Bridging the gap

Jazzman Joe Parillo is teaching and learning

by Michael Caito

Joe Parillo

So Providence may ship WaterFire to Florence? OK, the good people of Firenze don't have that, that's fine. What they (and most of Europe) also lack . . . and thirst for . . . is good jazz. Prominent Italo-American musical names like Abate, Buzzerio, Moretti and Parillo, all of whom have distinct, unique voices in this realm, would seem ideal exports to grace the birthplace of Dante "Ring of Fire" Alighieri and even Nicky "The Means" Machiavelli, born just outside Florence.

Pianist Joe Parillo, for one, is busy as usual on this, the second day of spring classes in Kingston, fielding student requests for overrides and schedule changes and giving lessons in D Studios in the Fine Arts bunker on Upper College Road. A few short paces away from his office are those of Ann Danis and Jane Murray, both key members of the Rhode Island Philharmonic family, so it may not be surprising that this Sunday's Happy White Family Series concert at Vets will feature all three faculty and the Joe Parillo Trio, in a matinee that will, among other things, get everyone home in plenty of time for those expensive Stupor Bowl commercials.

"I'm trying to spread the word through my Jazz History classes, trying to give back what I'm still learning," Parillo said, settling into his small office, which naturally enough is dominated by a piano as well as a beautiful oil painting, a gift from a student which became the cover art for the Joe Parillo Ensemble's Almost Carefree.

He started teaching there part-time in 1985 and is now on a tenure track, and mentioned some key influences on his decision to teach. "I studied with Hal Crook, a jazz God in Rhode Island. Then I studied with [trombonist, past Berklee artist-in-residence] Michael Gibbs and he completely turned my head around. What was good for me was I wasn't just a jazz musician. I played rock and roll, listened to classical and jazz, but hadn't explored jazz as deeply as it needed to be explored. He put me in a whole different place. He treated everything as music, not as jazz or classical, and the first lesson I had with him, I had to just walk around Boston afterward for a while because I couldn't drive. One of my first projects with him was writing out string parts for him for the Royal Philharmonic of London. I learned so much about composition from doing that. Michael Gibbs gave me a sense of how to put yourself into your composition, and how to open up to that."

So what is the toughest thing to teach about music?

"It's getting through the block of students being able to listen to a lot of music, take in a lot of music, and then get through it where it comes out of them in a very comfortable way, where they really perform themselves. To transfer that, to let it be theirs. Helping them gain ownership, especially with improvisation, especially now . . . there's so much out now. You can go to a Charlie Parker book and learn all of his solos. But it's the deep listening to one's self playing is the toughest thing. You have to nurture that; it's an organic process. And that's probably the most difficult. You can do the theory, some students are strong there, others students might have their ear training together, different students will have different strengths. But that's it . . . to gain ownership. It's the most challenging, and the most enjoyable when it happens. To reach that spot. But it can happen at different levels, too. You don't have to have all this craft and all this technique to [enable] a personal experience with music."

Will improvisation necessarily take a back seat as a part of Sunday's And All That . . . Jazz concert? How to approach it mentally?

"There are segments which were composed as specifically fitting into the compositions the way they do, and there are other segments where there are just chord symbols. Some of Claude Bolling's improvisations are written in. It's more structured in where we place improvisational things . . . I don't wanna say in a mainstream way, but in . . . a standardized chord progression-type format. So there's no free improvisation at all. There are segments where I want to be connected to the orchestra -- and to Marty and Mike (Ballou and Connors, Trio bassist and drummer). It's interesting when I listen to the recording of his performance of it, there are some sections of it where I think Claude plays too much. He plays a lotta notes over some beautiful orchestral things that I just really feel I want to play less on. So I'm making those choices early on. But I like being connected to the structure and working with the orchestra. I did some pieces with Ann's Ocean State Chamber Orchestra, and we did a couple of my compositions plus Niehaus's tribute to Charlie Parker. Ann [who will play violin on the next Joe Parillo Ensemble CD] played some bebop lines, we had an open section where everybody played, and it was exciting. That's what I mean by being connected to the orchestra, not just a piano player doing improvisation while an orchestra plays in the background. It's a nice blend."

As for Sunday's program, including works by Bolling, Gershwin and Bach as well as folk medleys, it's still new ground for Parillo. Of the program's composers, he has publicly performed only a small sample of Bolling. "This was Ann's idea," he said, "and that part will be a definite challenge. When you improvise there's a certain intensity but then you have to bring yourself back to the composition. I'm very excited to hear what Paul Nelson's doing [in works featuring harmonica player Chris Turner]. That medley of folk tunes should be neat. Bolling's is really three different movements; Ann picked the first, fourth and fifth, so we were joking about it being a blues gig. The first has some call-and-response but I wouldn't say it's in a particular style as much as the other movements are. The aria is a slow, open kind of piece. There's actually not a lot of trio playing, so it's a little like playing a jazz ballad. The last piece is Bach-ish . . . I start it off with a baroque statement, and it just keeps coming and going, recurring like crazy throughout. I think what Ann wants to do, given the family setting, is to give young people a sense of music. Like what Ellington said, there's good music and bad music . . . she's trying to bridge that gap a little more. I think what she's trying to get across is that while jazz phrasing is a little different, [as far as] eighth-note runs, melodies and all that . . . Bach did it too.

The RI Philharmonic's Happy White Family Series, featuring Paul Nelson, Chris Turner and the Joe Parillo Trio, continues on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Veterans Auditorium. Single tickets unsold 30 minutes before the performance may be purchased, with presentation of valid student ID, for $5. On Friday night, Jay Hoggard performs with the Joe Parillo Trio at a 5 p.m. open rehearsal and an 8 p.m. concert in URI's Fine Arts Center.

STARS & BARS. Word on the street is Grüvis Malt have inked a demo deal with Epic. Congrats. On Saturday, the new Pendragon lineup debuts at Chan's. Outta room . . . .