Review | Groove-Machined Jazz Party

Jazz was in the house at Campbell Hall last Friday night, but so was the power and policy of groove. Center stage was saxophonist-bandleader Terrace Martin, an artist who has carved out his musical mission somewhere between those two poles and knows how to have a party vibe without losing a fundamental musical mission. Although Martin spends a lot of time in the studio rather than on tour, he is road-bound in the wake of a new album by his band Dinner Party, Whatchu’ Bringing (hear here). 

As jazz shows in Santa Barbara go, Martin’s fell stylistically and rhythmically in line with such past concerts as his sometime-collaborator Robert Hurst’s Lobero show last year and the Kamasi Washington show at Campbell Hall back in 2017. Washington and Martin’s paths have often crossed, from early days and including the band Dinner Party.

Understanding Martin’s musical pedigree and eclectic reach is easier to comprehend considering his path in life and music. Son of jazz drummer Curly Martin, Terrace came up in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles and cut his teeth in such places as Billy Higgins’s World Stage in Leimert Park — both of which he name-checked at the show — and he heads up a label called “Sounds of Crenshaw.” 

Martin went on to play with Washington and cohorts from that zone, Kendrick Lamar and jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who is something of a guru for him. He mentioned a favorite quote by Hancock late in the concert: “You can find beauty within every problem.” Along the way, he gained a sturdy reputation as a genre-hopping player and producer with a savvy touch, which led him to such gigs as playing with Snoop Dog — which he did at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

A good-timing night out though it was overall, the Campbell Hall show opened with an anomaly: Martin laid out an abstract and improvisational soundscape on his synth, in contrast to the straighter dynamics and dimensions to come in the set. But he and the band folded easily into the groove imperative on a Hancock tune, followed by Lamar’s “meet the grahams.”

From the outset, it was clear that Martin was in very fine company onstage, with a band featuring the powerful but never-overstated drummer Garrison Brown, strong keyboardist Chad Selph, and, on keys and soulful vocals, a frequent collaborator known as Phoelix (a k a Michael E. Neil). 

Changing up the pace and shifting into another avenue of Martin’s musical world, the band slipped into something more comfortable, chill R&B, with “Sleepless Nights” and “Breathe.” Their mode of R&B runs along the line of ear-friendly and heart-friendly tunes, on a positivity themed angle.

As a performer, Martin is also a positivity dispenser, with an easy stage-side manner and charm, interacting freely with the crowd. Late in the show, during a tribute to the late, great Donny Hathaway, he dropped down into the midst of the audience and cooked up call and response interactions, picking out a couple of “lucky” soloists on the spot. After one volunteer did their level best he said, “today, your major is jazz vocal.”

He then picked on another guest vocalist in the crowd, his sister, who gave some heat to Bobby Caldwell’s smooth jazz classic “What You Won’t Do for Love.” By that point, it felt like we were all family here in Campbell Hall for a couple of hours. 

Jazz comes in many flavors and degrees of cerebral or celebratory spirit. This flavor had an essence of feel-good embedded in the grooves.