
‘Candid Jazz And Conversations’ (CJ & C) is the brainchild of former WNUA DJ Denise Jordan Walker and the first weekend of April represented quite a landmark for this concept of getting close up and personal with some of the biggest stars in smooth jazz. For the first time two shows were staged over the same few days. Nick Colionne headed up the show’s debut appearance in Gary IN where, on April 1, he played the Marquette Pavilion, Miller Beach. Two days earlier it was the turn of Nelson Rangell to take the stage of CJ & C’s principle venue, the Prairie State College auditorium in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Here, where he was interviewed by journalist Mark Ruffin and bass player and fellow performer on the night Mike Manson, the conversation and the opportunity that the audience got to ask questions from the floor served as a precious prelude to a performance by Rangell that was both breathtaking and original. Indeed when the discussion touched on the fact that Rangell is regarded by many as one of the most under-rated performers around he explained that jazz reaches out to its audience in many ways and in many forms. He has consciously tried to widen the spectrum of what contemporary jazz can portray and, when the talking was over, he demonstrated all this and more with his trademark use of saxophone, flute, piccolo and voice. Not only that he proved himself to be thoughtful, intelligent and funny with a wonderful perspective on how his music meshes with both his life and his happiness.