A bona fide giant, Lou Donaldson’s blistering alto
saxophone style tells the entire story of mainstream
jazz. He can dazzle with furious, Charlie Parker-derived
bebop runs, dig deep into tasty, blues-based club
grooves and soothe the soul with seriously beautiful
ballads. A trailblazer of the Blue Note Records sound,
Donaldson also came in on the ground floor of the
soul-jazz movement, crafting a crowd-pleasing style
while never losing sight of his bop roots. As a
bandleader, Donaldson helped launch the careers of
George Benson, Dr. Lonnie Smith and many others on hit
albums such as Alligator Boogaloo and
Midnight Creeper. He still plays with the same
power and dexterity of his youth, while bringing a
hearty sense of humor to the bandstand.
“He remains
the leading exponent of this soul-jazz approach. Yet
even at its bluesiest, his playing remains informed by
bebop.”
The New York Times
“The
octogenarian virtuoso has lost little to the passing
decades.”
The Chicago Tribune
Lou Donaldson has been around for decades and crafted a career that has
gone from bebop to funk and back again. He’s 83 years of age, tells humorous
tales, cracks himself up, sings with a sly sense of pacing and plays his
alto saxophone with a subtle clarity. If his instrument could talk, it would
do so with perfect diction and a salty vocabulary.
The roll-call of Donaldson’s accompanists during his career is truly
impressive. The organ lineups included such luminaries as John Patton,
Charles Earland and Dr. Lonnie Smith, while drummers Art Taylor, Idris
Muhammad and Bernard Purdie provided the pulse, as guitarists Grant Green,
George Benson and Melvin Sparks picked and rolled around the rhythm.
His current lineup is also a strong one. Organist Akiko Tsuruga is the
most recent addition to Donaldson’s group, first playing with the leader in
2007. But she has already proven herself to be a great addition, playing
with a beguiling blend of passion and precision.
Drummer Fukushi Tainaka, who counts master percussionists Philly Joe
Jones and Louis Hayes amongst his mentors, has played with Donaldson off and
on since 1986, while guitarist Randy Johnston’s Grant Green style of playing
has been a frequent feature of the group in the past few years.
Saturday night’s concert in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery found Donaldson
and his group performing in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
They vigorously applauded “Blues Walk,” Donaldson’s theme song, and
chortled as he promised that the rest of the evening would contain “no
fusion, no confusion,” just straight-ahead bebop-inflected jazz.
True to his word, Donaldson played a lot of material that was semi-fresh
when he first came up in the 1950s and has since morphed into standards
territory. Songs like “Whee,” crafted by Donaldson’s idol, Charlie Parker,
led into “What a Wonderful World,” which he dedicated to “the world’s
greatest jazz musician,” Louis Armstrong.
Then came “Fast and Freaky,” a drum showpiece for Tainaka, and the bluesy
“Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman,” during which Donaldson sang and joked between
bouts of alto playing. Later in the evening, sonic jumps between decades
somehow managed to flow together with ease.
“Alligator Boogaloo,” his first big hit in the funk era of the late
1960s, was followed by “Autumn in New York,” a chestnut from the 1930s,
while the Mercer Ellington classic “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” from
1942, sounded perfectly natural next to the ’50s era “Secret Love,” the one
tune in the set during which Donaldson sat out, letting the trio display its
talents.
Concert Review
Lou Donaldson Quartet
Sunday, November 22, 2009
To the Lou Donaldson Quartet at the Albright-Knox last night, the
second concert in the
Hunt Real Estate
Art of Jazz series. Bruce Eaton has been producing these shows for
eleven years, and we haven't been disappointed yet. Donaldson is 82,
looks 20 years younger, and plays even younger than that, in a
blues-funk mode informed by both swing and bebop. What really impressed
us was the tight professionalism of his band, which roared into the set
and never let up. The guitarist, Randy Johnston, was so good I lost
track, amazingly fast, with a great tone and clear articulation.
Interestingly two members of the band are Japanese. Fukushi Tainaka, the
drummer, was tasteful and exuberant, but the real revelation, for me,
was Akiko Tsuruga on the
Hammond B-3. She was just loving every moment, and wailing. Sax/Organ
combos are popular in Buffalo-- years back there were a number of clubs
on Main Street and on the East Side, and Donaldson was a regular at
them. The one that is recalled today was
the Pine Grill, but Donaldson mentioned several others. This is only
the second show in 11 years of the series that has featured the B-3, but
for the second time the audience was more heavily African-American than
is usual at these concerts. That chitlin circuit sound works best live,
when it can really rumble you, and I have to wonder how a woman growing
up in Osaka found her way into this music.
Jazz resources don’t come much more precious these days than Lou
Donaldson. And don’t even think of just consigning him only to
status as Soul Jazz Royalty either (though he’s all of that, in the
music that once held such sway at places like the Pine Grille and
the Bon-Ton).
It’s in the world of bebop, really, that Donaldson is one of the
remaining wonders of the world. He isn’t exactly the last man
standing (if you’ll forgive the military phrase), but he’s certainly
one of very few.
He is, at 83, one of the truly great active figures in hard bop.
He was born Nov. 3, 1926, which means that he has long outlived his
near-exact contemporaries Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Only Randy
Weston, among the jazz luminaries of 1926, continues to be a
conspicuous presence in jazz. (And even they are soundly thrashed by
pianist Hank Jones, still releasing discs in his 90s.)
Where his soul jazz beauties were once the staples of chitlin
circuit jukeboxes and those in the better bars all over America,
Donaldson is one of the last touring direct links to the alto
saxophone style Charlie Parker gave to everyone from Sonny Stitt to
Phil Woods and Cannonball Adderly.
