University of Virginia Library

And All That Jazz!

Quartet Shows Potential Greatness

By Barry Smith
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The performance by a jazz
quartet Saturday night offered the
University community a rare evening
in music. Charlottesville, long a
vacuum for good jazz, unknown,
yet excellent, jazz group, The New
Art Jazz Quartet. These virtuoso
musicians were performing at their
best and successfully led the audience
through such an assortment of
moods that everyone could find
something in it.

The quartet is greatly influenced
by tenor-saxist, John Coltrane, a
man who has done more, perhaps,
for the development of jazz than
any other musician. The group still
lacks professionalism, however their
music is good and makes up for the
stage-presence which they will
surely gain through experience.

The concert opened with a
Coltrane number entitled "Cousin
Mary." In it, saxist Dave Liebman
displayed some excellent technique
and readily established the surging
vitality of his horn work. Drummer
Jim Kappes' playing was a little too
loud, however, drowning out Pat
Rebillot's piano solo and much of
Reed Wasson's bass improvisation.

"Summer," a piece written by
Dave Liebman, opened with a
free-form sax solo in which Liebman
executed quick and flowing
runs amplified by brilliant tones.
The melody was beautiful, the
chord changes were superb, and the
piece was definitely in the style of
John Coltrane.

Liebman then switched to play
flute in "Out is the Woods." His
flute technique is excellent and his
ability to develop and build a solo
something many musicians with the
technical ability lack, was apparent.
The drums kicked the quartet along
and aided the soloists well, working
with the group instead of independently
as is often the case with
drummers. This piece was blessed
by Reed Wasson's polished bass
work. His solo can only be called
"beautiful" and, as a bassist, I think
he proved himself to rank with
some of the best. There is one
fault that I noticed in his bass
work though, and that is his habit
of playing too many notes. I say
"habit" because that is what it is
and this is something that can be
corrected as he develops his ability
even more. At times, Wasson's
playing could almost be compared
to Jim Garrison of the Elvin Jones
Trio or Steve Swallow of the Gary
Burton Quartet, two of the best
bassists in jazz today.

Final Selection

The final selection before the
intermission was a work written by
Wasson, the quartet's leader. The
piece was very open and allowed a
great deal of freedom to the
individual soloist for development.
The rhythm changes were beautiful
and the piece was continually
changing from free-forms to tight
rhythms behind the melody line.
Here was a chance for the quartet
to display the individual talent
within it. The highlight of this
composition, and perhaps the evening,
was the piano solo by Pat
Rebillot. It was a driving and
powerful solo developed through
chordings and tasteful runs. The
dynamics were superb and the
development was perfect.

Crawford Guest

Bob Crawford made a guest
appearance after the intermission to
accompany the quartet on the
tamboura. The tasteful few notes
on the Tamboura added the fight
touch to the composition. The
background work was nice and the
piece held interesting rhythms.
Especially notable in this selection
were the harmonies performed by
Wasson on the bass behind the flute
solo. The entire arrangement was
very tight.

The group played as a trio to
perform Pat Rebillot's piano piece.
In this selection, Rebillot was
performing good jazz with a very
definite classical influence. Wasson's
bass solo was his best of the
evening. Playing fewer notes and
paying less attention to the beat, he
developed an excellent solo, much
in the traditions of bassist Steve
Swallow.

Although "Space Available" began
with a good drum solo, Kappes
has yet to learn how to use his
hi-hat effectively. The rhythms in
this selection, changing from the
basic beat to double-time and then
back again, created an interesting
effect in the solos. Both Liebman
and Rebillot were outstanding.

The final number of the evening
was a piece written by Liebman
which began with with piano
carrying the lead over a repeating
base line. In certain sections, the
flute and piano played the same
lines together, creating an interesting
arrangement. It was a good
jazz piece and came off well with a
clever use of dynamics and a tight
performance.

The New Art Jazz Quartet is a
good jazz group with a definite
potential for greatness. Those who
saw their concert Saturday evening,
fully experienced what is happening
in jazz today. I eagerly await their
return.