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musicBy JAMES GIBBONS Amusements WriterStan Getz, one of the world’s most historically versatile tenor saxophonists, opened last week to a disappointingly small house at Market Square’s La Bastille Unfortunately, Getz’s performance displayed few of his proven abilities, neither his interpretative nor his im-provisational skills. The firstCosmosisttset opened with a too frantic composition with no congruity among the melody, harmony and rhythm elements. Bass player Dave Holland featured himself (in his own composition) in a very impressive solo—very impressive, but completely non-integratedwith the other members of thequartet.Getz followed this with a theme from “Green Dolphin Street,”made very pleasant by the piano work of Richie Byrick. While both pieces were easily enjoyed, for the sake of their themes alone, I found it hard to deliniate any inna'?differences in the two rendition ,except for tempo and volume, ranging from forte to fortissimo.Drummer Jack Dijeanette ended the set with his own “Festival,” suffering from the same lack of unity, but possessing an intensity and depth absent in the other two. A multileveled composition, “Festival,” is written in a standard four-four, but performed with a triplet undercurrent, making each beat a measure in itself. Dijeanette’shandling of this complexity in his drum solo was just short ofbrilliant.While Getz’ musical abilities are unquestionable (even if they fail to rise entirely above criticism), his personal manner during the evening seemed to reflect the overly casual attitude and diluted strength with which heapproached his performance.Getz, as leader, was rarelv on stage, leaving pianist Byrick to carry the front. And when he was present, Getz seemed most concerned with getting in another cigarette before his turn came around again.As musical entertainment, the evening was adequate. But as jazz, as a creative anachronism, as an art form, Getz’ musical wasextremely understated.
Newspaper Details
Houston Daily Cougar
Houston, Texas, US
Tue, Apr 03, 1973
Page 10
Full Page
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Anonymous
TN, USA 03 Nov 2022
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