Billy Harper with Marshall
Vente and the Project 9 Ensemble
Vente and Harper Liven Up Jazz Fest
One warm and pleasant memory (not erased by the horrors
of September 11th) still fresh in my mind is the September 1st Saturday
performances at the Chicago Jazz Festival. The sky that day as magnificently
blue the sun warm but not hot, the music inspirational and none had
a care in the world. The headlining group on the Jackson Street stage
that glorious afternoon paired NYC tough tenor, Billy Harper with
Marshall Vente and his Project 9 Ensemble. The occasion marked their
second Chicago performance together, and judging from the response
of a large, ultra-attentive audience that day – it surely won’t be
their last.
Harper and Vente came together over a shared commitment
toward presenting original music and ideas in a large jazz ensemble
context. Both share the rich musical legacy of Gil Evans; with Harper
gaining his first exposure as a player in the Evans aggregations of
the ‘60s and ‘70s and Vente serving his composing and arranging apprenticeship
with Evans during the 1980s (he was Evans last protégé). And not unlike
jazz composers who came before him, Vente is currently presenting
original music inspired by a recent visit to another culture (Ellington,
Brubeck and Silver come to mind).
Drawing upon his impressions of Spain, Vente offered
five freshly arranged compositions, skillfully performed by his augmented
ensemble Project 9 – now in its 22nd year (Woody Herman’s record of
51 years for a large band is beginning to look vulnerable!). Vente
made deft use of added tuba, as blown by Dan Anderson, and Latin percussion
provided by Javier Gonzalez. The varied program, from stringent to
romantic and contemporary to post-bop, proved a laudable launching
pad for Harper’s searing interpretations. With a sound that is at
once primal and visionary, Harper demonstrated that he is one of the
important and underheralded stylists in the vast tenor lineage. Acknowledging
thew links to Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders merely serve as an azymuth,
a checkpoint. Harper’s sound and approach are his own. Soldjourns
to the windy City spread over the last decade have garnered a Chicago
following for the tenorman that may be approaching the recognition
he enjoys in the Big Apple.
By the same token, Vente’s total commitment to music
solidifies the veracity of his latest Chicago Jazz Festival appearance.
With the exception of Bill Russo, Marshall Vente is the only native
Chicago artist leading a consistent large ensemble while composing
new music for it to perform. Let’s hope that a leading record label
will recognize the significance of this partnership and record it
for broader international consumption. There could be no finer reflection
on the state of Chicago jazz today.
Peter Coppock Sag Harbor, New York October 2001
Former jazz disc jockey, WDCB 90.9 FM Glen Ellyn
