Not if your Dave Brubeck and his trio of aged jazzmen. They appeared at the Litchfield Jazz Fest last night. Sure, Brubeck has the mobility problems of an 87-year-old, that is until he sits down at the piano. Then, he's as sure as he was 50 years ago at Newport. The bassist and alto sax/flutist were quite good, but I could have sworn that the drummer was Joe Morello; he had the sharpness that, for me, was Morello at his finest.
The most impressive aspect of the night was not the skill of the musicians but the fact that Brubeck is very much of today. I expected a session consisting primarily of the old favorites. I was wrong. There was a poignant call-and-response duo of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" between Brubeck and the flutist. There were other ballads and up-tempo numbers that really got the crowd moving.
He did end the night with "Time Out" but only because the festival's sponsors wanted to showcase one of their students, an 11-year-old alto saxophonist, Dagoda Austin (spelling?). The kid was not the headmaster's son, he was very good. If he continues to improve, he can be one of the greats.
There was another young musician who caught my ear, Zaccai Curtis. He's a pianist who played backup to Nicole Zuertlis (spelling again). He looked to be about 20, but he's a heck of an improviser.
2 comments:
Is he really 87? I must be getting old.
Dave Brubeck really is 87. The young man's name was Dakota Austin -- just turned 12! Zaccai Curtis is 27 and Nicole Zuraitis (23) is a wonderful singer. That was her festival debut -- this is the same festival that introduced Diana Krall in 1996, Jane Monheit and Lizz Wright also very early in their careers.
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