And if you’re not prepared for how good Donaldson can be in that
style, he can knock you out of your socks.
He’s one of the great additions to the Albright-Knox Gallery Hunt
Real Estate Art of Jazz series this year.
Appearing with the truly venerable jazz alto saxophonist at 8 p.
m. Saturday is guitarist Randy Johnston, Hammond B-3 organist Akiko
Tsuruga and drummer Fukushi Tainaka. Those last two names of
Japanese musicians should tell you how deeply immersed an entire
world has become in the kind of music of which Donaldson has become
one of the great living apostles.
At 7 p. m., series programmer Bruce Eaton will discuss
“Preserving Buffalo’s Jazz History” with Al Wallack, former music
director of WNED-AM, and local band-leader and radio personality
Macy Favor. Wallack will talk about his efforts to document the life
of the late Buffalo bebop pianist Al Tinney on film and Favor will
discus the history initiatives of Buffalo’s Colored Musician’s
Club.•
PREVIEW
WHO: Art of Jazz Series with the Lou Donaldson Quartet
WHEN: 8 p. m. Saturday (preconcert talk at 7 p. m.)
WHERE: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave.
Definitely the most exciting
event (for me) of the festival was the chance to see Lou
Donaldson and
Bobby Hutcherson live at the
Crystal Ballroom. This
double billed event (with the exception of McCoy Tyner on the
previous weekend) was the biggest highlight of earlier generation
Blue Note artists.
Artistic
Director of PDX
Jazz, Bill Royston,
introduced Lou Donaldson as he entered the stage with his organ
quartet. A fine establishment of musicians consisting of Lou,
the organ, drums and guitar. This was as close as one is going
to get as to seeing a band with the same nature as say Grant
Green or Jimmy Smith. Before playing their initial theme Lou
introduced the band and started again with his humorous rants.
"Today you are going to see jazz, not fusion, not confusion, but
jazz," he would say, "not snoop doggie dog or 50 Cent who aint
worth a quarter."
For me the highlight of his
set was when he played Ray Noble's composition
Cherokee.
While Donaldson played the melody and every harmonizing note
around it, the group vamped the chords in support. I never quite
heard it that way and it was one of the best interpretations of
the tune that I have listened to. He also sang a couple blues
pieces. One about a woman who drank a lot of whiskey and the
other -- if I'm remembering the lyrics corectly -- about dreams
and then reality having an ironic twist in opposition to the
dreams. Both with clever puns and silly rhymes to match Lou's
personality.
Before Bobby Hutcherson took
the stage
Howard Mandel came up to
introduce him. Hutcherson didn't look too hot as he has been
suffering from emphysema. Regardless of that, after a couple of
compositions he certainly had gotten into the mode. Rather than
the more technical, bebop and soul jazz stylings of Lou's set
(and there wasn't anything non-technical about Hutcherson's),
his was more physical and throught provoking. Definitely
allowing the audience to have a more transcendent experience.
The highlight for me was when Hutcherson played Coltrane's
Spiritual.
Seeing a legend who had recording amazing albums for Blue Note
play one of my favorite Coltrane compositions was an exceptional
delight. And he played it good, really good.
It was a great festival this year. It's hard to say if it was
better than last years giving my awesome experience with my
favorite, Ornette Coleman; but I guess you can't compare the
too. Alls I know is that festivals with headliners like this are
going to become more and more rare. I also have to give a shout
out to the Operations Director of PDX Jazz, Brad Nelson, who was
gracious enough to supply me with a couple of tickets to this
event.
The
second talk I attended for the 2009
Portland Jazz Festival
was a conversation with Lou
Donaldson
at the PCPA
Art Bar. It was moderated by Larry Appelbaum of JazzTimes
for a piece called "Before and After." Appelbaum described this to
the audience as a blind fold test where tracks were played and Lou
was meant to discuss them and share his wealth of knowledge. Out of
the 11 songs displayed, he was able to identify, I'd say at least
nine of the horn players on them. Being 82 years old and the oldest
living Blue Note artist, he had quite the opinion to share about
each tune -- old and new, positive and negative.
Rather than talk about each song played and Donaldson's input
I'll just share his personality and some of his knowledge (I'll
let the article in
JazzTimes
elaborate further about the tracks). First of all, Donaldson
doesn't look anything like 82 years old, he could pass for an
early 70s, perhaps even late, late 60s. He's been on the scene
since his military days playing clarinet for the Navy Band in
Chicago during the 1940s. That's when he first heard Bird and
was inspired to toss his clarinet into the water and stick to
alto. "I'm a Parker man, everything else is just sax playing,"
he said as he further discussed Parker's tone and how he would
move around the chords. I was surprised to hear some of
Donaldson's opinions on a lot of other musicians of his era.
Most of them quite low, but you couldn't help to not judge him
-- even though he was trashing some of my favorites like
Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Eric Dolphy
-- This man has been around and his expressions of these artists
are more authentic and sincere than mine or any jazz critic.
For
example, Lou stated you can't play jazz unless you can play the
blues. I'd say that's a fair assessment. However, when asked
about Coltrane he said Coltrane could never play the blues.
Right there he just proclaimed Coltrane couldn't play jazz. But
who cares! It's Lou Donaldson and his thoughts were absolutely
brilliant. Another example is he said Monk was a terrible
performer. That he was a genius bop composer but couldn't play
greatly -- another pretty wild fact to state. Again, if this was
a random local at the pub telling me this I would argue them
into the ground, but Lou Donaldson was there. He knew these
guys. He recorded hit records on Blue Note. So one has to take
these words with sheer credibility.
