Your backstage pass to the DFW music scene and beyond.
Steven Parke
Stanley Clarke performed Saturday night at Jazz By the Boulevard in Fort Worth.
FORT WORTH -- Heat, humidity and all that jazz.
The Jazz by the Boulevard music and arts festival lived up to its name Saturday, offering a schedule that included a few unexpected participants (such as the Texas Girls' Choir and the Mondo Drummers), but was dominated by more pure artists than Friday's bill, including bassist Stanley Clarke, who closed the event.
The versatile Clarke played electric and acoustic bass. On the former, he created an amazing array of sounds: chunky, percussive R&B lines; rock riffs; and jazz excursions. His tones ranged from the deepest bass to more highly pitched, electric guitarlike sounds.
He was more the jazzman on the acoustic bass, cutting interesting supporting figures beneath the patterns rolled out by his two keyboardists. He was also backed by a drummer.
The only problem with Clarke's well-played set was that many of the tunes were a bit too free-form. It is the essence of jazz to meander as Clarke and company did, but it would have been nice to have been given something more tangible and familiar to keep things from seeming so random. And the headliner didn't help by seldom speaking to the audience or introducing any of his tunes.
Clarke certainly fared better than the act he followed, vocalist Kat Edmonson. She has a languid and often sultry voice that fit the weather.
But, on the whole, her set was far too low-key and laid back for an outdoor show.
Her quiet tunes were often hard to hear over the hubbub of the crowd and the sounds of Dallas' Victor Cager band, which was playing much more robust jazz on the other stage more than 100 yards away. So when Edmonson ended her set 20 minutes early, it looked like she had simply given up on gaining the audience's attention.
But despite a brutal day in terms of the weather and a few stumbles at the finish, the day as a whole was a winner, just like Friday was.
