JAZZ REVIEW : PERSON, JONES LOUNGE IN A ‘60s MOOD

Houston Person, the tenor saxophonist, has been teamed with singer Etta Jones since 1973. That’s a long partnership by today’s standards, and despite occasional changes of sidemen, the group sound remains essentially the same.

Wednesday evening, in their return date at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, the show consisted of 14 numbers, with Person and his organist David Braham spotlighted on the first five. With Cecil Brooks III rounding out the unit on drums, this was typical soul lounge music in a style that became popular during the 1960s. Person achieved a warm, rich sound on ballads that have stood the time test as successfully as his unpretentious way with the horn.

The surprise throughout was the organ solo work by Braham. Not many organists have succeeded in escaping from the trap of Jimmy Smith’s long-established idiosyncrasies, but Braham has found a personal way to go. During one mid-tempo blues he shifted gears, tonally and rhythmically, to mix up the single-note and chordal passages ingeniously enough to build and sustain a mood of rare intensity.

Etta Jones, like Person, is a product of an old school. She comes across as an interesting mixture of Helen Humes (visually), Carmen McRae tonally and Billie Holiday in her phrasing. Slow-tempo pieces are her meat; she seemed at ease with “The Man That Got Away” and “I Want a Little Boy,” which in fact was “I Want a Little Girl” after a sex-change operation on the lyrics.

On the upbeat pieces her tendency to lag one or two bars behind the beat became disconcerting. Holiday knew just how far she could take this ploy; Jones does it to the point where it becomes difficult for the listener, and possibly for her, to concentrate on the meaning of the words. The best way to deal with this is by trying to ignore the lyrics and just letting the sound wash over you.

Jones and Person close Saturday.