I did
get some homework from this talk. When talking about Hank
Crawford, Donaldson noted his favorite album of his was
Misty. And
when asked what his top five all time favorite records were, Lou
was hesitant to list them, but did mention
Flying Home
by Illinois Jacquet as the greatest he had ever heard, but not
in his top five. These are added to my list of records to get.
At Age 82, Still Serving Up Jazz With Soul
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
JAZZMAN
Lou Donaldson at the Newark Museum last
month.
By PHILLIP LUTZ
Published: August 7, 2009
THE alto saxophonist
Lou
Donaldson burst on the jazz scene around
1950 with a bebop style that many listeners
likened to
Charlie Parker’s. A few years later, he
adopted a more basic blues approach that
evolved into a popular, and profitable, jazz
corollary to the work of soul singers like
James Brown.
Today, at 82, he remains a leading
exponent of this soul-jazz approach. But
even at its bluesiest, his playing remains
informed by bebop. If the economics allowed
it, he said, he would delve more into the
bop canon.
“I’d like to be playing that every
night,” he said. “But unfortunately, that’s
not the case today.” At most of his outdoor
concerts, he said, the audience demands his
soul-jazz favorites — and he delivers. Those
favorites, he said, will figure prominently
on Aug. 18, when he brings his quartet to
Mount Vernon for a free set, produced by
Jazz
Forum Arts and
Jazzmobile, in City Hall Plaza.
The Mount Vernon performance, he said,
will closely resemble the quartet’s
lunchtime show for more than 800 people late
last month in the garden of the
Newark Museum. It will be heavy on the
kind of 12-bar blues and free-flowing patter
to which Mr. Donaldson’s fans have become
accustomed.
And like most of his shows, the Mount
Vernon one will begin with his theme, “Blues
Walk.” Recorded in 1958, the piece
anticipated the soulful turn his sound would
take a decade later, when he released his
biggest seller, “Alligator Boogaloo.”
By the time Mr. Donaldson serves up what
he calls “sufferin’ music” — down-home blues
like “Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman” and “It Was a
Dream” — the audience is usually under his
sway. On these tunes, he tends to sing
lustily but play sparingly, leaving the
improvisational heavy lifting to the
guitarist
Randy
Johnston, his sideman off and on for
nearly 12 years.
During a typical afternoon concert, Mr.
Donaldson will also yield center stage to
Akiko
Tsuruga on the Hammond B3 organ and
Fukushi Tainaka on the drums. But at all
times, Mr. Donaldson looms large, liberally
sprinkling musical quotations throughout his
performances.
If the Newark show was any indication,
the audience in Mount Vernon may hear
fragments of “The Continental” in “Bye Bye
Blackbird”; “Can’t Help Loving That Man of
Mine” in “Fast and Freaky,” a Donaldson
original; or “Rhapsody in Blue” in the
Dizzy Gillespie composition “Wee.”
Introducing the Ray Noble classic
“Cherokee,” his standard closer, to the
Newark audience, he joked that Parker’s
1940s version had “discouraged a lot of
people from playing the saxophone.” He then
launched into a blisteringly up-tempo
rendition, complete with unaccompanied
choruses that recalled the sustained
brilliance of Parker at his most daring.
For all his loquaciousness onstage, Mr.
Donaldson cuts a modest figure offstage. The
scene after the concert last month — a small
crowd of autograph-seekers and friends like
the poet
Amiri Baraka — was typical of Mr.
Donaldson’s encounters all over the New York
City area. In Mount Vernon, he will count
among his longtime friends and admirers
Robin Bell-Stevens, the president and chief
executive officer of Jazzmobile, who is a
local resident, and Mark Morganelli, the
executive director of Jazz Forum Arts.
Both organizations have cut the number of
shows they are presenting amid the economic
downturn. But the executives said they
remained awed by Mr. Donaldson’s longevity
and lucidity, and that booking him for the
Mount Vernon date, Jazzmobile’s only show
outside New York City this summer, was an
easy decision.
“He’s a living legend,” Mr. Morganelli
said.
The Lou Donaldson Quartet will perform
on Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. at City Hall
Plaza, Mount Vernon. Free. Information:
jazzforumarts.org or (914) 674-2005.
Lou Donaldson, the
Charlie parker devotee and longtime progenitor of hard-bop/soul-jazz, has
been on the performance trail since the early ‘50s and remains a vital force
in generating instant fun. He coolly strolled into Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
three-minutes after the scheduled starting time, disappearing offstage to
huddle with guitarist Randy Johnston, organist Akiko Tsuruga and drummer
Fukushi Tainaka. Standing stout as a fire hydrant in stature and in tone,
his alto playing remains raw-edged and smoky. As strong as his playing
remains at age 82, it’s his personality that lights up the stage in a
memorable fashion. His between song banter, although practiced and
repetitive at time if you’ve attended previous appearance, is comical and no
one cared this night when he told the same joke twice “The music tonight is
straight-up, no fusion, no confusion.” He also urged the listeners to buy
his records because, “We need the money!”
Opening strong with his
classic tune “Blues Walk,” done up in all its funky, bluesy finest,
Donaldson dictated from the first robust blast of his born that there was
plenty of good times to come.
Denzil
Best’s “Wee,” performed at blitzkrieg pace, left the audience and
saxophonist winded. An all too short, jacked-up Tsuruga organ solo was
included and a fan favorite. Tainaka also scored high on an early drum solo
that was, in keeping with the night’s theme, playful yet effective, leading
Donaldson to note that it contained some Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Max
Roach and a little Fukushi Tainaka. The leader mixed up the set with the use
of his secret weapon, an impossibly hoarse, itchy voice that finished off
Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” with an on the mark rendition of
Satchmo’s trademark husky singing. He next sang a comical ditty about
Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, but it was unclear which pharmaceutical company
was backing him as spokesman. After thanking the responsive audience for
enjoying his “classical jazz singing,” he graciously introduced an old
friend up from Washington, D.C., singer George V. Johnson who elegantly sang
two tunes a la Johnny Hartman. Donaldson’s ultimate crowd-pleaser, the
infectious, funk-fest “Alligator Bogaloo,” finished off the first set and
was proclaimed to be a “Big hit in Afghanistan.”
Donaldson has enjoyed a
long association with the organ and his current player, Tsuruga, is
deserving of special mention. Growing up in Osaka, Japan, she digested all
the Wynton Kelly and Hampton Hawes she could find, emerging as Japan’s first
major jazz organist. After moving to NY, she was found by Donaldson in a
Harlem jazz club. The petite organist’s playing is so wrought with the blues
and soul that it’s hard to fathom since her formative years were not seeped
in that tradition. Her emergence has led to an upstart of budding jazz
organists back in Japan.
Between sets, Donaldson
hunkered down over a tree trunk-sized plank of fried catfish and spoke names
for themselves along the rich history of the music. Never one to pull
punches; he’s the same on stage as hi is off it, turning out to be as mush a
character as the legendary musicians he tells tales about.
Lou Donaldson is one of the most respect alto player with a career
spanning over a half a century performing bebop, hard-bop and soul
jazz. The Lou Donaldson Quartet featuring Randy Johnston on guitar,
Akiko Tsuruga on organ, Fukushi Tainaka on drums along with Lou on
alto sax will perform at the Dizzy's Jazz Club in New York on
Tuesday, January 27th through Sunday, February 1st.
An 'old school' player, the octogenarian Donaldson states that his
playing style is a cross between Charlie Parker and Johnny Hodges,
adding, “you know, the people that I listened to when I was coming
up”. The great jazz pianist, Horace Parlan said of Donaldson, "One
of the unique qualities of Lou's work is that he incorporates a
great deal of the whole jazz tradition in his playing. He's listened
to just about everyone, and not only alto players. With this
knowledge of the entire jazz language, Lou is definitely an
individual voice."
A pioneer of the jazz organ combo, Lou had four distinct groups
that he would use for the organ sound: one group was John Patton on
organ, Bill Hardman on trumpet, Grant Green on guitar, and Ben Dixon
on drums. Another group was Lonnie Smith on organ, Billy Kaye on
drums, Mark Elf on guitar -- and sometimes Melvin Sparks on guitar,
and Joe Dukes on drums -- possibly the greatest organ drummer of all
times. Later he had another group with Caesar Frazier on organ, Eric
Johnson on guitar, and Billy Kaye on drums. Another of Lou’s groups
had Charles Earland on organ, Jimmy Ponder on guitar, Blue Mitchell
on trumpet, and Idris Muhammad on drums.
Akiko Tsuruga
The newest member of Lou's current quartet, filling in the large
shoes of her mentor, Dr. Lonnie Smith (who was Donaldson's organist
for many years) is the talented, New York City based Hammond
Organist and pianist, Akiko Tsuruga. Akiko has become an 'in demand'
player since arriving from her hometown of Osaka, Japan in 2001.
After arriving in New York, Akiko established herself as one of the
area’s top organist /pianists. Her trio featuring guitarist Eric
Johnson and drummer Vincent Ector has been one of the area’s top
groups, working at many jazz nightclubs including Dizzy’s (at
Lincoln center) and The Blue Note. Her trio also plays
private parties and summer outdoor concerts. Her long awaited debut
CD, “Harlem Dreams” featuring Grady Tate and Frank Wess was
released in Japan on the M&I Company label on 2004. "Sweet and
Funky", Akiko's first release in the US and Canada and her
second in Japan, has been receiving rave reviews. It has reached #13
on the jazz radio charts and received a four-star review from
Downbeat magazine.
"I don't care what kind of style a group plays as long as they
settle into a groove where the rhythm keeps building instead of
changing around. It's like the way an African hits a drum. He hits
it a certain way, and after a period of time, you feel it more than
you did when he first started. He's playing the same thing, but the
quality is different -- it's settled into a groove. It's like settin'
tobacco in a pipe. You put some heat on it and make it expand. After
a while, it's there. It's tight." - Lou Donaldson
Dizzy's is located at
Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Broadway at 60th
Street, on the 5th Floor. For Reservations Call: 212 258-9595 or
-9795. Seating is available on a first-come first-served basis
either at tables or at the bar. For more information, visit:
www.jalc.org/dccc
Jazz at Lincoln Center is a
not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the
world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and a comprehensive
array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique
vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing
a year-round schedule of performance, education and broadcast events
for audiences of all ages.
In 1939, two German-Jewish immigrants, Alfred Lion and
Francis Wolff, started a record label, Blue Note, devoted to
jazz. Seventy years later, it’s still in business, both with
its amazing and essential reissues of its back catalogue—one
of the crucial libraries of modern jazz—and its recordings
of contemporary artists.
Last night, at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, at Jazz at Lincoln
Center, the label threw itself a bash to celebrate both its
seventieth year and the twenty-fifth anniversary of its
relaunch under its current president, Bruce Lundvall, who
spoke movingly about his lifelong love of jazz, starting in
the nineteen-forties, when he redeemed bottles to buy used
78s. The centerpiece of the festivities was a performance by
one of the label’s longtime mainstays, the
eighty-two-year-old pop-jazz alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson,
who played four tunes and was joined on three of them by his
former longtime bandmate, the organist Dr. Lonnie Smith,
whose funky yet mercurial burblings were the evening’s
musical highlight. Even in his earliest days as a bebopper
alongside Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, and Clifford Brown,
Donaldson was no innovator, but a smooth popularizer, who
truly found his musical voice with the R. & B.-inflected “Blues
Walk,” from 1958, and went on to record such albums as “Mr.
