# Jazz Master drummer Jack DeJohnette, the all-star amalgamation Hudson … Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/10/18/jazz-master-drummer-jack-dejohnette-the-all-star-amalgamation-hudson-video/
- Published: 2017-10-18T17:54:44+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The brainchild of NEA Jazz Master drummer Jack DeJohnette, the all-star amalgamation
HUDSON, unites four of the most inventive voices in music today to collectively 
generate a singular new sound that, while rooted in the jazz and rock of the ’60s
and ’70s, is decidedly 21st-century in its character.**

All of the group’s members came first to New York City from hometowns scattered 
throughout America—DeJohnette from Chicago, bassist Larry Grenadier from San Francisco,
keyboardist John Medeski from Louisville, Kentucky, and guitarist John Scofield 
from Dayton, Ohio—before one by one they each headed north, trading in the hectic
pace of the metropolis for the more peaceful environs of the pastoral Hudson River
Valley, from which the group takes its name.

The band’s New York City debut before packed houses at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 
Rose Hall on Oct. 6 and 7 found it performing two sets each night of songs from 
its eponymous new Motéma album, many of which are enduringly associated with the
Woodstock area from which its members now hail.

The second night’s proceedings began with a characteristically powerful DeJohnette
drum solo forcefully opening the ensemble’s amped-up interpretation Jimi Hendrix’s“
Wait Until Tomorrow.”  Scofield was the first to join in, introducing the loping
melody in a bluesy countrified tone. He was soon underpinned by Grenadier’s funky
bass line and the sustained chords of Medeski’s Hammond B-3 organ.

For the next 10 minutes, as DeJohnette’s indefatigable force of nature drumming 
set the highly energized pace, the group spontaneously interacted with each other’s
persistently shifting rhythmic and harmonic progressions that were deeply rooted
in their individual sounds, with Scofield interjecting classic jazz voicings in 
the Wes Montgomery-George Benson vein and Medeski combining organ and keyboard synthesizer
sounds that alternately recalled the Memphis soul of Booker T and the space age 
sonorities of Joe Zawinul.

The collectively improvised title track of the HUDSON album ominously opened up 
with dark guitar and keyboard chords, portentously setting up the measured march
beat that was reinforced by DeJohnette’s steady sock cymbal and Grenadier’s deliberate
bass vamp.

Following Scofield’s introduction of the bluesy melodic line the guitarist embarked
on a conversational sonic exploration with Medeski’s scronky synthesizer sounds 
that traversed aural soundscapes of Sun Ra, Stockhausen and _On The Corner_ Miles
Davis. DeJohnette’s drums dynamically navigated the group through modulating episodes
of intensity and respite that concluded with a climactic decrescendo centered around
Medeski’s reverberating keyboard chords and the tolling of the drummer’s signature
resonating bells.

Segueing into Scofield’s “El Swing,” DeJohnette kicked things off with another potent
solo drum introduction that showcased his polyrhythmic virtuosity as he complemented
his crisp snare drum beats with a series of energetic fills that mesmerized the 
crowd and his fellow band members. Living up to its title the song found the band
taking things straight ahead, with Medeski moving over to acoustic piano.  Scofield
was first out to solo over the boppish chord changes of his charming melody, followed
by Medeski, who mined the piece’s Spanish tinges, then Grenadier, whose lyrical 
outing was soundly complemented by the pianist’s sensitive comping and DeJohnette’s
gamboling rhythms.

The concert’s first half concluded with the group returning to the Hendrix songbook
for its take on “Castles Made Of Sand,” the evening’s one selection not appearing
on the U.S edition of HUDSON cd (it’s included as the bonus track on the Japanese
release).

Mirroring the collective improvisational intensity of the album’s title track the
band got things started with a hard hitting introduction that cooled down slightly
with Scofield’s playing of the classic melody over Medeski’s soulful organ backing.
Following the guitarist’s emotion packed extended improvisation DeJohnette delivered
a convincing reading of the song’s lyric after which Medeski cranked things back
up to bring the set to an exciting finish.

The show’s second segment began with Medeski back at the piano playing a funky solo
prelude to introduce a rollicking rendition of The Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek” 
that had Scofield stretching out over rocking rhythms of DeJohnette, who sang the
song’s verse alone, after which he was joined by his bandmates harmonizing on the
chorus, before Medeski closed it out with a honky tonkin’ solo.

Scofield introduced Bob Dylan’s protest song “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” noting 
that “unfortunately it’s just as appropriate now as it was in the ’60s.”  Opening
with the guitarist’s terse impressionistic rendering of the melody over Medeski’s
legato keyboard lines and DeJohnette’s supple waltz rhythms the piece quickly escalated
in dynamic intensity, building to an incredibly powerful cacophonous musical representation
of the song’s apocalyptic message that resolved with a dark solo bass interlude 
leading into DeJohnette’s authoritative vocalizing of Bruce Hornsby’s lyric to the
drummer’s own “Dirty Ground,” an optimistic New Orleans-style ode to fortitude in
the face of disaster.

The show drew to a finish with Scofield’s “Tony Then Jack,” his tribute to DeJohnette’s
lineage as successor to Tony Williams’ drum chair in the ’60s Miles Davis Quintet.
The hard bopping tour de force outing had the whole band fired up following Scofield’s
solo introduction with DeJohnette’s unflagging swing propelling the group to dizzying
heights and the audience up out of its seats at its conclusion.

A loudly cheering standing ovation brought the band back on stage for an obligatory
encore.  “We’d like to end with a song that’s a hallmark of the era a lot of you
will remember,” Scofield announced to the appreciative crowd. A final spellbinding
DeJohnette solo drum recital then introduced Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” the esteemed
singer-songwriter’s tribute to the region the drummer’s long made his home. The 
band then embarked on an deeply impassioned interpretation of the song that had 
their spirits visibly soaring high.

![Image](https://i0.wp.com/downbeat.com/images/news/_full/Hudson_crop_767_431_0_0_0_90___6054.
jpg?w=640)

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