“Danny Boy” was a straightforward Irish ballad when pianist Paul Sullivan started playing it Sunday.
Then the spirit of Keith Jarrett appeared to have possessed his right hand. Sweet-tinged detours took the song to a higher plane.
At some point, a host of other jazz masters — was that Herbie Hancock? — appeared to have slipped into the hall at Yale’s law school and possessed Sullivan.
Sullivan kept his eyes shut in reverie, his hands persistently taking the song to the funkier pastures where it was determined to travel.
And then it was over. A hush filled the hall, then applause. Then hundreds of people rose for a standing ovation.
Sullivan, who now lives in Maine, returned to New Haven, his old haunt, to participate in an annual pilgrimage named in honor of his old friend: the Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz Concert, held in the Yale Law School auditorium.
The concert has taken place every year since Wheeler, a Yale law professor who sidelined as a trumpeter and nurturer of musical dreams, died in 2007. His old jamming partners — including Sullivan, bassist Jeff Fuller, trumpeter Steve Perrett, tenor saxophonist Paul Lieberman, alto saxophonist John Mastroianni, baritone saxophonist Gary Bennett, guitarist Tony Lombardozzi, and this year drummer Ben Bilello — perform as the Reunion Jazz Ensemble. The student Yale Jazz Ensemble performs each year as well under the direction of Tom Duffy.
Sullivan’s solo rendition of “Danny Boy” was a surprise addition to the set list at the tenth annviversary concert Sunday. Sullivan, a 1977 Yale grad, had met Wheeler as an undergraduate, when he played piano in the Yale ensemble and Wheeler, a professor, played in the trumpet section. They became fast friends, and remained close until Wheeler’s death. Wheeler called Sullivan “Paulie boy.” On Sunday, in introducing the song, Sullivan renamed it “Stanny boy.”
Click on the video above, shot by Wheeler’s granddaughter Lauren Wheeler, to hear where the muse took him.
