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Andrew Griffith

For 13 years, drummer Andrew Griffith has been a familiar face in the jazz scene and a fixture in the rhythm sections of notable Dallas jazz veterans who trusted him to keep time while they played their tunes.

Not long after graduating from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 1991, Mr. Griffith started playing professionally with the likes of trumpeter Whitney Russell, pianists Fred Sanders and Roger Boykin and tenor saxophonist Marchel Ivery.

Mr. Griffith has played all the Dallas venues best-known for jazz, but says his preference is playing where the music is not upstaged by what's being served on the food menu.

"Most of the jazz gigs are in Addison, but the audiences are not the ones I would associate the music with," he says. "They can afford to hear the music, but they don't necessarily care about it. It's just part of the decor."

Mr. Griffith, 31, considers it an honor to play with some of the great local jazz musicians whom he considers his mentors.

"The older guys kind of took me under their wing," he says. "I think they knew that I wanted to play."
– Linda Jones

Jason Davis

As the debate continues on jazz music's relevance to the post-baby-boom generation, Jason Davis, a young tenor saxophone player and pianist, forges his own place.

Ornette Coleman, a free-form jazz pioneer, named his own style of jazz music "harmolodics," the notion that music should exist without harmony. Likewise, Mr. Davis has a special name for his style of jazz: "huesic."

"I believe the music is spiritual, and we're trying to make different textures and colors onstage, more than trying to be pleasing to the ear," says Mr. Davis, 29. "We quote tunes, which means playing a piece of a melody of another tune inside ofanother tune."

The current members of Jason Davis & Co. have been together for about five months and include drummer Guy Cramer, upright bassist Jordan Schug and pianist-guitarist Doug Berry.

Born and reared in Dallas, Mr. Davis began playing clarinet at age 4 and switched to saxophone in secondary school. He tapped into the local jazz and R&B scene years ago, but says he doesn't like labels placed on his music by others. His tone and style are similar to those of Sonny Rollins and best showcased on bop and hard bop compositions.

Mr. Davis primarily plays jazz but has also been credited with putting together the horn arrangements on N'Dambi's Tunin Up & Cosignin CD.

"Dallas has a healthy jazz scene, and it's growing. We have a lot of talented musicians who are mixing jazz with gospel and hip-hop," Mr. Davis says.
– Brian Carr

Jeannette Brantley

Jeannette Brantley, born and raised in Dallas, has been singing since she was a child.

But it wasn't until she moved to Canada that she made her foray into jazz. It was 1969, and she auditioned for a television show that needed entertainers. She was selected, and her career began.

In 35 years of performing professionally (including playing piano), she says she has played on every continent except Asia and Africa. Music critics have described Ms. Brantley's style as straight-ahead, fusion, gospel-tinged and "warm."

"They don't know how to describe me," she says. "I just sing."

When she moved back to Dallas in 1982, Ms. Brantley performed regularly at jazz spots such as the now-closed Strictly Tabu, Terilli's and Sambuca when it was open in Deep Ellum.

In 1995, she curtailed her performances when she reopened the Green Parrot, the legendary nightclub that first opened in the 1940s. She closed it in 1996 after a rental dispute with her landlords.

Ms. Brantley has been performing regularly since 1999, but mainly does private parties or fills in for jazz musician friends at venues like the Melrose Hotel and the Capital Grille.

"I'm open to other jobs, but I believe that an artist should not overplay oneself in their community," Ms. Brantley says. " So when you do perform in your community, people are really glad to listen to your craft.

"In other words, I don't barhop."
– Linda Jones

Charles Neugent

Charles Neugent has been an observer of and a participant in the Dallas jazz scene for decades.

The 63-year-old bassist, who also sings and plays drums, piano and guitar, remembers when Dallas offered a stable home for jazz artists.

"Back in the '80s, there were a host of jazz clubs like Maxine Kent's and the Recovery Room that were well-patronized," Mr. Neugent says. "In those days, there was quite a bit going on. Guys like Sonny Stitt and Red Garland would sometimes come by and sit in if they were in town.

"It was an eclectic mixture of all kinds of people," he says.

Mr. Neugent began his professional career as a rhythm guitarist in the rock 'n' roll band of Freddie King in the early '70s.

But he says he was influenced by bass players like jazz legend Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius. Mr. Neugent's vocal style has a gritty Memphis Stax soul quality that gives a nod to the group of singers who came from that label without sounding like an exact replica.

In 1997, Mr. Neugent began playing with "Big Al" Dupree at the Balcony Club. He becomes a bit emotional when reminiscing about the late pianist.

"In retrospect, I have so much respect for him because he refused to do certain songs because they weren't indicative of his character," he says.
– Brian Carr

Published in The Dallas Morning News: 09.17.04