LIFESTYLE

Garner: A classy end for Downton Abbey

Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

America's passionate love affair with Downton Abbey and that phenomenally popular show's assorted royals, landed gentry, lords and ladies, and their butlers, maids and cooks, enters the home stretch at 9 p.m. Sunday (Jan. 3), with the start of the sixth and final season on WXXI-TV (Channel 21, cable channel 11).

We return to the sumptuous setting of Downton Abbey for the sixth and final season of this internationally acclaimed hit drama series.

As one who has seen the entire final season, I can tell you creator, writer and producer Julian Fellowes goes out with the incredible style and intelligence that has been a mainstay of the series since its beginning in 2010. And with the series, Fellowes and his BBC compatriots fueled once again the strong British-American affinity that has marked PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, going back to the days of The First Churchills, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, I Claudius (my personal favorite) and the long-running Upstairs Downstairs  (the obvious progenitor of Downton).

With Downton, Fellowes created a very classy soap opera that also manages to explore the shifts in Great Britain's infamous class system as social barriers collapse and people struggle to find their place in a changing world. To top it off, Downton Abbey is produced with incredible richness and style; its production costs are surely on the screen. And the cast is top-of-the-line, all the way up to British theatrical royalty, Maggie Smith.

The final season addresses and refines all the key questions and plot mysteries, as one of the 21st century's great television series calls it a wrap. If you're a fan, and many people are, your only disappointment with season 6 is that it's the end. But clearly, no self-respecting lord or lady overstays his or her welcome.

This photo provided by PBS shows Jim Carter, left, as Mr. Carson and Phyllis Logan as Mrs. Hughes, who star in "Downton Abbey," which returns Sunday for its sixth and final season.

THE BEST JAZZ. Those of us who love jazz feel blessed to live in a town with the world-class Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Eastman School of Music, a rare and special jazz radio station (Jazz 90.1) and a great tradition of homegrown jazz talent.

That point came home to me when I compiled my list of the best jazz albums of 2015.  Nine of the 10 albums involve artists who've been favorites of the Rochester jazz festival. