Vibist Stefon Harris hits stride at Herbst
Philip Elwood, Chronicle Jazz Critic
Monday, April 30, 2001
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/30/DD124260.DTL

San Francisco Performances' concert at Herbst Theatre on Saturday might well have been titled "Contrasts in Jazz."

Master vibraharpist Stefon Harris and his quartet played a memorable, definitive set of chamber jazz to open the program; violinist Regina Carter's headlining quintet meandered through an inconsistent hour of mostly Latin- based numbers -- ending with Carter and pianist Vana Gierig dancing to a rumba beat.

Harris set his vibes and marimba side-by-side across the stage front. He played them as one long seven-octave keyboard, with his four soft-head mallets (two or four in each hand) matching the vibes' metallic tones and electric enhancements against the mellow resonance of his marimba's wooden bars.

This quartet (Harris, pianist Xavier Davis, drummer Terreon Gully and bassist Tarus Mateen) thinks and plays as a splendidly integrated unit -- it's been together a long time and plays together intuitively.

The opening number, "Rebirth," emerged as a neatly structured tone poem, with Harris, then Davis, playing delicate, Debussy-tinged lines that roamed from pianissimo to fortissimo. Each member of the quartet goes his own way, often surprising his colleagues but never departing from the orchestration.

The second number, "Cloud of Red Dust," started as a hard-charging swinger propelled by Gully's persistent drumming; it gradually moved into "Summertime, " just as, later, Isham Jones' "There Is No Greater Love" emerged out of a delightful ad-lib duet between vibes and piano -- a "can you top this?" sort of exchange.

At one point in "Summertime," bassist Mateen plucked out harmonic variations while Harris was chording the melody an octave or two higher. Often, whatever the selection, a samba beat, a touch of a bebop solo or a double- time sequence cropped up, enjoyed its choruses of dominance, and departed. Bits of the "Summertime" theme came briefly to light during "Cloud of Red Dust" before finally gained the upper hand. This quartet is marvelously adept at this style of improvisation.

The brief finale, "Epilogue," a tribute to the late vibist Milt Jackson -- idol of all vibists -- began as a series of ringing chords. Gradually it evolved into a beautiful, if mournful, melody reminiscent of John Lewis' "Django," a Jackson feature with the Modern Jazz Quartet.

The Carter quintet's clumsy performance was riddled with problems, many caused by wretched, unbalanced amplification -- others by inept playing, poor arrangements and ho-hum material.

When Cuban percussionist Mayra Casales got to whacking her giant-size timbales (which were stage front, and amplified), disorder reigned. Carter's spoken comments were inaudible to most in the audience; her violin's tone was distorted by the amplification, and until her dancing at the end, hers was a generally perfunctory performance.

One number had a fine, attractive African melodic line, which Carter led beautifully, but another sounded like a 1930s Xavier Cugat pop-rumba. Pianist Gierig has considerable technique and Alvester Garnett is a fine jazz drummer, but the band as a whole never seemed to click, even when Casales was subdued.

E-mail Philip Elwood at pelwood@sfchroncle.com.

©2002 San Francisco Chronicle