Pharez Whitted Sextet

Monday, August 2, 2010

Transient Journey - Jazz Showcase

2405-01

2666-Crop-01

2368-01-Crop-01

2368-01-Crop-02

2678-01-Crop-02

2372-01

2473-01

2679-01

2678-01

2368-01

2678-01-Crop-01

2589-01

2443-01

2440-Crop-01

2464-01

2530-Crop-01

2394-Crop-01

2509-01-Crop-01

2493-01-Crop-01

2435-Crop-03

2330-Crop-03

2401

2464-01-Crop-02

2324-Crop-01

2420

2436-Crop-01

2509-01-Crop-02

2457-01-Crop-01

2400

2401-Crop-01

2493-01

2330-Crop-01

2289-Crop-01

2324-Crop-03

2393-01

2325-Crop-01

2462-01-Crop-04

2348-Crop-01

2370-Crop-01

2462-01-Crop-02

2437-Crop-01

2400-Crop-01

2380-Crop-01

2432-01-Crop-01

2462-01

2495-01

2457-01

2384-Crop-01

2435-Crop-04

2464-01-Crop-04

2324

2461-Crop-01

2432-01

2435-Crop-01

2504-Crop-01

2495-01-Crop-01

2486-Crop-01

2517-01-Crop-01

2517-01

2360-Crop-01

2324-Crop-02

2356-Crop-06

2338-Crop-04

2368-01-Crop-04

2368-01-Crop-05

2368-01-Crop-06

2593-Crop-01

2595-Crop-01

2513-Crop-01

2646-Crop-01

2345-Crop-01

2654-Crop-01

2345-Crop-02

2345-Crop-04

2318-01

Pharez-001

Pharez-003

Pharez-002

Pharez-003-Crop-01

Review by Howard Reich

It took a while for Pharez Whitted and his sextet to reach peak performance Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase. But once they did, they sounded unstoppable.

The night was an important one for the Chicago trumpeter, who was launching his first engagement as bandleader in Chicago's top jazz room. Moreover, he was celebrating the recent release of his first CD under his own name in 14 years, "Transient Journey" (Owl Studios).

But anyone who therefore expected Whitted to come out swinging was in for a bit of a surprise. Instead of unleashing anything close to the sonic force this band can produce, Whitted and friends eased into the first set, only hinting at their corporate power. As a result, listeners heard a long stretch of elegantly conceived solos and ensemble playing of considerable finesse.

In Whitted's "Brother Thomas," the band cultivated a bluesy tone and saucy phrasing that are more elusive to attain than one might think. The poetry of Bobby Broom's guitar lines and the subtlety of Greg Artry's drum work gave the performance much of its defining character.

Pianist Ron Perrillo turned in his most decisive playing of the set on Whitted's "Monkish," an angular, rhythmically quirky tune evoking the musical syntax of Thelonious Monk. Perrillo's solos – steeped in astringent chords and sharp instrumental attacks – brought Monk headlong into the 21st Century. All the while, drummer Artry and bassist Dennis Carroll drove rhythms relentlessly forward.

Though perhaps widely perceived in Chicago as a leather-lunged trumpeter, Whitted showed lyric sensitivity in his ballad "Sunset in Gaza" (which he said he composed for "the children on both sides of the border"). It takes real skill to embellish a melody line as gracefully as Whitted did, the trumpeter spinning one lyric variation after another. Through it all, Whitted showed not a hint of sentimentality, his vibrato taut, his pitch precise, his phrases silken in tone.

All of which made one yearn to hear Whitted and this band at full cry, which happened – at long last – toward the end of the set. As if making up for lost time, the sextet tore into Whitted's "Plinky," yielding a performance more incendiary than its counterpart on the "Transient Journey" CD. Whitted turned out high-energy solos, the velocity of his technique matched by the audacity of his harmonies and the wide-open, clarion quality of his long-held notes. Alongside him, tenor saxophonist Eddie Bayard produced gales of sound, one phrase cascading atop the next.

When Whitted, Bayard and Broom began quickly trading phrases, building nearly to a frenzy, the audience finally heard the galvanic impact these musicians are uniquely capable of achieving.

A little more of this intensity earlier in the evening would make a distinctive band sound all the stronger.

Howard Reich - Arts Critic - Chicago Tribune - July 30, 2010