Andrew James (who runs the jazz blog Bourbon Street Buzz) Photos.
Once upon a Friday evening in New Haven, horns surged and simmered, piano keys pounded, flute and piccolo claimed their moment, light and airy, cymbals reverberated dashes of contrast, and strings laced it all together. The stage seemed as if it was lit in amber. At the center of the action, bassist Jeff Fuller proclaimed simply, “It’s a beautiful night.”
Surely, it was. Just outside Sprague Recital Hall were the same wind-cooled front steps where Fuller had met his partner, textile and fiber artist Pamella Saffer, on November 2, 1967. Decades later, his same dedication to jazz music promised to be beneficial to everyone in the room. But if it was Fuller’s evening, he was ready and eager to share it with his partner of countless years, fellow musicians, and the audience.
That joyful, heart-opening sound filled Sprague on Friday night, as Fuller—long a fixture in New Haven’s jazz scene, and the world’s too—kicked off the 54th annual Ellington Jazz Series at the Yale School of Music, a long-running tribute to jazz that has in recent years made space to give New Haven giants their flowers. In a concert that seemed both endless and far too short, Fuller graciously received the medal and went on to play as if life was meant for the sole purpose of fusing sounds together.
Musicians included Fuller on bass, Naomi Wharry on vocals and trombone, Haneef Nelson on trumpet, Nigel Regan on sax, Paul Lieberman on flute, Darren Litzie on piano and Ben Bilello on drums. All are part of Fuller’s story, he said after the show, noting that “they are natural choices,” and “I have history with them. Nobody was a stranger.”
The magic of the ensemble, and of Fuller himself, shimmered through the night’s selections. There was, for instance, the tune “Happenstance,” composed by Fuller in 2014 and with lyrics added by Ellynne Rey that same year. The composition, brought to life by musicians, reflects “being at the right place at the right time,” Fuller said.
Andrew James (who runs the jazz blog Bourbon Street Buzz) Photos.
The melody began with a 1920s style fusion of piano, trumpet and saxophone. Bilello crossed his arms while playing, striking continuously as he inserted another layer. If described as a visual piece of art, it would be a watercolor painting. One lush layer after the other. Meanwhile, Fuller added form with his bass, giving way to experimental rhythm patterns that could only be rendered by seasoned professionals.
“Composition and improvisation are the same to me,” he said after the show. It was clear in his approach that he practices what he preaches.
Timing, meanwhile, was so sharp it forced the audience to see that stopping was as important as continuing. Abrupt endings rarely came as clipped mic drops; instead, they arrived in a refreshing and indescribable way. Instruments blended butalso articulated themseles clearly and intriguingly—no chaos but a fast planned melodic closure. No dreary endings. Up-kicks and excitement. Bursts of sound. Fuller often led the way, acutely aware of when to step forward, and when to cede the floor to another member of the ensemble.
When it came time to accept the medal, Fuller stood before his beloved bass, which by now seems like an extra limb, and graciously accepted the award. In the audience, fellow musicians cheered their support. The much-accomplished Ryan Sands looked on from his seat, emitting rays of appreciation. With his hands covering his mouth as if to create an echo, 2023 Duke Ellington Award recipient Jesse Hameen II stood up from his balcony seat. “Yeah Jeff!” Hameen smiled from his seat during the show. It was a reminder of their deep brotherhood, created by the binding kinship of music.
As the band returned to playing, piano keys tinkled lightly, somehow still buoying the melody. The drums brought another layer of depth. Fuller came in and ordered his strings in full command. Regarding the seemingly effortless artistry, he later said that “I don’t think people realize how much you have to practice and how much control you have to have over your instrument. You have to be. And at the same time it's spiritual."
“Listen to jazz,” he added for the up-and-coming musicians in the room. "Learn the history. Practice your butt off. Find a good teacher.”
Fuller has lived this credo. After studying violin, sax, classical and jazz piano, and classical guitar in elementary through high school—including an early and continuing love for Bossa Nova—Fuller studied music, theory and composition in both undergraduate and graduate degrees that he received from Yale (read more about his educational journey in our preview here). He switched to the bass in his late 20s, after when several bassists left town all at once.
As a former athlete, Fuller is deeply aware of the power of his instrument and jazz music. “The bassist is like the catcher. He sees everything and in a way kind of calls all the shots,” he said. “Jazz and basketball have a lot in common. One hundred free throws. After every practice drill, drill, drill!”
Friday night, a person could see and hear that philosophy—and the deep friendships he has forged through music, both across the state and well beyond it—in real time. Often, the sound was much bigger than the number of people on the stage. Indeed, it flooded the room; musicians performed like a full orchestra. In compositions like "Paquito’s Samba," it was easy to fall into and get lost in entirely."
Later Lieberman and Nelson entered the stage, flute and piccolo trumpet in tow. There was a shift between each instrument, an alchemic melding of notes, an emergence and succession in waves, a solidity yielded only by practice and a love for music so strong the agreement is to perform as one. Wharry took a break from the trombone and scatted, pouring fervently the soul of Dinah Washington into the spirit of today.
Fuller spoke largely in a language of cues: head nods, words, and hand gestures. “One, two. One two three!” he added. He may have called the shots, but the team’s efforts were clear: the solos provided by each musician revealed this truth.
During the night, and in a conversation afterwards, Fuller noted what a kind of full-circle moment Friday was. Years ago, in 1972, he saw Duke Ellington perform with his orchestra the year the eponymous jazz series was established at Woosley Hall. Even from the audience, “I knew it was important,” Fuller said. Though the two did not meet that night, Fuller has performed with 17 of the recipients, including Dizzy Gillespie, Papa Jo Jones, Dave Brubeck and his mentors Lou Donaldson and Paquito D’Rivera. Surely this award had been years in the making.
“It was a beautiful surprise,” Fuller said.