San Jose Jazz Festival: Winard Harper
Winard Harper — Photo by Richard Galosy
After a hectic setup that went down to the wire, drummer Winard Harper may have felt it necessary to begin his set at the San Jose Rep by clearing the air. He did so by calling “In a Sentimental Mood,” using brushes, mallets and his own bare hands to define a serene circle with sweeping, elegant motions. And then, without warning, he erupted in an explosive African polyrhythm, pounding at his drum kit like a jackhammer.
There, in a moment, was captured the quicksilver dexterity and fearsome power of Harper and his band. Working first with a refined trio, then expanding to a hard-bopping quintet, Harper was spontaneous, funny and mercurial, his next moves impossible to predict.
Punctuating his heavy, rolling grooves with grunts, shouts and the occasional “OOOH!”, Harper would lean back for a boiling rumble and then pounce — literally pounce — to grab his cymbals by the far edge for an abrupt stop-time effect. Bouncing on his stool with such ferocity his snare threatened to topple over, but always with a broad smile on his face, Harper dominated the room and drew peals of glee from a rapt audience.
It’s hard to keep up with such a force of nature, but Harper’s youthful band had vigor to spare. At 23 years old, pianist Jon Notar already shows the refinement of a much older player, with a full, luxurious sound kept in check by intellectual depth, a warm spirit and impeccable taste. Trumpeter Bruce Harris also shone, with a gritty tone and burning attack that hardly needed amplification despite the drums, a clarion call clearly audible even when Harris moved to the far end of the stage. Seth Lewis was a poet on bass, offering quiet counterpoint to his companions and complex soliloquys in his solos, while Jovan Alexandre, the youngest member of the band at age 20, brought forth soulful tenor sax lines as straight and tall as his imposing posture. He needs to open up a bit more, particularly on ballads, but with Harper as a teacher this should not be a problem.
The band should have been exhausted, having driven themselves up from Los Angeles in a rented Jeep (and this after driving the same Jeep all the way down from Seattle in a 29-hour marathon). But no fatigue was evident, either in energy or creativity. The band’s lovely take on “Amazing Grace” would stand up against any other instrumental version of the song, and a sinuously rhythmic interlude with Harper on balafon carried just as much spiritual weight, but in a delightfully lilting wrapper.
This was Harper’s first appearance at the San Jose festival, a gig several years in the making. Here’s hoping his next appearance takes less time to arrange.
Filed Under: Concert Reviews
Wow, sounds hot. Looks like you got music that lives up to this heat wave we’re having.