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Roy Eldridge Little Jazz Goes a Long Way

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The sign outside the Metro-pole in New York City reads Dixieland. But if signs mean less to you than sounds, and you step inside, what you will hear is jazz. And if its Sunday afternoon or Monday or Tuesday night, it will be some of the best jazz, these or any days.

That is when a quintet led by two timeless masters of the art of jazz holds postgraduate seminars. The language they speak is informed by the past, which they helped to create, aware of the present, in which they live, listen and hear, and pointing toward the future, which they are still building.

They are Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge, one of the great partnerships in jazz, a partnership of mutual inspiration, common experience and warm friendship. It currently rests on a solid foundation supplied by J.C. Heard on drums and two new but experienced faces, pianist Joe Knight and bassist Francesco Skeets.

Among those who have been on hand to receive, and perhaps get, the message are students and faculty members from all the schools: Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Lucky Thompson, Gerry Mulligan and many others. There is a loyal lay audience as well.

Working with Coleman is just perfect, said David Roy Eldridge. Thats it. Perfect. Hell play something, and it will get to me and make me play. And hes himself. I hope we can stay together for the longest time.

When Roy took a leave of absence this summer to accompany Ella Fitzgerald on a tour, Hawk was impatiently awaiting his return, even though his replacement was a more-than-capable trumpeter.

Roy will be back soon, Hawkins was heard to say frequently and with growing expectancy. Roy and I can get that real good feeling going when we play.

The difference in Eldridges playing when he worked with clarinetist Sol Yaged, who believes in set routines, from his work with Hawk, who believes in freedom, says more than many words. So do the fresh, original lines Hawkins and he constantly are working up on standard tunes. Born in Pittsburgh on Jan. 30, 1911, Eldridge has been a professional musician for 32 years. He has earned a large share of acclaim in those decades, but is not inclined to rest on it.

In the history books, Eldridge generally is referred to as the link between Louis and Dizzy or the creator of saxophone-style trumpeting. There is something to all of this, but it leaves out more than it conveys. Jazz is a living, growing art and if time has not stood still since that supposed night at Mintons when Gillespie cut Eldridge, neither has Roy. Neither he nor Gillespie play now the way they played in 1941. And when they get together, it is in a spirit of friendly rivalry, not of historical comparison.

Dizzy is too much, Roy said. There has never been any hostility between us, and when we get together, its a ball.

Jazz is not boxing: Ideas are exchanged, and the music is always the winner. There are elements in Roys playing today that would be unthinkable without Gillespie and Charlie Parker (Bird was the greatest; he had his own, Eldridge said) and he is still himself.

As for the saxophone style, Roy acknowledges Hawkins and Benny Carter among his early and continued influences. But there were also trumpet players: Rex Stewart (for speed, range and power), Jabbo Smith and, somewhat later, Armstrong, who taught me to tell a story, among other thing.

Whatever the influences, once Roy found his own voice, he created an idiomatic trumpet style. Roys elder brother, the late Joe Eldridge, was an alto saxophonist and arranger, unduly underrated in both capacities. He encouraged Roy to stick to music and gave him his first trumpet.

Eldridge has done his share of big-band work. The list includes Horace Henderson, Speed Webb, Charlie Johnson and McKinneys Cotton Pickers, among the pioneer bands of the pre-swing era. Later came with with Teddy Hill, and Fletcher Henderson. We had Chu Berry, Buster Bailey, Joe Thomas and, of course, Big Sid Catlett. That band was school.

With Krupa and Artie Shaw, Roy played the book as well as his specialties. But he prefers the freedom of small groups now, saying, You dont get to stretch out in a big band. And things get kind of set. Studio work, as well, is a doubtful pleasure to Roy.

As far as I know, he said, I never play a tune the same way twice. Sure, you play a number a lot of times, and certain little things get set. But the overall feeling is never the same. Thats why its such a drag for Coleman when they always ask for Body And Soul. He made a record of itand now they want him to always play the same thing. Its just not possible. I guess thats why I dont like studio work. Ill play something, and the cat says, That sounds good. Write it down and do it that way on the show! But when the show goes on, I dont feel the same way. So it doesnt come out naturally.

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