Friday: Emma Lanford & the New Edition are a singer & quartet of three Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble graduates & two TYJE high school students. Apart from the young voice of high school junior Lanford, they didn't sound like youthful players to my ears: bassist Philip Norris lived up to his reputation as the best high school bassist in the country; pianist Mark Foster had a fine, efficient, refreshing style; tenor player Griffin Ross belied his youth, swinging & balladeering as needed; & insouciant drummer Avery Logan held things down. Lanford & Ross are still in high school, & Foster only goes as far as UNCG, so we'll have more opportunities this year to hear them. And, good luck to Norris & Logan in their Northern music colleges.
Saturday: As much as I enjoyed the night of vocal standards above, drummer Michael Ode's quartet--pianist Ernest Turner, bassist Lance Scott, & tenor player Dave Finucane--were on a different level, taking on Joe Henderson in the first set & Monk in the second. Highlight of the evening: the piano/sax duet on "Monk's Mood". I hadn't heard Finucane in months, & he playfully wondered if he could remembered to play. He remembered!
Meanwhile, I kept hearing "Thelonius Turner" in the second set. Turner played Turner-like, but with bits of Monk embedded in his improvising. The modest, hot summer night crowd & I got our money's worth...