Frosh phenoms rejuvenate Yale jazz

Yale's long-suffering jazz fans can finally celebrate--last Thursday's jazz concert at the Morse CD Café was a resounding success. Thanks to Master Stanton Wheeler, a few creative posters, and a growing reputation on campus as musical prodigies, Jazz Dialect packed the room beyond capacity. People sat on the floor. People lined the walls. At one point, I counted 10 people standing in the hallway, peeking their heads in the door.

The quartet includes bassist Benjamin Landsverk, TC '99, and drummer John Roundtree ("from around here"), but the real stars were alto saxophonist Matthew Clayton, MC '02, and pianist Konrad Kaczmarek, MC '02. Clayton and Kaczmarek are two of the most exciting, impressive jazz musicians to arrive at Yale in a long time. In high school, Clayton played in the Grammy All-American Jazz Band and Kaczmarek won an award from Wynton Marsalis.

Their credits are impressive, but their music speaks for itself. The group exudes a humble, personable tone. "Jazz" Clayton explained to the crowd, "is a form of communication." With that in mind, the musicians seemed determined to meet the crowd halfway without compromising their music. Clayton provided useful explanations of the music between songs to make it more accessible. There was no sense of self-indulgence, no avant-garde arrogance. Instead, Clayton and Kaczmarek simply played music--and they played it well. They played a mix of originals by Clayton and well-chosen standards, including interesting arrangements of "Mr. Syms," "You Don't Know What Love Is," "Parker's Mood," and Cole Porter's, Class of 1913, "What is This Thing Called Love?" The strong musical personalities and contrasting styles of the two freshmen and the solid rhythms of Landsverk and Roundtree gave the band an interesting texture and a lot of variety. Although Landsverk and Roundtree are excellent musicians, they knew that it wasn't their show. For the most part, they stepped aside and let the freshmen strut their stuff.

Clayton is a fiery improviser, exploiting the bebop vocabulary invented by saxophonists like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Almost all saxophonists study the work of these giants, but Clayton seems to have internalized it and made it his own. He tempers his impressive chops with a soft touch. But what I like best about his playing is its sense of logic. Each phrase seems to follow the last in such a way that Clayton's ideas make perfect sense. His compositions, notably "Matthew's Groove," gave the show a hip-hop flavor.

Kaczmarek is equally impressive but very different, a great complement to Clayton. His playing is more cerebral and his delicate chord voicings remind me of Bill Evans. He also has a Monk-like ability to surprise the listener with interesting rhythmic hits. Like Clayton, he is brimming with ideas, capable of several different styles. His accompaniment on the hip-hop tunes was especially strong. Kaczmarek is a very intelligent player, rhythmically and harmonically, and his amazing responsiveness to Clayton's ideas give the Jazz Dialect a sense of chemistry and an organic feel. His ability to comment and elaborate on Clayton's riffs is one of the best aspects of this amazing group.

The crowd loved it, applauding every song and every solo as if it were the last. If there were ever any doubts that Yalies would turn up for a jazz event, Jazz Dialect squashed them. After their last song, the crowd gave the group a standing ovation before the band returned for an encore. After deciding on a song and a key, the Jazz Dialect played "Parker's Mood," a sumptuous parting gift in B-flat. The show was an incredible success, and Morse's freshmen phenoms are not a secret anymore.

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