George Coleman – Juilliard School – October 16, 2012
The Juilliard jazz program is training grounds for, and pipeline to, New York’s (and the country’s) jazz scene. They occasionally snag a player visiting town for some gigs with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, and here it is George Coleman. He came up through the blues (a la B.B. King) and toured with slightly pre-fusion Miles Davis (when I could still call it listenable jazz). The theme for the evening was “Memphis Jazz”, for which Tennessee buddy Harold Mabern was recruited to sit in on piano for some of the numbers. Mabern’s signature/embellishment provoked a bit of thought. I figured I’d have to get all Latin to know what “Domo Arigoto” means; turns out it’s Japanese for “Thank you very much”. I have no clue what the rest of his cartouche means; perhaps a stlyzed piano?
George Coleman
Harold Mabern
Luke Sellick & Adam Moezinia
Alphonso Horne
Braxton Cook
Dean Tsur