Shing-A-Ling” and “Alligator
Bogaloo.”
As
Donaldson’s winsome performance made clear last night, he’s
an entertainer, who punctuates the music with bandstand
shtick of the highest order, a scintillating, engaging
raconteur whose wise and hearty humor displays flashes of
the hard and wild night life of his younger years and a
depth of experience that lends his derivative music its
authentic substance. Donaldson and his regular band is
at the same venue now through Feb. 1st.
In an earlier era, jazz musicians didn't play just their
instruments—they played the audience.
Reaching out to listeners with casual repartee, they took pains to
make a sometimes elusive music that much more accessible.
Perhaps no veteran jazz artist working today epitomizes this
tradition more charmingly than alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, who
drew smiles for his stage banter and ovations for his instrumental
prowess Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase.
"This is not for fusion artists; this is not for confusion artists,"
Donaldson quipped before launching into a characteristically complex
number.
"You have to practice to play this kind of music."
Indeed you do—not that practice alone will vault many altoists into
Donaldson's league. A bebop veteran whose gleaming tone and bluesy
sensibility always distinguished him from peers, the octogenarian
virtuoso has lost little to the passing decades.
He proved as much with his opening number, "Blues Walk," a cocky,
strutting tune that has served as an anthem for him for roughly half
a century. To this day, though, Donaldson infuses it with the
slightly overripe timbre and plaintively sighing phrases that are
his musical signatures. With an organ swelling behind him, Donaldson
played as if the late '50s and early '60s—his heyday—never went
away.
If Donaldson's band didn't match his level of intensity or technical
mastery, at least organist Akiko Tsuruga, drummer Fukushi Tainaka
and guitarist Eric Johnson didn't get in the way.
The Lou Donaldson Quartet plays at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Saturday; 4 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Sunday at the Jazz Showcase,
806 S. Plymouth Ct.,; $20; 312-360-0234.
Lou Donaldson has a sugar mama, and her name is Madonna.
The 81-year-old alto saxophonist has never met the Material
Girl, nor heard much of her music. He doesn't know which Madonna
song sampled his music -- triggering the royalty checks he gets
now -- or, for that matter, which tune she sampled.
"There's
about 15 or 20 acts that have done it but Madonna is the big
one, her and Mary J. Blige. I'm not bragging, but I've made some
money off it. I don't have to work if I don't want to,"
Donaldson said by phone from his New York City apartment.
But there's never been any question about Lou Donaldson going
to work. Even as he spoke of Madonna and Mary J., he was packing
his bags to play a jazz cruise, then take his quartet to Chicago
for four nights before arriving in Minneapolis to play the
Dakota Jazz Club on Monday and Tuesday. He's been a road warrior
for more than half a century, and constantly putting himself in
front of an audience has shaped the way he sounds.
Like almost every altoist who emerged in the 1950s,
Donaldson's style is indebted to the torrid bebop flights of
Charlie Parker. His early recordings and musical associations
were with seminal boppers such as Horace Silver, Art Blakey and
Thelonious Monk, but Donaldson, who was born and raised in rural
North Carolina, didn't want to stay put in the city. So he
worked the phones along with a like-minded guitarist and another
guy moonlighting from a booking agency and built his own
itinerary.
"I was in clubs nobody was working but me, what I call 'ghetto
clubs' in black neighborhoods, a circuit from New York to
California," he said. "We had Rochester, Buffalo, Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, down south and out west; we played about 20 clubs
twice a year. It wasn't a lot of money, but it kept us busy. But
that bebop didn't work right away in the ghetto clubs, and so we
had to moderate it down, like in the chitlin circuit. They
wanted to hear the blues and some swing -- danceable music. Once
I got them in my corner, then I could sneak in some of that
other stuff."
Then in the mid-1960s, "everyone had started
using Fender basses and electric pianos," Donaldson explained.
"But there was a problem getting amplification in some of these
clubs that didn't have the electrical setup. So that's when I
started working with a B-3 [organist]."
Pop hits and cover songs
The serendipitous result was Donaldson's now-classic blend of
razor-sharp bop and down-home blues and gospel. His rich tone
has always been sweeter than that of most other Parker acolytes,
and meshes well with the soulful but funky bottom generated by
the rumbling organ. Taking advantage of the organ-jazz vogue,
Donaldson wrote two pop hits during the '60s, "Alligator
Boogaloo" and "Midnight Creeper," which, along with another
minor hit, "Blues Walk," are still part of his repertoire.
And then there are the samples. Donaldson said that when
Liberty Records bought out the Blue Note label in the late '60s,
"they had people who suggested we do cover tunes. They were
paying good money -- Blue Note had just paid us scale -- so we
did it." One of those covers, of the Isley Brothers' "It's Your
Thing," includes the riff sampled by Madonna, as well as by
rappers De La Soul and Brand Nubian.
Donaldson has kept the same template for decades now,
spooling out songs that simultaneously relax and energize.
Occasionally he'll throw in a new wrinkle.
"I've got a blues I sing that is very political and very
funny, about George Bush and his mistake starting the war, that
people really seem to like," he said.
Even better news is that Donaldson seems to be playing better
than ever. At the beginning of the summer, he was an emergency
replacement at New York's Village Vanguard, and played a week at
the hallowed club backed by a piano trio, garnering rave
reviews.
"It revitalized me, that people were going crazy because they
didn't know I could still play that way," Donaldson said. So you
can expect the bebop -- the stuff he "sneaks in" -- to be
especially fresh.
