last live band. We were all with Grover on the day he passed away. We were together in the television studio in New York. We said our goodbyes. We said, ‘See you next week’ because we had rehearsal, and then we got the news that Grover had collapsed in the dressing room, and that shifted everyone’s life forever. This show at Berks is very, very significant. It’s not really a tribute because these are people who knew and loved the artist on a deeper level.”

The immensely articulate and friendly Veasley speaks like your favorite university professor, and, predictably, he takes part in Berks’ yearly Get JazzED program, which advances musical education and performance for young people. It’s something he looks forward to each year. “Last year I presented a workshop at some high schools. I’ll do that again, and, of course, one of the best ways a young player gets to learn is to play along with professionals. For me, those experiences go into the category of fun and rewarding.”

When he’s not spreading his love of jazz through instruction or mentoring, Veasley does it through his artistry. He’s released 11 solo records that display his diverse musical palette, which ranges from smooth jazz to traditional jazz to funk to fusion to R&B.

His latest release, the fine Live at South in 2018, is an excellent showcase for his songwriting and his band’s stellar playing as they traverse genres with vibrancy and intensity. “One of the beautiful things about having a working band is you develop a vocabulary and rapport among the players, so when you are playing or preparing to play, you don’t have to talk about what you intend to do. You just do it intuitively. I wanted to capture that great rapport and do it in front of an audience,” Veasley said about the album.“When you play live in front of an audience, they also inform the music with the energy they bring. This is my second live album. I wanted to capture the voice of my band live that you can’t necessarily do in the studio. The improvised solos tend to be more adventurous, the energy is higher. When you are in the studio making a record, you can be a little self-aware. You take more chances onstage. That’s what I wanted for that record. That said, I love being in the studio and recording with others, so a studio record will be next.”

Veasley, who co-curates the Unscripted Jazz Series at SOUTH— a Southern-inspired supper club, bar and jazz venue in Philadelphia— with his wife Roxanne, is also president of the jazz community

building initiative Jazz Philadelphia, and serves as the artistic director and founder of Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp, an annual event geared toward educating aspiring bassists and giving them the opportunity to develop their chops in intensive sessions with professional musicians. While he thought the Boot Camp would be a great opportunity for younger musicians, the primary participants turned out to be much older. “My initial thought in founding the organization in 2002 was we’d get a lot of young players right at the precipice of becoming professional, and that’s exactly who doesn’t come,” he said. “A lot of young players are at that point in their lives where they’re too busy hustling for gigs; they don’t hit the pause button for a deeper learning experience. “We find a lot of people who have lived their lives, raised families, built their businesses and are thinking, ‘OK, what’s “With the next for me? What’s going to celebration keep me satisfied?’ And, they pull out their bass or pick it up for of Grover the first time. So, we give those Washington’s music, we will have some great people something different than saxophonists that night—Kirk Whalum, Gerald what I’d give a younger player. Albright and Andy Snitzer—these are friends of mine. We give those folks confidence.” We are bringing together Grover’s last live band.” Veasley’s desire to spread his love of music can be best summed up by something he was told by drummer Omar Hakim. “I met Omar at the North Sea Jazz Festival. I watched him play and went up and spoke to him. I didn’t know how to explain how his music moved me. He said that his approach to music is when you are experiencing joy and you share that joy with the audience, it’s beyond criticism. And that’s what I’ve come to embrace. I’m of the same mind. “When I perform, it’s about how much can I give, because someone in the audience might have just gotten a bad diagnosis or be on the precipice of divorce or have kids in trouble, and tonight is their respite from all that. So, when you come from a space of wanting to contribute to people’s lives, it gets beyond measurement, and you are giving the best of yourself. It all comes back to joy.” Veasley is scheduled to perform at the following shows during the 29th Annual Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest at various venues throughout Berks County, Pennsylvania: Gerald Veasley’s “Unscripted Midnight Jam:” April 5, 6, 12, 13; “I Got Life: The Music of Nina Simone” featuring Veasley and Carol Riddick, April 6; RMF Project Penske Jazz Jam, April 8; Chuck Loeb Memorial All-Star Jam, April 11; Celebrating the Music of Weather Report, April 12; and “Remembering Grover at 75,” April 13. For more information on Veasley, visit www.geraldveasley.com. For tickets or more information on the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest, visit www.berksjazzfest.com.