'Band of brothers' has fresh, eclectic sound

JazzBeat(s)

There are a number of local jazz musicians who are not as celebrated as others. But they play good music.

A band in that category that I like is Morimoto. It's a trio of interesting young musicians whose repertoire is adventurously fresh, well within the jazz tradition even though it plays many other forms of music.

The trio has a contemporary sound that's influenced by many styles, including avant garde, electronica, even punk — all in the name of creativity.

Its members are jazz musicians, but they can play anything.

Morimoto is not your average blues-based, heavy-backbeat kind of group. It explores as much as it swings, although these guys know the standards book as well.

Guitarist David Linaburg, pianist Gerald Gregory and drummer Nick Jenkins got together in the fall of 2004 and haven't looked back.

I met them earlier that year when they were backing singer Leah Suarez in her offerings of Brazilian music, jazz standards and originals. They were still in school then and showed great promise.

Even in ensemble playing, you could tell they were all performing well beyond their tender years. In Leah's Brazilian band, Toca Toca, they really stretched out.

Nick has a real sense of rhythm, holding the band together, especially during flights of fancy.

David is a virtuoso. He plays with a facility that belies the complexity of his ideas.

Gerald possess innate talents on the keys, and with the teachings and inspiration of maestro Tommy Gill, he's lyrical, even when playing free form.

The quartet did a sojourn in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2005. The members learned a lot about life on the road. They also learned a lot about each other. After about five weeks in Scandinavia, Leah stayed on a while longer and Nick, Gerald and David came back, soon after to form Morimoto, a name taken from Gerald's cat, whom Nick calls "majestic."

The band has played restaurants, bars, house parties, recital halls and toured Washington, D.C., and New York.

Gerald, from Roanoke, Va., and Nick, from Walterboro, graduated from College of Charleston in 2005, with David, from Winchester, Va., graduating in 2006. Dave is pursuing a master's degree in jazz guitar at New York City's Queens College.

Nick told me in a recent e-mail conversation, "We want to continue as a band of brothers and push one another to be as creative as possible, to write and record new material by 2011, and possibly make some money doing it one day."

I think they're going to do all that.

Nick and Gerald can be seen most Thursdays at Shine, at King and Line streets. Gerald gets in touch with his jazz standards side on Tuesdays at Charleston Grill where he works on the baby grand with trumpeter Charlton Singleton and bassist Kevin Hamilton.

Morimoto is set to play Eye Level Art's new space at 103 Spring St. beginning at 6 p.m. July 17.

Tickets are $15 and include beer, sangria and appetizers from chef Maya Morrill and live interpretive painting by Angela Chvarak.

Limited tickets are available at the Eye Level Art Gallery, mike@eyelevelart.com, and on etix.com.

Jazz matters

Jazz music is the sound of surprise. And oftentimes, jazz events contain surprises. In fact, marvelous things sometimes happen.

One such occurrence went down Saturday at the final stop of a local promotional tour for a new book, "Whisky & Jazz."

As contributing editor of whisky expert Hans Offringa's latest effort published by the Evening Post Publishing Company, I was on hand to talk about the book.

It was the end of a great run put together by Susan Lucas and Greg Hoffman of King Street Marketing Group. The tour started June 10 at King Street Kitchen Design, followed at Gallery Chuma on June 14, then at Hall's Chophouse on June 15.

The last stop was at the Mary Porter House of Couture on Wentworth Street. While I enjoy many of the finer things in life, I had never been to a "house of couture" before, so this was a real adventure for me, complete with many pleasant surprises. Her stunning designs around the rooms were knockouts.

The show stopper, though, was at the end of our presentation when Mary, a music fan and a lovely hostess, burst into a lyric soprano version of "Summertime," accompanied by jazz pianist Richard White, who had provided the music all evening. We were all blown away.

It was a terrific improvisation, known only to the conspirators who staged it, who I believe to have been Hans and publisher Charles Waring.

White House jazz

First lady Michelle Obama hosted a jazz workshop for about 150 high school students at the White House on June 15. Musicians such as saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis gave talks and played for the kids, explaining along the way the history and legacy of jazz music. Some of the students were invited by the masters to play at the session.

CBS News reported that 18-year-old Sammy Miller told the Los Angeles Times that working with legendary musicians was an honor.

"Usually when I'm learning jazz, I learn it from people who are great teachers, but these guys who we're going to be working with are some of the creators of jazz," he said. "To get a chance to work with them is beyond rare. ... It's great that jazz can be honored in a workshop setting at a national level. Jazz usually doesn't get much recognition, but having the president recognize it in such a way is beyond amazing."

The report went on to say the first lady said in an anecdote about her childhood, her grandfather (Fraser Robinson of Georgetown) had jazz playing "24 hours a day at the highest volume" as she grew up.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.