There was a CD release party for Bob Magnusson last night as part of the Jazz in the Park Series. Liquid Lines is the name of the CD, and the group including Bob on bass, Randy Porter on piano, Peter Sprague, guitar, Tripp Sprague, reeds and Duncan Moore, drums, performed several numbers from the CD which was on sale in the lobby and a couple of standards. One of the stalwarts of the San Diego jazz scene, Bob has played with all the greats in jazz and pop including Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, Art Pepper, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Linda Ronstadt and Madonna!
This group has been playing together for so long in various configurations that it's more like a band of brothers than a group of musicians, and the Spragues and Bob share an avocation for surfing that ties them together even more. The CD, Liquid Lines, is inspired by surfing from Del Mar to Point Loma and points beyond. In general the musicianship was excellent with the empathy and interplay almost telepathic. This is how jazz should be played: with a group of friends and among friends. Bob's extensive family including, wife, mother, 3 daughters and 7 grandchildren were in attendance.
An Aside: Judy and I were late getting to the concert as usual since I have to pick up Judy in La Mesa at 5 PM when she gets off work, and drive to Balboa Park. (That's her on the right.) We munched down our Subway sandwich on I-8, parked and were walking toward the San Diego Museum of Art. Judy expressed regret that we would be late again. I said, "Not to worry. No self-respecting jazz musician ever starts a concert earlier than 10 minutes late so we've got plenty of time." Luckily, I'm on Holly Hofmann's reservation list or we wouldn't have gotten in. It was a sold out crowd. The ushers told us, much to Judy's chagrin, that we would never find two seats together so we worked on finding Judy a seat. That accomplished, I headed further down front when a woman stood up front and center and motioned she had two seats available. I waved to Judy, and we ended up having two seats together, the best seats in the house, thanks to, as it turned out, Bob's wife! I got to see Bob's Grandchildren as one after another they squirmed around on Grandma's lap, and what cute kids they are too! What a fortunate man to have such a beautiful family and to have spent his life in such a beautiful locale and earned his living doing something that's so rewarding and such fun! All this and surfing too. Heaven couldn't be much better.
Back to the Concert: They started out with "Afternoon at First Point," a tune I really liked. Randy Porter, on piano, is a total virtuoso with an excellent jazz feel and full of surprises. There is only one thing though. Randy, lose the white shirt! It seemed like the glare off an iceberg, and at times had me reaching for UV protection! It made me appreciate more the darker, muted and understated threads the others were wearing! "Aqua Reflections" set a pensive mood, another excellent tune!
Most of the tunes were written by Bob, but they "covered" "I Cover the Waterfront." I felt the medium up groove was a little too fast. This is really a singer's tune, and, as sung by Billie Holliday, is a love song with a yearning, wistful quality. I didn't feel the arrangement captured the essence of the tune. Part of the homework of a jazz musician is listening to the legacy from the past and building on that. It seemed like this tune came right out of the Fake Book. They all played good, however.
"Reef Dance" went over well. Another surfing inspired tune. Brother Tripp was "out front" as the only hornman on the gig, and did a great job on tenor sax, flute and especially his harmonica solo on the last tune of the night. In general the sound system was adjusted well except I thought that Peter Sprague's guitar could have been brought up more. Peter's solo spots were great, but I couldn't hear him all that well in the ensemble work. The ensemble work, however, was the highlight of the evening. Intricate, crisp and clear - this was music of the highest calibre. I can't say enough about Duncan Moore's drumming. He's always there interacting but unobtrusively so. He has Big Ears! The sound of his drum kit, the micing of the drums and the guy playing them - all I can do is to agree with Cal Worthington - you can't beat that! His cymbal work behind Bob's bass, a tick tick rather than a ting ting, was perfectly suited and articulated.
Bob shared the spotlight on his special evening with Oscar Castro-Neves who performed Antonio Carlos Jobim's tune, "The Waters of March." Here is a tune that at first sight seems like just a jumble of words with not much of a melody, but the effect is hypnotic. This tune just grows on you. Oscar did a great solo turn.
After the break, they did more tunes from the CD. They maintained the high quality both of composition and performance of the first half. One quibble is that I found the tune, "The Search, the Discovery," a little long on search and a little short on discovery. The highlight of the second set, no doubt, was Key Largo sung by Coral MacFarland Thuet. Peter Sprague did an excellent solo intro, and Coral, as is her wont, captured the spirit and essence of the tune. In my opinion she is in the top rank of jazz singers because, like Billie Holliday and Frank Sinatra, she doesn't need 10 grace notes to embellish every note of the melody. Instead, she feels the tune, what the composer had in mind, adds her life experience to it, and communicates that effortlessly to the audience.
The last tune of the evening, "Newbreak," paid homage to another surfing spot off Sunset Cliffs, and featured the aforementioned wonderful harmonica work of Brother Tripp.
As we were leaving, Judy said to me, "I usually don't like originals, but these were all so good." I'm sure the audience, as evidenced by their enthusiastic response, agreed. I think it was typical of Bob Magnusson that he didn't hog the spotlight, featured other artists like Oscar Castro-Neves and Coral Thuet, honored his Mom and other family members and even introduced some of his surfing buddies and webmaster! But the music more than spoke for itself. This group deserves wider than local recognition, and we are indeed fortunate to have Bob as a superlative member of the San Diego jazz scene. Long may his flag continue to wave! Happy surfing!
