Stanley Clarke stopped in Newark, NJ on Sunday Nov. 9 to kick off the annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which features performances by trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, tap dancing artist Savion Glover, bassist Christian McBride and more. The NEA Jazz Master who composed scores for films like “Boyz N the Hood” and is well known for his tenure with pioneering fusion group Return to Forever, staged an impromptu reunion with former bandmate and frequent collaborator Lenny White, and was joined by bassist Ben Williams, who performed an opening set alongside guitarist David Rosenthal on Scott Lafaro’s 1800’s-built bass that was recently loaned to NJPAC by the International Society of Bassists.
Clarke’s band features young, emerging voices in jazz – Jeremiah Collier on drums, pianist Cameron Graves, Colin Cook on guitar, and saxophonist Isaiah Collier — Jeremiah’s brother — joined the legendary bassist in exploring Clarke-penned classics like “School Days,” Return to Forever epics like “Beyond the Seventh Galaxy” and “No Mystery,” and reinterpreted standards by icons like an electrified funk version of Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” “In jazz, it’s easy to forget that the great innovators — people like Miles Davis and John Coltrane — were in their twenties and thirties when they were reshaping the sound of music,” Clarke told the AmNews via email in an interview ahead of the performance. “So much of the evolution and innovation in jazz has always come from the youth, and I believe it always will. That energy, that willingness to take risks and explore new directions, is what keeps this music alive.”
In between songs, Clarke reminisced about his time playing in Horace Silver’s band at a club in Harlem called Slugs, “which should tell you everything you need to know about it,” he joked to the audience. Later he would continue to reminisce about his relationship with longtime collaborator and drummer Lenny White, who was honored at Jazz at Lincoln Center last year. The pair, well known for their time together in Return to Forever, also played together in Bill Withers’ first band and in Joe Henderson’s group, he told the audience before inviting White to the drum kit. The audience erupted as Lenny White left his box seat to claim his seat at the drum throne before launching into a rendition of Henderson’s “Black Narcissus.” The chemistry between the two Masters of Jazz was evident, as an instinct that could only develop through years of sharing the stage together fueled the pair, leading the group through just some possible avenues within the Henderson-penned tune. The audience was awe struck as they witnessed two generations of unique voices influencing, pushing each other in new and exciting directions.
“You know, I’ve always felt that communicating through the arts is kind of like a universal solvent, it breaks down the walls between people, but it does it in a subtle way, without force,” Clarke explained to AmNews, referencing the power of music amidst today’s divisive socio-political climate. “With everything going on in the world, all the divisions we see, art still has this quiet kind of magic that pulls people together. It reminds us, in the most honest and beautiful way, who we really are: creative, connected, and spiritual.”
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