Hank Jones, Elvin Jones and Andrew White 9/29/03

by Alan Greenblatt

Keeping up with the Joneses: A jazz concert featuring two well-known jazz greats turned into a showcase for an eccentric local musician last Thursday at the new Washington Convention Center. Andrew White once had a gig playing oboe for the American Ballet Theater at the same time he played electric bass for the Fifth Dimension (he's also played bass for Stevie Wonder). But his claim to fame as a jazz musician is his sax playing and his unending work transcribing and publishing the notes to more than a thousand solos played by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Charlie Parker.

Not surprisingly for such an active Coltrane acolyte, White's playing is characterized by long runs featuring hundreds of notes, extended little variations off of the main tune. White can swing, though, and plays with an intensity that builds a kind of momentum of its own. He played a towering solo on Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning."

When he and the band played a bluesy set that White thought moved particularly well, he danced in bowlegged hops; he must have thought the hurricane waters had not yet receded from the third floor of the convention center because he wore his pants as high as any performer I can remember seeing.

The nominal stars of the show were pianist Hank Jones and drummer Elvin Jones. Along with their late brother Thad, the Jones boys form one of the most productive dynasties in jazz. Jones has been an elegant and regular accompanist to many of the great singers and Broadway shows, while Elvin is still one of the most powerful drummers in jazz. He will always be known for his 1960s work with Coltrane but about 15 years ago at Kimball's East, I caught an amazing performance by him that was one of the few times I have really heard another musician challenge and provoke Wynton Marsalis.

Hank Jones plays in such an easy, fluid style that it seems as if he hits the notes by pressing the keys halfway down as his fingers skirt onto the next note. Jones, normally a big, commanding presence, on this occasion felt content to keep a little time on the cymbals. His one solo was a demonstration of how much sound a drummer can make without having to get flashy or overemphatic.

The show featured Monk tunes and standards such as "Everything I Have Is Yours" and "All the Things You Are." The steady bass player was local James King and the concert also featured a saxman from the University of Michigan named Donald Walden, who had an agreeable sound but wasn't a fount of ideas to match White.

Toward the end of the show, they brought up several youngsters to play "Blue Monk" and other tunes and it really felt like a party. The show was free, included as part of the Congressional Black Caucus's annual meeting under the auspices of the venerable jazz fan from Detroit, Rep. John Conyers Jr. Before the music began, you had to listen to a long, fairly meandering discussion featuring Conyers, the musicians, someone from the National Endowment for the Arts, etc.

It was tiresome, but worth it. It was wonderful to be in a big ballroom full of hundreds of people, black and white, who were attentive and clearly in love with jazz.