There aren’t many jazz musicians who double on vibraphone and drums. One of them, Chuck Redd (at right in above photo), will be bringing his vibes to the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center, on Sunday, April 6, in a return engagement with pianist John DiMartino (left in photo). Redd and DiMartino last performed at the November 2023 Jersey Jazz LIVE!
One of Redd’s vibraphone heroes is the late Milt Jackson, and he talked about Jackson’s influence on him in the January 2023 issue of Jersey Jazz, which celebrated Jackson’s centennial birthday. When Redd was in high school, his art teacher played the Modern Jazz Quartet recording featuring Jackson on “Precious Joy”, adapted from J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. At the time Redd was only a drummer. “It’s not overstating it to say that I had an epiphany while listening to Bags ‘sing’ through those metal bars,” he said. “I immediately had a powerful urge to run to the band room where there was a set of vibes. I needed to make some of those sounds.”
In an interview in JazzTimes, Lee Mergner asked Redd how he handles doubling on vibes and drums. His response: “There are a handful of us that double. For myself. I didn’t set out to do that because I wanted to be a double or make more money or anything. It was just that I had heard a Milt Jackson record, and I wanted to express myself melodically. I’ve practiced a lot on both instruments, and I still practice a lot. It’s high maintenance to keep two instruments going.”
In 2020, DiMartino paid tribute to composer Billy Strayhorn in an album on the Sunnyside label called Passion Flower The Music of Billy Strayhorn. Joe Lang of Jersey Jazz described it as “an elegant musical examination of 14 Strayhorn gems,” adding that, “DiMartino has been incorporating Strayhorn material into his repertoire throughout his years as a premier jazz pianist and accompanist.” AllAboutJazz’s Dr. Judith Schlesinger called the album, “unique in its fresh and straightforward interpretations.”
Redd and DiMartino performed together on Redd’s 2019 Dalphine Records album, Groove City. DownBeat’s Bobby Reed wrote that their duo on Strayhorn’s “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” showcases “Redd’s skills as a narrator, while Di Martino provides the ideal coloration . . . A jazz veteran, Redd is highly regarded in jazz circles, thanks to his 15-year stint as a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and his 19-year tenure with the late guitarist Charlie Byrd.”
Redd and DiMartino will be preceded by a Rising Stars opening act featuring a quintet from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, NJ. The band will be led by alto saxophonist Ming-Yang Qin, the lead alto saxophonist with the Jazz House Kids Big Band that finished first in this year’s Charles Mingus High School Competition. According to PVHS Director of Bands Craig Yaremko, Qin “loves Johnny Hodges.” Other members of the quintet are: trumpeter Carolyn Veit, “a Clifford Brown fan,” who placed first for the third year in a row in the Bergen County Band and also performed with the Region Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band. Pianist Timmy Ngai “is as comfortable with Basie as he is with the Beatles.” Bassist Eddie Gricic is also an All-State tuba player, and drummer Brady Viola has been influenced by Philly Joe Jones, having studied his classic performance of “Billy Boy” as a member of Red Garland’s Trio on the Miles Davis Columbia album, Milestones.
The quintet members are part of Pascack Valley’s Chamber Jazz Ensemble, a larger group that works to develop jazz soloists and learn standard jazz repertoire (photo below).
The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student ad¬mission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for pur¬chase. To order tickets in advance, log onto https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/jersey-jazz-live-chuck-redd-duo-1844968033.
: Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a part¬ner agency of The National Endow¬ment for the Arts
CHUCK REDD AND JOHN DIMARTINO PHOTO BY MITCHELL SEIDEL
