Authors Bjorn, Gallert, and Bauer at the Scarab Club
The University of Michigan Press has wisely decided to revive its magnificent jazz book series under the editorship of Lewis Porter. Undoubtedly inspired by the great success of last year's Before Motown by Lars Bjorn with Jim Gallert, the Press decided to celebrate their new release, Open the Door: The Life and Music of Betty Carter, by William R. Bauer, with an event at Detroit's historic Scarab Club.
The
evening opened with a joyous, often humorous, set by the trio of pianist
Sven Anderson, bassist Ralphe Armstrong, and drummer Spider Webb. Anderson
showed his keyboard prowess with powerful, inspired solos, and Armstrong
got the crowd going with a virtuoso rendering of "Willow Weep for
Me," followed by some hilarious blues singing. Bjorn and Gallert
then spoke about jazz in Detroit, illustrating their talks with rare photos
and an even rarer recording by legendary pianist Willie Anderson. William
Bauer took the floor with a synopsis of his fascinating new book on Betty
Carter, crowned with a video of the singer performing at the Montreux
jazz festival in Switzerland. The evening ended with vocalist DeeDee McNeil
joining the trio to offer her homage to the late jazz singer.
All in all, this was a wonderful way to celebrate Carter and Bauer's book; the music was superb, the audience knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and the splendid setting could not have been better.
A review of the book will be published in the next issue of this newsletter.
INSET: Vocalist DeeDee McNeil pays homage to Betty Carter. Drummer Spider Webb is in the background.
ABOVE: Pianist Sven Anderson and bassist Ralphe Armstrong.