Frank Russell

Room 43, July 5, 2009

Story and Photos by James Walker

What a pleasant surprise for this listener when he attended his first Hyde Park Jazz Society set at its new venue, Room 43, at 1043 East 43rd St. on the city's South Side. This lovely intimate banquet hall gives this room the semblance of a night club setting. In addition, their limited "jazz bites" venue also hit the spot for this near capacity crowd. By the way, the jazz wasn't bad either.

Frank "thunder thumbs" Russell and his bandmates thoroughly entertained this Hyde Park crowd with about two and a half hours of 'foot tapping' music which included a "Billie Jean" selection in memory of the recently departed musical icon Micheal Jackson.

Frank was joined on the bandstand by keyboardist Greg Spero, drummer Frank Parker, Jr. and longtime partner, guitarist Peter Lerner. And if that wasn't sufficient, several guest artists, including percussionist Tony Carpenter, guitarist Henry Johnson, and vocalists Yvonne Gage and Nick Berry joined the fray throughout the evening.

Russell began the set with a "warm-up" on his acoustic bass producing a flamenco like sound that was well supported by first of many extended solos by dynamic young keyboardist, Greg Spero. That was followed by "Poinciana", an all time classic made famous by Ahmad Jamal which Russell recorded on his "Covering All Bases" CD. Lerner had his way on this selection, which delighted this sophisticated jazz crowd.

Vocalist Yvonne Gage's beautiful rendition of "Night and Day", proceeded their tribute to Micheal Jackson with "Billie Jean". The audience really appreciated this appropriate gesture to the "King of Pop".

The first set concluded with Russell displaying his 5-string bass on "Georgy Porgy" with a nice 'call and response between Russell and Lemer on Stanley Clarke's "Quiet Afternoon". What a climatic way to wind up the first set.!!!!

Energetic percussionist Tony Carpenter (with his 'bag of instruments') was the first guest to join the band during the 2nd set. They opened with "Sunny" as all ensemble members had lively solos.

Bassist Marcus Miller's "Jean Pierre" resulted in friendly bantering between Russell and Carpenter, with Lerner joining in toward the conclusion . Lerner and Russell have such great 'chemistry' and seem to recognize one another's moves.

Vocalist Nick Berry sang a nice version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" before "bringing the house down" with a raspy B.B. King blues selection. Those assembled loved it. Not to be outdone, Yvonne Gage returned to the stage to belt out the Etta James classic "At Last".

This outstanding 2nd set came to a wonderful ending when Russell's boyhood buddy, guitarist Henry Johnson, displayed his world class skill on "I've Got Rhythm", and Herbie Hancock's "Sly".

Yes, the Hyde Park Jazz Society has indeed found a wonderful new "home" at Room 43, which is located at 1043 E. 43rd. in Chicago. Bronzeville favorite, Maggie Brown, will take center stage on July 12th at "Jazz at Room 43".

For detailed information about future Hyde Park Jazz Society's events, refer to their website at www.hydeparkjazzsociety.org.