HIGH POINT — Saxophonist Wally West says he’s had some very memorable moments in his musical career, but none that “stick out”
like the gig he did with James Brown while a student at Berkeley College of Music in Boston.
West had been performing in an R&B band while attending Berkeley and heard that Brown was scheduled to perform at a local nightclub. For some reason, Brown arrived on schedule for the performance but his band did not. So Brown’s promoter hired West’s band to play a set for him.
They jammed, West remembers, and Brown was so impressed with the young musician and his group that he told him, “You’re all right for a white boy.”
“I just said, ‘Hey, cool, man! I’m a white dude and James told me I was all right!’”
Needless to say, if the “godfather of soul” proclaims “you’re all right,” then you’re all right. That’s probably why West and his jazzy Wally West Quintet have been invited to perform during the High Point Area Arts Council’s popular concert series, Jazz ’Sprit, at City Lake Park on High Point/Greensboro Road the first three Sundays in August.
The Wally West Quintet now comprises Jay Mechum on trumpet, Jim Schnefel on keyboard, Dillard Moss on bass, Thomas Taylor on drums and, of course, West on the sax. West has been putting together swing, R&B and jazz groups for years but this group, he says, is the one he calls on in the case of special events.
“We’re freelance musicians,” he says. “It’s not an established group, but the quality is such high caliber that we’ll wow the audience.”
Though West’s musical style has been influenced by an impressive list of rhythm and blues and jazz artists, he admits it is not easy to choose one he can say has had the greatest impact on him.
“Ihave drawn a lot of influences from a lot of great players, and to single out one would be darn near impossible,” he says. “As a human being, you could single out one person … but you know your persona is made up of different influences.”
In the same breath, the Greensboro native mentions his parents, who “went well beyond the call of duty to do everything they possibly could have to ensure I’ve done what I wanted to do,”and high school band teacher Charles Murph who, West says, saw the potential and pushed him toward success.
There’s not a lot of music West can’t play, he says — “though there’s no sax in opera music!” — because music, to him, is a continuous learning situation.
“… If you die a consented musician, you really weren’t a musician at all.”
He admits that is the dilemma he sees today’s young artists facing.
“The trend in record labels is pushing out new artists and cool, new, fresh stuff — and a lot of copies of what’s been done. We’ve kind of come to a stagnant time in music,” West says. “The great jazz artists of the past, like Miles Davis, I don’t think there’s anybody around who’s gone beyond what he’s done. And John Coltrane, nobody can touch what he’s been able to do in his short life. As far as real innovation, I’m not familiar with anything real innovative … (so) Ilook forward to something fresh and exciting that no one’s done before, (because)right now we’re paying homage to our roots.”
After years of “paying homage” while playing with the likes of Aretha Franklin, The Four Tops and The Temptations, West has traded his play time with “the godfather” for play time with his 2-1/2-year-old son, Aaron. But that doesn’t mean he’s completely traded music to be Mr. Mom.
He teaches private students at Greensboro Music Academy and part-time at Guilford College and runs a musical contracting agency from his home, maintaining a booked-solid calendar with his bands. In fact, one of West’s jazz groups will also be performing in January for the “Music for a Great Space” concert series at Greensboro’s Christ United Methodist Church, where his wife, Cathy, is a full-time pianist and music director.
But what he’s gearing up for right now is the Jazz ’Sprit stage, which he’ll take Aug. 13, a week after Janice Price-Hinton and her band, Priceless, perform.
Price-Hinton is returning to performing after sharing stages with Ray Charles, Natalie Cole and Grover Washington Jr., now that she and her husband have established The Artistic Studio, a performing arts school where children learn acting, voice, dancing, play writing and etiquette.
Price-Hinton was graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in acting and dance and was trained in voice at Fred Steel studios and dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She’s also done a musical drama based on the life of the exotic Josephine Baker called “Josephine.”
She’d been all over the country performing jazz but tired of the environment, running herself down and “making club owners money.” So she moved home to Winston-Salem to open her own school about four years ago.
“I’ve opened for a lot of people, but most rewarding has been working with these kids,”says Price-Hinton, who says The Artistic Studio is a school for children, from 3 to 50, “because we’re all God’s children.”
Price-Hinton, too, says she’s not been influence by a single artist, but has learned from voices like those of Nancy Wilson, Phyllis Hyman and Ella Fitzgerald and has created her own style, which is what she encourages her students to do.
The performer/teacher says she is glad to be performing at an outdoor venue instead of a cramped bar or nightclub, although that’s where she gained some of her best experience. She calls it the “school of hard knocks.”
Price-Hinton’s and West’s performances will precede the sounds of Carl Grubbs & Friends, set for Aug. 20. Grubbs was trained by John Coltrane and has played at events including the Mellon Jazz Festival in Philadelphia, the Congressional Black Caucus Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie in Washington, D.C. the John Coltrane Society Celebration of Coltrane’s birthday, just to name a few.
All Jazz ’Sprit concerts are free and open to the public. For more information, call 336-889-2787.
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