BRATTLEBORO — Joel Ross, a 24-year-old Blue Note recording artist, is making the “vibes” a more familiar and accessible sound to audience members of his generation.
The Vermont Jazz Center presents Downbeat Rising Star Award–winning vibraphonist Ross in concert on Saturday, March 14.
For listeners familiar with the impact of the vibes in bebop and swing, Ross's dynamic sound and virtuosity brings back memories of its judicious use by jazz legends Red Norvo, Lionel Hampton, Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson, and Gary Burton.
His approach is both modern and steeped in the tradition. JazzTimes magazine claims “Not since Stefon Harris' arrival 20 years ago has the jazz world heard a young vibraphonist intent on exploring so many dimensions.”
Ross will be performing selections from his highly acclaimed Blue Note album, KingMaker, a musical tribute to his family.
Joining him at the Jazz Center will be other mid-20s artists, including Immanuel Wilkins on saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendelhall on bass, and Jeremy Dutton on the drums. All except Mendelhall can be heard on Ross's recent release.
Downbeat magazine gave KingMaker a 4-star review, noting that “Ross' playing erupts through the layers of lush arrangements [...] like consistent currents of electricity, high-powered and full of luminous energy. These bright bursts of solos and melodic lines surprise, excite and stretch the pieces further.”
Ross's music is intelligent, beautiful, and rhythmically charged. He attributes his meticulous attention to tone-quality to the influence of his teacher, Stefon Harris. Depending on the context, his notes are either bell-like and sustained, or short and rhythmically driving.
Ross applies this attention to detail in the arrangements for his band as well, exploring the timbral colors of each instrument to great effect. His compositions are rich with contrasts of sounds and textures, and they are enhanced through masterful use of dynamics and unexpected pairings of instruments.
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On March 14, listeners at the Jazz Center will embark on a journey that unfolds like theater, experiencing compositions that build and evolve into remarkable forms. Like the magic of Miles Davis's second great quintet, this musical voyage will be enhanced by the tightness of the group's ensemble work and the musicians' vibrant, telepathic interactions.
The sound of Good Vibes is unmistakably modern; it is a “new thing” produced by young, virtuoso performers who are currently at the epicenter of New York's diverse scene, actively creating the music that defines “cutting edge,” irrespective of labels in 2020.
Will Layman, of PopMatters, captures Ross's relationship to the sounds of the current generation: “This band is sneaky. They play funk, but it never feels like jazz-hip-hop fusion; they play rock but are never obviously sounding like, say, Radiohead. They have floating pop/gospel elements, but only a few, and for all the tricky playing with time, there is nothing off-putting or new-music-y or studied about the feel.”
“It is also sneaky in the way the superb group interplay makes you realize that you haven't heard, perhaps, quite enough of the leader,” Layman adds.
Ross's fully developed concept is akin to a vigorous tree of unclassified species whose roots are burrowed deeply in the soil of jazz. This quality can be heard in the group's danceable relationship with the swinging pulse, their ease of improvisation, and respect for melody. Ross's influences are drawn from swing, bebop, and beyond.
In an interview with Jazziz magazine, Ross stated that the vibraphonist he was first drawn to was Milt Jackson (best known for his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet). But Ross was also “listening consistently to Monk, Miles and 'Trane for years, taking in everything these artists were doing - not only the type of music they were playing, but also how they were leading their bands.”
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Good Vibes, a unified group effort lead by Ross (vibraphone and compositions), first came together when the members were studying together at the Brubeck Institute.
The group includes saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, who can be also be found in the groups of Jason Moran, Michele Rosewoman, George Cables, Theo Croker, Gerald Clayton, Elena Pinderhughes, Giveton Gelin, and his own quartet.
Pianist Jeremy Corren is a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a silver award winner in the National YoungArts Foundation YoungArts program, a five-time winner in the DownBeat Student Music Awards, a three-time performer at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and a “musical ambassador” in the Thelonious Monk Institute Peer-to-Peer Education Program.
Bassist Kanoa Mendenhall has performed with Cecil McBee, Bruce Forman, Allison Miller, Roy McCurdy, Ingrid Jensen, and Pheeroan akLaff at numerous venues, including the Monterey Jazz Festival. Mendenhall is on the faculty of Jazz Camp West and Stanford Jazz Workshop.
Drummer Jeremy Dutton performs with Ambrose Akinmusire, Camila Meza, Gerald Clayton, Vijay Iyer, Taylor Eigsti, Jacky Terrasson, Mike Moreno, James Francies, Benito Gonzalez, Keyon Harrold, Maria Grand, Matt Stevens, Andre Hayward, Philip Dizack, Matt Penman, Stefon Harris, Bobby Watson, Alan Hampton, Dayna Stephens, and many others.
The music that Joel Ross and Good Vibes will be bringing to the Vermont Jazz Center is steeped in the history of jazz, but it is also inclusive, welcoming and immersed in the music of today's younger generation.
It is its own, unique creation, a beautiful synergy that combines familiar language with new information. Ross's music seamlessly gathers all these facets into a unifying construct through its heartbeat-like attention to rhythm.
The music might sound effortless, but it is not easy. The compositions were composed primarily during Ross's tenure at the Brubeck Institute.
In an interview with Capital Bop, Ross said, “A lot of the music on KingMaker I was writing just to challenge myself because I couldn't play some of those harmonies or riffs. So a lot of the music, when I wrote it, I couldn't play it.”
“When I moved to New York, finally I got some cats who could play it,” he said.