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A brilliant collaboration between the jazz bands of UNC and NCCU, and
Clark Terry, one of the great surviving jazz masters, has resulted in
some of the
finest jazz to come out of the UNC Jazz Festival in Years.
The NCCU Jazz Ensemble, directed by local favorite Ira Wiggins, put on a stunning performance highlighted by the harmonies of the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the flamboyant flugelhorn of Clark Terry. With selections that ran the gamut of jazz history, from Ellington and Strayhorn to Coltrane and Terry himself. The ensemble's performance peaked when Clark Terry emerged from the darkness of stage left silver flugelhorn in hand. Greeted by a cresendo of cheers from the audience, he made a little prayer to the powers that be for a good performance. This received an enthusiastic reception from the audience, which had been eagerly awaiting his performance for forty-five minutes. Terry, accompanied only by his instrument and an empty music stand added an inspired improvisational element to the piece "Tee Pee Time" that made it soar. Terry accompanied a talented young female trumpeter from NCCU, Natasha Parrish, on the piece "Filthy McNasty" by Horace Silver. The piece typified the excellent performances by each member of the band, allowing for multiple improvisations by members from each section of the Ensemble. Terry picked up some sheet music for his swing sets with the UNC Jazz Band, directed by professor Jim Ketch. He also aquired a mute for a little of that distinctive "wawa" sound that made early jazz so distinctive. Terry even evoked the styles of the the old scat masters. He even performed a piece that was not on the playbill, from an acquaintance he met in Pakistan called "I want a little girl." A crowd pleaser, which happened to include vocals, "little girl" just might have let a little blues seep in around the edges. The closer, from Terry's days with "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," was called the mumble song, which the band played whenever they were stumped by an audience request on the show. This included a little more of that mumble scat that used to drive 'em wild and one or two little interruptions from his able Flugelhorn. He introduced the song as coming from his days with the show, but warned that any political undertones were "purely coincidental." The ending for the piece came with a long scat which seemed to be story and ended with a "Newt" punchline. Terry left the stage to uproarious laughter and applause from the audience giving the audience a little taste of what Clark Terry jazz is like. Text by J. David Powell Photos by Andrew Tucker |
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 Clark Terry keeps tradition alive in Ernie Wilkins' Mumbles Returns
Clark Terry gives the world a lesson on using the mute in Dave Slonaker's Dues Blues
UNC Jazz band brings the house down to Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton's Black Bottom Stomp arranged by Jaxon Stock and edited by Robert Curnow
UNC Jazz band grooves to Until I Met You (Corner Pocket) by Freddie Greene and Don Wolfe transcribed by David Berger
Ira Wiggins leads the NCCU Jazz Ensemble in Horace Silver's Filthy McNasty arranged by John LaBarbera
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