Clark Terry helps Coda measure up
Other jazz greats also lend talents for the cause

Date: 05/16/03
Column: JAZZ TOWN
Credit: The Kansas City Star
Byline: JOE KLOPUS

Sure, there are plenty of reasons to attend the second Coda Jazz Fund benefit concert. But let's consider one of the biggest and best reasons: It's a chance to see and hear Clark Terry.

The trumpeter, now 82, is one of the most beloved figures in jazz , period. For his music, for his ebullient personality, for his work as a mentor.

Terry's solo style is completely charming, wildly humorous and utterly unlike anyone else's. Duke Ellington used to call on Terry for chorus after chorus of elegant invention. Thelonious Monk wanted to appear on his album.

Terry's breath control and his repertoire of valve effects and tonguing effects on the horn are a course of study in themselves. But he's never been imitated. And the effects are always at the service of the music.

The good humor he projects onstage is irresistible, and apparently it's not an act. Across the country, many musicians, professional and amateur, speak of him as a personal friend.

Then there's his patented "Mumbles" scat routine, every bit as inimitable as his trumpet playing. And his habit of playing one solo on two horns, muted trumpet in one hand, flugelhorn in the other.

Besides his long service to music as a distinctive soloist, there's his service as a musical mentor. It started in his native St. Louis, where a young Miles Davis would come to him for advice. And it continues to this day. Sure, he's jammed with Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson, but he's also found time to jam with innumerable high-schoolers.

Let's not forget the others on the Coda concert bill. (For the purpose of full disclosure, let's also not forget that the fund was founded by Star columnist Steve Penn, and The Star is a sponsor of the concert.)

Consider Claude "Fiddler" Williams, a swinging wonder at 94, another inimitable stylist. While other musicians of his generation closed their ears and minds to the innovations of Charlie Parker, Fiddler grabbed onto those ideas and figured out ways to swing even harder. And when a lesser man might have given up trying to make music on an instrument that isn't considered suitable for jazz, Fiddler persisted. He is a treasure.

There's Jay McShann, the Kansas City piano master. He's typecast as a blues artist, but there's hardly a jazz style he can't play.

That powerful left hand can rock your world.

There's Karrin Allyson, the singer who started strong and hasn't stopped getting stronger. The Scamps, an institution in swing. Geneva Price, a wonderful singer enriched by long experience. Bobby Watson, the world-class alto saxophonist and composer who's now the chief mentor for the next generation of Kansas City jazz .

You already know about the extramusical reasons to attend the Coda Jazz Fund benefit. You already know about the importance of Coda 's mission: to provide dignified funerals for the neediest of our community's jazz musicians.

But at the same time, Coda isn't ignoring the living spirit of the music. Its dedicated board has given us plenty of musical reasons to attend their benefit concert. It's a vivid celebration of the music's vitality.

Noteworthy The Blue Room, 1600 E. 18th St., offers pianist Greg Meise's quartet with singer Millie Edwards at 8:30 tonight and pianist Charles Williams' trio plus reed man Horace Washington and trumpeter Al Pearson at 8:30 p.m. Saturday; cover is $5. On Monday, the 7 p.m. jam session is led by the Dunn/Freeman Mix, and on Thursday, singer/trombonist Duck Warner's group performs at 7 p.m. Both those events are free.

Pay attention to the music behind the local forecasts on the Weather Channel. You might hear hometown trumpeter and JAM editor Mike Metheny's "Attitude Blues," from his 2001 album "Close Enough for Love."

To reach Joe Klopus with comments or news of jazz events, write him at 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108; call (816) 234-4751; or send e-mail to jklopus@kcstar.com.

THE SHOW

The Coda Jazz Fund benefit concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th St. It features Clark Terry, Jay McShann, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Karrin Allyson, Bobby Watson, Geneva Price and the Scamps. Tickets cost $50 and $100; call (816) 474-8463.