A riveting performance by jazz clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera and a vigorous interpretation of Nancy Ives’s Celilo Falls: We Were There highlighted the final concert (August 25) of this year’s Siletz Bay Music Festival at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City. Under the baton of guest conductor Deanna Tham, the festival orchestra closed on a high note and at full throttle, which befitted the memory of Yaacov (Yaki) Bergman, who founded and led the festival with passionate intensity until his unexpected death last year. 

D’Rivera–winner of a combined 15 Grammy and Lain Grammy awards–is a living legend who has the unique talent of being at home in both the jazz and classical arenas. Throw three-time Grammy winning composer-pianist Daniel Freiberg into the mix with his Jazz Clarinet Concerto “Latin American Chronicles” (2015) and you’ve got an unbelievable winning combination on the stage at the SBMF.

That’s right, the performance featured D’Rivera with Freiberg on piano, Kevin Deitz on bass, and Brett EE Paschal behind the drum set. Together with the SBMF Orchestra under Tham, associate conductor of the Oregon Symphony, the combined forces had a whale of a good time with the Jazz Clarinet Concerto, a three-movement piece imbued with Latin jazz at its core.

The concerto jumped out of the gate with the piano establishing a peppy undercurrent. D’Rivera joined the fun with elan that was accented with a huge, breathtaking glissando. His cadenza skipped about playfully with feathery-light sounds, and the movement (“Panorámicas”) ended on a terrific upswing that drew enthusiastic applause.

The next movement (“Diálogos”) slowed things down with a dreamy passage that was accented now and then by a raspy sound from the percussion battery. A cello and piano duet was topped off with high, contemplative line from D’Rivera. The orchestra then shifted to a heavy melodic sequence, which D’Rivera soared above. Finally, all of the sounds dissipated to a whisper, and the movement exited with only a hollow, shushing sound from the clarinet remaining. 

The last movement (“Influencias”) took off with a bouncy and light feeling, the orchestra mimicking phrases that D’Rivera played. The piece transitioned to a night-clubby atmosphere with the drum-set becoming more prominent. Splashing chords from the piano and a throbbing double bass gradually quickened to a faster pace and a big cadenza in which the clarinet raced around with a swirling improvisational style. An emphatic finale wrapped things up with gusto that roused the audience to a standing ovation.

The acclamation brought D’Rivera back to center stage where he and the jazz quartet responded with a lovely Venezuelan waltz number that was wistful and charming.

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A ray of hopefulness

In her introductory remarks to Celilo Falls: We Were There (premiered in 2022), Ives dedicated the performance to Yaki Bergman, who asked her to write the piece five years earlier. Tham and the orchestra delivered the eleven-movement work with emotional gravitas. The first movement (“N’CheWana”) conveyed grandeur of The Columbia River pouring over the series of cataracts that were known as Celilo Falls.

The sound of tapping violins and the lush harp in the second movement depicted the art and craft of fishing with a sense of wonder. The “Deep Time” movement floated a wash of sonic color that evoked timelessness. “Grandfather Storyteller” settled things down with introspective, sustained tones. “What I Miss Most Is the Mist” had a nostalgic feel that was tinged with a bit of irony. “Inundation, Flat Water” summoned a sense of inertness, and “She Who Watches” was poignantly mournful. “There has been Something” evinced a sense of loss but closed with a ray of hopefulness – through the free-spirited line for the flute.

The music was accompanied by the evocative photography of Joe Cantrell. Those projected images would have benefited from a larger screen. The poetry of Ed Edmo was spoken by narrator Sherrie Davis, who sometimes seemed to halt a bit.

The concert opened with Gabriella Smith’s Rust, a one-movement piece that shifted about restlessly. It started with a slow ascent that featured sliding tones from the brass and a ground passage from the lower strings. Repetitive phrases – a la minimalism – emerged more strongly, underscored at times by glissandos from the trombones. Tham became a kind of human metronome as she guided the mosaic of sounds into a quickening pace. The music had a machine-like quality as it surged to the ending. Maybe it knocked the rust off… I’m not sure, but overall, the piece made me wish that I could hear it again.

*** 

Post Script – The hall used by the SBMF at the Chinook Casino was much better than I expected. But it was kind of jarring to walk past hundreds of electronic slot machines with their flashing lights and unrelenting sounds.