Election Section

Arts: Regina Carter Heats up the Scene at Yoshi’s By IRA STEINGROOT Special to the Planet

Tuesday November 15, 2005

By a strange coincidence, two of the brightest young stars in jazz are both from Motown, both born in the ’60s and both named Carter: saxophonist James and violinist Regina. Because of their incredible promise and virtuosity, it is painful to admit that both have been known to falter occasionally in the heat of improvisation. Still, it is always worth catching either of them whenever they appear locally. Whatever momentary failures they may experience, they have more than enough personal incandescence to carry the flame of jazz into the future. 

Regina Carter was born in 1966 and began playing piano at two, switching to violin and the Suzuki method of instruction at four. At first, she only knew classical music, but it did not take long in Seventies Detroit for her to discover R&B, soul and funk. It was not until the ‘80s though, when she got to high school, that she discovered jazz in the form of French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. 

The way he played violin pulled her sleeve, so in college, first at the New England Conservatory of Music and then at Oakland University in Michigan, she began formal study of jazz. She followed this by jamming all over town with local Motor City jazz players like trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. Since then she has worked with some of the top musicians in jazz, most notably saxophonist Oliver Lake, drummer Max Roach and her landsman, James Carter. 

Regina, who appears at Yoshi’s from Wednesday through Sunday of this week, was last at the Oakland club in June 2003. At that time, she played some wan, attenuated pieces from Fauré and Ravel and bossa nova composer Luiz Bonfa’s “Manha de Carnaval” from Black Orpheus, all from her Paganini: After a Dream CD; as well as Lucky Thompson’s “Prey Lute” and Milt Jackson’s “For Someone I Love” from her Motor City Moments CD; and Richard Bona’s weak “Mandingo Street” from her Rhythms of the Heart CD. 

The performance fell between two stools with neither the classical nor the jazz ever becoming fully realized. Also, her percussionist Mayra Casales chewed up the scenery in a grandstanding, attention-getting way through the whole set. This kind of disappointment often occurs in a music as volatile as authentically improvised jazz. 

On the other hand, her 2001 Freefall CD with Kenny Barron displays some of her best recorded playing, especially on the Sigmund Romberg/Oscar Hammerstein standard “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso” and Johnny Hodges’ “Squatty Roo.” Those who saw her 2002 Boston Pops concert with classical violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Celtic/folk fiddler Eileen Ivers, would probably agree that she blew her compeers out of the water. Her improvisational skills came to the fore allowing her to display the kind of genuine, spontaneous invention that is usually missing in, if not beyond the capability of, classical and folk players.  

This week’s gig promises to be more straight ahead jazz with the excellent drummer Alvester Garnett the only holdover from the 2003 band. Her current group also includes Xavier Davis on piano, Matthew Parrish on bass and Steve Kroon on percussion replacing the incongruous Casales. Carter has been heralded for the unique mix of musics that make up her consciousness, but that is not unusual in our post-modern world. What is unusual is her ability when she is at her best to meld that salmagundi of musical flavors into some genuine hot, swinging jazz violin.  

 

 

 

Regina Carter appears at Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, Nov. 16 -20,  

8 p.m. and 10 p.m., except on Sundays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. For more information, call 238-9200 or visit www.yoshis.com.