Serenbe launches new jazz series with dynamic British vocalist Julie Dexter

Serenbe has long served as a thriving Mecca for supporters of the arts. A wide array of disciplines from contemporary ballet to outdoor theater and variety workshops have found a place in the quaint world of Cottagecore shops and modern homes. Now the pastoral planned community has set its sights on the world of jazz. The new series launched Friday with a performance by world renowned British vocalist Julie Dexter and her band.

“So many people wrote us saying ‘bring jazz into the community,”’ explained Brandon Copeland, program director for Art Farm, Serenbe’s artistic event planning arm. The push for jazz comes as part of a diverse schedule of events for the community’s arts season, but jazz concerts will highlight throughout. 

“We wanted to ‘test kitchen’ the concept of jazz in Serenbe,” explained Serenbe Music Council Chairman Gary Cassis. “Do we have the right sort of climate? Do we have the right environment? We found there was quite a demand for it as evidenced tonight selling out.”

Cassis’ vision for jazz at Serenbe has already begun to expand. “We could make this a Tanglewood if we wanted to,” he continued, referencing the prestigious Massachusetts music festival. It’s a bold vision but one that Cassis discusses with gentle confidence. He’s quick to point to the diverse range of possibilities within the genre, citing Brazilian and Latin jazz as possible focal points. 

Dexter played to a packed house Friday night at Serenbe’s Gainey Hall. She was a virtuostic dynamo in her own right, but it was her crackerjack band that made the evening transcendental.  

The band minus Dexter kicked off the evening with a soulful trio jam that melded the contemporary with the vintage. The blend of ethereal synthesizers and muscular bass lines anchored by aggressively hypnotic drumming called to mind the mid-’60s fusion pioneering of Miles Davis or the sonic explorations of Medeski Martin & Wood.

This opening salvo of confident chops and driving grooves made it clear that this wouldn’t be a dull recitation of time-honored standards but a slick foray into the ever evolving world of modern jazz.

Dexter emerged from the back of the hall and approached the stage like a charismatic worship leader to the enthusiastic applause of the evening’s congregation. The band kicked in with “My Favorite Things” and Dexter’s capacity of vocal interpretation became readily apparent. 

The mark of great jazz vocalists is their ability to carry the melody beyond its initial statement and become a contributing improviser in their own right. In this regard, Dexter is a consummate virtuoso. Her consistently engaging melodic vocabulary reflects a singer whose influences go beyond female jazz mainstays like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan and to the horn and string phrases that inspire her instrumental counterparts.

The evening continued with “Bye Bye Blackbird,” which gave upright bassist Kevin Smith the spotlight. Bass solos are precarious by their very nature — players are challenged to display their technical acumen without losing the underlying groove. The result is a feat of musical tightrope walking that only the most adept bassist can maintain.

Smith’s soloing maintains that delicate balance with conservative phrasing that consistently checks in with the drums while allowing space for larger melodic ideas to develop. Like Charles Mingus, he approaches the instrument first as a composer and then as a technician. That willingness to let each phrase hang in the air as its own thoughtful statement made for a confident and captivating solo. His later solo on “Willow Weep For Me” was similarly stirring, with delicately articulated slides that mimicked the human voice. 

Drummer Ben Johnson was a powerhouse throughout the night, laying down hot swing grooves with a thundering rock star swagger. Beneath that outer strut was a fascinating polyrhythmic intricacy — the kind of multifaceted performance that satiates the casual listener while taking the learned jazz aficionados on a magical joyride. In such a percussive realm, the beat is not just a consistent presence but a three-dimensional creature summoned by the ritual of Johnson’s drumming.  

Though his colleagues had their moments to shine, it was Godfrey Grannum and his combination of keyboard, Moog synthesizer and electric organ that dominated the night. Throughout the concert, he threw down one blistering solo after another with a commanding presence that made the cheering audience feel like an extension of his instrument. His solos ran the gamut from heated gospel organ to vintage swing and off into the outer realms of the synthesizer originally explored by Weather Report and Return to Forever. 

Jazz at Serenbe might only be in its infancy, but, as the thoroughly satisfied crowd filed out of the performance hall, it truly felt like Cassis’ epic vision could become a reality. Serenbe continues to evolve, and, like a great jazz solo, the journey is the destination. 

Serenbe’s jazz programming will continue Friday, May 3, with trumpeter Gordon Vernick.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.