There was a time when jazz evolved into a radical form of art music, closer to the qualities of classical music than the "serious" avant garde. The conventional jazz line-up - drums, acoustic bass, piano and horns - provided the formal starting point for explorations that took place in clubs and concert halls. Two of the leading figures were trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane, who died in 1967 as the period came to an end.
This concert, celebrating the music of that time, was sold out for weeks in advance - remarkable for an evening of uncompromising, grown-up jazz. Pianist Herbie Hancock is a fusion star, restless and prolific, but there were no calls for Chameleon or Rockit, nor was tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker expected to deliver the hard-edged solos he has played on hundreds of hit records. Together with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, they created a pure, almost timeless chamber music.
This is an elite music, that few can play well. The repertoire was nearly the same as on their current Verve album, though the bass and drums team is different: George Mraz and Willie Jones instead of John Patitucci and Brian Blade. The dominant influence was that of the Miles Davis quintets of the 1960s, which Hancock joined as a young man. Willie Jones has some of the disruptive-but-always-swinging manner and sound of Tony Williams, Davis's teenage drummer. Coltrane's Impressions was played as an impressionistic "mash" over a bass riff adapted from Davis's So What. Brecker plays Coltrane's Naima as an unaccompanied solo, a technical tour de force made intensely moving as hyper-rapid, blurred arpeggios following the chord sequence were punctuated by hints of melody. Best of all was a witty version of Pinocchio (the only piece not on the album) that stretched and fragmented Wayne Shorter's beguiling original into something totally new.
Hancock's piano was a delight, whether solo, accompanying the soloists or throwing in little phrases between the theme statements. He always listens. Hargrove and Brecker played the themes with care and creativity, sometimes razor sharp, at others lazily smeared, always beautifully in tune (in all senses) with the composition. Hargrove was fantastic, with heated, ecstatic solos on Impressions and Transition. Occasionally he paused, as if surprised by his own audacity at stepping in Miles's footprints, but his sound is his own, and his musical vision entirely right.
