Washington DC - Jun 13: A Night In Treme closes out the DC Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center. Dr. Michael White, center, with the Rebirth Brass Band. (All photos by Josh Sisk/FTWP)
Though inspired by the popular HBO program “Treme,” and hosted by actor Wendell Pierce, who plays a prominent, trombone-wielding character in the series, the concert soon developed its own brassy charm, momentum and power. Pierce narrated the first half of the concert, and the script proved worthy of the music, concisely describing the evolution of New Orleans percussion and early jazz traditions, linking ties to Caribbean, Native American and French opera influences, referencing modern jazz innovators and seminal Louisiana R&B and rock artists. If that sounds like a tall order for a two hour concert, it is.
But the pacing was brisk early on, and the musical illustrations, especially those contributed by clarinetist Dr. Michael White and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr., were often revealing and compelling. White contrasted breathtakingly elegant phrasing with the rich vocabulary of minor key blues during “St. James Infirmary,” while Harrison adroitly demonstrated how John Coltrane and other jazz titans indebted to New Orleans jazz pioneers boldly reconfigured pop standards with their harmonic and rhythmic ingenuity.
Virtuosic turns, however, weren’t the only thing that kept the audience standing, stomping and dancing for most of the evening. Trumpeter James Andrews, trombonist Big Sam Williams and the relentlessly loud and funky Rebirth Brass Band won over the audience with the force of their exuberant personalities during individual showcases and collective romps. “Just A Closer Walk With Thee," “When The Saints Go Marching In” — many of the tunes were Crescent City staples, but there were more than a few flashes of spontaneous combustion.
