Berkshires arts reviews

July 15, 2007 concert reviewed by Ronald K. Baker

A capacity crowd of oldsters welcomed Maestro Andre Previn and his two side men Sunday evening to Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood where a pre-concert shower failed to dampen spirits, judging by the cordial and enthusiastic applause. Spectators seemed to appreciate the living legends on the stage. Accompanied by the master Jim Hall on electric guitar and long standing Previn associate David Finck on upright bass, Previn launched into a lively, swinging blues for the opening number. He sat at an enormous Bosendorfer concert grand. Before the selection ended it morphed into “Lady Be Good,” not strictly a blues.

Something that initially felt like acoustic discrepancies in the cavernous hall turned out to be something a good deal more unfortunate. It was, instead, serious timing problems the group was having. There was applause at the end of several of the improvisations and at the conclusion of each succeeding piece. But the performance grew increasingly stiff. There simply was no groove. Previn’s playing was impetuous. His tempos accelerated in spite of the best efforts of Finck on bass while Hall played almost incredulously nearby.

It’s anybody’s guess how many listeners actually knew what was going on. Some clearly did. There was none of the usual head-bobbing or feet-tapping one might expect during familiar Ellington tunes. After three or four selections it was obvious the emperor had no clothes. The group had the sound of a first rate jazz trio but almost none of the feel. Previn was dazzling in technique, long on frills, but short on “thang.”

Another curious feature was guitarist Hall’s use of an octave divider pedal. This gave his instrument a sound reminiscent of Wes Montgomery but also came close to sounding too much like a 12 string where the low notes have highs and the high notes still have lows. Call me a purist, but it just seemed unnecessary.

The greatest moment of the concert came after intermission when Hall played “Skylark” as a solo. It was gorgeous. The crowd erupted in whistles and hoots of approval as the last perfect notes rippled from his fingers. The onlookers who had come perilously close to appearing like an oil painting were suddenly animated. Hall tasted blood and for the next few selections became more aggressive in trying to bring some funk and feeling to the music. But it was too-little, too-late.

Previn may have been among the most disappointed. After not playing jazz for some decades, he might have concluded that it’s best to leave it that way. His piano solo on “My Funny Valentine” was, nevertheless, inventive and evocative, showing him at his finest as a composer and arranger. And thereat, few are his equal.

The applause at the end of the concert was almost an “Au Revoir” which did not merit an encore. Perhaps he could take a lesson from Doris Day on when to say when.

Photos of Andre Previn and David Finck courtesy Boston Symphony Orchestra.

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