For a while, it looked as if Wednesday night’s installment of the Water Colors jazz series at Navy Pier was going to succumb to the elements.
Two minutes before showtime, there was more water than color: A light rain prevented the 6:30 p.m. concert from starting.
But Chicago musicians and audiences are not easily daunted, both groups waiting an hour for the stage to be dried, the electronic equipment to be replaced and the clouds to roll by.
“The weather tried to stop us, but we dance on!” Chicago vibraphonist Thaddeus Tukes told a crowd that grew as listeners waited.
Originally, the August performances were to be held on the Lake Stage of Navy Pier’s new Polk Bros Park Performance Lawns, a visually stunning setting where the waters of Lake Michigan form a spectacular backdrop, boats periodically cruising right behind the stage.
But the concerts have been moved to the adjacent City Stage, which — as its name suggests — faces not the lake but the skyline. The view proved impressive in its own way, tour boats gliding by in the distance along the Ogden Slip.
The jazz series, which launched July 26 and continues every Wednesday in August, has been smartly programmed in conjunction with the nonprofit Jazz Institute of Chicago to spotlight up-and-coming Chicago bandleaders. Tukes fit this description admirably, the prodigious musician having already made an impression on Chicago listeners when he was an undergraduate at Northwestern University.
Now an increasingly busy professional, Tukes led a quartet in an unavoidably truncated, 30-minute set that made you want more. For Tukes has grown musically quite a bit since his Northwestern days, and you could hear it in the fluidity of his playing, the flexibility of his approach to rhythm and the deep musicality of just about everything he performed.
Leading a band that focused on Latin facets of jazz, Tukes opened strongly with an original, “Encantado,” an immensely attractive tune evoking the elegance of the Modern Jazz Quartet, albeit with a bit more edge. Thanks to the contributions of Ernie Adams on drums, Joaquin Garcia on keyboard, Jeremiah Hunt on bass and Tukes periodically doubling on timbales, this band reveled in layers of overlapping, syncopated rhythm.
Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo’s “Manteca” stands as a classic of Afro-Cuban jazz, but Tukes and friends steered clear of the cliches to which it’s sometimes subjected. For starters, the ensemble offered an intriguing arrangement that at first barely hinted at the famous theme. When it did emerge, Tukes and colleagues swathed it in ambiguous harmony and intricate counterpoint. This was a brainy version of “Manteca” that sacrificed none of its swagger, especially in the recap.
Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa” isn’t often cast as a cha-cha, but Tukes’ transformation of the song inspired rhythmic displacements of considerable interest. And even amid the showers of notes Tukes articulated in solos, he conveyed the melodic allure of this gorgeous tune.
Throughout, keyboardist Garcia provided as much rhythmic tension as chordal complexity, and drummer Adams consistently brought crispness and clarity to the proceedings.
Like Navy Pier’s Lake Stage, the City Stage offered fine acoustics for outdoor music-making (though a little less amplification would have helped). Notwithstanding the weather, this performance augured well for the concerts yet to come.
Saxophonist Rajiv Halim will perform Aug. 9; pianist Julius Tucker, Aug. 16; drummer Greg Artry, Aug. 23.; and pianist-vocalist Cole DeGenova, Aug. 30; all concerts will begin at 6:30 p.m. and are free; for more information, visit www.navypier.com.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @howardreich
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