"Our mission was to make the most beautiful music we could."
Benny Sharoni
It’s been five years since the big-toned, Israeli-born tenor saxophonist Benny Sharoni made his recording debut with an acclaimed album called Eternal Elixir.
All the promise resonating through that warmly expressive debut disc -- a spiritually inspired work that touted music as the eternal elixir for the world’s woes -- has been more than fulfilled in the Boston-based saxophonist/composer’s new release, Slant Signature (Papaya Records).
You can hear live exactly how the versatile Sharoni digs with passion and dexterity into everything from jazz standards and originals to hard bop and Latin jazz as he leads his quartet at 8:30 pm on Friday, May 29, at Old Lyme’s The Side Door Jazz Club at 85 Lyme Street. He swings at the cozy, intimate shoreline venue with the same rhythm section heard on Slant Signature: pianist Joe Barbato, bassist Todd Baker, and drummer Steve Langone. Tickets: $35.00. Information: thesidedoorjazz.com and (860) 434-0886.
More than likely, he’ll mine material from Slant Signature, which was just released in March. An excellent showcase for his writing and playing, the CD rings with increased authority, additional creative breadth and depth and a re-affirmation of Sharoni’s basic credo to make beautiful music.
His heartfelt aesthetic on beauty and truth is rooted in and originally inspired by the lyrical expressiveness of Sonny Rollins that he first encountered at home years ago as a musically gifted kid who was born and raised in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. His life-changing Rollins epiphany came to him wrapped up in a batch of vinyl LPs that his music-loving mother had brought home to him after a trip to New York City.
Music of all kinds reigned supreme in the Sharoni household presided over by his émigré parents. His mother, who grew up in Chile, and his father, who had lived in Yemen, both emigrated from their original homelands to Israel where they later met at a kibbutz not long after Israel became a nation in 1948.
The Sharoni home was alive with the sound world music, including Latin styles from Chile and African-based melodies and rhythms from Yemen. Plus, of course, the fortuitous cache of Rollins recordings, which Benny totally immersed himself in as a young man who suddenly had a calling to become a jazz musician. It was a calling that led him all the way to America, the Promised Land for many aspiring jazz musicians from foreign nations.
Hearing Rollins not only forever changed his life, but also lit the way to discovering a litany of tenor saxophone greats, including Zoot Sims, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Benny Golson and many other American icons. His love for jazz led him to Boston’s Berklee College of Music for just one semester, his collegiate career cut short by his need to work full-time to get by on his own in a land not quite so full of milk and honey for a young, idealistic jazz student.
Despite that bump on his road to success and jazz mastery, Sharoni managed to study with such Boston-based jazz Brahmins as the saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and George Garzone. Eventually, he established himself on the Boston scene where he has led his own bands and appeared with such renowned players as Joshua Redman, Danilo Perez, Kenny Garrett and Larry Coryell. Today he tours and performs with his own bands throughout the East Coast, Canada, Europe and Asia.
On the studio recording of Slant Signature, Sharoni beefs-up his working quartet, which features Barbato, Baker and Langone, with two special guests -- the fiery trumpeter Jim Rotondi and guitarist Mike Mele. Although Rotondi had never played with Sharoni’s quartet before, his interaction with the tenor saxophonist sets sparks flying right from the opener, a Sharoni original called “Minor City.”
Sharoni listened widely over the historic range of tenor styles as he honed his own voice.
Throughout the session, the pieces are graced with refreshing vigor, verve and a continuous sense of celebration, whether the band is grooving on an original samba, or on such jazz pieces as Freddie Hubbard’s “Down Under,” Lee Morgan’s Ceora (done as a romantic bossa nova with Sharoni in a reflective mood), or Ray Bryant’s buoyant, funky “Tonk,” the soulful, sterling grand finale sparkling with a Horace Silver lining.
Obviously, Sharoni, who is a diligent scholar of the tenor saxophone, listened widely over the historic range of tenor styles as he honed his own voice and found his independent sense of artistic direction leading to fresh approaches to the music.
Nonetheless, you still sometimes hear hints or catch glints of luminous Sonny elements beaming through, whether it shines in emotion-filled gruff tones or in smart thematic playing. It lights up in flashes of wit and a bright sense of play, for example, when Sharoni makes his grand entrance on the Freddie Hubbard tune.
What he’s all about is life-affirming energy and the perpetual celebration of beauty.
“This record is 99 percent heart,” Sharoni has said of his artistic goal. “The band is so full of heart and joy and intensity.”
As he confides in the CD’s liner notes to jazz critic Ed Hazell: “Our mission was to make the most beautiful music we could.” With total honesty and no hyperbolic exaggeration, Sharoni can stand proudly in front of any banner proclaiming: mission accomplished.
Rich Blend Hits the Sonic Sweet Spot
Look for an evening crackling with crisp interactive energy and thick, varied textures you can almost touch as pianist Jen Allen and Noah Baerman, on organ and synthesizer, lead their new group, Trio 149, at 8:00 pm on Friday, May 29, at Middletown’s Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts and Cultural Center.
