Seattle Times Review of 2011 Jazz Port Townsend

Seattle Times jazz critic Paul de Barros wrote an informative review of Centrum's 2011 Jazz Port Townsend performances. He particularly liked the "8-Piece Sextet:"

"A bebopper's delight, the program featured an ad hoc group of musicians who had been teaching all week at a workshop that preceded the festival. Jokingly called an "8-Piece Sextet" (that ultimately had seven players — go figure), it fell effortlessly into a deep, toe-tapping groove.

The bespectacled, suit-clad drummer Matt Wilson had a lot to do with that, as he set a swingin' pace on Herbie Hancock's soulful shot, "Driftin'." [Paquito] D'Rivera, whose irresistibly silly humor fell somewhere between Dizzy Gillespie and Ricky Ricardo, pulled the crowd to its feet with a sparkling solo on "Corcovado." Trumpeter Terrell Stafford tore the lid off Gillespie's "Tour de Force" and Wilson answered with a solo that cleverly cast his bass drum against fields of silence. Pianist Benny Green rumbled over the edge of the earth into of the ether of pure sound."

Head over the SeattleTimes.com for the full write-up.

Top