Trumpeter Victor Garcia found out only last Thursday that he would be stepping in for internationally known Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi the next night to lead an all-Miles Davis set at the Jazz Showcase. (Roditi was unable to get to Chicago due to the weather, and his gig has been rescheduled for June.) Garcia, whose own Chicago Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble has been very well-received, said he was thrilled to get an opportunity to “perform this music which I’ve studied forever”.
The show was part of the Miles Davis Festival, a four month celebration of his 85th birthday year, featuring a unique collaboration between the Auditorium Theater and jazz clubs throughout the city. If this date was any indication, the city has much to celebrate.
Garcia’s quartet included Jim Trompeter on piano, Larry Gray on bass and Greg Artry on drums. The beautiful “Someday My Prince Will Come” featured Gray, aptly dubbed the “Poet Laureate of the double bass” by New Orleans musician Donald Harrison. Never predictable, Gray may pick, pluck, strum or bow his way through a solo. He effectively uses even the spaces between the notes to take the tune where he wants it to go, and deposits his listeners right back in the groove he found them.
For his part, Artry delivered several blistering solos, notably on Sonny Rollins' "Airegin" which Garcia rightly described as “a burner”. At one point, he was playing so hard a drumstick went flying over his head but there was another in his hand in milliseconds and he never, as they say, missed a beat.
Garcia himself has a great tone, mellow and smooth, which he used to terrific effect in “Blue in Green”. The tune featured Trompeter on piano, and as he and Garcia traded solos, they created a mood that was so delightful the audience ignored the usual knee-jerk response of applauding as soon as one musician stops playing and instead let the music build uninterrupted to the end. But Garcia can also blow those high, staccato sharp ones as he did in "Stella by Starlight" and "ESP."
The festival is several great ideas rolled into one; allowing musicians to pay tribute to Miles Davis by exploring his tunes while bringing their own contributions; creating synergy between the clubs and the Auditorium by offering discounts to the Auditorium concerts for attendance at the club venues; and, finally, by devoting four months to Davis’ legacy.
