Roxy Coss and Sharel Cassity Quintet @ Jazz Showcase

Sunday 8/16/15

I should start off describing how much meaningful content this earnest tribute to Charlie Parker had to offer;

How a rhythm section with ears like this can blossom a complex ecosystem of sound;

How this particular sax duo isn’t making a vocal fuss about gender gaps or stereotypes in the industry. Instead, they’re opting to improvise, compose, and gig their way through the argument – assuming they even believe there’s one to be had.

No, instead of all that juicy discussion, I am forced to start off with a simple plea to try Sunday night shows and help mitigate the problem of having an uphill battle with the room’s energy. That’s two Sunday night shows in a row now where the room has been close to empty, the first being Corey Wilkes’ show two weeks prior. I may be relatively new to the scene, but well-known venues in the middle of summer shouldn’t have nine people left in the audience at 10:00PM.

I do understand that a vast majority of the working world has to get up early the next morning, but this isn’t how an artist should wrap up their weekend residencies. Pardon the pun, but that’s a low note to go on.

You see, gigging jazz musicians arguably have it harder than then their rock, folk, or pop counterparts in terms of the week-by-week grind. Whereas the other genres I mentioned are lauded for repeat performances, jazz players have to create new melodies for nearly every song they perform every night. They do this through the solo, and I’m willing to bet most of them fear the cliché, the unoriginal, and the boring. If not for their own personal desire for self-improvement, then at least for their marketability. And while jazz is by no means a superior art form than the others, it is a fascinating daily adventure into how deep the well of human creativity runs. It’s also one that I find myself honored to marvel at when I go.

So that’s where I’m coming from when I share my bewilderment with these situations. Please understand that I’m not throwing shame and blame on you, the concert-going public, the business side of the industry, or anyone at all. I’m simply setting up a path of reasoning where I can repeat three tired words:

Support. Live. Jazz.

Now if you could manage to dig deeper past the decaying vigor of the night – and past this gloomy, preachy introduction – I promise there was a world of top-notch musical content on display. A world groomed by a pair of saxophone stars-in-the-making backed by one of Chicago’s most solid rhythm sections.

The Players

Roxy Coss (ts)

Sharel Cassity (as)

Ron Perrillo (p)

Dennis Caroll (b)

Xavier Breaker (d)

The evening kicked off with a pair of original compositions: Cassity’s “Through Line” and Coss’ “Wandering One” off her 2010 album. Cassity displayed rapid wails, five-note flurries, and an immediate in/out. Meanwhile, Coss ascribed to long tones, chromaticism, and a gradual build to the wailing. It was a complimentary contrast that smartly punctuates their instrument’s strengths and shows how well the pair adapted to each other’s’ sound for the gig.

With the Jazz Showcase’s giant Bird portrait looking down on them, the quintet then busted out a 240BPM – or more – version of “Confirmation”. I figured we were getting either that tune, “Donna Lee”, or “Au Privave” at some point in the night considering it was Charlie Parker month. It made even more sense considering the double-sax headliners. “Confirmation” is one of the trickiest melodies in the bebop vernacular, but it was easily handled by both Downbeat Critic Poll “Rising Stars”.

The rhythm section maintained a great hold on the song too, increasing their looks and communication to keep up with the chosen tempo. I especially appreciated Ron Perrillo’s choice of chords for comping. They seemed to hold a nice balance between angular and anchoring. You also can’t beat someone who loudly audiates while they solo. Some people find it distracting or context-breaking humorous, and I definitely see that. Still, it’s a characteristic I’ve grown strangely fond of.

Cassity’s ingenious choice of back-to-back ballads – Monk’s “Ask Me Now” bleeding into Jimmy Van-Heusen’s “Darn That Dream” – worked astoundingly well together. Both are laden with chromatic II-Vs, setting the stage for some great transposition ideas. Since “Now” has more of them than “Dream”, hearing them in that order also felt like one big release. The moment those first three notes to “Dream” rang across were quite nuanced, and realizing them infused me with excitement. Her use of trills on both songs hit me in just the right places at the right time. Poignant is an understatement.