"I tell you I'm really feeling good," he enthused. "I'm 81 and I
went out the other day and shot a 41 for nine holes, so you know
I'm feeling good. Tell the people in Minneapolis that I
appreciate the affection they show me. When they come to the
club they know my music, and last time after I left there I sold
a lot of records. That's not easy because I don't bring any with
me [to sell at the show].
"You see, there's over a hundred of them with my name on them
-- another 50 with me as a sideman -- so I wouldn't know which
ones to take."
What a pleasure it was to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the
company of veteran alto sax man, Lou Donaldson. Lou was completing his
final of four days performing at the New Jazz Showcase in Dearborn
Station in the South Loop. Donaldson's such a treasure who at the age of
81 is still very witty, bright and play a "mean" horn. Yes, he's more
laid back during his performance, but when he puts that saxophone
between his lips, that familiar hard bop sound is still there. Donaldson
is full of stories and jokes and between each song, one could rest
assured that Lou would enlighten this capacity matinee audience with
some of his life experiences.
Often when headliners perform at Chicago's premier jazz venues, they
"pick up" some of the local talented musicians to round out their
ensemble. That was not the case with Donaldson. Accompanying Lou during
this gig was guitarist Eric Johnson, drummer Fukushi Tainaka, and
dynamic organist Akiko Tsuruga. It isn't often that one witnesses a
female organist with a jazz band, but Ms. Tsuruga opened some eyes and
ears with her "Shirley Scott-like" sound.
After quipping about not knowing if he could play so early in the
afternoon (4:00 p.m.), Donaldson opened the 75 minute set with "Blues
Walk." That "concern" was quickly put to rest as Lou closed his eyes and
began making sweet music. He integrated a few bars of "Summertime"
during this selection. Guitarist Johnson and Organist Tsuruga displayed
nice extended solos.
With August being the traditional commemoration of the late and great
Charlie Parker at the Showcase, they next played one of Parker's
composition entitled "Qui." Donaldson spoke about Parker's role in
revolutionizing BeBop before they journied into this hard bop selection
with each ensemble member showing off their "BeBop" skill.
Another nice piece they played was "What a Wonderful World," a tune
make popular by trumpeter Louie "Pops" Armstrong. Lou even attempted to
emulate "Pops" with some vocals during this number. The crowd loved
every minute of it. This song also featured guitarist Johnson who did
his his best imitation of Wes Montgomery while picking the strings with
his thumb and not a pick.
Drummer Fukushi was featured on "Fast and Freaky." Before playing
this number Lou quipped, you can't play this number by getting high.
That was followed by a "blusey" number with Donaldson again
demonstrating his vocal prowess. He called it "suffering" music and
indicated "you can't play it if you haven't had it." Again, the crowd
was very appreciative of his bantering.
As the set was nearing an end, Donaldson shared another story about
once being told by a producer that he needed a three minute song to
complete an album. Not having any material available in his songbook,
Lou decided to just make up a song on the fly. Naturally, it turned out
to be one of his greatest hits, "Alligator Boogaloo." This funky tune
allowed Tsuruga to stretch her talents while Donaldson seemed to admire
her bursts on the organ.
This wonderful set was coming to an end, but not before a final
anecdote from the affable Donaldson. As they prepared to play Charlie
Parker's "Cherokee," Lou talked about often using this number to
eliminate musicians he didn't care for because it was such an intricate
piece to play with some very fast runs. Well, even at 81, Lou
demonstrated he can still make those runs as he brought this set to a
climatic conclusion.
The Jazz Showcase is open seven days a week with local talent
highlighted Monday-Wednesday before national headliners don the stage
Thursday-Sunday. For detailed information, refer to their website at:
www.jazzshowcase.com.
By Frank De
Blase on Jun. 17th, 2008 at 5:25am
1 Comment
Tenor sax legend Lou Donaldson strolled
out cool and casual onto the Kilbourn stage in a black
suit promising nothing but straight-up jazz. "No fusion,
no confusion," he said. He and his quartet then launched
into a sweet take on his 1957 "Blues Walk" where he let
Akiko Tsuruga, the little lady behind the B3, swell,
swirl, and swing. By the time they were into the second
tune -- essentially a Charlie Parker piece, even though
according to Donaldson, Bird stole it -- the guitarist
was playing so fast he almost fell off his stool. At 81
Donaldson still exhibits incredible tone and seemingly
effortless phrasing. He comes from the hard-bop school,
and with this early set he proved to be its headmaster.
Pure jazz with enough hairpin turns to keep it
interesting, and a few straight-aways to lure the
rookies...
User Comments
Here is what others say about this blog post. City Newspaper isn't responsible for the content of comments.
By Ron Netsky on Jun. 17th, 2008 at
5:29am
0 Comments
...I also had to see Lou
Donaldson, one of the
greats on saxophone, at Kilbourn
Hall. Donaldson is old school,
from the days when a jazz
musician was an entertainer. So
he told jokes, sang a blues
tune, and kidded his Japanese
band members about coming from
Alabama and Mississippi. It was
corny but endearing coming from
him.
Those band members,
Fukushi Tainaka on drums and
Akiko Tsuruga on the Hammond B3
organ, were quite incredible.
Tainaka played most of the set
keeping a steady inauspicious
beat, but when called upon to
solo he became Ginger Baker on
steroids. Tsuruga played the
organ like Jimmy Smith. Her
technique was formidable, and
she knew how to wring every
ounce of emotion out of the
instrument.
Guitarist Eric Johnson was
also excellent, playing some Wes
Montgomery-style solos and, at
one point, going wireless and
walking through the audience and
even out of the hall while
continuing to play a scorching
blues solo. Like I said, they
put on a show.
