Funky Latin Getdown Grooves at Geoffrey’s

The Funky Latin Getdown with Jesus Diaz, Joe Warner & Ensemble

Geoffrey's Inner Circle

410 14th Street

Oakland, California

¡Gracias a Dios!

Donald Trump couldn’t impose a tariff on Jesus Diaz, Joe Warner, Faye Carol, and a cadre of talented musicians for importing the intoxicating rhythms and modes of Latin music into Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in Oakland this month.

For those lucky enough to have been there on the second night of “The Funky Latin Getdown”, or to have been listening to KPFA radio’s live broadcast of the event, it was an anthemic affirmation of our nation’s worth as a musical melting pot. The only thing missing from the fun was the Dynamic Miss Faye herself, the featured vocalist, whom Warner announced as being “under the weather”. Her talent was manifest, though, in the arrangements she and Warner had prepared; a variety of tunes from the American jazz songbook, infused with the flavors of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the African homeland.

The evening began with a composition born Latin: “Mambo Influenciado” was written in 1972 by Cuban pianist and bandleader Chucho Valdés who, now 83, will be appearing at SFJAZZ on February 22nd. The tricky tune introduced the tight coordination of this ensemble’s horn section — alto saxophonist Charles McNeal, tenor saxophonist Marcus Stephens, and trumpeter Daniel Harris III — along with the power of Warner, who serves as Carol’s manager and bandleader, as well as pianist and co-arranger. On Eddie Harris’s “1974 Blues”, a pattern of Lunar New Year fireworks was ignited by featured Cuban percussionist Jesus Díaz in league with drummer Tony Austin. In this kind of company, the eclectic Warner showcased the piano’s potential to both talk and to pulse percussively.

It could be claimed that Warner and Carol operate the best unlicensed song retrofit outfit in the Bay Area, if not in the entire country. Among the many tunes benefitting from this was Lionel Hampton’s blithe ballad “Midnight Sun”, which came out at Geoffrey’s as a cha-cha, segueing to swing time. An even more surprising metamorphosis was worked on George Harrison’s “Something”. “What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life” was dreamily composed by Michel Legrand and further enhanced here by bassist Tarus Mateen, who has collaborated with Warner and Carol repeatedly at Geoffrey’s and elsewhere on both coasts.

The rearrangment of DeBarge’s soulfully funky “I Like It” incorporated the evening’s first clearly identifiable montuno (a pattern of syncopation selected from the Cuban canon) and brought to the stage Luqman Frank, who sang in a pleasant high, reedy tenor, rather evocative of Stevie Wonder. A clear, joyful approach to “What a Wonderful World” saved the song from sliding into sacchariness. For “My One and Only Love”, Frank turned velvety and gently gestural, his beauty shared by the accompaniment reduced to piano, bass, and drums. The spirit and tempo warmed up again for Tito Puente’s “Oye Cómo Va”, with excited stacked horn harmonies, a sweet and sassy alto sax solo by the virtuosic McNeal, and an interpolated chant by the horn players of Joe Cuba’s “I’ll never go back to Georgia!”

A short intermission allowed me to enjoy another aspect of what makes Geoffrey’s the most comfortable and community-friendly music venue in the Bay Area. Owner Geoffrey Pete was overseeing the affordable Southern-style buffet, where you load up a plate with fried fish or chicken and sides of greens, macaroni-and-cheese, rice and beans, muffins, and salad, and bring it back to your table in the concert hall. And there’s drink service from an expansive vintage wooden bar. During the break, Gabrielle Wilson, a host of jazz and law programs on KPFA, presented awards to several of the band members, in connection with the JaZzLine Institute, which produced the event.

Díaz led the ensemble in the opening of the second set with “La Habaña”, written by local trombonist and bandleader Wayne Wallace, with whom Díaz has performed and recorded. He engaged his bandmembers in call-and-response vocals, then sounded his congas in intricate polyrhythms against the 2/4 of the rhythm section. Newley and Bricusse’s “Feeling Good” was more proof that Carol and Warner could Latinize anything entertainingly, but keep things credible and respectful of the original. “A Night in Tunisia” was a Latin-friendly innovation when Dizzy Gillespie introduced it in 1942, but Warner and friends reactivated the familiar tune with sophisticated and seductive lines from Mateen and incredible extended excursions by Díaz, using elbows and fists on the congas, backed by the fraternal horns.

A bit of rock was represented by “Can’t Hide Love”, made famous by Earth, Wind & Fire, but taken much further out here in McNeal’s extended solo. Frank’s falsetto totally fit the song, and he took the opportunity to laud the “truth and community integrity on the air” of KPFA. “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” looked further back to composer Billy Strayhorn, but was begun with a montuno and an avant-garde AACMish outing. Like several of the previous offerings, Afro Blue bore a Latin pedigree, reputed to be the first jazz standard with a Latin hemiola when Mongo Santamaria created it in 1959. At Geoffrey’s it got the best intro I’ve ever heard, with a vocal incantation from Díaz. He and Austin later took a binary approach to divvying up a four-beat rhythm pattern with the percussionist working the 1, 2, and 3 and the drummer the 4. The tune finished with a psychedelic rootsy and rousing coda. And the evening finished with a harbinger of Valentine’s Day: Bobby Caldwell’s everlasting “What You Won’t Do For Love”.

It was irresistibly apparent that these men were having fun with this repertoire in this place. And that they all respected and were inspired by Warner, as their leader, by each other’s company, and by the appreciation of the audience. This is the sort of State of the Union we all deserve.