He is a jazz guitar maestro in the jazz scene and has been a guarantee for melodic and swinging jazz of the highest quality for over 30 years. Peter Bernstein has been part of the New York jazz scene since 1989 and can be heard on more than 200 recordings with musicians of all generations.
When he met guitar legend Jim Hall during his music studies and he asked him to take part in his concert as part of the JVC Jazz Festival, the way to the American jazz scene was paved. Over the years, a close musical connection developed with the organist Larry Golding and the drummer Bill Stewart.
This trio recorded almost a dozen albums together and was described by the New York Times as the “best organ trio of the decade”. He was a member of Joshua Redman’s band and was engaged as a guitarist in the Diana Krall Quartet from 1999 to 2001. Countless jazz greats such as Sonny Rollins, Etta James, Klaus Doldinger and Lee Konitz are listed in his CV.
A highly decorated band that accompanies legends
His crew on this evening is of the highest quality in the current jazz scene, just like Bernstein.
The relatively young pianist Sullivan Fortner has thrilled critics and audiences alike with his creative and furious playing in recent years, which, after initial reticence, happened again this evening.
Fortner, who has won a Grammy Award and several DownBeat Critics Polls, shone with his individual class, particularly in the second part of the evening. The versatility of his performance clearly showed that he has worked with a wide variety of artists from various genres over the past ten years, including illustrious names such as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, John Scofield, Roy Hargrove and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Bassist Doug Weiss also performed with the crème de la crème.
He is considered one of the most sought-after jazz bassists of our time and has shared the stage with jazz legends such as George Coleman, Eddie Henserson, Toshiko Akiyoshi and the singer Lizz Wright. The very simple drum set that evening was played by none other than Joe Farnsworth, one of the leading American jazz drummers in the field of bebop.
He also has renowned names such as Ron Carter, Pharaoh Sanders and Jon Hendricks in his musical CV.
Variability, simplicity and checked socks
The evening began with a smooth groove, hand-made swinging jazz without technical, electrical distortions, which kept the audience entertained throughout the concert evening.
Sometimes you wished for a little more variability in the style of a Pat Metheney, but the gentle melody of an elegantly swaying pulse laid the foundation for a high-quality jazz evening. Speaking of variability, what drummer Joe Farnsworth delivered that evening on his drum kit, which was reduced to the essentials, was hard to beat in terms of technical finesse.
His playing was as elegant as his suit with the pocket square, as crazy as the pattern of his socks, as imaginative and incomparable were his brilliant solos, which repeatedly drew the audience to intense applause.
Doug Weiss fits seamlessly into the musical construct with his fine playing on the double bass, but remains a little pale compared to his fellow musicians. Well, these two hours between mainstream and modern jazz are of course a thing for connoisseurs; you don’t need a jazz diploma to appreciate the relaxed beauty of these compositions.
It feels incredibly good to let yourself go with the band, to simply surrender to pieces like “Hidden Pockets” or “Lullaby For B.” without resistance. In that respect, everything is very simple, yes, but not simple in the sense of plain. Because behind Bernstein’s immaculately performed characters, in which the great Jim Hall occasionally haunts, behind the cross-references to Thelonious Monk on the part of the pianist, behind the tender nonchalance of the ballads and the catchy groove of “Jive Coffee,” for example, which is actually based on the classic “Tea For Two,” there is a lot of sophistication.
When this band takes on all of these components, everything seems to fit together without any problems, just like that, and you automatically think that it all comes from one hand, namely Bernstein’s.
The unity of four great musicians
In the last part of the concert, pianist Fortner repeatedly gains the upper hand with his playing, reminiscent of the great Bud Powell, to whom a solo piece is spontaneously dedicated at the end of the evening, which is filmed by Joe Farnsworth for a “Bud Powell Memory YouTube Clip”.
There are four outstanding musical personalities who merge into a compact unit, with transparent compositions and idiosyncratic arrangements.
The example of this quartet shows that four outstanding musical individualists can certainly form a unit as a harmonious collective.
It was an evening that simmered rather than boiled, but with magical sound processing and graceful nuances that sent jazz fans off into the weekend.
