Jazz : ‘Rockin’ ’ Fantasy Is Pure Silver

You’ve got to give Horace Silver credit. Fortysome-thing years in the business of jazz survival, and he still keeps trying to find new ways to present his music.

On Friday at Barnsdall Park, he tried a multimedia mix titled “Rockin’ With Rachmaninoff.” Subtitled “A Musical Fantasy,” the event (which also played Saturday) included an eight-piece ensemble, five dancers, two singers, three projection screens and narration by deejay Chuck Niles.

The premise, as explained by Niles, was a heavenly friendship between Duke Ellington and Sergei Rachmaninoff in which the jazz composer teaches the classical composer about jazz. The resulting series of pieces--with names such as “Satchmo’s Song,” “Monkeyin’ Around With Monk” and “The Righteous Rhumba”--were presented as illustrations of Rachmaninoff’s discovery of the beauties of jazz.

The problem, however, was that the music--although very good Horace Silver--did almost nothing to illuminate the styles suggested by the titles. Nor was the dancing, despite some sinuous choreography by Donald McKayle, noticeably connected with either the overall concept of the show or the focus of individual numbers.

Halfway through the second act, Niles’ narration (written by Silver) seemed to lose its stylistic emphasis and rambled into an admirable, if somewhat anachronistic defense of the value of jazz.

Once past all the trimmings, the music persisted. Numbers such as “Rocky Meets the Duke” and “Skunky Funky Blues” were vintage Silver, filled with the flowing bass lines, blues-drenched harmonies and catchy melodies that are the essence of his work. Several of the soloists--especially Michael Mossman on trumpet, Andy Martin on trombone, Rickey Woodard on tenor saxophone and Silver on piano--brought an improvisational spontaneity to the program that might, indeed, have had a salutary effect on the venerable Rachmaninoff.