DeJohnette brings erudite Latin to Hop
Six luminaries of the contemporary music world convened at the Hopkins Center last Saturday for an evening of innovative and elegant Latin Jazz. The Jack DeJohnette Latin Project, developed by the legendary drummer while in residence at the Montreal Jazz Festival, brought together some of the most talented figures in Latin and experimental music in Spaulding Auditorium for a program of ambitious Latin originals and standards. Clarinetist Don Byron, pianist Eddie Gomez and bassist Jerome Harris aided DeJohnette and his rhythm section in an elevated interpretation of traditional ethnic music. This was intellectualized Latin, music designed for concert halls instead of dance halls. Yet what it lacked in ebullience, the Project made up for in technical power, playing through a set of difficult songs with a consistently high level of performance.