Bernard Gregoire wrote:

>...  I wonder how we would have reacted to a small jazz group interpreting
>the spirit ofJSB's music as realized by Boston's Handel and Hayden Society
>and two of the world's premier jazz performers.  I believe we missed
>entertaining shows this weekend as reviewed by the Boston Globe's
>prinicipal jazz reviewer...

I had been eagerly anticipating this concert for several months, but I have
to say that my reaction to the second of the two performances combining
jazz masters Chick Corea and Gary Burton with the Handel and Hayden Society
chamber orchestra was one of disappointment.  This was an unremarkable
"collaboration." At best.

This is certainly not to say that Corea and Burton didn't enthrall the
audience with their performance of a half-dozen of Corea's compositions.
Nor is it to say that H&H didn't competently perform the Corelli, Handel,
and Bach compositions that were on the program.

However, the mixing (alternating) of the old and new simply didn't wash.
It was this listener's expectation (as it apparently was with others')
that the jazz artists would be performing *with* the H&H orchestra,
ostensibly with some Corea-inspired riffs and variations on the (frankly
all-too-familiar) baroque compositions on the program.  Instead, the
orchestra remained seated quietly on stage while Corea and Burton performed
(and vice-versa).  Those familiar with Corea's work weren't even treated to
something new.  The duet played only previously performed compositions.

To my sensibilities, there was absolutely no Jazz/Baroque "Crossover" in
evidence.  Rather, the whole thing seemed rather farcical, the dazzling
jazz portion clearly capturing the bulk of the audience's enthusiasm, while
the contribution of H&H appearing almost pathetically gratuitous.  Other
than introducing some H&H subscription holders to the music of Chick Corea,
this concert, in my view, was little more than a marketing/packaging
endeavor gone terribly wrong.

Marc Ditz