Seawalk Amphitheatre
Jacksonville
Beach, FL
In 2002, the City of Jacksonville Beach decided to start a
series of monthly contemporary jazz concerts during the summer. After
all, what could be more perfect than wrapping up a summer weekend
listening to live music by the ocean at sunset? It started
out with mostly local and regional acts, then a few headliners
and some solid regional musicians, then a major artist with
a regional opener. This year they have outdone themselves. Each
concert has two headliners and an opening act. The radio
sponsorship has shifted back to the popular Adult Contemporary
station, which is getting the word out to a larger crowd that
includes people who are coming in for the atmosphere of a free
concert on the beach but aren't that familiar with smooth jazz. They
couldn't have picked a more perfect pair of artists to get
these people hooked than Steve Oliver and Warren Hill, two
artists who have a foot on each side of the pop/jazz line and
deliver the good stuff from both sides without compromising
either. There is a lot of mass appeal music in this genre. Watching
this bonding session between the musicians and the crowd proved
that.
There is no way to put a genre label on what Steve Oliver does. He's
a gifted singer/songwriter and an innovative and accomplished
guitarist. He doesn't sound like anyone else and his
songs defy categorization, especially live when he can bend
and stretch them at will. The scary thing is that he
keeps getting better. I saw him in March and he's even
taken another leap forward since then. He is playing
a synth guitar that he helped develop, the Carvin NS1, and
he has been doing clinics for Carvin. In the process,
he is coming up with imaginative ways to use a guitar, specifically
a guitar that can sound like multiple instruments and trigger
a lot of effects. What he does with this dazzling box
of toys is unbridled inventiveness without a touch of gimmickry. When
he walked onstage you could see people looking around trying
to figure out where a guy with an acoustic guitar and a percussionist
fit into the scheme of a smooth jazz series. It didn't
take them long to figure it out and get into it. He started
out using the synth effects behind the driving but dreamy “Magic
World.” Then, gave the audience an entertaining
guided tour of what the guitar synth could do. He thrilled
them with some flashy flamenco runs then had them nodding in
recognition and singing along with “For What It's Worth.” He
covers all the vocal territory between bass and falsetto in “Walkin'
his acapella showpiece that is spiced up with another crafty
guitar synth trick – a layered vocal chorus he can manipulate
with the touch of a string. “Chips and Salsa” and “High
Noon” brought the dancers to the front of the stage and
he wrapped up in singer/songwriter mode with “Radiant
Dreams” and his beautiful guitar interpretation of “Imagine.” The
rest of the band - percussionist Humberto Vela - had an impressive
array of things to shake and hit and kept the beat going and
the energy up. They proved that you don't need a crowded
stage to make a lot of noise.
Warren Hill hit the stage with a vengeance, his rock star persona
upfront, and a stellar group of musicians behind him as he
tore into “Come Together” and led the crowd in
a loud chant of the chorus. With Andre Berry on bass
and Dave Hooper on drums we knew we were in for some jamming
and onstage fun. Keyboardist Steve Weingart has a group
project with fusion guitar hero Frank Gambale. That tells
you all you need to know. The surprise was guitarist
Michael Ripoli, whose gritty, energetic soloing was one of
the highlights of the evening. “Mambo 2000” had
Hill and Hooper in a sax-and-drum duel, while Weingart sat
behind the keyboard and hit the stratosphere. “Our
First Dance” is the ultimate power ballad. He starts
it soft and slow, and just keeps building and playing with
more power and intensity. Berry delivered a bass solo
so thumpin' that it shook the pavement in front of the stage
while Hill coaxed a multitude of sounds out of his sax -a squawk,
a whisper, a whoosh and it was back into another level of fired
up playing. Hill doesn't do covers; he undoes covers. He
takes a familiar song, sticks with the melody long enough to
get people interested and then just takes it on a different
journey. He did that with “Light My Fire,” which
is one of the songs fans have been voting for in his interactive
poll to choose his next single. As that song built to
a crescendo more and more people moved toward the stage, by
the end almost everyone was on their feet. “Gimmie
Some,” a new uptempo funky jam, got them dancing and
the encore, a sizzling extended version of “Low Rider” left
them sweaty and yelling for more.
Needless to say there were long lines at the merch table for
both Oliver and Hill, equal amounts of old and new fans talked
excitedly about the music they had just seen. Lots of
newbies bought their first “smooth jazz” CDs that
night and we've still got Joyce Cooling, Michael Lington, and
Nick Collione coming up. A lot of people will remember
that this was the summer they discovered a whole new kind of
music. I can't think of a better introduction!
- Shannon West |
