Originally published in Jersey Jazz Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the New Jersey Jazz Society.
The late WBGO Radio personality Michael Bourne hosted an annual "Jazz on the Mountain" festival at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY, for 22 years. In 2013, he asked vibraphonist Joe Locke to perform a solo vibe concert. "Michael Bourne," Locke recalled, "threw the gauntlet down. He kind of challenged me to do a set of solo vibraphone. At first, I said, 'Absolutely not. I can't do a whole set of solo vibraphone.' I did it, and I ended up really enjoying it, and so did the audience."
On Saturday, September 19, 2026 at the West Orange Jazz Festival, aka OSPAC Jazz Fest, Locke will once again present a solo vibraphone performance, entitled "Songs and Stories." He believes it will work as a counterpoint "in between more powerful sets of music by bands really swinging and grooving hard (in this case, the Montclair State Jazz Ensemble and trumpeter Freddie Hendrix's Experience and Fellowship band).
Locke is planning to do "a set of pieces that all have narratives attached. There's a piece that I composed on one of my albums for Roy Hargrove ("Raise Heaven" on the 2023 Circle 9 album, Makram). I have a few things to say about Roy, so I'll speak about Roy and my feelings about him. Whether I'm playing with an orchestra or a big band or my own quartet or playing solo vibraphone, it's important for me to acknowledge important people in my life and in the life of the music; and Roy was one of those."
The last track on Makram is a solo version of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." The reason Locke did that: "In the climate we're in today in this country, I thought it was really important to acknowledge Billy Strayhorn -- not only for his work as an artist but for his work as a civil rights activist and his relationship with Medgar Evers. If he never composed a note of music, I would think he was a great American. So, playing 'Lush Life' gives me an opportunity to do that."
The rest of the West Orange program was still being developed at the time of our interview, "but I may open with something that just feels good and brings the folks into a narrative of what the songs are about."
AllAboutJazz's Neil Duggan called Makram "an eclectic mix of the comforting, the challenging, and the familiar." It included seven original compositions by Locke or members of his rhythm section and two standards, "Lush Life" and Cole Porter's "Love for Sale." Pointing out that the pacing of the material on the album "makes it compelling and engaging to listen to," Duggan added that Locke "shows great sensitivity in the tender moments and great drive when needed."
More than 30 years ago, Locke released an album of music composed by Henry Mancini (Moment to Moment, Milestone/Fantasy: 1994). Reviewing it for AllMusic, Ken Dryden wrote that Locke, "offers a fresh look at Henry Mancini on this release. His dramatic and spacious treatment of one of Mancini's most beloved works, 'Moon River', gives the oft-recorded song a very new sound, while another frequently played number, 'Days of Wine and Roses', begins with a dreamy introduction before progressing into a head-shaking hard bop arrangement."
When asked about Mancini, Locke responded that "I always enjoy getting to delve into his catalog," and he did it again 16 years after Moment to Moment in a collaboration with vocalist Kenny Washington. "I met Kenny Washington in California," he recalled, "and it sort of resuscitated all those Mancini arrangements I had done because I got to do them again, with lyrics."
On For the Love of You, his 2010 Lionsgate Canada album with Washington, pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Clarence Penn, Locke paid tribute to Mancini with a new interpretation of Mancini's "Two for the Road" (lyrics by Leslie Bricusse). Other standards on that recording include Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster's "The Shadow of Your Smile", and Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's "Old Devil Moon".
In a review of the album, AllAboutJazz's John Kelman described the treatment of "Two for the Road" as an, "elegant, smoky version of Mancini's and Bricusse's classic. It not only highlights Washington's soulful delivery, but also the empathic relationship between the vibraphonist and pianist Geoffrey Keezer, with whom Locke goes back many years."
As the 67-year-old Locke looks back on his career, some of the strongest memories include playing with pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Bob Berg, and Jackie McLean. "I did a tour with Cecil Taylor," he recalled. "It was a deep end of the pool I had no business being in, but Cecil was an absolutely fascinating human being. All of them (Taylor, Berg, McLean) are unique artists unto themselves and have a stamp of identity, which I hope has rubbed off on me. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to know some of my heroes." McLean "really knocked me out. He was my hero for a long time."
Locke's biggest vibraphonist influences from the past were Milt 'Bags' Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson. Recalling "the poetry of their playing" he added that, "The big thing to me about both of them is that the vibraphone is sort of a cold instrument. It's an instrument that you're removed from by these mallets. 'Bags' took the language of Bird and Dizzy and really successfully transferred it to the vibes. And, Bobby did the same thing with the post-Coltrane language. They were of their time but remained timeless."
Locke grew up in Rochester, NY, first learning to play piano and drums at age 8 before switching to the vibes as a 13-year-old. He started out performing with rock bands but then switched to jazz during his high school years. "A week out of high school, I went on the road with (tenor saxophonist) Spyder Martin and got to work with (drummer) Billy Hart and (baritone saxophonist) Pepper Adams. I learned to play the vibes by the seat of my pants."
As for his solo playing, Locke said, "The challenge is to find my own way to express what I want to express, just being myself with the instrument. Michael Bourne opened the door for me to embrace the challenge." Pianist Fred Hersch was the Artistic Director at Mohonk Mountain the year that Bourne issued his challenge, and Locke played with him and (guitarist) John Scofield as well as doing the solo concert.
The New Jersey Jazz Society is a non-profit organization of business and professional people, musicians, teachers, students and listeners working together for the purpose of advancing jazz music. Their mission is to promote and preserve America’s original art form – jazz. The Society seeks to ensure continuity of the jazz art form through its commitment to nurture and champion local talent, along with showcasing outstanding national and international artists providing for the younger generation via arts education programs.
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