Jazz pianist Buzz Clifford, who plays regularly at Cafe du Teau, headlines the Augusta Jazz Project's first concert of the season.JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF

Jazz musician talks the talk

Hip piano player finds Garden City abloom with groovy performers like the Godfather of Soul

Web posted October 9, 1998

 On stage

By Kent Kimes
Staff Writer

With a Geechee accent that lends hip swinger credibility, Buzz Clifford is convincing when he talks about his passion: jazz.

His voice almost emulates the genre, bouncing along like a John Coltrane tenor saxophone solo.

The only thing missing from the keyboard player's lexicon are a few "cool cats and daddy-o's."

He has the music to back up his talk.

Mr. Clifford and the Bohemian Jazz Quartet -- bassist George Sykes, drummer Mike West and Steve Mitchell on guitar -- open the Augusta Jazz Project's Chamber Jazz series with a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta.

The 50-something musician who was born into a musical family in New York has played jazz gigs across the country, but he isn't moving any time soon. He likes Augusta and its pool of musicians.

"My goodness, it's overloaded with talent," said Mr. Clifford, the house entertainer at Cafe Du Teau on Central Avenue.

One such homegrown talent isn't necessarily known for his jazz chops. The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, who sometimes drops in Cafe Du Teau to do some jamming, is also an accomplished jazz pianist, Mr. Clifford insists.

"He can burn, man. I say to myself, 'How does he do that stuff?' " said Mr. Clifford. "He can flat go."

Mr. Clifford, who moved back to the Augusta area 21 years ago after living in the Northeast, is happy living in the Garden City doing what he loves. "Thank God I'm a piano player," he said, explaining that his ability allows him to play weddings and other functions when he needs extra work.

And he has become somewhat of a fixture on Augusta's close-knit but growing jazz scene.

"He's an entity unto himself," said Rudy Volkmann, founder of the Augusta Jazz Project. "He's just a character. You have to know him to appreciate his nooks and crannies."

Saturday's show will be all instrumental offerings, from slow ballads to hard-driving be-bop.

The set will rely heavily upon improvisation, the way Mr. Clifford and jazz purists like it.

"We play whatever we feel like playing, not stuck to rules," he said. "I never play a song the same way twice. Whoever wants a solo can take it. Sometimes I think it's a dying art form."

Suffice to say, there's no Kenny G on the playlist.

Dr. Volkmann said he is excited by the show, the first of three in the Chamber Jazz series, which continues Jan. 23 with the Rob Foster Quartet and March 20 with Jazz-a-ma-Tazz.

"It ought to be a really fine jazz experience," said Dr. Volkmann.

Mr. Clifford has been playing piano since age 7, when he took lessons from nuns at St. Angela Academy in Aiken, where his family moved from New York. His father had been an arranger for Irving Berlin and a banjo player in his big band before moving south.

Mr. Clifford later moved to Charleston, S.C. "That's where I picked up my Geechee accent and can't seem to shake it."

On stage

What: Chamber Jazz featuring Buzz Clifford and the Last Bohemian Quartet

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta, 3501 Walton Way Extension

How much: $10 adults, $5 students

Phone: 722-8341

Kent Kimes covers arts and entertainment for The Augusta Chronicle. He can be reached at 823-3626 or kkimes@augustachronicle.com