JAZZ REVIEW : Davis Group Reunion Tops Bowl Festival

A reunion of the famed group headed by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis from 1964-69 was the main attraction at the JVC Jazz at the Bowl concert Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl. Everyone was curious to hear how Wallace Roney would play in place of Davis, who died a year ago this week.

Whether or not Roney sounded like Davis was irrelevant. How he would have dealt with “Stella by Starlight,” “On Green Dolphin Street” or any of the other standards Davis was still playing in the mid-’60s may never be known. What did become clear is that he plays open horn more often (he was heard with a mute only in parts of “All Blues”) and sounds cleaner, fuller and in better control than Davis often was.

Herbie Hancock today is not the same pianist who played with Davis back then, nor is Wayne Shorter the same saxophonist. They have developed new, more complex personalities. Only Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums related directly to their early association with the late trumpet genius.

Of the other groups at the Bowl, Chick Corea made the strongest impression, leading a cohesive acoustic ensemble. Bob Berg, like Corea a Miles Davis alumnus, dominated with his energetic and vital tenor sax. With Steve Gadd on drums and Eddie Gomez on bass, the quartet could hardly miss. Corea was at his most buoyant, even bringing new life to “That Old Feeling.”

Gerald Albright could have learned a lot from Corea’s group about taste, subtlety and swing. Leading his heavy-handed quartet, plugging his albums and playing his alto, he left the impression of a worthy talent gone to waste.

Preceding Albright was Bela Fleck, who plays the five-string banjo, and his Flecktones, employing two other improbable instruments--a drumitar (combination guitar and percussion) and a harmonica. Somehow Fleck made this odd unit work. The banjo on “Royal Garden Blues” and the Monkish dissonances in “Life Without Elvis” qualified at least as good honest fun.