It's intriguing that many of the more advanced free players actually practice standards at home. Parker informed the audience that he'd been practicing a lot of Thelonious Monk and Steve Lacy as of late, and there were clear elements of both in his improvisations, lending some grounding—and a little humour—to a couple of his more adventurous explorations. While some may misconstrue Parker's work to be formless, the reality is that he's always building something each time he picks up a horn, never just delivering an endless array of notes. All the more remarkable is his ability to find new ways, without any apparent forethought—or perhaps it just happens so quickly that it just looks that way—to begin an improv, and develop it to a logical conclusion.

Sometimes a potentially disastrous situation can yield an unexpected and happy ending. The headlining act for day six was Trio!, a new supergroup with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, legendary fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke—who, along with the late Jaco Pastorius in the '70s, completely redefined the role and potential of the electric bass. When it was discovered early in the afternoon that Clarke would be unable to make the performance—some kind of problem crossing the border that led to all kinds of unsubstantiated speculation—there were questions as to how Ponty and Fleck would proceed.

As luck would have it, Fleck ran into local bassist John Geggie at his hotel. He knew Geggie from last year's festival, where Fleck performed with his long-standing Flecktones group and ended up meeting the bassist, who was running the after-hours jam sessions. So he ended up enlisting him and local drummer Nick Fraser to flesh out the group for a concert where—like the Bill Mays/Bud Shank performance from day four—some quick thinking had to take place to put together a programme for the evening's performance. Lesser musicians might have been petrified at the short-notice recruitment and stress of working with two artists of such stature, but Geggie and Fraser are consummate players, flexible enough to fit in at a moment's notice, and imaginative enough to keep up with anything that Fleck and Ponty threw their way.

Béla Fleck, John Geggie, Nick Fraser, Jean-Luc Ponty

With only a two-hour rehearsal in the late afternoon, what could have been a train wreck ultimately turned into a thoroughly enjoyable performance. It was clear that everyone on stage was having a great time, and judging from the wild response from one of the season's largest crowds the audience was equally entertained. The decision to include a number of standards undoubtedly lessened the load on Geggie and Fraser, but when they backed Fleck and Ponty on the original material, it felt as though they'd been doing it all along. Geggie, in particular, demonstrated a side to his playing not necessarily heard previously by those who know him in Ottawa's jazz circles. Fleck's "Sunset Road gave him the opportunity to flex some funk muscle—there's no replacing the unmistakable identity of Flecktones electric bassist Victor Wooten, but Geggie lent the piece a distinct personal complexion that was completely in context.

Fleck and Ponty each took lengthy solo spots and demonstrated their ability to captivate an audience with a combination of staggering technique, musicality and a little bit of showmanship. They delivered their own compositions, especially Fleck's—often challenging tunes with constantly shifting time signatures—in a virtuosic fashion that was enough for their more devoted fans, but they avoided the excesses that, to be honest, early reports of the trio's forthcoming tour portended.

But the standards the group played were the most revealing of the two-hour performance. Geggie and Fraser were clearly in their zone, not only creating an energetic backdrop for Ponty and Fleck, but delivering consistently strong and inventive solos that garnered equal applause from an audience clearly thrilled to see two local boys share the stage. And while it's likely been a long time since Ponty has performed bebop tunes like Sonny Rollins' "Oleo and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple, it was clear that, whatever personal musical choices he's made throughout his career, he's still an inspired player in a more purist jazz context.

All in all, one the strongest single days of a festival that's only at its halfway point.

Tomorrow: Roscoe Mitchell Quintet and Octurn.

Visit Duchesne, Fraser & Wittet, Dave Young, Béla Fleck, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Geggie, and the Ottawa International Jazz Festival on the web.

Photo Credit
Duchesne, Fraser & Wittet - Tara Wittet
All others - John Fowler

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