34 August 15 • 2019
jn
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
he Yellowjackets and the Sencalar/
Glassman Quintet share a love for
jazz performance and teaching about
their favorite style, but they bring a range of
differences to music stages and classrooms.
While the Yellowjackets ensemble has built
a 35-year career with 24 albums (two win-
ners out of 17 Grammy nominations) and
its members work with college students, the
quintet is in its early phase with preparing
the group’
s first album and conducting ele-
mentary school programs.
Their approaches add to the diversity to be
spotlighted during the 40th annual Detroit
Jazz Festival, which runs Aug. 30-Sept. 2 on
multiple stages in the hub of the city.
Headliners include artist-in-resident bass-
ist Stanley Clarke. Also appearing will be
former artists-in-residence, such as double
bassist Ron Carter, guitarist Pat Metheny,
saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Danilio
Pérez and trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
“The festival has been a mainstay of jazz
performance for a long time, and it’
s always
nice to be part of that festival,
” says Bob
Mintzer, Yellowjackets saxophonist, arrang-
er and composer who works with pianist
Russell Ferrante, drummer William Kennedy
and bassist Dane Alderson.
“I’
ve been to the festival at least three times
with Yellowjackets and at least once myself as
part of the big band that’
s the mainstay of the
festival. The band had a tribute to pianist and
composer Dave Brubeck.
“This year, we will be featuring our latest
recording, Raising Our Voice, done with
vocalist Luciana Souza, who will join us
in Detroit. The title is our personal way of
saying things could be better in the world
through art and music.
”
Mintzer says “Strange Time” has special
meaning for him. It is a double entendre with
time understood as both meter in music and
the current span in our lives.
Besides the Yellowjackets, Mintzer is chair
of the jazz studies program at the University
of Southern California Thornton School of
Music in Los Angeles, where Ferrante and
Kennedy also are faculty members.
Mintzer, who next year is having his 50th
anniversary as a graduate of Interlochen, also
is chief conductor of the WDR Big Band in
Cologne, Germany. He writes, arranges and
conducts between two and five productions a
year and is preparing for new recordings.
“
One of the defining qualities of the
Yellowjackets is the openness in terms of
style,
” says Mintzer, raised in Judaism and
who has performed at festivals in Israel. “We
incorporate a lot of different styles of music
— straight-ahead jazz, R&B, gospel, classical,
African, Brazilian. That’
s not such a unique
trait, but I would say every group has its brew
or blend of styles that defines its sound.
“Yellowjackets is a partnership band. There
are no leaders, so each is called upon to con-
tribute as an equal part of the whole. I think
we’
ve all grown, matured and changed in our
habits, tastes and the way we relate.
”
Zach Adleman, a drummer with the
Sencalar/Glassman Quintet, also has Jewish
roots and continues to play the djembe at
Temple Ner Tamid in New Jersey, where he
grew up.
Adleman just completed his master’
s
degree at Michigan State University, where he
met his festival bandmates and is having lots
of summertime performance and teaching
experience before beginning advanced stud-
ies at Juilliard.
This is not his first year at the Detroit Jazz
Festival, and the quintet is only one of the
groups with which he is involved.
“In 2017, I competed in the J.C. Heard
National Drums Competition at the festival,
”
Adleman says. “I led my own trio, featuring
Rodney Whitaker, and won.
”
Adleman became fascinated with drums
as a 6-year-old invited to try a set owned by
neighbors. Formal lessons began in elemen-
tary school, and he went on to appear in
programs at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center
and the Newport Jazz Festival as well as on
recordings.
“I’
ve enjoyed serving on the faculty of the
Jazz Institute @ Brevard and the Jazz House
Kids Summer Workshop,
” he says. “Last
summer, it was exciting to play with Winston
Marsalis.
”
Altin Sencalar of Texas and Chris
Glassman of Colorado are headed for New
York after finishing at MSU. They are trom-
bonists who joined together to position their
favorite instrument to hold the melody and
thereby bring a new texture to jazz sounds.
Sencalar, on tenor trombone, and
Glassman, on bass trombone, also will be
joined by bassist Rodney Whitaker and gui-
tarist Nathan Borton at the festival.
“We really came together doing an educa-
tional program in the East Lansing elementa-
ry schools,
” says Sencalar, who composes and
has opened for the O’
Jays and Chaka Khan.
“We wanted to bring jazz into the schools.
”
Glassman, also a composer, has performed
in classical concerts as well as jazz con-
certs. Jazz has placed him with the Rodney
T. Whitaker Group and the Gathering
Orchestra in contrast to the classical Nexus
Brass Quintet and the Denver Brass.
“I love that with bass trombone you have
extra tubing,
” says Glassman, who played
with the Michigan State Jazz Orchestra at
last year’
s festival. “With that, I can play a lot
lower and louder.
” ■
music
arts&life
All That
JAZZ
Diverse Jewish musicians
share love of teaching and
performing at Detroit festival.
The Yellowjackets Ensemble has been together for 35 years.
details
The Yellowjackets and
the Sencalar/Glassman
Quintet perform
Saturday, Aug. 31, as
part of the free Detroit
Jazz Festival, which runs
Aug. 30-Sept. 2. The
Yellowjackets appear at
8 p.m. on the JP Morgan
Chase Main Stage. The
quintet can be seen at
2 p.m. on the Wayne
State University Pyramid
Stage. For complete fes-
tival information, go to
detroitjazzfest.org.
Zach Adleman, Sencalar/
Glassman Quintet
JOY GLENN PHOTOGRAPHY
COURTESY YELLOWJACKETS