Preview
LABARBERA SUPERBAND
Quincy’s
Thursday, February 24
So how did it happen that Calgary is hosting some of Toronto’s hottest jazz musicians? It developed because some people knew some people (you know how it is), but also because some people didn’t know other people as well as they could.
Brothers Pat and Joe LaBarbera obviously go way back and both of them have their own musical relationships. Keyboard player Doug Riley had played with one of them and guitarist Jake Langley played with the other. They all knew each other, but their tour together marks the first time they have combined their talents.
"I’ve played with Doug quite a bit, and my brother Joe. Doug’s never played with Joe and I’ve never played with Jake although we know each other." LaBarbera laughs as he sums it up, "It’s a thing we’re just putting together because we want to do it."
Fortunate for us that they want to do it because the LaBarbera brothers, Jake Langley and Doug Riley have one thing in common: they’ve played with the best and it shows. It shows in their performances, their credits and their unique styles. Thirty-year-old Langley, for example, is a guitarist with a distinctive sound. It’s so unique, in fact, it prompted one reviewer to say he didn’t sound like a Toronto guitarist – whatever they sound like.
"Apparently not like me," he says with a laugh. But there’s more to it than that. Langley acknowledges the enduring influence of Toronto jazz-scene god Ed Bickert on most guitarists, but Langley’s connections to the scene are not as deep as others. Langley isn’t a Toronto native and that, he says, changed everything.
"I guess I’m just young enough that two things (influence my playing)," he says. "First, I grew up in Ottawa, so Montreal was very close, so I’d go there as a kid all the time to hear people like Nelson Symonds and Peter Leitch. I’m probably more directly descended from that sound because as a youngster, when you’re first introduced to music, that lasts, it leaves an impression for your whole life."
Like all musicians, Langley has been influenced by others, but his sound is his alone. He’s focused on that and he learned valuable lessons from his studies with famed jazz guitarists Jim Hall and Pat Martino.
Pat LaBarbera’s career reflects similar experiences. Pat’s dedication to jazz has fuelled a career that began in upstate New York, included four years at Berklee College of Music, several years on the road as a leader and sideman and a career as music teacher at Toronto’s Humber College. Pat chose the saxophone and Joe the drums, and both have become internationally famous through work with Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and others. For Pat, though, years on the road with Buddy Rich and a decade or more with Elvin Jones have left their mark.
"Elvin told me he was always trying to sound like Buddy Rich but it just didn’t come out that way," says Pat. "It came out a whole other way. His way (Jones) is very loose." And that relaxed nature influenced Pat’s playing, but most obviously his style as a leader. "I lead my groups kinda the way Elvin led his band – it’s very loose, it’s not as structured. I mean there’s structure in the music, but it’s not as disciplined as the way Buddy Rich was," says Pat.
Pat and Langley have distinct sounds, but they both readily acknowledge the influences they’ve absorbed in their careers. Whether you are a fan of Langley’s non-Toronto sound or the echoes of John Coltrane and Lester Young in Pat’s playing, this concert will be a Canadian jazz first and these dynamic players should offer something for all jazz listeners, regardless of whose style you dig. |
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