By CHUCK BERG
The Capital-Journal
Pianist Joe Cartwright, one of the brightest stars in the Kansas City jazz firmament, brought a high-powered trio to the cozy Topeka Civic Theatre that dazzled a capacity Topeka Jazz Workshop crowd Monday evening. Cartwright, a mainstay of K.C.'s posh City Light jazz nitery, is a versatile player whose challenging and neatly balanced program included material from modernists like Chick Corea and Bill Evans, as well as from Broadway and Tin Pan Alley stalwarts like George Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael. Cartwright — regardless of style, rhythmic pattern or tempo — made each tune his own. With a bluesy, bebop-based approach honed through tenures with such headliners as Gary Foster, Clark Terry and Max Roach, and a commanding technique befitting a graduate in piano performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Cartwright is a seasoned and polished veteran who knows his music and also knows how to please a crowd.
At one point, the audience was treated to a reprise of themes from Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" which served as an adroitly wrought "overture" for a take-no-prisoners romp through "But Not for Me," Gershwin's masterpiece from the 1930 Broadway hit "Girl Crazy." Pulling out all stops. Cartwright wove fiery runs. bluesy roof-rocking rolls, and two-fisted octave-doublings into an explosive show-stopper. For Bill Evans' modern jazz classic "Nardis," Cartwright constructed a masterful intro whose minimalist onset evolved into a dark, dense strum und drang furioso of spectacular proportions. For balance, there was a haunting rendition of Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now," an effective showcase displaying the pianist's lighter lyrical side.
Throughout the evening, Cartwright received hand-in-glove support from bassist Nathan Berg, the crowd-pleasing 19-year-old Maynard Ferguson and Glen Miller alum, and drummer Tim Davis, the dynamic Elvin Jones-inflected time-keeper from Kansas City whose credits include Herb Ellis, Richie Cole and Nat Adderley. Indeed, the synergetic interactions between the members of Cartwright's trio were something special. Cartwright also provided ample opportunity for his colleagues to strut their stuff. Davis, thundered with aplomb over Randy Weston's "Hi-Fly." Berg, returning to the TCT stage as a former TJW Scholarship winner, soared with provocative harmonic-rhythmic displacements, buzzing double-stops and swarming arpeggiations in "Sexus, Nexus, Plexus," the galvanizing homage to novelist Henry Miller by Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu. At the conclusion of the program, Cartwright and his men received a well-deserved standing ovation. In response, Cartwright paid tribute to the nation's celebration of Martin Luther King Day by guiding the group in a heartfelt encore of Oscar Peterson's "Hymn to Freedom" and Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia," a spirited medley which ended with an earthy "Battle Hymn of the Republic" that had everyone clapping hands. Amidst cries of "bravo," a bevy of beaming smiles, and yet another standing ovation, it was clear that a good, indeed, great time was had by all.