Jazz Scene USA. Cannonball Adderley Sextet, Teddy Edwards Sextet, and: Brubeck Returns to Moscow (review)

Once upon a time, it was not uncommon to find jazz shows on television. Thanks to the popularity of DVDs, many of these programs are now finding their way back into circulation, for which we should all be thankful. Several DVDs have been released by Shanachie of the 1960s show, Jazz Scene USA, incorporating two half-hour shows on one disc. A mixture of discussion with the musicians (by the affable host, singer Oscar Brown, Jr.) and performance, interesting camera angles and photographic effects serve to focus attention on the musicians without being distracting. These two shows offer interesting contrasts.

The first performance, led by Cannonball Adderley, the most important alto player after Charlie Parker, also features several other giants of their instruments: brother and cornetist Nat, a very young Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones, and Louis Hayes (all members of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet), plus multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef who had just been added to the group. This powerhouse ensemble shows all of its versatility in the four pieces played. "Jessica's Birthday," a straight-ahead and hard-swinging number, is followed by the very adventurous and more through-composed "Primitive." Cashing in on the then-recent Latin craze, the band presents an early version of a work that would become a jazz standard, "Jive Samba" (here called "Bossa Nova Nemo"). Nat Adderley's classic "Work Song" rounds out the set.

The recently-deceased Teddy Edwards and the members of this sextet are virtually forgotten today. Edwards chose to live and work only in Los Angeles, and never had much impact after the late 1940s despite an impressive discography as a leader. The only other member who might be recognized is trombonist Richard Boone, whose active career included a stint with Count Basie, but all five sidemen are solid players. I believe this is the only recording of Edwards playing with any of the others. The five tunes here are all Edwards originals, including his popular "Sunset Eyes." One wonders about the vagaries of the music business that such a tight group with interesting soloists does not succeed, where others of much less appeal produce one banal recording after another. Fortunately documents such as this DVD shed a more even light on the jazz scene of that time.

On the other end of the obscurity spectrum is Dave Brubeck. Classically-trained, Brubeck has long considered himself first, a composer, and second, a pianist. Beginning with the 1956 ballet, A Maiden in the Tower and including several cantatas, oratorios, and Masses, Brubeck has composed several large-scale works, often incorporating jazz elements. The work that is the heart of this video, his 1979 Mass To Hope! A Celebration, has been recorded by Telarc performed by American forces. Scored for orchestra, choir, soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, and jazz quartet, To Hope! blends several stylistic elements, but not in a jarring or inappropriate way. The video captures long-time Brubeck conductor Russell Gloyd's rehearsals with the Russian choir (whose unfamiliarity with singing English proved challenging) and Russian National Orchestra. Several choirs and soprano soloists were auditioned. The two male soloists were brought from America and had sung the work before; all three soloists are magnificent, with Russian soprano Maria Maskhulia delivering a particularly moving performance.

The concert recording of the Mass is the culmination of the video (an orchestrated version of "Blue Rondo a la Turk" is the only other musical piece from the concert that is shown), but the film also documents the composer's return to Moscow some ten years after his first performance there as a musical ambassador at the request of then-president Ronald Reagan. The film concentrates on the musical aspects of this visit, including a seminar given by Brubeck to a packed auditorium at the Moscow Conservatory, and touches briefly on his previous visit...