Following that was Coss’ original “Recurring Dream”, written in honor of a friend who had passed away. Having that in mind, I expected a much darker and sentimental tune. Indeed, that’s how it started, but the band wound up soaring coming out if it. Breaker found a real nice groove pocket with active straight eighths. She may not have expanded on the backstory behind the tune, but I like to think the sense of optimism it brought placed the song’s focus on acceptance rather than the pain.

While I also would’ve loved to have seen Coss shake up the timbre and switch to her soprano, clarinet, or flute a she does on her album, it may not have gelled with the night’s emphasis on Parker. Maybe I’m a sucker for jazz flute, but hearing “Hot House” on the instrument – which they played later – would’ve made things real interesting.

Now’s the time where I discuss women instrumentalists in jazz today. I’m aware many of you – including women – find this topic exhausting or arbitrary. Nonetheless, it’s a trend that’s only increased over time, and one I think we as an audience must accept as the norm – in active thought and subconscious.

Though speaking as a male, I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to experience chauvinism or female-directed prejudice on any level. Relate? Perhaps. Yet as someone who never wants to be disingenuous, I could never speak on a woman’s behalf about women’ issues.

So I won’t. But they can, and have.

In an interview with Kyla Marshell for Okayplayer, Sharel Cassity shares a restrained outlook:

“I’m not into supporting women in jazz just because they’re women in jazz. I’m into supporting people who play good music. If they happen to be women, that’s awesome; that’s great. These days, you’re seeing it more often than not. But it didn’t used to be like that.”

If there was ever a balance between prejudice and activism that wasn’t complacency, then Cassity has found it through actualization. It’s fighting being denied, by being wholly undeniable.

Not everyone is built like that however. Push enough people around and inevitably someone will push back in some manner. Though she lets her instruments do most of the talking, Roxy Coss has a few choice words on this subject.

In her personal blog, Coss writes:

“Certainly, being a woman in music, I face even further hardships including bigotry and harassment. Being a woman living in NYC adds more struggle. Being specifically in Jazz adds another level of difficulty, especially in our current social climate. Being a female instrumentalist adds complications, too.” Meanwhile in another post she explains, “I personally have heard from men how I am ‘better’ than another female Jazz Musician. Why would this ‘compliment’ be something I want to hear?”

It’s quite interesting to see these partners-in-jazz differ in approaches to the issue, and I would’ve loved to be a fly on that wall when or if they discussed it.

So there, women in jazz. And however you view the issue – real or not – it’s never a wrong move to go out and enjoy the music live. Because each body in the room empowers the musician’s song and spirit.

If there was anyone up there who had high spirits for a majority of the concert – or just putting up that front really well – it was Chicago mainstay Xavier Breaker (d) with smiles almost the entire time. The “Salt Peanuts” quote in one of his solos put a smile on my face almost as big as his. Aside from all the praises I can sing write about his ideas both in his own solos and those complimentary to others’, I have to appreciate an attitude that can soldier on past indifference – one of an artist’s worst nightmares.

Actually, I have to appreciate the entire quintet’s soldiering that night. Truth be told they’re all adults, so I’m sure their personal feelings are just fine. Being a Chicagoan however, it was more than a slight embarrassment bidding the New York-based saxophone duo farewell in the manner the room did. Nine people of varying sobriety and cellphone worship is hardly what I’d call an engaged audience.

But enough of the pity party. I may have started this piece with a plea, but I’ll end it with a firm statement. Roxy Coss and Sharel Cassity are two sax voices you need to look out for if you have even a slight interest in jazz music. Their pairing – their first ever this weekend – is a strong one, and I hope the concert-going public gets to see more of them very soon.

I also hope they make a return to Chicago someday. If they do, I’ll make my show a Sunday for sure.

Roxy Coss’ eponymous debut album as well as Sharel Cassity’s latest, Manhattan Romance, are out now.

Article and all pictures by Dominic Guanzon