Of course, Donaldson was the
best of all. He's got his
history, dating from the 1950's,
and he's still got his chops. It
was great to hear his simple,
catchy hits like "Blues Walk"
and "Alligator Boogaloo," but
Donaldson also played some
challenging songs like
"Cherokee" and "We" with an
unmistakable flair.
And he was wonderfully
opinionated, introducing his
encore, "Bye Bye Blackbird," by
saying, "This is a tune Miles
Davis did when he was playing
jazz."...
DURHAM -- North Carolina native Lou Donaldson, 81, turns
out to be a diplomat of sorts. The alto saxophonist joins musicians David
"Fathead" Newman, Houston Person and The Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio for the "Soul
Jazz Summit" performance tonight at Duke University's Reynolds Theater.
This historic gathering that brings these musicians together for the first time
launches the Duke Performances Soul Power series that features seven gigs over
two months.
When contacted by phone in Plantation, Fla., where the Bronx resident was
visiting his daughter to get a break from cold weather, Donaldson said he
thought the name of their concert fits what they do.
"That music has the soul and rhythm to it," Donaldson said.
The musician became known for his bluesy, soulful sound and recorded for the
famed Blue Note label, including "Alligator Boogaloo," with Dr. Lonnie Smith and
George Benson.
When Smith played in Donaldson's band, Donaldson said he gave the organist some
fatherly advice about the business side of music.
"To me, Smith is a consummate organ player because he doesn't drown out the
other music," Donaldson said. Back in the days of playing clubs, the organ
proved a crowd-pleaser -- so much so that club owners would often extend the
band's engagement for a second week.
"You can make it sound like a whole orchestra," Donaldson said of the organ.
Growing up, Donaldson did not have a music teacher for horn because Badin, N.C.,
was so small, with a population of 3,500 -- "if you count the hogs and
chickens," he said.
So Donaldson's mother bought him a book and taught him to read music to help him
learn to play the clarinet when he was around 9, he recalled.
A piano teacher, his mother had started him at age 7 on the piano.
"The piano was all right, but the lessons weren't all right. She had a switch.
When you missed a note, she'd rap it across your hands," Donaldson said.
He took to the clarinet and went on to play it in the marching band at North
Carolina A&T College in Greensboro, where he majored in political science
because the school offered no music degree, he said.
When he entered the Navy in 1945, he had been chosen for training as a radio man
on a submarine when he heard some "squeaking and squawking" coming from a
marching band rehearsal at the base in Great Lakes, Ill. "Somebody was messing
up music in there," he recalled.
He wound up going inside and picking up a clarinet.
"Everything [the band leader] could pull out, I played," he said.
Then, the bandleader asked if he could play alto sax and he said he could,
despite the fact that he had never played the instrument. They needed a sax
player for the Navy dance band. So, he went back to his barracks and by the time
of the first dance, he could play it.
"I wanted to be in the dance band because that was the only time you got to see
any women," he said.
The Navy would bring groups of women to the base to dance with soldiers, he
added.
Even though his Navy service consisted of playing in the marching and dance
bands, he said the entire year and a half he served proved tense because there
was always a chance he could be tapped to be in a band on a ship where he would
have war-related duties as well -- something he saw happen to other musicians
who did not come back, he added.
While Donaldson and the other guest musicians tonight have all played with Smith
at one time or another, tonight's performance marks the first time they've all
played with Smith at the same gig.
Duke Performances director Aaron Greenwald said he orchestrated this historic
musical summit of these powerhouse musicians.
"To start this thing off with a real bang was really important," Greenwald said
of the Soul Power series.
And so was the ending, which is why he chose saxophonist Maceo Parker, a Kinston
native and resident, as the last act in the series. Parker played for many years
with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
The series features luminaries along a soul spectrum that includes gospel's
Dixie Hummingbirds; soul singer Solomon Burke; hip-hop's DJ King Britt and DJ
Spooky and those soulful jazz masters Smith, Donaldson and company.
"I think it's closer in feel and manifestation to soul music than mainstream
jazz," Greenwald said of the latter musicians' sound.
Donaldson said the blues feeling and strong rhythms their music embodies is an
essential part of jazz that many of today's classically trained jazz artists
leave out. His music continues to be sampled for its rhythm tracks by today's
hip-hop artists, Donaldson said.
In his opinion, taking the blues out of jazz doesn't leave much.
"It's like taking the sugar out of cake," Donaldson said.
---
GO AND DO
WHAT: Soul Jazz Summit with The Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio and guest musicians David
"Fathead" Newman, Lou Donaldson and Houston Person.
WHEN: 8 p.m. tonight (Jan. 19). Show will go on, snow or no snow.
WHERE: Reynolds Industries Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University.
TICKETS: General public: $38, $32; Duke students: $5. Purchase at the door or
through www.tickets.duke.edu
---
SOUL POWER SCHEDULE
For tickets, call 684-4444 or www.tickets.duke.edu
TODAY: "Soul Jazz Summit." The Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio featuring David "Fathead"
Newman, Lou Donaldson and Houston Person, 8 p.m. in Reynolds Theater, Bryan
Center.
Jan. 26: "A History of Philadelphia Soul." DJ King Britt backed by a live band
and vocalists, 8 p.m. Reynolds Theater, Bryan Center.
Feb. 2: "The Definition of Soul." Solomon Burke and The Dixie Hummingbirds, 8
p.m. Page Auditorium.
Feb. 8: "We Shall Not Be Moved." Mavis Staples and The Blind Boys of Alabama. 8
p.m. Page Auditorium.
Feb. 9: "Video Soul: Wattstax to the Avant Garde." D.J. Spooky's mix of
soul-inspired vinyl with footage of the 1972 Wattstax concert, 8 p.m. Reynolds
Theater, Bryan Center.
