The Jazz Bakery lives on !
Although the days of the Jazz Bakery in Culver City ended some time ago, Ruth Price continues to find new venues for the 'Jazz Bakery Movable Feast'.
Last night, Saturday October 16th, the venue was a delightful, (newly constructed?), performance space in "Boston Court" - an Arts complex in Pasadena.
The intimate 60-seat room was ideally suited to the intimacy of the duo's music, which constantly reflects two-minds-thinking-as-one, while developing new takes on everything from Bach to Bird and beyond. Gary explained how they try, most weeks, to get together in Putter's home studio to try new tunes for their repertoire and develop new twists on earlier choices.
The couple's music had its first major public airing at a Mark Masters American Jazz Institute event at Claremont College about four years ago and Mark was in the audience last night to hear it again. It is also available on CD as 'Perfect Circularity' (AJI CD).
The duo achieves variety by varying tempos and genres - with Clare Fischer's 'Pensativa' offering an excursion into Bossa-Nova, Ellington recollections ('Blue Hodge'), a jazz take on a Fugue and other rhythmic variants. Gary recalled playing Jimmy Rowles "Peacocks" on alto flute in the composer's home and did so again, while Putter told of Charlie Parker's West Coast connection at Camarillo before exploring that tune alongside Gary's alto.
We had uptempo alto sax, pensive tenor sax, two flute options and Putter's bass playing, which, for me, always seems to have every note carefully selected.
Listening to the music I thought how Putter's brother Carson Smith was part of that early West Coast scene with Mulligan and here we are listening to newly-minted West Coast music, more than 50 years later ....
Gordon Sapsed
