MAGAZINE ARTICLE

PLAY THE MELODY ONCE
Jazz musicians riff on the theater music of Stephen Sondheim
by Nicole Cavanzos

There was a TIME when jazz and show tunes were not so estranged. An age when George Gershwin and Cole Porter could write music that, although unmistakably structured in a popular song form, had a distinctive jazz heart. That is less likely today, when the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber or The Lion King resemble jazz about as much as a Top 40 hit.

Perhaps this is why it has taken the jazz world so long to catch on to the improvisatory possibilities of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. As one of the most prolific and innovative figures in American musical theater, Sondheim's extensive catalogue includes music from such Broadway classics as Sweeney Todd, Follies, Company, Passion, Into the Woods, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park With George, and A Little Night Music, which features the haunting, ubiquitous song "Send in the Clowns."

Sondheim's originality is also what makes him so controversial. Regarded as a genius by admirers and as self-indulgent by detractors, there is no denying that Sondheim has pushed the musical theater genre into new directions, using melody, harmony, and rhythm in ways that challenge the audience, not just entertain.

For this reason, Sondheim is more than a popular composer, he is a musician's composer, revered by singers, classical musicians, and, yes, jazz musicians, who also strive to use melody, harmony, and rhythm in ways that challenge the audience.

In 1995, Sony Classical released Color and Light, a collection of Sondheim tunes performed by such jazz artists as Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, and Grover Washington, Jr. The album arrived on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart at No. 10 and later climbed to the No. 2 position. Critics also reacted favorably.

"A striking expressive creative linkage of Sondheim and jazz - the kind of linkage that many observers felt could never be effective," said Los Angeles Times music writer Don Heckman about the album.

Entertainment Weekly called the album "a breakthrough, . . .It seems like 30 years - probably because it is - since jazz artist performed musical theater songs of the day."

The album opened the door to further exploration of Sondheim's music, culminating in "Sondheim & Jazz, Side by Side," an illustrious lineup of jazz musicians performing songs from the composer's rich songbook on January 22 at UCLA"s Royce Hall. Terence Blanchard, Lea Delaria, Kurt Elling, Maureen McGovern, and Dianne Reeves are among the impressive list of artists who are scheduled to perform.

The brainchild of Darlene Chan at Festival Productions (which produces the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and the Playboy Jazz

Festival at the Hollywood Bowl), the project gives her the chance to combine her two great passions: jazz music and the music of Stephen Sondheim.

Chan believed that Sondheim's music would translate well to jazz long before Color and Light was released, "[Sondheim] doesn't perceive his songs as good for jazz,"says Chan. "But jazz artists just love his music because it is so challenging and multi-layered."

Chan enlisted pianist Terry Trotter, who has also produced a series of jazz albums based on Sondheim's music, guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, who co-produced Color and Light, and pianist Charles Mims as the show's three musical directors.

Mims believes Sondheim's clever and adventurous use of melody, harmony, and rhythm appeals to jazz musicians. "Show music in general in composed within a very conservative structure," says Mims. "Sondheim goes beyond that by trying to expand on what came before. He tends to draw from the same resources as jazz musicians; Revel, Copland, Prokofiev, Hindemith. These composers were interested in pushing beyond what the late Romantic composers accomplished. While most typical Broadway composers look back towards the Romantic composers, Sondheim looks forward."

With the astronomical costs involved in mounting a typical Broadway musical, it is not surprising that Sondheim's progressive compositions are the exception, rather than the rule. "No one is willing to take a chance on composers with an original voice," says Maureen McGovern. "Sondheim stands alone. He knows his craft, he is wildly talented, and, unlike many Broadway composers, he writes what he feels and what he understands. He writes for himself, not for other people."

McGovern, who good-naturedly volunteered that she worships the ground that Sondheim walks on, is not alone in her enthusiasm. According to Chan, many of the artist who are performing in "Sondheim and Jazz" approached her rather than vice versa. "Nobody turned me down because they didn't want to participate," she says, adding that the very complexity of Sondheim's music is exciting for musicians to explore and reinterpret.

Sondheim himself has been pleased by the attention and pleasantly surprised by the deconstructionist interpretations of his music. In a Los Angeles Times interview with Don Heckman on April 9, 1995, Sondheim said that he found many of the tracks on Color and Light" startling."

"Being a formalist, I've never been into improvisation per se ... because I was rigidly trained to do exactly the opposite," he explained. "I do improvise sometimes when I"m composing. But it's improvising toward a formal end, as opposed to taking something that's formed and playing with it - which, as I understand it, is what jazz is essentially about."

"He never thought that his music would work for improvisation as well as it does," says Chan. "All he asks is that they play the melody once."

Nicole Cavazos is a L.A. based freelance writer for Performing Arts magazine.

Sondheim & Jazz. Side by Side takes place at UCLA's Royce Hall on Saturday, January 22. For tickets call 310 825-2101.