The brainchild of these two noted, Connecticut-based jazz pianist/keyboardists, the synergy-rich and timbre-tumbling collaboration at the Buttonwood bash also features drummer Jocelyn Pleasant and special guest, trumpeter Sean Elligers.
Tapping into a repertoire rooted in original compositions by Allen and Baerman, including some featuring vocals, the multi-sonic alliance aims at what is described as “the sweet spot between modern jazz, classic soul music and other contemporary sounds, an amalgam of John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Sting and many other influences.”
In case you’re wondering about the meaning of the number 149 in the group's name, Trio 149, it’s neither mysterious nor mystical, but purely mathematical. “On our first gig together,” Baerman explains, “I played my Korg synthesizer with 61 keys and Jen played the piano with 88 keys, or 61 + 88 = 149.”
Admission: $10.00. Doors open at 7:30 pm, giving you time to check out the Buttonwood’s café/bookstore. The Buttonwood is at 605 Main Street. Information: (860) 347-4957.
Big Band Treats for Dancing Feet
From a 350-seat amphitheater in East Hartford along the scenic Connecticut River to a landmark church in suburban West Hartford, swing lovers can tap their feet, maybe even jitterbug or, more sedately, just foxtrot to the nostalgic sounds of big band music thanks to performances by the Al Fenton Big Band and Simply Swing.
The Al Fenton Band, an 18-piece ensemble, performs in a cabaret setting at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 29, in a fundraiser at West Hartford Universalist Church to benefit the church and its many worthy programs. Led by saxophonist Kathy J. Neri, a music teacher by day in the East Hartford public school system, and featuring vocalist Beverly St. Onge, the band specializes in swing, jazz and blues selections fine-tuned to be user friendly for both listeners and dancers. Some members of the church choir will sing a few numbers with the band, including “Pennies from Heaven,” a blessedly appropriate selection for a church benefit.
The Arthur Murray Dance Studio of New Britain will provide a free swing dance lesson as part of the festivities in Universalist Church’s Fiske Hall. Doors open at 7:00 pm for those who want to hone their swing step skills with the Arthur Murray instructors.
The church is at 433 Fern Street. Suggested admission: $20.00 in advance; $25.00 at the door. Information: (860) 232-0110.
As part of its ambitious, 18-venue Farmington Bank Community Concert Series, Simply Swing goes outdoors to present a free concert at 6:45 pm on Saturday, May 30, at Great River Park Amphitheater on East River Drive in East Hartford.
Directed by drummer/composer Joe LaRosa, the Newington-based band features six horns, a rhythm section and vocalist Vivian LaRosa. The ten-piece orchestra plays favorites from the big band and swing dance eras. Its amphitheater performance includes a special segment called Dancing to the Music of Old Blues.
Simply Swing's ultimate goal is to get everybody in the audience up and out of their chairs and dancing to the swing music.
As a bonus, special guest vocalist Blaise Tramazzo joins the ensemble to reprise several Frank Sinatra golden-oldies. The Dancing Duo will offer a free, mini-dance lesson at 6:30 pm, offering hip tips to wannabe hepcat hoofers.
Simply Swing’s ultimate goal, according to the seasoned swing chanteuse Vivian LaRosa, who’s married to maestro Joe LaRosa, is to get everybody in the audience up and out of their lawn chairs and dancing to the swing music, transforming whatever venue the band plays into the home of happy feet. In case of rain, the concert will be postponed until the next night. Information: simplyswingmusic.com and (860) 989-9217.
Mighty Grinders Groove in Elm City
Organist Brian Charette, a Grammy-nominated groovemeister and winner of the 2014 Downbeat Critics’s Poll for Rising Star: Organ, returns to Connecticut, his native state, to perform with his trio, Mighty Grinders, at 8:30 and 10:00 pm on Friday, May 29, at New Haven’s Firehouse 12. He’s joined by his Mighty Grinder colleagues, guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Eric Kalb.
A devout convert to the organ, Charette is a classically trained pianist who played in the early ‘90s with the band Street Temperature, then one of the steamiest, most mercurial fusion bands in the State. Born in Meriden in 1972, he attended the University of Connecticut, graduating in 1994 on the dean’s list with a BA in classical piano performance.
His piano gurus included Kenny Werner, Charlie Banacos and Ellen Rowe. A former director of jazz studies at the University of Connecticut, Rowe was a big favorite with Hartford fans some years ago before rising to national prominence as a pianist, composer and educator.
Besides making recordings as a bandleader under his own name and touring in Europe, Charette has worked with a variety of performers as different as Joni Mitchell and Cyndi Lauper. His diversified resume includes work with such soul-drenched saxophonists as Lou Donaldson and Houston Person, the singer Chaka Khan and singer/composer Paul Simon, and even an appearance with The Max Weinberg Seven on “Late Night with Conan O'Brien.”
An educator and writer, he’s contributed to Keyboard and Down Beat magazines, loves chess and -- critics be warned -- is also passionate about White Crane kung fu in which he holds a black sash. Tickets: $20.00, first set; $15.00, second set. Information: firehouse12.com and (203) 785-0468. Firehouse 12 is at 45 Crown Street.
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