July 29, 2006

When vibraphonist Joe Locke moved to New York City in the early
1980s, he carted his instrument around for several years, looking
for prime spots on the street to play. The curbside setting was part
scuffling necessity and part jazz laboratory, a movable venue that
attracted obscure veteran improvisers and future luminaries such as
Steve Coleman, Ralph Moore, and Cindy Blackman .

``It's no longer happening in New York, but there was a really vital
street scene in the early and mid-'80s," says Locke, 46, from his
home in Astoria. ``That was where new music was being developed,
like it had been in the lofts in the '70s."

Locke has found more than shelter during the past two decades. Named
vibes player of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association last
month, he's the most esteemed jazz vibraphonist of his generation,
an ostentatiously talented musician involved in myriad projects.
This week, Locke is scheduled to be in the Boston area,
participating in the Zeltsman Marimba Festival at the Boston
Conservatory, an event that runs through Aug. 5 and brings together
many of the finest mallet players in the world.

For the conclusion of the festival's faculty concert series on
Friday , Locke joins forces with Geoffrey Keezer , a brilliant
keyboardist with whom he's collaborated often in recent years. The
first half of their program features two extended pieces by Keezer,
1991's classical, Japanese-influenced ``Hakone in Spring," with Mia
Olson on alto flute and six mallet percussionists, and the world
premiere of a five-piece suite, ``Travelogue, Vol. 1," inspired by
various places Keezer has visited.

The suite features Locke, Keezer, Nancy Zeltsman on marimba, San
Diego Symphony bassist Susan Wulff , and, for a section inspired by
Lima, Peru, Jorge Perez-Albela on cajon, a boxlike Afro-Peruvian
percussion instrument. The second set showcases Locke and Keezer as
a duo, a format they'll also explore on Saturday as part of the
Marblehead Summer Jazz concert series.

Locke and Keezer first performed together in the early 1990s in the
Mingus Big Band , but it was through their work in British woodwind
player Tim Garland's chamber jazz trio Storms/Nocturnes that they
formed a tight musical bond. Their New Sound Quartet has worked
widely in Japan. American audiences got the first real taste of
their chemistry with the recent release of the Joe Locke/Geoffrey
Keezer Group's ``Live in Seattle," a gripping quartet session that
moves seamlessly between acoustic and electric instrumentation.

``Every time I get a chance to make music with Keezer, it's a gift,
because he's one of the most incredible musicians I've ever met,"
Locke says.

Something of a prodigy, Keezer was flung into the jazz fast lane at
18, when he was recruited by drummer Art Blakey to become the last
of a storied line of players to hold down Jazz Messengers' piano
chair. He gained further attention during his three-year stint with
bass legend Ray Brown's trio, and more recently he's been a key
creative foil in the quartet of bassist Christian McBride , who's
encouraged him to tour with his full arsenal of keyboards, giving
the group a huge sonic palette. With Locke, Keezer has found an
equally fearless partner.

``Joe and I have a strong telepathic connection," Keezer writes in
an e-mail. ``We both love many different kinds of music and bring
all of it to the table when we play."

Locke, who's on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, has been
participating in the Zeltsman Marimba Festival since 2004. For
Zeltsman, the marimba professor at Boston Conservatory and Berklee
who created the festival to bring together and highlight leading
mallet mavens, Locke represents the vibraphone at its best.

``He's playing the most driving, burning music, and his sound is
just glorious," Zeltsman says. ``A lot of people notice the
similarity to a horn player, and in a way his tone is from the
throat. It's really like singing. His facility is out of sight, but
what's really remarkable is the way his lines breathe."

Born in California and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Locke is
completely self-taught on the vibes. By the time he graduated high
school, he had made enough of a reputation that veteran saxophonist
Spider Martin hired him for a two-month gig, which led to
performances with Dizzy Gillespie , Pepper Adams , and Billy Hart .
He moved to New York City in 1981 and gradually established himself
as world-class improviser.

Locke has recorded a series of superb albums as a leader for the
Danish label Steeplechase, Milestone, and most recently Sirocco, but
it's often his work as a sideman that earns the most attention. He's
performed widely with avant-garde patriarch Cecil Taylor , holding
his own under the pianist's torrential outpourings, and last month
Latin jazz pioneer Eddie Palmieri asked him to participate in a
session for public radio.

``The fact that I've had the career that I've had, the successes
I've had, I feel very, very grateful," Locke says. ``All I wanted to
do was get better, improve, and eventually gain the respect of my
peers and betters. At this point in my life I feel that I'm still
growing and the best is yet to come."

Joe Locke performs Friday at 8 p.m. at Boston Conservatory, Seully
Hall, 8 The Fenway. Tickets $10. Visit
www.nancyzeltsman.com/festival/index.cfm. He also plays Aug. 5 at 8
p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 28 Mugford St.,
Marblehead. Tickets $24-$26. Call 781-631-1528 or visit
www.marbleheadjazz.org.


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