A
Tribute to Jazz Pianist Bross Townsend
by
Alice Bernstein
In an October memorial, the music world honored Bross
E. Townsend (1933 - 2003), who died last spring. His long career as a jazz
pianist and accompanist included playing with Woody Herman, Erskine Hawkins,
John Coltrane, Bob Cummingham, Coleman Hawkins, Rex Stewart and singers
Dinah Washington, Jimmy Reed, Carrie Smith, Diana Ross, Dakota Staton,
Big Maybelle and ever so many more, including the Harlem Blues and Jazz
Band.
Bross Townsend
|
Bross
began studying classical piano at 7, and studied arranging and composition
at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His theatre work includes Ashton Springer's
production of "Dinah," and Woody King's "Birdland." He appeared in Melvin
Van Peebles movie "Sweetback," and on television in "Women in Jazz" and
"Lou Rawls: The United Negro College Fund." His CDs include "The Great
Bross Townsend," and "After Hours with the 3B's (Cunningham and "Pretty"
Purdy), as well as "I Love Jump Jazz" and "Music on my Mind." He received
a 1996 Flo-Bert Award. |
The
memorial tribute at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Manhattan began with
an invocation by Dale Lind, Pastor to the Jazz Community and scriptural
readings. Hope Townsend, who was married to Bross for 39 years, addressed
the many family and friends with warmth and pleasure, saying "To Bross,
playing music was his life and he thoroughly enjoyed it," and looking out
at the huge audience, she added one of his characteristic greetings, "Hey,
hey, hey, looka here!"
In
keeping with jazz traditions, it was an evening of celebration, of musical
depth and joy. The program, hosted by Yvette Glover, included musicians,
vocalists and tap dancers who knew and worked with Mr. Townsend over the
years, who gave tributes to him through the arts they love. And as the
life and music of this noted man of jazz were honored, I thought of wonderful
lines by the American poet Eli
Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism, whose love and respect for jazz
began in the 1920s. In "Hymn to Jazz and the Like" (Hail,
American Development, Definition Press: NY), Mr. Siegel writes:
"Something
in you expected a note
here,
and it was there.
Something
in you expected a note to
be
this way and it was that.
Ha,
what Jazz does to the this and that
of
notes, the isness and wasness
and
might-be-ness of chords." |
How
deeply Bross Townsend felt what is in this poem - the expected and unexpected
- can be in a statement about him by jazz guitarist and harmonica player
Keith "The Captain" Gamble: "I was introduced to Bross Townsend by the
great bass player Bob Cunningham, and I worked with him for about 11 months.
It was at the time that he became blind through illness. Yet because he
had an amazing vocabulary of music and identification of notes and pitch
and melody, he would pick up a cue by sensing it - he never missed a beat.
Sometimes musicians cue each other with a nod, and when you get to an improvisational
point, you often use a visual cue. Bross Townsend could always pick it
up. It's amazing to me how he did it!"
During
the tribute, the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band combination played, Blues in
B Flat for Hope and Bross, and included two trombones: Bobby Pring,
Bill
Spilka; Fred Staton on tenor sax; Bill Wurtzel on guitar, Frank Owens on
piano, Michael Fleming on bass, Rudy Lawless on drums, Michael Dawson on
conga percussion.
The
Bross Townsend Composition Band, a fluid arrangement of veteran musicians
along with relative newcomers, played many classics. The array of |
Harlem
Blues and Jazz Band & Singer Whitney Marshall
|
singers
was tremendous and included Gail Storm, Rochelle Thompson, Jann Parker
and
Legendary
tap dancer, Dr. Jimmy Slyde, gave a magnificent, rare performance in which
we saw and heard the rhythms, tonalities and slides for which he is known,
revered, and
| loved.
And along with Jimmy, who was Bross Townsend's friend for ever so many
years, there was tap dancer Andrew Nemr, now in his twenties, who told
me, "Bross was the first musician I ever played with as a dancer; it was
at La Cave. I was 10 years old. As someone who'd never danced with a live
band before, let alone improvised with one, I remember how extremely supportive
he was. Not too many young dancers know really supportive musicians," he
continued, "it's a really rare find." And Mr. Nemr honored his memory with
a thoroughly delightful rendition of that first performance, dancing to
"On the Sunny Side of the Street." |
Dr. Jimmy Slyde |
You
can learn more about Bross Townsend's career on the Internet, and by contacting
the Jazz Foundation of America
212-245-3999.
Alice Bernstein is a journalist and Aesthetic Realism Associate.
(c) All Photographs taken by David
Bernstein |
Home
