Jazz review : lionel hampton's mission to moscow, idaho : musicians, students and fans pay tribute to the vibraphonist at festival at the university of idaho.

MOSCOW, Idaho — Lionel Hampton is a big name around the world, but nowhere more so than here. The University of Idaho is the site of the Lionel Hampton School of Music. Last week, the annual

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival was presented on campus. In effect, this has been two festivals: every evening, a concert by seasoned pros, and during the day an endless stream of college and

high school instrumental and vocal groups competing for honors. With a different group of visiting competitors on display every 20 minutes in numerous classrooms (one doesn’t envy the task

of the judges), the campus population of 10,000 doubled for the week. Amateurs and pros joined forces at times, as when University of Idaho’s student symphony, with Hampton as guest soloist,

did a splendid job of interpreting the vibraphonist’s “King David Suite,” an extended work which he wrote in 1957 and premiered in Israel. His solos and the orchestrated passages interacted

with great melodic charm. At later concerts in the vast Kibbie Dome, where attendance ranged from 3,500 to 7,000, Hampton was enthusiastically ubiquitous. He played in a “World Jazz Night”

Wednesday, backed up numerous singers and groups Thursday and Friday and led his own New York big band Saturday. The most adventurous sounds were provided by Dr. Denny Zeitlin, the

psychiatrist/pianist, teamed with the bassist David Freisen. Their darting dissonances lent new aspect to Sonny Rollins’ “Airegin.” There were invigorating sets by Phil Woods on alto sax, by

Los Angeles’ own Bobby Shew (his trumpet was backed by the university’s 19-piece jazz band), and by Pete and Conte Candoli, who may be just brothers but who played like identical twins,

with pinpoint precision and wit. The father-and-son trombone team of Al and Mike Grey was reinforced by Joe Cohn, one of the most inspired young guitarists since Joe Pass. The greatest

excitement was generated by a trio composed of pianist Gene Harris (in a wildly funky outing on “Summertime”), drummer Jeff Hamilton, front and center on “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” and bassist

Ray Brown, revitalizing “Lady Be Good.” All three earned standing ovations. During the World Music Night, Paquito d’Rivera’s sextet (three Cubans, a Brazilian, an American Indian and the

brilliant Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez) stirred up a heady Afro-Cuban mix. D’Rivera switched from alto sax to play clarinet alongside Hampton in a tribute to Benny Goodman. On Friday,

Dizzy Gillespie joined with the D’Rivera group, whose members work often in the trumpeter’s United Nation band. Two Soviet groups (a Coltrane-ish quartet and a John Mayall-type blues unit)

were foolishly short-changed when both, after traveling halfway around the world from one Moscow to another, were limited to 15-minute sets--hardly enough to judge them by, though the blues

quartet clearly was a crowd pleaser. Dianne Reeves applied her strong, assured sound to a superior set that included a song by McCoy Tyner and Sammy Cahn. Ethel Ennis, an underrated singer

from Baltimore, was also impressive. Overall, there was too much crowd-milking among some of the singers. Commercial concessions marred an overlong set by Clare Bathe, a Broadway-type

stylist. Marlena Shaw, a striking woman, needs to cut down on the comedy, rap and scat to make room for some straight-ahead singing. Billy Eckstine, now gray bearded but dapper and

personable, ran through his 1940s and ‘50s hits smoothly enough to bring the crowd to its feet. The most startingly successful of several student groups was the University of Idaho’s “Big

Bones Band”--25 trombones and a rhythm section. Many students during the week secured close-up glimpses of their idols when Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Hank Jones and others not only

performed but also took part in daytime question-and-answer sessions. It was a joy to hear thousands of youngsters screaming at the arrival on stage of men like Gillespie. The festival

offered rewarding evidence that only one thing is needed to encourage and enlarge a youthful audience for jazz: in-person exposure to the music they so rarely hear on radio and TV. MORE TO

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