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Johnaye Kendrick

06/06/2024

Johnaye Kendrick with PSU Vocal Collective and Jazz Band: Portland State University School of Music and Theater/ Jazz at Lincoln Performance Hall, June 3rd, 2024 / Review

By MICHAEL "SHOEHORN" CONLEY // George Colligan's PSU jazz band combined forces with Sherry Alves’ nine-member PSU Vocal Collective, backing guest artist Johnaye Kendrick, a cool-toned alto with plenty of belt and pizzazz in reserve. The jazz band was not a full size big band, but included a horn section of two saxes, trombone, and trumpet, plus piano, bass, drums, and vibraphone.

This concert was different from the other concerts I've attended at PSU in recent years. This time George Colligan's PSU jazz band combined forces with Sherry Alves’ nine-member PSU Vocal Collective, backing guest artist Johnaye Kendrick, a cool-toned alto with plenty of belt and pizzazz in reserve. The jazz band was not a full size big band, but included a horn section of two saxes, trombone, and trumpet, plus piano, bass, drums, and vibraphone.

The concert opened with a couple of band numbers including a Colligan arrangement of Terry Lynn Carrington's “The Eternal Present” with Dae Bryant on drums.

Following that we had undergrad percussionist Luis Nava’s creative arrangement of “Monsters Inc.”, a movie selection by Randy Newman. This was swinging, with a string of solos happening before Davasate Phelps stepped up to the microphone to sing, taking us to the out chorus.

Johnaye Kendrick came onstage and sang “A Thousand Nights”, an innovative original tune and arrangement which started off with some clap-happy audience participation before building to solos from the alto sax and the vibes. This one was arranged by Ryan Espinosa and Sherry Alves and incorporated the nine singers from the vocal collective. I was impressed with this luxurious instrumentation utilizing all the voices and instruments on stage.
“Your Flowers” opened with solo voice and bass with a descending motif over several chords. This Kendrick original was arranged by Alves and had a flute solo by Thomas Tuerff.

“The Very Thought of You”, a standard by Ray Noble, featured five of the singers plus Tiko Cortez on trombone, and built to a lush, sweeping climax.
“I Will Wait Forever”, another Kendrick original, was arranged by saxophonist Owen Evans and had a nice Chick Corea-esque melody in a major key, with a vocal/piano duet in the beginning, Luis Nava on drums hitting a Samba groove, and solos passed around five or six members of the band sans the backing singers and vibraphone.

“Placebo Effect” was arranged by reedman Tuerff, and had an intriguing four bar rhythm cell played by the bass and drums. This was definitely not your basic off-the-shelf rhythm loop, and was really interesting.
“Love”, also by Kendrick, presented some old-fashioned feminine charm, like something the ingenue character might sing in an old movie, but with a modern arrangement by trombonist Tiko Cortes, featuring some unusual writing for the horns, concluding with some big notes by Kendrick over Nava’s churning drums.

We got another movie song, this one from “Pinocchio”, Leigh Harline’s “I've Got No Strings”, arranged by Kendrick and Alves. This had an extended solo bass intro by Robert Rodriguez, and four singers from the vocal collective backing up Kendrick, with solos by tenor sax and keys.
The song “Scorpion” referenced an ancient allegory to call attention to contemporary issues.

At the beginning of the show I noticed an unusual setup front and center. At first I wondered if it was a contemporary electronic instrument, before discerning the bellows of a harmonium, a compact traditional pump organ from India. I had never heard one at a jazz concert. Kendrick used it to accompany herself on the intro to her version of pop star John Mayer’s “3x5”.

Her vocal blend with this instrument was pretty extraordinary. It sounded like other singers were involved, but they were silent during this part of the tune, before the finale employing the entire Vocal Collective and Jazz Band.

This music sounds fresh and doesn’t look to the past as much as many other jazz acts performing today. As this concert wound down I was wondering to myself “does she even use the “j word” to describe this music?” (Many artists dislike the term) This question was answered by Kendrick herself towards the end of the concert when she said she felt “really protective of jazz music”, and that she feels it is “in good hands in Portland”.

Generally placed in the category of jazz or vocal jazz, Kendrick’s band Saje won the 2024 Grammy for best arrangement in a collaboration with musical polymath Jacob Collier. Saje is a female vocal quartet based in Seattle and they won for “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning”. Fellow Saje singer Sarah Gazarek says the group has been most influenced by “Black American music”.

Saje recorded a Kendrick song titled “Never You Mind” which carries a strong social justice message in response to police killings of people of color, naming a list of victims over a vamp at the end accompanied with the refrain “you matter”.

Along with the compelling lyrical narrative, this number has a wonderful feel and a crystalline recorded presence.

Kendrick described herself as “a socialized shy person” which was kind of funny because she definitely has a performer's charisma and is very easygoing on stage. Many of her originals were prefaced with humorous descriptions of particular men she had randomly encountered who had inspired her to fantasize about marriage and family. These intros elicited knowing giggles from a cohort of middle-aged women in the crowd. Some of the people in the audience engaged in what I regarded as borderline heckling, interjecting comments during Kendrick’s stage patter. The singer, however, was unflappable and kept the show moving along expertly.

These PSU concerts happen each term and merit higher attendance by the community. With a sliding-scale ticket price for the general public, and free entry for students, the Jazz Area at PSU consistently presents quality performances with high-level guest artists. Kudos to Professors Colligan and Alves for this inspired concert, especially Alves, who, as Colligan stated, “did most of the work”. I now count myself as a fan of Johnaye Kendrick and Saje!

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