by T. Ballard Lesemann



By Stephanie Burt

Charleston Scene

Even though most of the people in the crowd could not understand the words being sung Tuesday evening Upstairs at McCrady's, no one seemed to mind. Everyone understands the language of love, especially when it comes to music.

The 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Festival JAC Jazz Series took a decidedly sultry turn Tuesday evening when the Duda Lucena Quartet played. This band fuses rhythms and music centered upon Brazilian bossa nova, baiao, maracatu and samba, with the African roots of jazz to shape a new and modern style. Yet, it is familiar, a little reminiscent of the 60s Brazilian music that many Americans embraced for its cool tempos and guitar-centric songs.

Duda Lucena led the band with guitar and vocals and a relaxed style as he explained certain songs and influences. Gerald Gregory's piano sparkled, and the familiar Charleston faces of Kevin Hamilton on bass and
 Quentin Baxter on drums rounded out the quartet. Both were also impressive, adapting easily to the different tempos and beats.

In fact, the performance was seamless. The acoustics were wonderful in the space, and it was obvious this quartet has experience playing together; in fact, they do. You can hear them most every Wednesday from 7 to 11 p.m. at Charleston Grill.

Lucena, who grew up in Recife, Brazil, now lives in Charleston. He led the quartet in performing covers as well as originals, one of the best of the evening being “Sol,” a composition he wrote about the subject of love finding you again, just as the sun returns after the night.

However, the most memorable performance of the evening had to be “Baiao Da Penha,” an upbeat number where Quentin Baxter showed us the highest purpose for the lowly triangle and excelled at the complicated Brazilian baiao rhythm. The duet was a joy for the audience, and Lucena and Baxter looked like they were enjoying it as well.

This event was sold out, and long tables were set up to allow people comfort and the chance to partake in some signature McCrady's snacks. Beverages were also available, and the wait staff did its usual excellent job of unobtrusive service, especially welcome during the concert. This building was the perfect space for this music, that is, if you do not count a seaside table in a Brazilian resort town.

The Jazz Artists of Charleston (JAC) proved through this series, and especially this concert, that they have excellent taste when it comes to introducing some great music to Charleston. Let's hope they don't wait an entire year until the next Piccolo Spoleto to launch another series.



Charleston City Paper



Jazz Orchestra

There is an obvious one-part plan to save the Charleston Symphony Orchestra: Forget the past and adopt the Charleston Jazz Orchestra in its place. Not only is it music native to our environs, the Charleston Jazz Orchestra is for the new decade, and Conductor Charlton Singleton is the man of the hour, leading his hip, swinging Big Band. Many of the talented musicians who played at a recent concert were members of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and now unemployed.

Perhaps they can play this new vernacular of classic jazz and swing, and we can keep the CSO alive. It's time for a change back to music that was popular years ago and has re-emerged as a breath of fresh air. This is Charleston's classic music. Let the Symphony reinvent itself as a jazz orchestra rather than die.

ELLEN LEIGH MURRAY
State Street
Charleston

Post & Courier

There was a bittersweet moment last Thursday at a Jazz Artists of Charleston reception.

The presenting nonprofit was kicking off its spring series with a party for its donor arm, Friends of JAC.

Amid the lifting of glasses, talk of past accomplishments and plans for the future, Peter and Francoise Duffy were asked to come to the microphone.

The 100 or so folks at McCrady's restaurant took a moment from the music of Pulse Trio and the terrific food to recognize Charleston's first couple of jazz.

You see, their longtime restaurant, Mistral, a local institution, closed recently, much to the chagrin of many of us who had frequented the French establishment across the last three decades.

The one-of-a-kind eatery, an anchor of South Market Street businesses, sat under French and Irish flags over its welcoming front door.

Peter is Irish, Francoise French.

As far as I know, it was the only place that celebrated Bastille Day and St. Patrick's Day, both with great verve and enthusiasm. Heck, it didn't have to be a special occasion, though, for a party at Mistral. The vibe there was such that with Mistral as an example, Charleston displays the attitude of laissez les bon temps rouler, let the good times roll, just like its cousin, New Orleans.

In fact, the featured live music at Mistral was traditional jazz, what was once known as Dixieland. From the Early Days Jazz Band at the beginning through the New South Jazzmen at the end of the restaurant's run, trad was the centerpiece offered there, much to the delight of hardcore fans, locals and tourists, whose favorite

form that is.

The place bore the stamp of its owner-operators. The Duffys were hands-on, at the store everyday -- managing, hosting, breaking bread with regulars and regaling, especially Peter, any listener with wonderful stories.

Over the years, players of all the styles of jazz went through Mistral. Peter and Francoise liked them all, it didn't matter, as long as it was good.

It was a cool place for players to jam as well. Anyone who could play was welcome. I saw people there from celebrities such as bassist Willie Ruff, to unknown players who just happened to be in the restaurant.

Many a young performer grew up at Mistral.

All manner of sidemen worked with more accomplished players, getting real-world experience in playing jazz that is priceless.

