Great American Jazz Label Hits the Road, and the 805

Within the annals of endless discussions about jazz, there has never been a lack of debate or self-questioning over the very nature of this Great American Music. On the list of possibly unanswerable questions is the existential old riff on “What is jazz?” Also: the immortal musical question “What is hip?”

But there is little argument over the powerful importance and unprecedented historical worth of Blue Note Records, founded by Alfred Lion in 1939. Some would readily declare Blue Note as the “Great American Jazz Label,” one which, following the lull after its ‘60s heyday, was revivified by label head Bruce Lundvall in the ‘80s and current head Don Was in the last dozen years.

For an update and a livewire sampling of the Blue Note roster 85 years after the label’s birth, head to UCSB’s Campbell Hall next Thursday, February 8, for a showing of strength by a young all-star cast presently signed to the label and sent out on the road as The Blue Note Quintet.

This potent crew of mostly band leaders in their own right – alto sax star Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer-bandleader Kendrick Scott, and trusty bassist Matt Brewer — has been assembled by another important scene maker, pianist and music director Gerald Clayton. Santa Barbara audiences have grown accustomed to hearing his fine work as the pianist in the band of Santa Barbara jazz celebrity Charles Lloyd and giving memorable performances at the Lobero Theatre.

Clayton, son of noted bassist and big band leader John Clayton, has also crucially integrated into various projects at the Monterey Jazz Festival. In the 2022 Monterey Fest, for example, Clayton’s group featured Wilkins and Ross, in a set blessed with an obvious inter-player empathy and intuition. The recommended Blue Note listening list for these individual artists would include Wilkin’s full-blooded and widely-acclaimed debut Omega, Ross’ glorious and gospelized Parables of the Prophet, Clayton’s graceful Bells on Sand, and Scott’s “chordless” trio project of last year, Corridors, featuring saxist Walter Smith III and bassist Reuben Rogers (another Charles Lloyd group regular).

Of this special limited-time touring aggregate, Clayton asserts, “Blue Note has been such a wonderful home for the community, for incredible musicians, for creativity, for all these years. You can’t help but think about all those masters, all those heroes that you’ve grown up listening to. To get a chance to pay tribute and try to carry some of that essence forward is truly just an honor.”

Santa Barbara, and specifically Campbell Hall, has been a stopping point for past Blue Note touring groups, including a show in 2009 — the label’s 70th anniversary — featuring pianist Bill Charlap, saxists Steve Wilson and Ravi Coltrane and trumpeter Nicholas Payton. This year’s Blue Note Quintet model is especially in tune with the label’s deep history, with its all-acoustic and post-mainstream angles on jazz, compared to more plugged-in modes of Blue Note’s long and diverse directions.

The February 8 show is also an important calendar-marker for jazz fans in Santa Barbara, who have been treated with only sparing doses of the j-word in recent concert seasons. By season’s end, we can at least take comfort in having had access to some world-class jazz acts, including Pat Metheny at the Lobero, Samara Joy at the Granada, Herbie Hancock at the Granada (on April 17) and the upcoming pack of current jazz contenders under the Blue Note rubric.

For more information, see artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.