
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704180072

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DAVID SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  116 lines

JAZZ STAR CYRUS CHESTNUT ``SITS IN'' WITH LOCAL PAL

WHEN JAZZ PIANO giant Cyrus Chestnut performs here next weekend, local drummer Jae Sinnett will be playing with him. That's not unusual for Sinnett, who often sits in with big-name talent.

This time, however, it's Sinnett's gig. And the celebrity knows his place.

``I just look at myself as a sideman,'' Chestnut said.

This humble talk may sound surprising coming from one of Wynton Marsalis' favorite pianists, a man described by Downbeat magazine as ``capable of Bud Powell's lightning speed and Count Basie's deft touch.''

Yet even as his star has climbed, Chestnut has made time to play and record with his friend.

``Cyrus is the kind of person, if he had the time, he would give everyone a shot,'' Sinnett said.

At a pair of trio concerts in Norfolk and Williamsburg as part of the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, listeners can expect swinging, blues-based - even spiritual - music.

``I have never seen a player move an audience the way he can,'' Sinnett said, ``and he's so strong. The piano shakes when he plays! I've found myself on stage thinking someone was tapping me on the shoulder. It was the spirit.''

Chestnut, meanwhile, said, ``Jae exemplifies total musicianship. He's a great composer, and a great drummer as well.''

If the two men respect each other, they also share a musical kinship, one that has its roots in an unlikely place: the church.

The rotund, baby-faced Chestnut, 34, grew up in Baltimore surrounded by gospel music. His father, a church pianist, introduced him to the instrument.

``About 5 or 6 I had my first private teacher,'' Chestnut said, ``and by 9 I was in the preparatory division of the Peabody Conservatory of Music.''

The church, however, was his main source of training. At age 7 he was already playing at Mount Calvary Star Baptist.

``In church, I was learning improvisation. Sometimes the hymns were played directly as they were in the book, but a lot of times they weren't. It was like the gospelized way. So you had to make it up.''

Meanwhile, his tastes were branching out. At home he discovered old 45s by Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke and King Curtis. He bought a Thelonious Monk album for $1.99 at Woolworth's.

After high school he went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, winning jobs with singers Betty Carter and Jon Hendricks after graduation.

In Carter's group, Chestnut ``learned exactly what to do as well as what not to do. I would watch Betty and see how she would have a great consistency in always keeping the energy high and putting smiles on people's faces.

``One night I played something and she came up to me and said, `What'd you play that for?' I said I don't know. `You played it the other night! Why are you playing the same thing?' ''

Later he worked with trumpeter Marsalis, the unofficial leader of Chestnut's jazz generation.

``When you get around him, Wynton has such a high level of musicianship that you have no choice but to get better. He expects you to be diligent and push as well as he does.''

It wasn't long before the pianist was recording critically acclaimed albums as a leader. His most recent is 1996's ``Blessed Quietness.''

Last year also marked his Hollywood debut. He appeared - playing piano - in Robert Altman's ``Kansas City,'' a film about life among the city's gangsters and jazzmen in the 1930s.

Out of that same era, coincidentally, came Fats Waller, one of Chestnut's major influences. He particularly admires ``the great spirit of joy'' in Waller's music.

That's Chestnut's approach, too. And it all goes back to the church.

``I'm just trying to spread some love,'' he said.

Sinnett, 40, is not only a musician but jazz host on WHRV-FM. Lean as a stick, he's so devoted to his drums that he keeps a kit at the radio station so that he can play late at night after he signs off.

For him, too, the church provided early exposure to music. He grew up singing in the St. Paul Baptist Church choir in Donora, Pa.

``There would be such a beautiful connection with the people,'' he remembered.

He took drum lessons in junior high, and would get together with buddies to jam on Jimi Hendrix tunes.

A hitch in the Navy brought him to Hampton Roads in the mid-'70s. Later he studied accounting at Kee Business College, and music education at Old Dominion and Norfolk State.

Meanwhile, he was playing jazz gigs around the area and becoming a local impresario, producing concerts by such artists as Marsalis, Hendricks and drummer Art Blakey. He would often sit in.

Performing at a Baltimore club in the late '80s, Sinnett met Chestnut, then an unknown. The two hit it off, and afterward, when Sinnett needed a piano player, he would call his new acquaintance.

``It got to the point where I wouldn't care if I got paid,'' Sinnett said. ``I just wanted to work with Cyrus.''

Chestnut appears on three of Sinnett's discs, including the brand new ``Listen,'' which finds the drummer returning to his bluesy, churchy roots.

``My first approach,'' he concedes, ``was to be as intellectual as possible. But I had forsaken part of me. There were things I wasn't tapping into as I should.

``The blues is an emotional experience. That's the foundation of where I wanted to go with this record.''

At next weekend's concerts, you'll hear tunes from the album, and more.

``There'll be some other pieces of mine, a lot of Cyrus' music and some standards,'' Sinnett said. ``We'll mix it up as much as we can. People will definitely hear something they know.''

And if you feel the spirit tapping you on the shoulder, don't turn around. Just groove on it. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

DAVID KATZENSTEIN, CHRISTINA MOSCONE

Jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut, left, and drummer Jae Sinnett have been

playing together on and off since the late 1980s.

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

Who: Jae Sinnett and Cyrus Chestnut

When and where: 8 p.m. Saturday at Phantoms, Norfolk (sold out);

8 p.m. next Sunday at Williamsburg Regional Library

How much: $12

Call: 664-6492 KEYWORDS: THE VIRGINIA WATERFRONT INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL