photos by Berrie Satler, Little Green Art House

Jack DeJohnette, the jazz drummer of his generation, may have died last year, but his nearly 50 albums as a bandleader and 200 recordings as a sideman guarantee a kind of immortality that most artists can only dream of.

Nowhere was DeJohnette’s legacy more apparent than in a memorial concert hosted at Kingston’s UPAC on Sunday, August 9, a night that would have been the drummer’s 84th birthday.

For a Sunday evening, Kingston was the world’s jazz epicenter. This was quickly made apparent – as I exited the car, pianist Jason Moran passed me on the sidewalk. And in the box office, archival jazz recording impresario Zev Feldman looked dapper in a black suit and white pocket square.

The nearly four-hour memorial concert was emceed by drummer/protege Terri Lyne Carrington and guitarist/former DeJohnette neighbor Pat Metheny. The evening served as a retrospective of Jack DeJohnette’s seven decades of musical evolution, inspiration, and artistry. Carrington, Metheny, and a production team led by Hudson Valley’s own Danny Melnick of Absolutely Live Entertainment honored DeJohnette’s life by reverently gathering more than 50 of the drummer’s collaborators who happen to also be some of the leading jazz musicians on the planet.

Melnick and company ran a tight ship, dispersing a cavalcade of all-star, one-off lineups that largely went off without a hitch and allowed for the kind of spontaneity and unusual happenstance that fans of improvisational music live for. What’s more, the show was a benefit for two honorable Woodstock charities: Family of Woodstock and The Table at Woodstock.

The show’s emotional center came from a wise decision to intersperse eulogies, spoken memories, and live performances with videos of DeJohnette playing with legends like Sonny Rollins, Betty Carter, Keith Jarrett, and the incomparable Miles Davis electric band. While the all-star collaborations on the live stage were surprising and special, the archival footage of DeJohnette playing with his distinctive style carried heavy emotional baggage. I found myself tearing up during the clip of Sonny and Jack trading riffs during a 1982 Montreal concert, and chills at the back of my neck when Miles made his signature entrance and exit in a video from 1970’s Isle of Wight festival (where a hippie-styled DeJohnette played his kit in front of some 700,000 people).

These videos, which will last on the Internet in perpetuity along with his recorded work, brought DeJohnette to life for an audience of acolytes and disciples who came together not only to mourn, but to be honored. This tribute concert was a way to thank fans for their support and invite them into what frequently felt like a private service. The message was clear – DeJohnette’s fans and supporters were as important as the musicians that shared the stage with the man.

The concert began with a slideshow of DeJohnette through the decades that wouldn’t have been out of place at a small family reception. The endearing photos of Jack at every age gave way to a clip of an older DeJohnette playing a gong. It was soon apparent that Terri Lyne Carrington was playing a gong on the stage too – a nod to the way DeJohnette opened his 81st birthday show with a solo gong performance in 2023 (at that gig he would later be joined in the mid-sized theatre by the outsized talents of percussionist Cindy Blackman Santana and her you-mighta-heard-of-him husband Carlos).

Carrington provided the night’s first eulogy, noting that she was only 17 the first time she met Jack DeJohnette in his Willow, NY home. She cited his “indelible impact” on percussion, music, and her life. Carrington then introduced famed guitarist Pat Metheny, DeJohnette’s Silver Hollow Road neighbor of 40 years, friend, and sometimes-collaborator. Both Carrington and Metheny were present when DeJohnette passed away.

Metheny reminisced about a phone call he received “out of the blue” from Jack to discuss Metheny’s first solo record. Metheny said Jack totally got what he was going for, and that the encouragement and support was something he saw Jack do for many young musicians. Metheny also introduced the first musical performance of the night: Hudson.

The group featured legendary guitarist John Scofield, bassist Larry Grenadier, keyboard wizard John Medeski, and Terri Lyne Carrington sitting in on the kit. This group launched into the funky groove of “Hudson” with Scofield trading barbs with Medeski’s Rhodes. Hudson revived a 2017 DeJohnette album project of the same name which featured funky soul jazz jam arrangements of songs inspired by, written about, and associated with the Hudson Valley.

One of DeJohnette’s longest running projects was Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition. This group featured a revolving cast of partners and band members with DeJohnette as the one constant. Sunday’s special group, which featured Special Edition collaborators David Murray (tenor sax) and Rufus Reid (bass) along with prolific reed men Don Byron and Greg Osby, performed “Ahmad the Terrible”: a piece DeJohnette composed to honor pianist Ahmad Jamal. The piece featured the playful Ornette Colemanesque melody played in unison by the front line of reeds while drummer Bill Stewart locked in to a supportive groove that made me notice that the drum kits on stage were in fact DeJohnette’s. Carrington later mentioned that a big part of the DeJohnette sound came from his unique tuning of the kit. The relatively understated and reverent performances of all the drummers during the show allowed those beautiful drums to speak in Jack’s voice.

Next, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, a collaborator on the Grammy-winning 2022 trio album Skyline, took the stage for a solo improvisation that was equally reverent, melodic, precise, and laced with his distinctive Afro-Cuban flourishes. Rubalcaba was one of several musicians who also performed at the Saratoga Jazz Festival in June, another of Danny Melnick’s productions.

Perhaps no musician has shared in DeJohnette’s musical trajectory as closely as bassist Dave Holland who took to the podium to share stories of their sixty year friendship on and off of the bandstand. While he did not play his bass on Sunday, Holland did recall the first time he ever played with DeJohnette. Jack was touring England with the Charles Lloyd Quartet and went to a late night jam session where Holland’s band was playing. Holland, facing the audience, noticed something change on the drums behind him. He turned to see that DeJohnette had taken over on the kit. Holland described their musical relationship, which began that night, continued with Miles Davis, and led to many recording sessions for ECM, as something ”that fit” often because of DeJohnette’s willingness to be playful: he recalled a performance where Jack managed to grab handfuls of ice from a bucket on the stage and began bouncing them off of his drums in search of a new sound. Certainly, part of DeJohnette’s (and Holland’s) charm as jazz musicians was the embrace of new sounds – everything from jazz fusion to free jazz and post-bop.

A larger group that best exemplified that post-bop sound, performed DeJohnette’s “Indigo Dreamscapes”. This group included saxophonist Chris Potter, guitarist Bill Frisell, and pianist Jason Moran with Larry Grenadier (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums) returning to the rhythm section. While Frisell took a restrained approach, Potter delivered his usual sonorous tenor solos.

Another part of DeJohnette’s legacy is his support of younger jazz musicians and his desire to play with, and mentor, younger musicians. Pianist George Colligan, much like Carrington and Metheny before him, reminisced about his great fortune in performing with DeJohnette both at his home and in some of his final performances (including the aforementioned 2023 performance on that very UPAC stage). Colligan then took to the stage with an ensemble of his contemporaries and put on one of the hottest jams of the night. Double-necked guitarist Dave Fiuczynski particularly impressed during his fiery and lightning-fast solo as did alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.

Colligan recorded a Herbie Hancock tribute LP in 2008, so his performance was a natural segway to a video message recorded by one of DeJohnette’s most famous collaborators. Hancock echoed the sentiments of Holland: he said that some of his favorite moments on a stage were spent with Jack DeJohnette. Another legendary pianist, Keith Jarrett sent in a message to the tribute, expressing his wonder at the fact that in their longstanding association in the “Standards Trio” with Gary Peacock, he couldn’t remember a single time they ever argued. Unlike many accomplished studio musicians, DeJohnette would frequently record an album and then tour with the leader of the session. This made him an incredibly flexible percussionist, as equally comfortable with virtuosos like Hancock and Jarrett as he was with avant garde freedom seekers like Wadada Leo Smith (who was on hand to perform his solo trumpet work “Song of Humanity”).

DeJohnette was also well aware of lineage on the jazz family tree and his intergenerational reach. His 2016 ECM album In Movement gets my vote as one of the top ten jazz albums of the 21st Century, and it found DeJohnette sharing the studio with bassist Matthew Garrison and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, both sons of jazz royalty who are masters in their own right. Ravi took the stage on Sunday night with pianist Danilo Perez to play Perez’s composition “Cobilla”. Carrington and bassist John Patitucci combined with Perez to construct one of my favorite rhythm sections of the evening.

While DeJohnette was always forward-thinking, his own recording career does reach back to the height of the hard bop era. One of his earliest recordings was the shelved Jackie McLean Blue Note session Jacknife. The session was cut in 1965, but the album of incredibly blistering hard bop wasn’t released until 1975. The session found DeJohnette behind the drumkit for alto legend McLean, but also BOTH trumpeters Lee Morgan AND Charles Tolliver. The 84 year-old Tolliver led a group on Sunday for what is likely the first extant version of “Jacknife” ever played live. The night had been going pretty smoothly for Carrington until she began to introduce the band for the “Jacknife” debut. For a few minutes drum-legend Billy Hart appeared to be missing, but he was thankfully found and helped to the drum riser. As with all great elder statesmen of jazz, Billy Hart may look like an old man, but he’s nothing short of a bad man when he has the sticks in his hands. And Tolliver had more swagger than any 84-year-old I know. He looked every bit the cool founder of the hip Strata East Records label in his wraparound shades and stylish dark clothes. He led the band with commanding gestures to each of the soloists and brought things back to the brash head of the piece with gusto.

The energy only picked up as a group led by saxophonist Joe Lovano (on soprano) and Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun played along to a vocal recording of DeJohnette singing “Witchi Tai To”. In DeJohnette’s ebullient recording of the Jim Pepper classic, he changes the lyrics from “Water Spirit feelin’ / Springin’ round my head / Makes me feel glad that I’m not dead to nothing’s ever dead. It certainly felt like DeJohnette’s voice and spirit were very much alive in the hall on Sunday night.

The team that sequenced the performances should be humbly thanked for its genius, because the last four performances of the night were also the four most exciting, particularly because of the star power on the stage. Bass and vocalist extraordinaire Esperanza Spalding, who collaborated several times with DeJohnette (notably on the 2012 recording Sound Travels) led a band of younger musicians in a piece that featured a Latin groove from Calhoun and some incredible scat vocals from Spalding.

Then, Bruce Hornsby joined Spalding as a duo for a reading of “Solar” that was the most beautiful thing I heard all evening. Hornsby simply has a touch and style all his own that is instantly recognizable, melodic, and flexible in style. He’s the musician that every musician wants to play with, and his voice has always had an inviting sweetness that I love. He was the perfect choice to sing the DeJohnette-penned resistance song “Dirty Ground” which kicked off and brought several guests back on stage. Spalding accented Hornsby’s vocals with glissando runs of her own while John Scofield fired off funky riffs over Carrington’s beat.

The near capacity crowd was reverent throughout. I witnessed people dabbing tears from their eyes, and from my excellent seats in center Row O, there certainly weren’t any “chompers”. This was a show for music lovers, but even music lovers can have their patience tested. Pat Metheny made for a fine emcee, but I heard several people whisper “Do you think Pat will play guitar?” Any fears that he wouldn’t were quelled when Carrington introduced a very special acoustic performance of “Silver Hollow”. Silver Hollow, a reference to the DeJohnette’s beloved family home in Willow, NY, is a beautiful pastoral piece that Jack DeJohnette wrote for piano and recorded several times. Metheny’s solo reading of the composition, backed by a stunning slideshow of nature images from DeJohnette’s property, was a simply stunning tribute played by a loving friend and neighbor who also happens to be one of the most talented guitarists on the planet.

While DeJohnette was a long-time Hudson Valley resident, his roots go back to Chicago, and some of his earliest jazz collaborations found DeJohnette crossing paths with members of the legendary AACM that birthed groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Fitting then that the concert would end with special guest Roscoe Mitchell, 86. Mitchell, dressed in a slim-fitting suit sat down at a bass saxophone that was as wide as his narrow frame. Joined by a large group, Mitchell seemed perturbed when pianist Jason Moran joined in after a couple minutes of Mitchell’s solo. He waved Moran off to layout, but Wadada Leo Smith joined on trumpet as did percussionists Ra-Kalaam Bob Moses and Tani Tabbal. Soon, all of the 50 musicians joined the stage with saxophones wailing and hand percussion rumbling. The group made a joyful noise that surely transcended the roof of UPAC and had to be heard in the heavens. It was free expression and sound – a chant that was primal, new age, spiritual, and communal.

Everything came to a natural stop, but Roscoe Mitchell just kept going on that bass saxophone for what felt like fifteen minutes. For a long while, Ravi Coltrane and Joe Lovano stood in the back and played along. So too did Moses and Tabbal, but after a long while the crowd began to thin, Carrington called off the band, and Mitchell just kept on playing. To everyone’s credit, no one “played him off” like a speaker going on too long during an Academy Awards speech. They let him do his thing. And, while it may well have confused some in attendance, and certainly created the first real tension in an otherwise beautiful tribute, it was probably the most real-to-life moment of the entire show: Mitchell’s performance is likely the thing I’ll remember most about this entire performance.

I couldn’t help but think that every squonking, atonal honk on Roscoe’s bass saxophone was an utterance of breath, of life, of rhythm, and an utterance of “I’m still here even though so many of my friends are dead.” I kept my phone away all night, but I wanted to capture just a bit of Roscoe blowing. Why? Because a recorded life can never die. A recorded life – and Jack DeJohnette’s is one of our most recorded – will live long past any expiration date. The fact that DeJohnette was so prolifically recorded is certainly a measure of his virtuosity, but the number of musicians who showed up for Jack’s memorial suggests his in-demand session status was also a measure of his character as a person and friend.

Keep listening to Jack DeJohnette. Go to YouTube or Spotify or, better yet, find the jazz section of your local record store. I can just about guarantee that you won’t have to look too hard to find his name in the lineup of a record. It’s sitting there waiting for you to listen to its eternal grooves, to the rhythm that was the heartbeat of Jack DeJohnette’s life.