FROM THE Tuesday, August 10, 1999 ISSUE

© 1999, The Daily Beacon. All rights reserved.

UT musicians jazz up KMA program

Nate Arthur

Staff Writer

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The Knoxville Museum of Art's "Alive After Five" series has brought fine music to fine listeners all summer long.

This past Friday was no exception when a gaggle of young UT jazz scholars joined up for an evening of alternately mellow and fiery improvisations on the last program of the season, which was dubbed "The Cream of the Crop: UT Jazz Students." Not all of these youngsters were actual graduate students. Nonetheless, the five musicians have graduated to a level of skill on their instruments which places them in a class beyond a common level of musical strivings.

The quintet included grad students Robert Maxon on tenor saxophone and John Steele on bass, Thomas Heflin on trumpet, Chris Hollar on drums and Court Stewart on the piano. Without sounding too approving, it should be said that this brief, roughly two-hour concert was delightful.

After the classic, five-man collection (the traditional sax/trumpet be-bop format) wailed and slid through three sets of standards and well-known swinging vehicles, the last of the audience gave jubilant applause, and one or two stood to show their approval.

They opened with "Blues in the Closet," a classic blues piece by the great bassist Oscar Pettiford. Maxon has a light-toned and sort of cerebral style which sounded fine over the frame of this mellow tune. Thomas Heflin played some very soulful and Miles Davis-like phrases, smearing some notes and squeezing others within his valves to produce that singularly bluesy flavor which warms up an audience so well.

To open a show with a blues piece seems so appropriate and sets the atmosphere up nicely at a gentle-spirited gig like this one, played in an art museum's Great Hall, awash in gloaming light and surrounded by creation. Chris Hollar is glib and extremely tasteful as a drummer -- one never quite hears him in the distance as mere accompaniment because his snare and press-rolling insist on some attention. The Steele-bassist was rock-solid; his big fat baby reverberated well in the hall. Court Stewart played like one who studiously attended the lessons and showcases of the estimable Donald Brown, really filling the room with dense piano sounds.

Among the standards, the "Crop" dug into were Duke Ellington's (or Juan Tizol's for the historian) "Caravan," Charlie Parker's "Au Privave," the Clifford Brown/Max Roach treatment of "I'll Remember April," "Alone Together" and "Stella by Starlight," popularized by Miles Davis.

It must be refreshing to play art-music for patrons of the arts. Heflin and Hollar described in simple terms their delight in such a venue.

"The people actually listen, and a musician feels better when this happens-- in other places we won't name, this is not normal," said Heflin, who plays often with the Claymation Quartet and the swing-band The Streamliners.
"I really love playing here. The audience is always very responsive," Hollar said.

Children are welcomed at Alive After Five, especially ones like the little girl who was soaking up the music right in front of the bandstand, hopping around and generally revolutionizing pop-culture by acting as a jazz groupie.

For more information on KMA's Friday shows, call 525-6101, and if people keep their ears to the ground, they'll know when to reserve them for a night of good jazz with the likes of these UT musicians.

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Copyright © 1999, The Daily Beacon. All rights reserved.