In the 21st century, there is a tendency to see jazz
leaving the consciousness of the millennial generation. Thanks to YouTube, social media, downloading
and streaming, various forms of music have been available and tend to cater to
the top 40 crowd clamoring for a hit.
There are up and coming artists who still think that jazz is a cool
thing that should be explored and expanded upon by the millennial generation. Among those artists who are part of this millennial
generation is the multi-talented tenor saxophonist and composer, Landen Vieira.
I first heard about him through a University of Toronto student and
classmate of his who stated that his tone and attack is like a 1960’s Wayne
Shorter. Upon further evidence of what
I experienced one Monday night at the Emmett Ray, we see that not only Wayne
Shorter is echoed, but Joe Henderson and to a further degree John
Coltrane. As a result, I made it a
point of myself to follow (and eventually jam) with this up and coming new
talent.
In his set it was mostly a program of creative originals and a
couple of standard chestnuts that swung like mad. “Light Piece” is a fierce bebop number that
sets the tone of a later day Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note session, an advanced
post-bop number employing stop and go time, sheets of sound, and quartal
harmonies in the solo passages of all involved (pianist Adrean Farrugia,
bassist Julian Anderson-Bowes and drummer Ethan Ardelli). “Do It” had the pizzazz and feel of an Art
Blakey stomper that has a bluesy groove that is funky and makes you want to
snap your fingers.
One of the standard chestnuts, the Cedar Walton hard bopper “Bolivia”,
employed a playful intro vamp that sets a groove and pace for the swing of the
tune, which breaks into chord changes and modal interplay between Landen and
the rhythm section. Back to original
territory, “Dove” is a beautiful ballad in which employs devices similar to two
standards, the AABA format and keys of “Body and Soul” and a B section in which
the melody borrows a part of “Like Someone in Love”. Closing out the set is a quantum burner
called “Double Vision”, in which Landen employs his Michael Brecker influences
with a tune that is basically the chord changes to “Nothing Personal” which
shifts from stop time to fast paced post-bop.
From what I heard that Monday night, I can rest assured that artists
such as Landen Vieira give me
such hope that jazz has an enlightened and a
secure future in Canada and beyond in the 21st century.
OFFICIAL LANDEN VIERA WEB SITE:
(Landen Vieira)