Guitars & Saxes adds feminine touch to cool jazz

By Jerry Fink

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Guitars & Saxes began as a modest idea — a group of world-class guitarists and saxophonists traveling across the country playing cool jazz during the hot summer months.

Now in its 13th year, the popular concert series is still alive and well and spreading the music on a tour that will include more than 30 cities.

The featured artists vary from year to year and have included Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, Peter White, Jonathan Butler, Craig Chaquico, Rick Braun, Steve Cole, Richard Elliot, Warren Hill, Marc Antoine and Euge Groove.

This year’s tour features saxophonist Gerald Albright, guitarists Jeff Golub and Peter White and keyboardist Jeff Lorber, the first keyboardist to share headline billing on the tour.

The tour stops at Santa Fe Station on Friday.

“This is such a great tour,” Albright said during a telephone interview from his home near Denver. “Four artists, one common band for all the artists. A two-hour show with a lot of tunes people know.”

There will by a few new ones from Albright, tunes plucked from his “Sax for Stax” album due for release in June on Peak. “The album pays tribute to 50 years of Stax Records,” Albright says of the Memphis-based company that was home to Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Booker T. & the MG’s, the Staple Singers and Isaac Hayes.

He says the latest Guitars & Saxes tour is drawing great crowds despite the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get the word out about jazz events.

“A lot of jazz radio stations have folded,” Albright says. “We just lost a Denver station two months ago. We lost Houston. I think the one in Dallas is getting ready to be reinstated. We lost one in New York. We use radio to get the word. But despite the loss of stations, people still seem to be coming and filling up the seats.”

Albright is quick to single out one of supporting players in the Guitar & Saxes band — up-and-coming sax player Jessy J.

“She’s a great saxophonist, the first time a female artist has traveled with us,” he says. “She’s a side person for the tour, playing with the band, but she does some solos during the show. She’s a sweetheart of a person.”

Some skeptics may think that because Jessy J is so beautiful she can’t be serious about music.

“I think most people will take me seriously,” she said during a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “But if they do have reservations, after I play a few notes they know I’m the real deal.”

The Guitars & Saxes tour is the first major tour for her, and a learning experience.

“Albright is one of the best alto sax players alive,” she says. “He’s such an amazing musician. Every time he plays a note, the way he articulates it is great. I’m learning a lot from him. I watch him every night. And Lorber is, like, a genius at piano.”

She says the other musicians on the tour treat her like a little sister.

“They treat me with respect,” she said. “They know I’m serious about pursuing my dream. And I feel a lot of mutual respect.”

During the concert she plays cuts from “Tequila Moon,” which was produced by guitarist Paul Brown. The album has a Latin theme, reflective of her heritage. It also demonstrates the diversity of her talent as she sings (“Besame Mucho”) and plays tenor and soprano sax and flute.