Feb. 15: "Do the Boomerang: The Music of Jr. Walker." The Don Byron Band
featuring Chris Thomas King, 8 p.m. Reynolds Theater, Bryan Center.
Feb. 29: "Foundation of a Sound." The Maceo Parker Band and The Booker T. Jones
Band, 8 p.m. Page Auditorium.
Sooner or later in any Lou Donaldson show, the great alto
man will arrive at the same line, and on Wednesday evening
it came early:
"Tonight, you're going to hear some real jazz--no
Kenny G, no Najee, no any-G," Donaldson told the crowd
at the Jazz Showcase, savoring the ovations he always
receives when preaching to the converted.
But even if Donaldson
hadn't invoked his famous motto to ridicule the pretenders,
there would have been no doubt the music he played was about
as authentic an expression of bebop-era jazz as can be heard
at this late date. That Donaldson enriched this language
with a plangent blues tone and a soulful, emotionally
wide-open delivery helped explain why he has been held in
high esteem by jazz listeners of all kinds for decades.
To understand the septuagenarian saxophonist's multifaceted
appeal, consider his version of
Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time," a bebop anthem if
ever there were one. Though Donaldson was around when the
tune was new and first inspiring uncounted recorded
versions, Donaldson's approach sounded like nobody else's.
For starters, he played the main
theme slower and with more swagger than one is accustomed to
hearing, slightly exaggerating rhythmic values for dramatic
effect. His sound, meanwhile, was about as blue as an alto
can get, his tone so searing it probably could cut through
concrete.
And when Donaldson hinted at Parker-style improvisations,
his speedy passages, unexpected silences and unconventional
phrase lengths transformed "Now's the Time" once more. By
constantly changing rhythmic patterns, altering melody notes
and reworking chords, Donaldson rejuvenated an overplayed
classic.
There's much more to Donaldson, however, than just his bebop
credentials. In the ballad "Laura," for instance, he
produced piercing high notes, sighing phrases and--at his
best--a lyricism rivaling the work of a formidable jazz
vocalist.
Backed by an organ trio, Donaldson made the most of the fat
chords coming from Kyle Koehler's Hammond B-3, the
propulsive swing rhythm from Fukushi Tainaka's drums and the
sleek, Wes Montgomery-inspired lines from Randy Johnston's
guitar. Together, these rhythm players created an ideal
musical setting for Donaldson, who earlier in his career
made soul-tinged organ accompaniments integral to his work.
On this occasion, the result was a music that was as
viscerally powerful as it was intellectually substantial,
and that's a combination that doesn't come along often
enough.
----------
Lou Donaldson plays through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59
W. Grand Ave.; $20; 312-670-2473.
"One of the unique qualities of Lou's work is that he incorporates
a great deal of the whole jazz tradition in his playing. He's listened to just
about everyone, and not only alto players. With this knowledge of the entire
jazz language, Lou is definitely an individual voice."
--Horace Parlan
Lou Donaldson, alto saxophonist and singer. He began studying
clarinet at the age of 15 and he continued to receive tuition when he joined
the navy. After taking up the alto saxophone he performed in a navy band with
Willie Smith, Clark
Terry, and Ernie Wilkins.
In 1954 he and Brown joined Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He continued to lead
small groups, mainly in the eastern USA; he performed in Stockholm (1965) and
toured and recorded in Europe (1981-82).
His early work for Blue Note (1952-1962) showed his impressive mastery of
the bop style, but when in 1963 he began to record for Argo (later renamed
Cadet), which specialized in funk, some of his creative spark seemed to be
sacrificed to the need for commercial success.
After he returned to Blue Note (1967), however, he made a series of
recordings (to 1975) in which he achieved a successful blend of elements of
the two styles; in the early 1980s he once again concentrated on bop.
Donaldson has a dazzling technique and at his best is a strong, inventive,
expressive player.
Artistic
Director of
PDX
Jazz, Bill Royston,
introduced Lou Donaldson as he entered the stage with his organ
quartet. A fine establishment of musicians consisting of Lou,
the organ, drums and guitar. This was as close as one is going
to get as to seeing a band with the same nature as say Grant
Green or Jimmy Smith. Before playing their initial theme Lou
introduced the band and started again with his humorous rants.
"Today you are going to see jazz, not fusion, not confusion, but
jazz," he would say, "not snoop doggie dog or 50 Cent who aint
worth a quarter."
Denzil
Best’s “Wee,” performed at blitzkrieg pace, left the audience and
saxophonist winded. An all too short, jacked-up Tsuruga organ solo was
included and a fan favorite. Tainaka also scored high on an early drum solo
that was, in keeping with the night’s theme, playful yet effective, leading
Donaldson to note that it contained some Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Max
Roach and a little Fukushi Tainaka. The leader mixed up the set with the use
of his secret weapon, an impossibly hoarse, itchy voice that finished off
Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” with an on the mark rendition of
Satchmo’s trademark husky singing. He next sang a comical ditty about
Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, but it was unclear which pharmaceutical company
was backing him as spokesman. After thanking the responsive audience for
enjoying his “classical jazz singing,” he graciously introduced an old
friend up from Washington, D.C., singer George V. Johnson who elegantly sang
two tunes a la Johnny Hartman. Donaldson’s ultimate crowd-pleaser, the
infectious, funk-fest “Alligator Bogaloo,” finished off the first set and
was proclaimed to be a “Big hit in Afghanistan.”
By Frank De
Blase on Jun. 17th, 2008 at 5:25am
Office of Lou Donaldson on June 17th, 2008
Correction: Lou Donaldson is an alto saxophonist. Glad you enjoyed the show!