Earshot Jazz Festival celebrated the fundamentals Saturday with work of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones

Concert Review |

The Earshot Jazz Festival addresses the question, "what is jazz," mostly by looking forward and outward. But sometimes it looks inward and to the past as it did Saturday night, when the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra performed the work of Ray Charles and Quincy Jones before a full house at the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall.

Known for featuring new, unconventional forms of jazz, and young talent from all over the world, Earshot, which ends its three-week run Sunday afternoon, celebrated the fundamentals Saturday evening by presenting the music of Charles (known more as a pop singer than a jazz musician), a lesson in blues, swing and some of the best, American music written for a big band.

The all-star SRJO played mostly music from the landmark, 1961 album, "Genius + Soul = Jazz," which featured arrangements by Jones, Charles playing the Hammond B3 organ, and musicians from the Count Basie band. The songs, like "One Mint Julep," were dubbed soul jazz, a label that did not stick but one that is apt.

The SRJO, led by drummer Clarence Acox and saxophonist Michael Brockman, performed two sets, borrowing guest organist Joe Doria and guest singer Dean Bowman, who double-teamed to admirably channel the role of Charles.

Doria, a local musician who plays a wide range of jazz, rock and funk, is known for his facility with the blues. Bowman, from New York, was a logical choice to sing the music of Charles. The two share a background in gospel music, and Bowman's voice, while very much his own, does not sound unlike Charles' voice. Bowman's singing was cleaner and less apt to howl or snap than Charles' but just as likely to bend and shout, more evident on the slower songs like "Them That Got."

The band went off program twice in the second set, as Bowman sang two Charles classics, "Georgia on my Mind," and "I Can't Stop Loving You."

The performance was also intended to be a recognition of Seattle's jazz heritage. Both Charles and Jones were regulars in the local club circuit in the 1950s. (SRJO trombonist Dan Marcus later toured with the Ray Charles band.)

"Jazz is really the music Ray Charles started with," Brockman said. "His collaborations with Quincy Jones and other Seattle musicians was in the jazz world as a jazz pianist. His singing developed later on in his career, as did his reputation in rhythm and blues."

Hugo Kugiya: hkugiya@yahoo.com