Chicago concert honors Joe Segal

[Lazaro Vega]

Jazz giants come out to fete tireless promoter

April 23, 2006

BY <mailto:lsachs@suntimes.com>LLOYD SACHS Staff Reporter

On Friday night, in celebration of his 80th birthday, the Chicago jazz

impresario Joe Segal will be gifted with a Symphony Center concert in his

honor featuring a bunch of his all-time favorite players.

His birthday buddy Johnny Griffin, also born on April 24, won't be on hand

to share in the festivities like he used to every year at Segal's Jazz

Showcase. But other practitioners of the music Segal loves best, bebop,

will be on hand, including saxophonists Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath, James

Moody and Ira Sullivan. Also on the bill: two saxophonists of a more

modernist bent, Chicagoan Von Freeman and Yusef Lateef, making a rare Windy

City visit.

All-star concerts don't always work, but high spirits promise to elevate

this one, the way they elevated the Symphony Center bash in honor of

Freeman's 80th several years back. That one recognized a local legend's

mastery of the tenor saxophone. This one will recognize another local

legend's mastery of the instrument of jazz itself. For nearly 60 years --

60! -- in the face of downward trends and reasons to quit the biz while the

quittin' was good, Segal has presented jazz in this city. That's the

longest stint by a jazz promoter ever, a marathon run even more impressive

than that of another Joe, DiMaggio.

DiMaggio never had to deal with disco or Windy City winters or messed-up

musicians or fickle audiences that forced a series of "Save Our Showcase"

benefits -- or the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who in culturally purifying the

Blackstone Hotel after purchasing it in 1995 made the Showcase take a hike.

Nor did DiMaggio have to persuade drummers to play softer and singers --

well, most of them, anyway -- to play somewhere else. If you're a vocalist

and your name is not Billie Holiday, Segal probably won't have a soft spot

in his sensibility for you.

JOE SEGAL'S ALL-STAR 80TH BIRTHDAY BASH

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan

Tickets: $16-$55

Call: (312) 294-3000

Think about it: This man has been booking jazz -- real jazz, none of that

easy listening stuff -- in Chicago since becoming a student promoter at

Roosevelt University in 1947. You want to know what was going on then?

Mahatma Gandhi began a march for peace in East Bengali. Jackie Robinson

broke baseball's color barrier. Albert Speer was tried at Nuremberg. The

Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. So, by many people, was Charlie Parker,

patron saint of the Jazz Showcase, who formed his quintet with Miles Davis

that year in New York and recorded some of his greatest works.

The Showcase has moved numerous times over the years. Before landing on its

feet at Grand and Clark, next to what was then the Zinfandel restaurant, it

spent the most quality time on Rush Street (at the Happy Medium) and in the

Blackstone. A few downtown clubs have competed with it in presenting

national jazz acts (including Rick's Cafe Americain, booked by cocktail

pianist Bill Snyder in the old Holiday Inn on Lake Shore Drive), but Segal

has pretty much had the field to himself. Meaning that he's had McCoy Tyner

and Roy Haynes and Joe Henderson and Phil Woods and so many other greats on

pretty much an exclusive basis.

Who knows whether someone else would have promoted this music in this town

the way it deserves to be promoted had Segal not taken on the mission,

fresh from a stint in the military, a Philadelphian with no preconceptions

of Chicago. Who knows whether someone else would have stuck it out through

periods in which the jazz audience has drifted -- and through periods like

right now in which the major record labels have all but quit the form.

Segal, who isn't kidding when he calls bebop "the music of the future,"

isn't much for progressive or avant-garde jazz, which ranks only slightly

higher than the "rap crap" he used to bemoan from the stage for the benefit

of young Sunday matinee attendees. But he couldn't resist the opportunity

to plug upcoming Showcase gigs even in accepting tributes at his 75th

birthday party at Joe's Be-Bop Cafe on Navy Pier (where he'll celebrate

tonight, as well). "Tickets are still available," he said back then,

pitching Count Basie Orchestra.

Now, as ever, that's an offer no jazz fan can refuse.

Lloyd Sachs, formerly the Sun-Times' jazz critic, now sits on the editorial

board.

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company

All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,

rewritten, or redistributed.

