Saturday, June 6 « Healdsburg Jazz Festival

Saturday, June 6

Randy Weston (Photo by Carol Freidman)

Randy Weston’s
African Rhythms Quintet

Location: Raven Performing Arts Theater
115 North Street

Time: 8 pm
Tickets: $35 / $50 Gold Circle

MC: Greg Bridges
Event Sponsor: Horizon Air
Green Room provided by Frank Howard Allen Realtors, Healdbsurg

“Weston’s playing embodies the whole history of the music, dating back to the Continent. His music is so deep and fresh, but it’s not so esoteric that the audience can’t feel very connected.” — San Jose Mercury News

One of the first American musicians to incorporate African musical forms into a jazz context, Randy Weston pioneered a fabulously rich sonic synthesis so far reaching that other artists are still sorting through the implications more than 40 years later. Using Thelonious Monk’s spiky keyboard style as a point of departure, Weston developed a sweeping, darkly romantic sound, and a knack for crafting tightly constructed, often rhythmically robust tunes, such as the standards “Hi Fly,” “Babe’s Blues,” “African Cookbook” and “Blue Moses.” At 82, Weston retains all his rhythmic power, probing lyricism and quiet charisma.

The African Rhythms Quintet is Weston’s latest vehicle for integrating the Old World rhythms with New World harmonic structures. Instead of the American trap drum set, the band features hand percussionist Neil Clarke providing grooves on a range of instruments. The group’s beautifully textured rhythmic sound is further enhanced by the idiosyncratic bass style of Alex Blake, an astonishing player who has honed a percussive, strumming technique.

Soaring over the rhythm section, there’s the deeply soulful alto saxophonist and flutist TK Blue, who’s been an essential Weston collaborator for more than two decades. New Orleans-born trombonist Benny Powell, who contributed classic solos on Count Basie’s 1957 hit “April In Paris,” traces his musical relationship with Weston even further, making the African Rhythms Quintet a family as much as a band.

For a preview of Randy Weston and African Rhythms Trio Live: