At 84, jazz icon Sam Rivers keeps writing and playing

By Marty Clear, Times Correspondent
In print: Thursday, March 27, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [Riku | Special to the Times] Sam Rivers, a two-time Grammy nominee, writes and plays complex jazz pieces.

By MARTY CLEAR

GULFPORT

There's one problem, Sam Rivers says, with being a prodigious, almost obsessive composer in your mid 80s.

"I keep writing," he said by phone from his home in Maitland. "I'm kind of an overachiever. I have all these thematic concepts, even though at this point, I know I'll never have time to play them all."

The legendary jazzman, who's 84, gets a chance to play a few of his new works Friday when he comes to Gulfport's Catherine A. Hickman Theater.

It's not unusual for Florida audiences to hear Rivers' new compositions. The second Wednesday of each month, he shows them off, along with works in progress, in concert at the Plaza Theatre in Orlando.

"It's really like an open rehearsal," he said. "The audiences get to hear it for the first time, and the musicians are hearing it for the first time, too. It's embryonic, and you get to dissect the work. It's like a biology class."

For his Gulfport concert, he'll perform new works with his quartet (Rivers on flute, piano, tenor and soprano sax, plus a bass player, vibes and drums) and maybe add a guitarist.

A two-time Grammy nominee, Rivers writes and plays esoteric, complicated pieces. That might be an invigorating challenge for the musicians, but Rivers said that's not the point of a concert.

"You want to take the audience along with you," Rivers said. "You want to have an impact on the audience intellectually, but emotionally, too. So it's a balance. You want it to be challenging for the musicians 'cause that's fun for them, but you can't leave the audience behind."

Friday's show is part of the EMIT concert series, dedicated to the kind of groundbreaking music that has been Rivers' trademark.

Though Rivers has long been linked with the New York jazz scene, he lives in Maitland, a sedate Orlando suburb.

"I came down here in the late 1980s when I was on tour with Dizzy Gillespie," he said. "I found out there are a lot of great musicians in this area. They're all working, but when they have some off time, they like to do something more adventurous, so that's when we work together."

Marty Clear is Tampa freelance writer who specializes in performing arts. He can be reached at mclear@tampabay.rr.com.