Reviews:
Henry "Skipper" Franklin Duo
at Mission Inn's Presidential Lounge
April 2007 - by Kirk Silsbee
It's St. Patrick's Day evening at the Mission Inn, Riverside's grand old hotel. This jewel of late 19th century accommodation acts as the hub of the city, with streets and nearby destinations seemingly spinning off of it. Through the Inn's east entrance is a pub. It's lively tonight, as would be expected. Green beer, preposterous hats and even kilted men are part of the scene. Adjacent is a sunken room with ornate wood paneling standing high on the wall behind a piano. The Presidential Lounge, complete with a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt, has a fireplace and a stained glass cupola in its ceiling. Large upholstered chairs attend a series of tables; booths occupy the corners of the room. This is bassist Henry Franklin's place of business.
Residency jobs for jazz musicians are extremely rare these days. Gone re the days when house rhythm sections were installed in clubs, playing for visiting headliners, and hosting afternoon jam sessions on the weekends. Franklins five-night-a-week job at the Mission is going into its eighth year. The towering Franklin (nearly 6'6") works in the duo format, with a revolving clutch of pianists: Larry Flahive, Gary Matsumoto and Jimmy Dykes.
Tonight, pianist Phil Wright is Franklin's collaborator. Nattily-attired in a grey, double-breasted suit, Wright is fondly recalled for the years he led the band for choreographer Linda Sohl-Ellison's Rhapsody in Taps dance company. As his hands skip lightly over the keys on "Like Someone in Love," Wright's digital movements amount to musical terpsichore. The graceful keyboard lyricism continually rolls on top of Franklin's brawny contrabass underpinnings.
Although he's a Perris resident, Franklin is a second-generation Los Angeles jazz musician. His father, trumpeter Sammy Franklin, led one of the most popular big bands on Central Avenue in the 1940s. Active in music since childhood, Henry was one of the forward-thinking bassists to be heard around town, working with a large array of leaders, like saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Hampton Hawes, timbalero Willie Bobo and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela (that's Henry on Hugh's '67 smash hit, "Grazin' in the Grass").
Franklin is not quite 67 and a lifetime in music has steeled him to the realities of the jazz life. At the Presidential Lounge, he spins out complex linear solos with the flow and sweep of saxophone lines, including breathing spaces. Not ten feet away from his left hand is a table of nonstop talkers, whose conversation knows no limits. Henry's melodic lines are rendered in woody tones that echo the ornately carved cross-beams overhead, as St. Pat's revelers walk blithely through the room.
Wright and Franklin sight-read their way through "Toora Loora Looral" and "Danny Boy," acknowledging the day. Along with jazz standards and evergreens like "Funny Valentine," they play selections from Henry's new Music to the 5th Power album, on his own Skipper Productions label. It's his fifth self-produced CD and Franklin reckons that in about four month's time he'll see a profit.
On the piano lid is a glass bowl not quite large enough to wash your hands in. Through the evening, listeners request tunes and buy CDs - sometimes in the middle of a song. As the dollar bills pile up, Franklin smiles, noting that green is a lovely color indeed.
Senior Life, April 2007 |