Reviewed by Carol Drummond
Last Friday night, Severance Hall was host to a new groove. Professional Piano‘s Matt Skitzki produced and presented Jazz at Severance Hall, a first-time event showcasing nine of Cleveland’s up-and-coming jazz musicians. The concert featured original works and creative takes by six of these nine gentlemen. All of them are seasoned, professional musicians who have made careers playing their instruments both locally and beyond. The group had been meeting and sharing their creations with each other in informal jam sessions, but this is the first time they publicly showcased their music.
The concert took place in Severance Hall downstairs, in the elegantly appointed Reinberger Chamber Hall. As if to demonstrate the juxtaposition of a jazz concert being performed in a traditionally classical venue, the musicians donned prim black-tie tuxedoes paired with unusual foot gear. Seven of them wore sneakers, one had white leather loafers with tassels and the last member of the band wore no shoes at all.
The evening started with three pieces written by the producer of the event, Matt Skitzki. When was the last time you heard a modern rag tune? Gnarled Rag was a frantically-paced piece carried by Skitzki’s piano and Alan Gleghorn on the bass. This was a high-energy start for an exciting evening of new music. Skitzki’s next piece, entitled Pressed, cooled down the mood in the room and featured a powerful solo by sax man Bobby Selvaggio. Skitzi’s last pieces, Sigoly Blues, had a thoughtful, introspective beginning that gave way to a melody that was not very blue at all, but instead made me feel very good.
Bobby Selvaggio’s two original works included Song for Rebecca and Revolution in which young Adam Machaskee’s trombone and Selvaggio’s sax took lead positions and were grounded by Gleghorn’s bass and Ricky Exton’s drums.
Mark Russo’s two pieces were up next and I was impressed with the complexity of the compositions called Grace and Authorization Required. Both pieces were very high energy with quick starts that gave way to big, bold segments that featured all the horns on stage and climaxed with Russo’s clear trumpeting.
After the intermission, drummer Ricky Exton’s two compositions started off the second half of the concert. Not surprisingly, these pieces brought the background instruments out in front. The piece entitled This Is For You allowed Exton to showcase his drumming and Gleghorn’s bass while overlaying the beat with a more simple, unified sound from the horns. At one point Selvaggio traded his saxophone for a clarinet and proceeded to build a rich tangle of sound with the pervasive beat of the drums and bass. The piece meandered on to a more militant and staccato segment, then appropriately ended with a drum solo. Exton’s second tune, Atty’s Scheme, had a more subdued tone and featured Selvaggio on flute this time, Johnny Cochran with a saxophone solo and finally Josh Rzepka blew a clear and confident trumpet solo. These three horns culminated in a long-waited bass solo by Gleghorn, whose interaction with his bass was like watching a man in love, passionately dancing with the object of his affection. The expression on Gleghorn’s face while he played his bass betrayed sheer joy with sounds they created together. His solo turned the tone of the song and gave his performance the attention it deserved.
Adam Machaskee was the youngest performer of the evening, but his rendition of Debussy’s “Girl With the Flaxen Hair” was the biggest sound of the night and not only featured his powerful trombone performance but also had moving solos from Selvaggio and Cochran, both on Saxaphone. All evening Machaskee’s trombone section was shared with veteran trombonist and WCLV’s Music Director and Operations Manager John Simna who held his own among the younger musicians on stage.
The last three pieces performed were from most well-known musician on stage, Josh Rzepka. Blues for C.T. was a feel-good, upbeat tune that featured the concise trumpet playing of Rzepka, a long-anticipated piano solo by Skitzki and another saxophone solo by Cochran. After an explosive start of Rzepka’s song, Into the Night, dramatic bursts of sounds from the horns kept the tempo moving along at a frenzied pace, culminating in Rzepka’s precise trumpet solo, then the song ended as abruptly as it started. Lastly, Rzepka’s Salsa Queen ended the evening on an extremely positive note and had both the players barely able to contain their moves and the audience almost dancing out of their seats.
This was the first performance of its kind and a welcome insight into modern, original jazz in Northeast Ohio. It could have been made more engaging for the audience had there been brief spoken interludes by each performer, in turn. Anecdotes, introductions and explanations would have drawn us closer to each artists’ thoughts and intentions with their music and would have helped us to get a deeper appreciation of the pieces they were presenting that evening.
Jazz at Severance Hall was a kind of experiment, to see if Cleveland had enough of a jazz community of supporters to host such a special event. Jazz can be a hard sell, yet the auditorium was nearly full of appreciative fans. I hope this means that the momentum created by this unique production will be followed up in some way with additional concerts, performances or events that continue to provide a forum for creative, regional renditions of jazz on a regular basis. I also hope that the Northeast Ohio community will continue to support the efforts of Skitzki and his fellow musicians as they round out the rich music scene this region continues to develop, by coming out and attending these ventures.
See Cool Cleveland correspondent Carol Drummond’s pre-concert interview with Matt Skitzki here.
Carol Drummond has been a professional designer for 25 years. Prior to starting her award-winning graphic design studio 18 years ago, Drummond Design, she graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, worked at a graphic design studio, a video production company, and a consumer products company. Carol currently serves as chairman of the COSE Arts Network Advisory Committee. http://www.DrummonDesign.com
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106