When I heard that Miami pianist Silvano Monasterios was joining the Larry Coryell Trio for its Saturday night concert, I thought it would be a trainwreck. After all, Coryell's tightknit group with bassist Mark Egan and drummer Paul Wertico hardly needs embellishment. And, as good as the Venezuelan-born Monasterios is, it seemed like piano would just clutter up the works. But midway through the second song of their show at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center, my concerns vanished.
The group jumped from the gate with Coryell's buoyant "Good Citizen Swallow," a homage to the bassist-composer and longtime Coryell colleague, and sure enough, Coryell and Monasterios seemed to be playing atop one another. The same thing happened at the start of Bill Evans' lovely "Very Early," but, like the pros they are, the two quickly recalibrated and found the right mix. By the time they launched into the tricky Monk tune "Trinkle Tinkle," they had found the groove that would keep them sailing smoothly for the rest of the 2-plus hour show and keep the packed house riveted.
Coryell was in excellent form, his liquid phrasing on his hollow-body jazz box sounding as easy as breathing for the jazz and fusion vet. During the course of the evening, he'd return to Monk with a brilliant read of "Well You Needn't," pick a lovely version of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" on acoustic guitar with some intriguing flourishes, and simply soar on fusiony tunes such as "Spaces Revisited" and "Dragon Gate." The latter featured some jaw-dropping solos from drummer Wertico, who indeed thrashed like the tail of an angry fire-breather. Can't say enough about the always-tuneful Egan, one of the few bassists you can't wait to hear solo. Coryell featured him prominently throughout, and gave him the spotlight on a gorgeous new tune titled "Tracy," which the guitarist wrote for his wife.
But one of the highlights of the evening was a duet between Coryell and Monasterios on the lilting "Someday My Prince Will Come." Sigh-inducingly lovely, it called up the likes of Bill Evans and Jim Hall, but was scrupulously original and contained plenty of surprises, often calling up the darker aspects of the wistful tune.
The South Florida Jazz organization's Jazz Impressions series concluded its season on a very high note. It was great to see a nearly full house, particularly after some concerts, such as the emotionally powerful performance by Carmen Lundy, were somewhat lightly attended. Here's hoping SFJ's next season will keep the momentum going, although most jazz acts don't have the drawing power or crossover appeal of a Larry Coryell.
OK, NEXT post we'll get back to Chicago Blues Fest highlights. Most likely.
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It was with just a little trepidation that I, as artistic director of South Florida JAZZ, urged (now there is a euphemism for you) Larry Coryell to use Silvano Monasterios on the date. Two years ago we put Silvano together with Mark Egan and Paul Wertico for a "Jazz Impressions" concert. Silvano, Mark and Paul worked incredibly hard on the daunting charts (all written or arranged by Silvano) and the show was excellent. There is no substitute for talent, professionalism and respect on the bandstand. We also recorded that performance and released a CD on Dogleg Music, an independent label run by South Florida JAZZ vice president Richard Serotta, who is a seven-time- nominated, four-time Grammy-awarded sound engineer. Therefore, teaming Silvano with Larry and this rhythm section made sense to me, and while they did not manage any rehearsals until the day of the show (all players live out of town in different cities), they are professional enough to make some magic happen on demand. No matter how well you think they can play, certain katz always exceed your expectations. That is what happened Saturday night.
I agree that they stumbled out of the gate, but quickly got it together and fed off one another, with Mark and Paul providing both the glue and the fire. Larry was moved to tell me after the gig that he had never played a guitar-piano duet before (the aforementioned "Some Day My Prince Will Come"). He was surprised when Silvano changed keys, but he did it so subtly and skillfully that it was easy and natural to follow. The results were magnificent.
Many shows that have a pot-boiler to close, follow it with a blues encore to cool out the audience. Because this show ran past venue time limits, everyone was left to decompress by whatever means works best when really amped. I didn't come back down until about 3:00 AM with the aid of prescription medication and I woke up at 7:00 AM still thinking about Paul Wertico's astonishing tour de force on "Spaces Revisited," in the group's repertoire since Larry first recorded it on a 1997 CD by the same name with Richard Bona and Billy Cobham, and reappearing in this group's 2004 CD Tricycle. I was a drummer and I still can't believe what I saw. A double bass drum pedal is only as effective as the weaker foot. Paul doesn't have a weaker foot and his muscles should have burned after some of those extended bass drum rolls underlying the polyrhythms on the rest of the kit.
Yes, it was a packed house, something we have rarely seen at our concerts. South Florida audiences are fickle and not particularly loyal. We in South Florida JAZZ will bask in the sunshine of this last concert, albeit briefly, knowing full well that more often than not, the jazz skies here are mostly cloudy with frequent storms (see the Mike Luba, Live Nation Artists abomination).
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