Lew Tabackin at the Kennedy Center, March 10, 2000

by Alan Greenblatt

What a pleasure, watching Lew Tabackin play tenor sax. He looks like someone who has to go potty real bad, scrunching himself down, stamping his foot like a Cossack, kicking out his right leg. Of course, the real pleasure is in listening to him, his smooth tone and his rhythmic daring. He played towering solos on "Body and Soul" and "My Ideal" last Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Tabackin appeared as part of a traveling line-up of all-star musicians dubbed the Newport Jazz Millennium Celebration. The show was surprisingly well-executed given the large number of performers, with the players arranging themselves quickly into duos, trios, quintets, or what have you. But I think the Kennedy Center was a little bit greedy, presenting two short (70 minute) sets with separate admission charges. The second set attracted rows and rows of empty seats.

But what great music! You were treated to unusual combinations, such as trombone player Joel Helleny and the great swing guitarist Howard Alden (my pick for underutilized musician of the night) playing ballads such as "Creole Rhapsody." And Tabackin was far from the only inventive soloist. Still-young trumpet phenom Nicholas Payton blew loud and clear on "Wild Man Blues," among others, playing with a force capable of cleaning all the wax out of your ears. Pianist Cedar Walton played melodic versions of Monk tunes including "'Round Midnight" and "Off Minor" in both trio and solo settings.

As if to highlight the quality of the soloing, there were a couple of players who blew in ways that did not build on the rhythms of the pieces, instead just stringing together furious flurries of notes. These would be pop/jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker and Payton's tenor sax player, Tim Warfield. But there was redemption even for these. Warfield and Tabackin closed the evening with a dueling sax version of Ellington's "Cotton Tail," the two of them chasing each other excitingly up and down the register. The whole ensemble opened both sets with the jazz anthem of 1999, "Take the 'A' Train."

It was a concert to restore your faith in this music.