BOB JAMES: PIANO CONCERTO: an appreciation by director Jack O’Brien
Bob James, the celebrated Grammy winning jazz musician and pianist, started out very legit. I should know… I was there at the University of Michigan where we both studied in the late 50’s, and even shared a couple of student residences along the way. He studied seriously under Ross Lee Finney there, and was making quite a name for himself, but the jazz bug was within him. Soon he was winning the Collegiate Jazz Festival in 1961 under the auspices of a guy named Quincy Jones, and the fat was in the fire.
Working with Creed Taylor in the late 60’s, a series of remarkable albums soon followed. And his dangerous riffs on such classical pieces as “NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN’ caused more than a rippling effect.
In subsequent years, and over a stretch of time and artists, he began to take meticulous care of musicians like Sarah Vaughan, whom he accompanied for years, as well as Earl Klugh, Paul Simon, Dave Sanborn and others. All the while, he was steadily building one of the most recognizable and truly beloved niches in contemporary jazz, most notably FOURPLAY, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this calendar year.
All that time, below the surface, lay his formidable training and the feeling that in addition to cross-over jazz in all its ravishing components, he might have bigger fish to fry. Was there not a bigger canvas upon which he should paint? Could he dare? Should he?
And here it is: a world premiere concerto that pits classical modes against the astonishing vitality of jazz. A tradition that encompasses not only Gershwin, but Bernstein and Ravel as well. A necessary evolution in our exploration of just how rich and entertaining are seemingly rival modes of music, that might just well be opposite sides of the same beautiful coin.
The horrifying tsunami in Japan a few years ago elevated Bob’s sense of community, and he was called upon by his many fans there to help raise their crushed spirits. This is something he took very seriously, and which became a cause close to his heart. As a result, in this powerful work run parallel, pain and glory, suffering and laughter, conflict and hope, the stuff that makes magic out of loss, and gives proof to the fact that Bob James has much more to tell us…much more perhaps than we, or even he, could imagine. Embrace it!