[sheldonm]

Thanks for the post Lazaro. I went to Joe's Birthday Party at Joe's Bebop Cafe last night (just rolled back in town this morning). A very fun, well attended invite only party with Ira Sullivan hosting a big jam session with many of Chicago's finest local musicians; Joe even sat in on drums for a couple tunes. Johnny Frigo came up on stage to read a couple poems.....very cool! A week before, Joe told me that Lou may not make the Symphony Center show this Friday as his wife of many years had passed away . I forgot to ask Joe for an update last night. I'll post some photos from the party this evening.

Regarding the big event this Friday, I have the opportunity to photograph the sound check and the show. Jazzkrow is flying in from Portland to attend, as will Sal. Hopefully some of the other guys in the neighborhood (Larry Kart) and the neighborhoods a little further away (Chuck, Uncle Skid) can attend.

m~

[sal]

Can't wait for tonight!

[robviti]

i know mark and jazzkrow are in nyc this week, but how about you other guys that attended the symphony hall concert? how was it?

[sal]

Overall, it was a fine show. Four sets of music, each one about 30-40 minutes long!

Set 1 - Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Jeb Patton, and their bass player (forgot his name). An EXCELLENT set! Jimmy and Tootie sounded fantastic and Jeb Patton was just tearing it up. They played a heart-wrenching Round Midnight and finished off with a really hot version of Gingerbread Man. Jimmy in particular was in fine form. What a beautiful tone!

Set 2 - Ira Sullivan, Art Hoyle, Eric Schneider, Junior Mance, Larry Gray, Robert Shy. The best set of the night in my opinion. The contrasting styles of the horns really added to the excitement of this set. They did a five ballad medley that was incredible....the highlight of the evening. Lots of old school, cutting contest style blowing, with great support by the rhythm section. Eric Schneider came in at the last minute to sub for Lou Donaldson, who couldn't make the gig, and he did a stellar job, especially when he took out his clarinet. But Junior Mance was just stealing every chorus he got! What a player!!

Set 3 - Yusef Lateef, Von Freeman, Junior Mance, Rufus Reid, Tootie Heath. Another great set. Started out as a quartet without Vonski, with Yusef and the trio doing a very spiritual, intense Middle Eastern-styled piece. Just beautiful. Yusef played 4 different instruments. Vonski then came out for a very free, Ornette-styled jam. It was really getting into some intense territory by the end of what must have been Von's 20th chorus, when Joe "I hate avant garde jazz" Segal walked out to the stage and made them stop. Lots of people were laughing, but I was a bit pissed because the music was really getting really interesting. They finished off with a short, slow blues with Yusef on the oboe. It was really cool sounding, but obviously rushed as Joe was standing there on the side of the stage pressuring them to get off. What was really impressive about the set (jazzkrow brought this to my attention) was how Mance and Tootie, normally straight ahead styled players, adapted impressively to the more "free" context of the music. They are both true masters of their craft. Despite Joe's interruption (it was his party, so I guess he had the right to do whatever he wanted), it was strong set. Definitely the most interesting set of the night.

Set 4 - James Moody, Willie Pickens, Larry Gray, Robert Shy. I may be the wrong person to comment on this set, but I thought it was lame. Same jokes, same songs, same stupid rap performance, same dancing. Joe Segal came out and sang some of "Moody's Mood for Love" with Moody, which was entertaining. But over all it was just a boring set. I'm sorry, but Moody just doesn't do it for me anymore. I was having a hard time staying awake by that point.

The entire ensemble came out for a final performance of "Straight, No Chaser", which each player taking two choruses and the drummers and piano players rotating. Very cool to see.

Mark (sheldonm) got some amazing shots that I hope he'll post when he gets back from NY. It was a very memorable evening filled with lots of great music. Despite my complaints about Joe in my words above, I have nothing but respect and admiration for him, as he's brought so much joy to my life through the Jazz Showcase. May he have many more Happy Birthdays!

[Aggie87]

Bumping this up to give props to our man Mark Sheldon...

One of his photographs from the Segal fete graces page 16 of the current Downbeat (Aug 06, w/Dave Douglas on the cover).

Way to go, Mark!

And thanks for sharing your work with us on the board. Your images are wonderful, and give me that "I was there" feeling.

-Erik

edit - I could swear there was another thread on the board about this show, w/pics, but I can't find it. That's probably my fault as a terrible searcher though...

Edited July 31, 2006 by Aggie87