In the mid-1990s, an unknown folk singer named Ann Caldwell took over Mistral's stage. By the way, the stage was no more than 10 square feet of floor space just inside the front door. It was so tight (you could call it intimate) that sometimes people coming in would walk between Ann and her mike stand on the way to their tables. Customarily, the trumpet player would sit atop the piano, a tradition, I believe, started by the late Dr. Michael Tyzack, an internationally renowned artist who taught at C of C.

Ann blossomed at Mistral. The rest is history. She's now Charleston's most popular jazz singer, having just as high a profile as many of the area's fine instrumentalists.

You could say Mistral and its owners were jazz-friendly.

Just about two years ago, the Duffys took a chance on a two-month-old jazz organization, JAC, by allowing it access to its upstairs accommodations to set up a nightclub for shows during the Spoleto Festival. It worked, complete with a repeat series last year. It was called Upstairs at Mistral.

Well, upstairs at McCrady's Thursday, the JAC presented the Duffys with its second annual Jazz Citizenship Award, won last year by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, for commitment and service to jazz and our local community.

It was a very moving moment.

It was a surprise to them. They thought they were simply attending the party. Just about everybody shed tears and hugged. Tears of shared joy. For a few moments, the feeling there was like a balm on the pain of having lost our treasured Mistral.

The Duffys stand out among jazz fans. They not only love the music, they love and respect the people who create and perform it. That love is no abstract expression, either. They lived it.

For virtually all of a 25-year run, the Duffys paid musicians to play seven nights a week.

You could count on your fingers the venues around the country today that could make that claim.

It's extremely rare.

Just like Peter and Francoise.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.

The Post and Courier

SpoletoToday

What fortune.

A sold out early show at McCrady’s, part of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival’s jazz series, showcased settings of spirituals and hymns, performed by the Mark Sterbank Jazz Group.

For the “Holy City Homecomin’,” God must have been in the room.

Sterbank’s tenor saxophone ostensibly led the ensemble, but it was clearly an equal opportunity gig that featured excellent playing by trumpeter Charlton Singleton, Tommy Gill on piano, Fred Wesley on trombone, Herman Burney Jr. on bass and Quentin Baxter on drums.

The tunes included “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho,” “Deep River,” “Wade in the Water,” “Ride on in Jesus,” and an elegant original tune by Wesley called “For the Elders,” which paid tribute to the great trombonists of yore.

The gig ended with a romping version of “I’ll Fly Away.”

Evident was the musicians’ respect for the music. These are tunes they don’t play every day, and they imbued them with love. And the love made the horns sing, the bass beat like a heart, the piano radiate joy and the drums thrum with the pulse of life itself.

Though the tunes were sacred, they lent themselves to the jazz medium perfectly, and the effect was a thrilling, visceral, toe-tapping romp, inspired and soul-nourishing.

It’s worth noting that Wesley was once an integral member of the James Brown band, a funkster to the core; yet his performance and arrangements were so compelling Tuesday night that one can’t help believing he’s first and foremost a jazzman.

Burney, who now lives in Washington, D.C., was a prominent bass player in Charleston during the 1980s and has since returned occasionally to play with Baxter and other local performers.

The “Holy City Homecomin’” gig proved once again that the Holy City is home to a group of world class musicians. You can hear them at McCrady’s through June 11, and beyond.



Piccolo Spoleto and the Jazz Artists of Charleston secured a mighty fancy spot for the buzz-inducing local jazz series Upstairs at McCrady’s at McCrady's Restaurant.

The 13-night run kicked off this weekend in the elegant Long Room on the second floor with sets from The Pulse Trio and Station NY/CHS (featuring guitarist Lee Barbour of Gradual Lean). This evening (Sun. May 30), in the larger Gallery Room overlooking East Bay Street, JAC’s president Leah Suárez swaps her administrative and promotional duties for a spot on stage with her backing combo.

Suárez and her band — Gerald Gregory on piano, Nick Jenkins on drums, Kevin Hamilton on bass, and David Linaburg (back in town from N.Y.C.) on guitar — will perform two shows, one at 7 p.m. (that one’s already sold out) and one at 10 p.m.

“I feel honored to be a part of Jazz Artists of Charleston’s third annual JAC Jazz Series,” Suárez says. “Each set will be a little different, and will feature some of my dearest friends and bandmates. It is such a privilege to have an opportunity to share the stage with such talented musicians. It’s an incredible time to be able to be a featured performer in a listener-friendly environment and intimate setting.”

“This year, I’m playing a bit more of a straight-ahead set with some jazz standards, some bossa nova, and the debut of a couple of my original tunes,” she adds. “I have a very special guest joining me for both sets.”

The Upstairs at McCrady’s series continues this week with performances from Kopaja on Mon. May 31, a variety of players during the Holy City Homecomin’ showcase on Tues. June 1, the Tommy Gill Trio on Wed. June 2, and from Morimoto+1 on Thurs. June 3. There’s even more to come as well.

Advance tickets for the other Upstairs at McCrady’s events are available for $20/set. Call the JAC box office at (843) 641-0011 for info.

Charleston City Paper

Join us for the rest of the JAC Jazz Series!  Get your tickets before it's too late!

TONIGHT: KOPAJA

843.641.0011