August has been Charlie Parker Month at the Jazz Showcase for more years than club owner Joe Segal probably cares to remember (43, to be precise).
Through that time, though, the number of major artists who performed with Bird obviously has diminished greatly, which makes the annual Parker Month appearance by drummer Roy Haynes all the more significant.
Even at this late date, it’s not difficult to ascertain why Parker recorded with Haynes in the late ’40s and early ’50s.
The utter unpredictability of Haynes’ approach to meter and accent, the dexterity with which he juggles multiple rhythms and the seemingly infinite variety of tone, color and attack he brings to solos make him something of a one-man band. With Haynes at work, an ensemble’s tempo never will lag, tension never will dissipate, headlong rhythmic momentum never will flag.
These days, Haynes performs with a generation of musicians far too young to have heard Bird live. But judging by his opening set Tuesday night at the Jazz Showcase, he is conveying the visceral excitement and raw energy of the origins of be-bop in the best way possible: through his own hard-driving example.Such was the power of Haynes’ work and the size of his sound that it was difficult not to focus on him even when saxophonist Ron Blake, pianist David Kikoski or bassist Dwayne Burno took the lead. Though some might complain that Haynes so dominated his ensemble as to distort traditional balance among members of a quartet, Haynes can be forgiven. He’s simply too charismatic a drummer and too revered a jazz veteran to play anything less than the starring role.
The evening’s high point came toward the end of the first set, when Haynes played an extended solo with mallets. Here the drummer created the sonic illusion of at least two players working one drum set, reeling off several layers of rhythm simultaneously. Despite the profusion of sound, Haynes didn’t sacrifice a whit of precision or control in articulating rhythm and phrase.
Haynes was no less interesting as an accompanist, subverting the beat rather than establishing it, in the classic manner of first- generation be-bop drummers. Matters became particularly interesting when Haynes’ collaborators responded in kind, with one oddly syncopated riff answered by another.
Blake held his own with lean, angular, back-to-basics be-bop playing on tenor saxophone, and an imploring, Coltranesque sound on soprano. Kikoski turned in some of the best playing he has yet given Chicago, reacting instantaneously to melodic ideas from Blake and rhythmic ones from Haynes.
In the end, though, this show was about Haynes, and how he communicates an intimate knowledge of be-bop to young musicians and to listeners of all ages. They are lessons well worth savoring.
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Roy Haynes plays the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave., through Sunday. Phone 312-670-BIRD.
