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On Sunday the Chicago jazz scene is holding one of more than a dozen benefits for D’Angelo, including ones in locales as far-flung as Spain, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Belgium, and Holland (they’re all listed on D’Angelo’s home page). What’s amazing about this is how it reveals the impact a musician most people have never heard of has made all over the globe. The local gig, at the Green Mill at 1:30 PM, will include performances by Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls and an exciting quartet led by Jeff Parker featuring bassist Josh Abrams, drummer Mike Reed, and cornetist Rob Mazurek. Sirota and Parker got friendly with D’Angelo in the early 90s, when they were all studying at Berklee, but the reedist subsequently worked with many of the folks on the bill. And all it takes is a few minutes to be touched by D’Angelo’s energy and humor.
Skadra Degis provides a succinct statement on D’Angelo’s appeal. Supported by Black and Dunn, he opens the record (on “Lame”) with a mixture of fierce swing, hard angles, and grainy texture. His alto-saxophone sound veers from post-Ornette puckishness to puckering tartness to caterwauling causticity, and he’s a master of sonic striation, bringing a subtle depth and physicality to each tone. No matter which direction the trio takes, from splintered and abstract to full throttle, his frenetic lines are profoundly connected to the rhythm section’s activity and vice versa.
