THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610100574
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY DAVID SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 63 lines
MOST JAZZ musicians show up to play, not to talk or crack jokes. A few won't even crack a smile. They connect with the audience through the music alone, which is often reward enough.
And then there's Clark Terry.
Monday night at Old Dominion University, the veteran hornman tooted ``Happy Birthday'' for the school's president, joked, sang, reminisced, did the Charleston, led a singalong, played two instruments at once, and proved himself a quack professor of languages.
Oh, yes - and played beautiful, swinging jazz.
Terry, born in St. Louis in 1920, comes from an era in which entertaining was not yet a crime. Playing with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among others, he embraced styles from swing to bebop to cool, all the while maintaining his integrity - and a sense of humor.
It was his warm personality that elevated Monday's concert and glued together a diverse song list that ranged from ``Misty'' to Monk.
It didn't hurt, either, that Terry's band for the evening consisted of three fine local musicians and teachers: John Toomey (of ODU) on piano, James Masters on bass and Howard Curtis on drums.
Dressed in gray pinstripe suit and cranberry tie, eyeglasses pushed up on his temples, Terry stepped gingerly to his seat center stage. But if he's not as mobile as he used to be, his trumpet and fluegelhorn lines still leap, slide and somersault.
Not surprisingly, several of the night's best numbers came from the Ellington book.
Curtis kicked off ``In a Mellotone'' with ``a one-measure drum roll that swings,'' just as the star ordered. Soloing on fluegelhorn, Terry turned a four-note motif inside-out before finishing off with two savory bars of lowdown blues.
A Charleston-style rhythm transformed Juan Tizol's dusty ``Perdido'' into something new. Introducing the song, Terry briefly demonstrated the dance craze of his childhood. Near the end of the tune, trading four-bar phrases with Curtis, he actually sang a drum part.
The highlight of the evening was ``Mood Indigo,'' which changed tempos so many times it nearly induced whiplash. The trio shone on this demanding arrangement. It started out lush and lovely, while Terry stated the theme on muted trumpet. Along the way, the time doubled, then doubled again. The group repeated the cycle several times as each musician rode the bucking bronco.
The standing-room-only audience at Chandler Recital Hall demanded an encore and perhaps got more than it bargained for.
Harking back to his days playing Stump the Band as a member of NBC's ``Tonight'' show orchestra, Terry reprised his patented mumbling blues - a blend of scat, demented hipster ravings, and phony Swedish, German and Italian.
Terry clearly enjoyed himself. Throughout much of the evening, he wore a grin beneath his gray mustache. He cheered on his troops, pumping his fist in appreciation of each well-turned musical phrase.
Some might argue that it's musicianship, not showmanship, that counts. That's true. But Monday night, Clark Terry delivered both. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MUSIC REVIEW
Clark Terry with the John Toomey Trio, Monday night at Old
Dominion University. by CNB