Segerstrom celebrates jazz greats
It’s a 100th birthday party so big that the celebration is starting a year in advance.
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa will honor four jazz visionaries all born in the same year — 1917 — with tributes by some of the world’s leading jazz musicians. The centennial celebration will be held from Oct. 7 to 9.
Anniversaries seem to be the theme; the center is currently marking its 30th year.
Those being remembered for leaving an indelible mark on the jazz scene are Dizzy Gillespie, who died in 1993; Ella Fitzgerald, who died in 1996; Mongo Santamaria, who died in 2003; and Thelonious Monk, who died in 1982.
“These are all significant people in the world of jazz, and we wanted to make sure we celebrated these great legacies with wonderful performers,” said Aaron Egigian, the Segerstrom Center’s senior director of music programming.
The celebratory affair kicks off Oct. 7 with a concert featuring the SFJazz Collective, an ensemble that will perform a tribute to the late Miles Davis.
Davis, who would have been 90 in September, was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music.
The SFJazz Collective, which is big on the West Coast, is made up of eight jazz musicians who thrive on keeping their arrangements fresh.
To that end, the ensemble will present a new take on Davis’ compositions — something that the musicians believe would have pleased the innovative Davis.
“Miles was a visionary who was so well-known for his leadership in bands,” said Edward Simon, a pianist with SFJazz. “Looking at the scope of his career, you see that he always moved forward and changed with the times.”
Simon said that when he and the group are creating a new musical arrangement — basically a reconceptualization of a previously composed work — they harmonize and try to make the piece more personal.
“We create a new perspective because you really can’t do it better than they [the original musicians] did,” Simon said. “It’d be a disservice to the way they did it.”
Following the collective’s performance that evening will be Jazz 100, which will present “The Music of Dizzy, Ella, Mongo and Monk.” Musical director and former Gillespie pianist Danilo Perez will lead the ensemble of seven in paying homage to the jazz greats.
Rounding out the program on the main stage Saturday night will be tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who has emerged over the last year as a breakout star. Washington, Egigian said, is putting a modern spin on jazz.
The Los Angeles native will make his Segerstrom Center debut with performances based on his latest album, “The Epic.” The record debuted at No. 1 on several iTunes Jazz Charts, including in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Segerstrom’s inaugural Jazz Weekend, as it is being called, will wrap up Sunday with an afternoon performance by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Marsalis is hailed as a world-renowned trumpeter and composer who is the only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year. He repeated the feat a year later.
Vocalist and drummer Jamison Ross, who counts Marsalis as an influential teacher who helped him reach a level of sophistication when commanding the drums, will open for him.
Music, Ross explained, is something that should be felt.
“We’re a younger generation and we have a different perspective,” Ross said, commenting on the changes in music over the years. “As long as people take away the soulful impact of the performance as well as have a smile on their face and a deeper understanding of what we call jazz or music, then that’s all right with me.”
The music genre, which originated in the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was celebrated in May as the White House hosted International Jazz Day with acclaimed musicians including Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall and Herbie Hancock.
It’s a sound that has been described as America’s most significant artistic contribution to the world, and this year’s festival is an opportunity for people to celebrate the sound’s historic past while looking to the future, Egigian said.
“I want the audience to marvel at all the incredible music that is a part of our culture and that has been given to us by composers and performers that is distinctly American,” Egigian said.
“Jazz is always evolving and we wonder, ‘Where is it tomorrow?’ For that, we have to look at these great performers today.”
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What: Jazz Weekend
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 7: SFJazz Collective paying tribute to trumpeter Miles Davis, followed by Jazz 100 marking the births of the four jazz musicians; 8 p.m. Oct. 8: tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington; 3 p.m. Oct. 9: drummer and vocalist Jamison Ross followed by the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Cost: Tickets start at $39; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis starts at $49
Information: (714) 556-2787 or visit scfta.org.
