Photo courtesy of Rony Armas

JAZZIN NOHO NoHo was a musical kitchen on Friday, February 20th, as the jazz roasted over an open flame at the fourth annual Starlight Jazz Serenade Benefit for the Hands for Hope organization.

Held at the plush and luxurious Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the Academy of Arts & Sciences in NoHo on Lankershim Blvd. (http://www.emmys.com/events/lhgtheatre.php), just across the street from the historic and majestic El Portal (www.elportaltheatre.com), the event drew jazz fans from as far as Las Vegas, San Francisco and beyond.   They came not only to support this worthy and noble cause, but also to witness the splendor of what may be remembered as one of the greatest jazz concerts in the history of Noho.     

The evening’s host was the stunningly beautiful, glamorous and talented LaRita Shelby.   She not only introduced the artists and thanked the patrons throughout the evening but she also kicked off the show with a song she penned with co-composer Willie Daniels, entitled “Here’s To You, The Boys In the Band.”   It was a jazzy bossa nova tribute to the musicians in the back up band for the show.   She dazzled the audience with her sexy, sultry singing style, reminiscent of Dionne Warwick.   (The tight, sequin donned, snakeskin print dress helped seal the deal.)  

Actor/comedian Dannon Green (www.dannongreen.com) came up next and brought the house down with his hilarious brand of quick and spontaneous humor.   (This guy is so damned funny, but since this is a music column, we will have to move on.)

After a warm welcome from Lydia Floyd, Founder and Executive Director of Hands For Hope, (www.hands4hope.org), the Hands For Hope Children’s Band took the stage.   Directed by Stafford Floyd, the band played two selections that displayed their cohesiveness and versatility.   The rhythm section was made up of Javier Carrillo (guitar), Walter Guadron (drums), and Lizbeth Garcia (bass).   On keys were Rebecca Castanza, Aja Floyd, Ayinde Frazier, Christina Hippolito, Daniel Parra and Jacqueline Sosa.  The quality of their music and cohesive spirit reflected the respect of these fine young musicians for Mr. Floyd as a mentor.    

Then the house band assumed master control of the stage.   Nice. 

The house band, which would back up all of the artists for the show, was directed by Dwayne “Smitty” Smith (who also played bass) and was comprised of Land Richards on drums, Brian Simpson on keyboards, Dwight Sills on guitar, Gail Johnson on keyboards, Tim Gant on keyboards.  This all-star line up of heavies was truly one of the strongest bands ever assembled for a concert like this.   (Highlights of their performances are tagged on the walls of this article but it is worth devoting the rest of this paragraph, right now, to note that as this band backed up the headliners throughout the evening, they were able transform their identity in a way that sounded as though each headliner had their own personal back up band.)

Gospel Jazz Saxophonist, 2002 Stellar Award Nominee, Ron Brown, then took the stage and proceeded to take the audience by the hand into his personal regions of saxophone jazz.   He started on his soprano sax with a tune called “You and Me,” co-written by Smitty Smith.  Ron floated his notes over the pocket groove and up to heaven.   Brian Simpson burned a masterful solo on the keys on this number while Land Richards kept the posse in the pocket on the drums.  Ron then played his “All To Jesus, I Surrender All,” using his alto sax.  This anthem-sounding ballad was incredible.  Backed by a smooth rhythm and church organ sound, Ron carved out his spiritual story in a very intimate, telling and moving manner.   As he worked through a clever modulation in key and brought the melody and dynamics of the piece to new heights, the audience rose to a standing ovation and cheered for what would be the most moving moment of the entire evening and the piece was only half over!   After working through a clever cadenza and gently brought the audience back to earth.   It was glorious.   

“G Funk,” led by bassist Smitty Smith on his five string, was a solid slab of energy.   The way he doubled the melody with the sax was original, interesting and intense.  Smitty plays his bass like no one else and together with Land Richards form the core of one of the most reliable and solid rhythm sections ever to lay down a groove.  Dwight Sills laid down the guitar law on this one with his wah-wah pedal rhythm and ultimate smokin’ melodic solo.  Ron’s last number for the evening, “His Love, Holy Spirit, His Grace,, assisted by the beautiful, female, vocal foursome, MIG, was also remarkably performed.   The Jesus rap that Ron threw down over the blowing of the sisters was cool, displayed his artistic diversity and helped broaden the scope of his overall performance for the evening.  

