By: Joe Lang
When legendary drummer Tony Williams died in 1997, a major void was left in the jazz world. In the wake of his death, a slew of newcomers began to emerge to assert themselves not only as incredible, thrashing session drummers, but as composers and bandleaders – just as Williams did at the end of his stint in the Miles Davis quintet of the 60s. Brian Blade, Dennis Chambers, Dave King, and Jeff “Tain” Watts began releasing solo albums that showed a bright future for the skins.
Among them, it was Watts’ style that most closely resembled Williams’ masterful control and power; he plays with an intensity that at once hypnotizes the listener with its groove and blows them away with its sheer force, a prowess that was evident no less than 30 seconds after he kicked into the second set at the Dakota on Tuesday night.
The quartet featured Marcus Strickland (former sideman to Roy Hayners) on sax, Eric Revis (a Marsalis sideman along with Watts), and the still-in-college Lawrence Fields. The group began with “J.C. is the Man” off Watts’ 2002 outing Bar Talk. The piece starts with an a cappella singing of the head, and then kicks into a hard bob-ish workout where Watts immediately showed off his ability. It seemed that with every bar Watts would try something different – a cymbal crash, a rhythmic triplet – while keeping the groove solid. Strickland busted out the soprano sax for a quick stint and laid down a clean and tasteful solo before the group cleaned up and moved on.
The second song was a slow groove that showcased the first of young Fields’ many sounds. As the dynamics of the song cooled off for Fields’ solo, his touch and tone relaxed and he began to sound just like Ahmad Jamal. With each motif and accent, Watts smiled and stared over at Fields with approval and excitement. By the third tune, the group took on a dark Trane-like breakdown reminiscent of “Alabama.” In the middle, the group exited the stage, leaving Eric Revis to himself to lay down a bass solo. Revis, whose style isn’t particularly flashy when accompanying, plucked out triplet phrases up and down the neck in a flurry but, like his leader, never lost his groove.
The group returned to the stage, finished the track and moved onto the highlight of the evening. While most people might have a hard time adapting to the sound of a song in seven (beats), the group took it on, and made it groove harder than any piece of the night. This is the testament to Watts’ ability—taking what some might consider an odd time signature and turning it into a hypnotic and perfectly natural sounding rhythm. It was over that groove that Fields’ showed off two of his other sounds. As the groove got going, Fields began playing with the rhythm in blindingly fast staccato lines that brought to mind Chick Corea. After that motif toned down, he turned right to the electric piano that he hadn’t touched all night, and played a clavinet sound with chromaticism like the Stevie Wonder of bop. After the song finished, Fields took a long but beautiful unaccompanied piano solo, and Revis answered with his own solo before the group took on a bittersweet ballad for the first time in the night.
The quartet went back to groove territory for a new piece entitled “Blues for Curtis,” dedicated to Curtis Mayfield. The piece started in three, but moved into a hard groove in four and weaved in and out, keeping the audience on its toes. The group ended with a piece also in four that switched from a straight jazz walking bass line to an anchored four, where Fields thrashed out chords on the piano and Watts answered every beat with a crushing snare drum crack answer. The audience applauded for an encore in what might have been the longest wait ever and the group took the stage for one more song.
The group's encore was “The Impaler,” a track off of Watts’ 1999 release, Citizen Tain. The song didn’t have the same energy and groove that the previous tunes did (maybe because the group was tired, having played the North Sea Jazz festival the day before), but it didn’t fail to satisfy, and the group walked off the stage triumphantly.
I’ll never get to see my drum hero Tony Williams, but as long as guys like “Tain” are still going for it, I can live with that.
Location Info:
Dakota Jazz Club
Artist Info: Jeff "Tain" Watts Quartet
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