MERIT MUSIC PLAYERS JOIN PROS FOR A MARVELOUS SOUND

By Michael Parrish. Special to the Tribune.
Published: Sunday, November 19, 2000
Section: Metro Chicago
Page: 8

Since 1979, the Merit Music program has been providing world class training in jazz and classical music in Chicago's public schools. On Friday night at the Park West, the program was highlighted and supported by the Explore the World Music Benefit, featuring two of the area's most eclectic musicians, whose own work epitomizes the creativity and craft that the Merit Music program seeks to instill in its students.

Guitarist Fareed Haque has equally impressive credentials as a jazz and classical performer, and a globe-trotting childhood made his incorporation of international influences an instinct rather than a gimmick.

Haque dug deep into his musical bag of skills Friday night, first by jamming with the Merit Honors Jazz Ensemble on a couple of big band numbers. The eight piece ensemble was a marvel in their own right, particularly Maria Eisner's astonishingly mature and assertive tenor sax work.

Haque then set to work with his own trio, rounded out by keyboardist Eric Levy and tabla player Kalyan Pathak. Sitting on the floor with his red electric guitar in his lap, Haque demonstrated both a relentless drive and a seemingly endless talent for constructing vivid, single-note solos that retained a strong sense of melody as his fingers flew from one end of the fretboard to the other.

On their second number, "Blues 14" Haque and Pathak executed deft, often dramatic shifts in tempo in perfect synchrony, while Levy anchored the beat and provided understated ornamentation.

Later, Haque cast a spell with the soft, reflective "One Million Lines" primarily by alternating two short, pithy arpeggios.

In the middle of his set, Haque brought out the Merit String Quartet and switched to his classical guitar to run through a lively reading of the first movement of the Juliani Concerto.

Again, the level of musicianship of the Merit students was a dramatic testimony to the efficacy of the program.

Rejoining his trio, Haque brought out his custom-made sitar guitar to finish with an uptempo number that blended the Indian tonalities of that instrument into an uptempo Latin groove.

Terry Callier was raised in the same Chicago public housing developments as the students that the proceeds from this concert will benefit. After coming to prominence in the late '60s and '70s, Callier fell victim to the mainstream music business in the '80s, and quit playing, instead taking up a day job as a programmer. In the 1990s, Callier started to enjoy an artistic revival, first in England, and eventually here in the states.

Playing with a jazzy five piece band, Callier exhibited the vocal firepower and lyrical nuance that categorized his classic recordings, but he and the other players never really meshed as an ensemble.

A highlight of their set was an energized version of "For Miles," Callier's tribute to the late Miles Davis, again featuring the remarkable Merit Honors Jazz Ensemble.

If these young players are any indication, the future of jazz in the city is bright indeed.