Before the downfall of vinyl albums as the primary source of recorded music, radio disc jockeys would scrawl their thoughts about the product right on the cover of the discs.
My first paid radio job, in the early ’80s, was at an NPR jazz station in Michigan. The on-air crew would comment on the latest music trends (I remember certain staffers almost coming to blows over the merits versus the “sell- out” factor of Herbie Hancock’s “Future Shock,” and, yes, everyone was mightily impressed by the young Wynton Marsalis), and we’d inevitably trade insults with one another.
I’m not sentimental by nature, but I do miss those snarky written shootouts. It was like belonging to the ultimate jazz snob’s club.
When talking with pianist George Winston about his scheduled run of Colorado concerts, I recalled what the station’s music director jotted on the cover of Winston’s unfailingly polite, even docile 1982 solo album, “December,” which sold a million copies shortly after its release: “Keith Jarrett on Quaaludes.” This was some slow, even glacial music.
It was funny at the time, but 25 years have proven that Winston has an admiring knowledge of the history of jazz and blues piano, and he can, when he wants to, swing.
His latest CD, “Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions: A Hurricane Relief Benefit” (Windham Hill) pays able tribute to New Orleans keyboard heroes like James Booker and Doctor John. It turns out that the whole soothing “new age” take on the music was just one facet of what he could do.
“I have three labels,” Winston says about his difficult- to-categorize approach to the piano.
First, there’s “folk piano, that’s the melodic stuff like ‘December.’ There’s also stride piano, from Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson and Earl Hines’ influence. And there’s the New Orleans rhythm and blues.
“I’ve been called all kinds of things, but haven’t we all?”
One thing Winston insists he is not, however, is a “jazz” musician in a strict sense.
“I’m influenced by players in the jazz tradition,” he said. “But I am not a jazz player. Jazz (the word) almost means nothing because, is it (a style) from the ’20s? The ’30s or ’40s? Even when you say ‘Miles Davis,’ which Miles? There have been five or six Mileses,” noting the trumpeter’s lifetime of shifting approaches to the music.
Winston is playing a lot of piano in Colorado this week, making himself available to most people who want to see him without them having to make a long-distance drive. In addition to Saturday’s performance at Denver’s Paramount Theatre, he’s scheduled for Breckenridge tonight, Alamosa on Tuesday, Colorado Springs on Thursday, and then he’s back in the state in Fort Collins on July 30.
Judging by his past success, he could probably have scheduled a couple of high profile Colorado shows and been done with it. But Winston likes traveling from piano to piano, even in the small towns.
“I get the feel for an area, it’s part of the whole thing (the overall performance). I try to be as open as I can to anywhere I am, and let it influence the music. It’s often subtle, but I take in as much as I can.”
George Winston, 8 p.m. Saturday, Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place. Tickets are $35-45. Call 303-623-0106. For information on his other Colorado performances, go to.
Set list
The Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra plays Jazz@Jack’s on Tuesday. … The quirky trio Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey takes on Quixote’s True Blue on Wednesday and the Fox Theatre on Saturday. … New York pianist Don Friedman visits Dazzle this Friday and Saturday. … The Greg Harris Vibe Quintet celebrates a new CD release at the Back Room on Friday. … This year’s Winter Park Jazz Festival happens in downtown Winter Park July 21-22, with Dave Koz, Dotsero and Jazz Attack. … The New Mexico Jazz Festival takes place July 19-29 in Santa Fe and Albuquerque with a terrific lineup: Sonny Rollins, Richard Bona, John Pizzarelli and Denver’s Dianne Reeves. Find out more at.
Bret Saunders’ column on jazz appears every other Sunday in A&E. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM. His e-mail address is bret_saunders@hotmail.com.
