Archive for March, 2010

Jake Lampe has been performing professionally since 1995. He has performed with artists including Shirley Horn, Diane Reeves, Herbie Hancock, New York Voices, and Jerry Goldsmith. He recently toured the US and Europe with two-time Grammy winner Ruben Ramos. Jake also received a Grammy nomination for the 2002 release “On The Prowl” by Ruben Ramos. Locally he can be found performing with groups including John Mills Times Ten, Beto and the Fairlanes, Monster Big Band, The Pictures, The Atlantics, Big Time, and many others.

Jake Lampe

Brannen Temple is regarded as one of the finest players on the instrument working today. In addition to leading his own award-winning groups he has worked with a diversity of name artists including Sheena Easton, Kevin Paige, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, and many others.

Brannen Temple

There are very few people that make my list of must-see performers, but I must say that Chris has been a big inspiration to my playing for many years now. He easily falls near the top of this list for me, and opportunity struck when I happened upon one of my friends making a comment about the masterclass he held the day before, informing me of this performance.

Chris sounded phenomenal as can be expected. His tone came across as broad, bright and full. Since he was amplified through a Sennheiser 421 it wasn’t possible to truly guage his actual tone, as the microphone offered more presence and less body than we would hear otherwise, but this in no way took away from the beauty of his playing, or flawless technique he demonstrated.

Chris performed arrangements he recently completed so I was not familiar with the music with the exception of a student arrangement of “Seven Eleven” which is from his 1997 recording Unspoken. The UT Jazz Orchestra played very cleanly and with impressive style, with significant talent to be found in each section of the band.

The two highlights of the night for me were the solo cadenza’s Chris offered up at the end of a couple of his tunes, where he floated through the keywork on his sax as if riding on a bed of air. Jumping through different harmonic centers probably faster than I can even think them, and painting walls of sound with flurries of notes.

Only if I stretch can I find a criticism to make. Every musical selection featured mixed meter, which is very impressive, interesting and stimulating but after the first two tunes the freshness of it wore off and I was left craving the rhythmic stability that wasn’t offered up during his whole performance. Even as someone who can understand and appreciate the rhythmic complexity, counting beats to dissect the breakdown of the unbalanced measures I was left slightly disappointed to only hear this single style.

I have seen Chris three times before. The first was at the Main Street Jazz Festival in Columbia, South Carolina. He sat in with the USC Left Bank Jazz Orchestra taking my lead tenor solo on one of the charts we performed. This was quite an experience, as he stood merely a couple of feet to my right playing into the microphone I previously had been using. The second time I saw Chris was just the last few minutes of a performance at a local Jazz club in Columbia which I had to race to after a Country Club gig I had just finished. Here I got to talk with him for a few minutes, and he was a genuinely great and sharing individual. The 3rd performance was at the Art Center in Carrboro Hill, NC a few minutes from where my parents live. This was with the Jae Sinnett quartet. This was the perfect venue for me, as he performed many standards as well as one of my favorite tunes of his “Wistful”. Like every other time I have heard him, he sounded phenomenal even despite being ill and suffering from Vertigo.

I truly believe that Chris will go down as one of the finest jazz musicians that has ever lived, and always look forward to where his ingenious mind will lead him next musically.

Jake Lampe

Come out to see one of Austin’s finest jazz composers lead his band Times Ten. Featuring selected works by John Mills live at The Elephant Room. Times Ten features John Mills – Tenor Sax, Jake Lampe – Alto Sax, Joey Colarusso, Baritone Sax, Rich Haering – Jazz Trumpet, Eric Johnson – Lead Trumpet, Mike Mordecai – Trombone, Rob Kazenel – Drums, Russ Scanlon – Guitar, Kris Afflerbaugh – Bass, John Arndt – Piano.