Dewey's Triumphant Return

[Dennis Gonzalez]

This is not so much a concert review as it is a grateful fan of Dewey Redman's thanking Ft. Worth for welcoming Dewey back home with grace. It happened in the 80's with Ornette and the Moffetts at Caravan of Dreams. But it never really happened with Julius Hemphill, John Carter, Prince Lasha, or Ronald Shannon Jackson...who lives in Ft. Worth, is known the world over, but wasn't invited to play at Ft. Worth's Jazz on the Boulevard Jazz Fest.

Of course, I expected, and wanted to hear, more adventurous music last night, but at the very least, Dewey played extremely strongly and did a bit of dancing and singing and even blew some minds with his trusty musette. He can lay down a ferocious souljazz/blues groove, as he did with the first and last songs of the set. And in between, off kilter/odd-meter settings were about as "out" as he got, but he communicated his delight and his willingness to reach back towards his audience.

Two of his young group (pianist Andy Langham and bassist Hamilton Price) were empathetic and had great chops, though they tended toward the conservative side, almost --at times -- skirting the Smooth Jazz genre, a bit strange-sounding when one considers Redman's roots and career (Ornette, Jarrett, Old and New Dreams, and his own idiosyncratic New Jazz explorations). Drummer Gerry Gibbs (son of vibist Terry Gibbs) was a bit out of his league, though he knows how to swing when he has to. I went backstage to talk to Dewey, but he was busy basking in the autograph and hand-squeezing vibe of his sudden new-found fame in his hometown, and I was just curious enough about the music Redman played last night (no titles were divulged), as well as where he'd picked up this young, unknown -- almost unaware -- group. So I went over to bassist Price, at whose high school in Jonesboro, Arkansas, I did my student teaching, and we conversed for a while. Though it wasn't clear where the trio of young 'uns (now based in San Antonio, which doesn't have a jazz scene) heard Dewey, they decided on a whim to call him up and ask if he would play on their new CD. He agreed. I could never get the name the trio gives themselves, or what the name of the CD is, or any other information about the recording, but apparently Dewey liked their playing enough to have invited them to be his backup band at the Jazz Fest. Whenever I dropped names like Cecil Taylor, Eddie Blackwell, or even, for the bassist's benefit, Mark Helias and Henry Grimes, he was painfully unaware of who I was talking about, drawing a blank on Max Roach and Anthony Braxton as well.

I didn't stay for Spyro Gyra.

[RainyDay]

This is an interesting story about his backup band. I've never seen him or Joshua, who is now living back in Berkeley.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

I saw Dewey's band in 1981 in NY, playing 2nd base to The Lounge Lizards, whose self-titled album had just come out and they were really huge. He seemed really angry about having to be second-billed under some upstart young punk-ass band, but again, he played with fire, verve, and determination. I was hoping he would hit it huge then, but from what I read, he's just now, at 72, taking control of his career, and with shows like he did in Ft. Worth last night, he just may overtake Joshua's popularity. He really does deserve it.


Dewey Redman, from the festival program booklet:

[Jonathan Sutton]

Wish I had spotted you in the crowd last night, Dennis! As you say, it would have been nice to have the Dewey Redman we know from Science Fiction, Tarik, 80/81, Momentum Space, etc., but I found the concert enjoyable in any case, with some fine playing from the man. The backing trio's name was Third Trio from the Sun, I think. (A pretty lame name.)

There was a poster that listed four sponsors of "The Artists' Pavilion Exhibit," one of whom was Ronald Shannon Jackson. But I could not find the exhibit or any information on what Jackson might have had to do with it.

Didn't stay for Spyro Gyra either...

[HenryMc]

I saw Dewey play in Brisbane many years ago. His playing was good but he was in a nasty mood all through the gig. It was in the Jazz and Blues room of the Brisbane Travelodge and Dewey had flown in from Sydney for a one nighter with a pick up band and some incident on the plane had annoyed him.

I still enjoyed it though.

The Struggle continues

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Originally posted by Jonathan Sutton
The backing trio's name was Third Trio from the Sun, I think.

I thought the MC was on acid and couldn't think of anything better to say.

There was a poster that listed four sponsors of "The Artists' Pavilion Exhibit," one of whom was Ronald Shannon Jackson. But I could not find the exhibit or any information on what Jackson might have had to do with it.

I missed that. Though I noticed that the Ft. Worth Library had a display with pictures of Lasha, Hemphill, Jackson, Ornette. When I mentioned to the lady at the booth that I had done an album with Lasha almost 20 years ago, she said, "Who?", and I pointed out Prince's picture. She very intelligently retorted, "Oh...".

All the young kids I talked to knew the history of these consummate Ft. Worth musicians, including naming the band director (whose name escapes me) who taught all these guys to play. I was so happy to hear them talk about the subject and understand the importance of thes musicians.

Sorry I didn't see you either.

[Jonathan Sutton]

Originally posted by Dennis Gonzalez
I thought the MC was on acid and couldn't think of anything better to say.

I suspect acid was involved somewhere in the naming process, but apparently it started before the MC...

http://www.viewpointrecords.com/gerrygibbs.html