While postbop jazz of the 1960s and ‘70s may still sound hip to many ears, there’s no getting around the fact that the music is a half-century old now. Thatap why it was interesting to see a lot of people in their 20s attending show at on Friday night.
An all-star band assembled a few years ago by trumpeter David Weiss, the Cookers includes luminaries of ‘60s and ‘70s scenes, figures who played alongside names like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard, whose 1965 album “The Night of the Cookers” gives the band its name. The band’s lineup has appeared on some of the biggest jazz albums over the last four-plus decades. And the Cookers’ late set on Friday drew from that deep well of the past and also included some songs so new they hadn’t even been finished.
The band opened with saxophonist Billy Harper’s “Believe, For It Is True,” a title track more or less from the group’s 2012 album “Believe” and a song that originally appeared on Harper’s 2009 album, “The Believer.” Believing was not a problem after hearing the single orchestral voice that gathered from Harper’s tenor, Craig Handy’s alto and the trumpets of Weiss and Eddie Henderson. The brass section seemed to mesh even more closely as the show progressed, framing the solos with bold, memorable melodic lines. You don’t hear many jazz bands play in this orchestral manner any more and it helped to make the songs resonate in your head long after hearing them. The other reason for this effect is the high level of the songs’ composition, but more on that later.
The high point of the tune came during Harper’s cascading solo, when drummer Victor Lewis stepped up to match every notch climbed on the scale of intensity. It reminded one a little of how Elvin Jones used to trade barrages with John Coltrane’s epic solo phrasings.
Harper and Handy’s solos during pianist George Cables’ “Ebony Moonbeams” drew probably the most raucous response of the night from the crowd. For fans of hard bop, or even of Coltrane’s ventures from that point of departure, the interactions between Lewis, Harper and Handy supplied the nightap biggest fireworks. Solos from Weiss and Henderson were no less impressive, but generally much shorter. The band’s senior member at 78, legendary bassist Cecil McBee provided intricate but soulful lines throughout. And, neither of Cables’ hands ever appeared to leave the keyboard, so graceful and still lightning quick was his technique.
In Harper’s 1979 song “Priestess,” Cables laid out a blues line while Handy delivered a breath-defying solo that vaulted rapidly back and forth from his improvisational path and the melody. The song served as a reminder that, even though itap making a comeback, fusion was not the only jazz produced during the late ‘70s.
One song – the blues-based “Slippin’ and Slidin’ – sounded a bit dated. But what brings people of all ages back again and again to hear this music is its compositional richness, those deep melodies that seem as if you have always known them the minute you first hear them. There is emotion in these songs, and the intricate changes and solo spacings only serve to augment it even more. The Cookers have never lost touch with those key ingredients that good songs possess, even brand-new songs.
“This is a new tune by George Cables,” said Weiss near show’s end. “Itap so new that we don’t know how to end it, but until then, itap really great.” The song was a tribute to Mulgrew Miller, the pianist and friend of the band who died in May at only 57.
Cables’ right hand flourishes slowed down to fit the more somber mood. As the song neared its uncertain close, Harper began directing Lewis and Cables with an outstretched arm. Both musicians somehow figured out what he meant and finished at the same place.
“That was good,” Weiss said. “Letap do it that way from now on.”
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Denver-based writer Sam DeLeo is a published poet, has seen two of his plays produced and recently completed his novel, “As We Used to Sing.” His selected work can be read at .
