Programme > Artists > Roy Haynes, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci (USA)

Roy Haynes, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci (USA)

To produce live, rapid and at times completely improvised music, one that requires an exceptionally high level of technique, sensibility, comprehension and creativity, in eighty three years - that alone looks incredible. But when you realize what drummer Roy Haynes has been through, it sounds like something come from the jazz mythology. Even though Haynes, forever young, always bursting with energy and - last but not least - eccentrically elegant, would probably not agree. Righteously, he feels like a contemporary musician.

But even the briefest of lists of musicians he’s worked with is the most stunning. In 1949, he was already playing and recording with Charlie Parker and even before that with Lester Young. He was in Ella Fitzgerald’s and Sarah Vaughan’s bands, he worked with Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and numerous others.

Already as a respected musician and inseparable part of modern jazz scene, he lead his own ensembles since the end of the ‘50s. Much more later, musicians much younger would ask him to contribute to their albums which later turned out to be essential - Pat Metheny or Chick Corea, to name a few. As once of the most appreciated drummers of the modern jazz era, spanning more than half a century, he always remained in its core, even at times when music developed rapidly. He never lost a bit of his impulsive way of playing nor his unusual sense of rhythm and has only been gaining more experience. Up to today, he keeps surrounding himself with the most perceptible individualities of younger generations, be it saxophonists Kenny Garrett or David Sanchez, pianist David Kikoski or his experimentful son Graham, a peculiar cornet player.

The band he’s coming to Czech Republic with could already have been heard nine years ago on their debut album, entitled simply The Roy Haynes Trio Featuring Danilo Pérez & John Patitucci. Ever since the recording, they’ve been getting back to the project irregularly.

Piano player Danilo Peréz (1966) studied classical music in his birthplace, Panama, and later on moved to study jazz in the United States. He’s been living there since the half of 1980s when he was already considered a preeminent  musician and soon ascended to the very top. Part of his success lays in his Latin American roots, which unrestrainedly show up in his otherwise very cultivated and specific musical expression. He’s recorded numerous albums, including the extremely vital and thorough Panamonk (1996), dedicated and largely influenced by the genius of Thelonius Monk. Entirely different is his latest recording Across the Crystal Sea (2008), which incorporates many elements from classical music as well as includes major contribution by composer, orchestrator and conductor Claus Ogerman. Another indication of Peréz’s musical maternity is the fact that years ago, saxophonist Wayne Shorted invited him to join his quartet, by many critics and listeners considered to be the most acclaimed and advanced group in the whole of contemporary jazz. Peréz, both calm and fiery, sophisticated and spontaneous, has by now stretched out to be the elastic backbone of this unique musical organism.

But the aforementioned Shorter’s combo jazz of the 21st century also includes bassist - and at times also bass guitarist - John Patitucci (1959), who stirred much interest especially during the ‘80s in Chick Corea’s Elektric and Akoustic bands, raising new performance criterions to be matched. The sky-high, masterly virtuos with unusually rich musicianship acquired not only respect during his years with Corea - winning Down Beat’s prestigious polls for years - but also an unusual amount of experience. He put it to use whilst working with numerous different jazz giants as well as those representing intelligent “adult pop”. But Patitucci, a respected professional, has since also developed his compositional skills, which earned him a Grammy nomination as much as his instrumental abilities. Today, his name is a synonym for absolute mastery of an instrument, even though he’s long been creating his own specific musical world.