by Ken Laster
The second installment of the 2020 Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz series live-streamed featured alto saxophonist Dakota Austin and his Quartet. The set featured all but one original composition. The band, schooled in the tradition of the hard-bop masters, had a more modern approach with a heavy dose of Fender Rhodes electric piano and electric bass. Dakota’s playing was both fluid and intense. His heart-felt compositions were expressed by his artistry through his horn. Pianist Michael Biaggio Carabello played a wide range of styles from a fusion sound on the Rhodes to swinging straight ahead on the acoustic piano. Bassist Jeff Morrow laid down a steady backbeat, occasionally leading the band to some funk on electric bass. Rounding out the quartet was drummer Avery Collins, skillfully setting the rhythmic foundation as well as adding a wide pallet of color with his a sensitive touch on cymbals and skins.
The climax of the concert came with Dakota’s reciting the names of recent victims of police brutality and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement in the fight for racial justice. That was followed by a cover of Joe Henderson’s Black Narcissus, then going directly into an original composition by Mike Carabello written for Ahmaud Arbery, a victim of a racially motivated shooting. It was a poignant end to a fine set of music from the Dakota Austin Quartet at the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series.
If you missed the live-stream of the Dakota Austin Quartet, you can watch the video below. Next up is the Matt DeChamplain Trio on July 27 at 7pm. Catch it live on the Hartford Jazz Society Facebook page.