Blue Note Label, Grammy Nominated jazz guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr. (www.pauljacksonjr.com) came on next and annihilated the hundreds of folks in the seats sloping up from the lip of the stage.  He lit the air on fire with razor rhythm flow intro to his slammin “Da Boardwalk”.   His tone was brilliant and glistened over the George Benson-like “Breezin” style string accompaniment in the background.  For his second number, “Walkin,” he brought out Warner Brothers recording artist, Brian Culbertson (www.brianculbertson.com) to lend a hand on the keys.  Culbertson’s spanking style of piano playing was a perfect complement to Jackson’s fretwork as they indulged in dueling solos.    Tim Gant also contributed his gold sounding solo work in the keyboard arena.   At the conclusion of this piece the audience was there to greet them with a standing ovation.     Nice.

The artist succeeding Mr. Jackson was Warner Brothers, Grammy Award-Winning guitar player, Mr. Norman Brown (www.normanbrown.com).  Norman immediately fired off a round of “Just Chillin” from his guitar and into the crowd and dazzled them with his scat-sung/guitar doubled soloing in the grand tradition of George Benson.  Powerhouse Gail Johnson backed up Norman’s chorus vocal line of “Just Chillin” in addition to playing the keys on this number.   Second in his set was “Just Between Us” and he killed the crowd with his flaming chord solos.   The final chapter of his set was an instrumental rendition of Janet Jackson’s “That’s The Way Love Goes”.    He badded up part of his solo with a mean wah-wah pedal, further broiling the audience (to a savory “well done”) into the night.   

Boney James (www.boneyjames.com), also on the Warner label, was next.    On his initial number he played over a “Mr. Magic” type of a situation with the crisp tone of his tenor saxophone.   But his second piece, the instrumental version of Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”, syrupy blown soprano sax, put a move groove into many of the sax lovers in the audience and got ‘em moving in their seats.  Boney’s phrasing is unrivaled and his stage presence is ever captivating.    Also shining on this piece was the Smitty Smith signature bass solo.   Melodic bass solos are rare but solos like Smitty’s, lyrical and emotional, are rarer still.   For “See What I’m Sayin”, from his CD entitled, “Ride”, Boney was joined by Ron Brown.   They played the melody in octaves and then fired off several rounds of dueling solos.   Very cool.  

For the final number of the evening, Boney was not only joined by Ron Brown, who continued to share the stage from the preceding number, but also by Paul Jackson, Jr. and Brian Culbertson.   However, this time, instead of playing keys, the multi-talented Culbertson would join the ensemble on slide trombone.    This experience of witnessing Boney James, Ron Brown, Paul Jackson and Brian Culbertson on stage, performing together, was an unexpected special treat.    The coming together of these artists on stage was symbolically consistent with the spirit of the coming together of all of the attendees of the show in their support for Hands for Hope.

Among the many sponsors and supporters in attendance at this First Class event were Unique Image President and Event Co-Chair, Wafa Kanan and Jack Reed (www.uniqueimageinc.com); NoHo Chamber of Commerce President Bruce Spiegel; Executive Producer, Ideal Black Gold Trade Show, Bonner, and representatives from KKJZ FM Radio, 94.7 The Wave and Boeing. 

Hands for Hope, founded in 2000, is a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged children and single parents receive the kind of loving support that it takes to raise and nurture the hopes, dreams and abilities of a child.    For more information, log on to www.hands4hope.org, or call 818-763-4673.

©2004 Scott Detweiler.  All Rights Reserved.

Scott Detweiler is an accomplished musician in his own rite and has just released his fifth CD.  For more details, log on to www.detweilermusic.com, or write to scott@detweilermusic.com.