By Marilyn Lester****For anyone who loves Old School (said in the best possible way) trad jazz, The Triad on West 72nd Street on September 22nd was the place to be. Jazz pianist, Lenore Raphael, guitarist Doug MacDonald, bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Dwayne “Cook” Broadnax came together for a reunion concert of an evening of straight-ahead, swinging jazz. This gathering of celebrated jazz veterans commemorated their teaming up for the recently released CD, Reunion. These are four masters of the genre who play solid and tight grooves. Theirs is the jazz for people who claim they don’t like jazz (but that’s another story that circles around the question, what is jazz, anyway?).
Interestingly, their choice of material featured none of the cuts from Reunion, but was instead a collection of standards composed by the pioneers of jazz, both traditional and in the territory of gentle bebop. Raphael is classically trained, which shows in the technical aspects of her playing. There’s a clean and prepossessing precision there in hitting the notes, underpinning the creative artistry laid on top. Her playing is informed by Bill Evans, and by Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell, both of whom were influenced by Art Tatum. Some of her riffing and trills particularly reveal a slight air of Tatum’s influence, but her relatively clean lyrical playing, as demonstrated in the 1938 songbook standard, “Old Folks” by Willard Robison (which also provided a solid drum solo for Broadnax) and in Hoagie Carmichael’s classic “Georgia” are much more reminiscent of Evans’ impressionistic style.
Bud Powell’s composition, “Celia” is a bebop challenge for pianists, but in this case was geared toward McDonald’s taking the spotlight. His influences have been bop-based guitarists Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and Joe Pass, and in this piece he particularly demonstrated his strong but light approach to playing. He’s a marvel to watch and hear, with fingers flying over the strings, remaining unhurried, melodic and sure. In “Stuffy,” a 1945 swing tune written by tenor saxophonist, Coleman Hawkins, both Raphael and MacDonald executed the jaunty piece with relaxed confidence. Bassist Oscar Pettiford’s “Tricotism,” a sophisticated bop style composition of mostly eighth notes, gave bass player Greene the opportunity to show his chops on a demanding piece. It also gave Raphael the opportunity to demonstrate her mastery in emulating the bass instrument pianistically, especially during the opening bars.
As a finale, the quartet performed Raphael’s well-known composition “Blues For O.P.,” in which MacDonald’s playing was reminiscent of blues master, B.B. King. The number is a swinging melodic piece that nicely showcased the ease with which the four instrumentalists get into their groove. The relaxed, rich and full sound they produce is a delight. Taken as a whole, the set was a feast for those who love and appreciate classic jazz.
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