Blues fine closer to another season

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Blues fine closer to another season
August 22, 2009
By Gary Budzak
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Jazz Arts Group's "JazZoo" series ended for the season with a fine blues show last night at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. If you've attended Columbus Jazz Orchestra concerts on a regular basis, you may have noticed that they've ended the last couple seasons at the Southern Theatre and the zoo with blues shows.

Maybe it's because blue notes are a big part of jazz, or maybe the big band is sad that the season is ending, but whatever the reason, the orchestra manages to keep things fresh even when playing familiar repertoire.

So how was last night's "Blues Explosion" different from other bluesy seasonclosers? This one featured vocalist Kristen Eubanks, daughter of the band's former artistic director, Ray Eubanks. With dad conducting, Kristen sang Stormy Monday, Evil Gal Blues (you believed her when she sang, "Don't you mess around with me / 'Cause I'll empty your pockets / Then I'll set you free") and How I Got Over with feeling.

The last song was spiced up when Kristen told her father to conduct it at the right tempo. Ray Eubanks said, "After 35 years, dad will try to get the right tempo, or I'll hear about it at various family functions."

Artistic director Byron Stripling introduced Ray Eubanks, who got a standing ovation from the full house: "This organization began in 1973. It was started by a man who was a visionary. We stand on his shoulders."

The second half of the show featured a bit of a curveball, with two guest artists - electric guitarist John Boerstler and saxophonist Joe Crump of the HooDoo Soul Band. Both were excellent, swapping solos and sounding like orchestra fixtures.

Crump told Stripling backstage that he thought he was rusty, but Stripling clearly liked his sound, which he likened to Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. "Where have you been all of my life?" Stripling said of Crump.

Probably the best part of last night's concert was Bobby Floyd on the Hammond B3 organ. Maybe it's because he was playing the blues, but Floyd's solos were concise and intense. Stripling might have been right when he said, "The best B3 player in the world plays with us."

A couple of interesting things about the concert - I don't believe Stripling played trumpet at all, letting Stevie Wonder sideman Dwight Adams blow alternating bluesy and bawdy passages on St. Louis Blues.

Stripling did sing a couple of songs, though, that orchestra audiences have heard before: Roll 'Em Pete and Caldonia. On the latter, the women at our table laughed at lines like, "Caldonia! / What makes your big head so hard?"

That's the thing about the blues. People think they're sad songs, and they can be, but oftentimes the blues are about as feelgood a sound as you can get.
Stripling also checked out two beautiful African cats - a serval and a caracal - that were brought on stage by zoo officials.

Other highlights included Speed Zone, a snazzy, gear-shifting John Clayton work that featured saxophonist Michael Cox; and decent versions of Georgia, The Preacher, Basie Power and the closing Night Train.

"The weather was bad all week," Stripling said after the opening number. "My power went out yesterday. But the heavens parted for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra tonight."

May it continue to be so for this central Ohio gem.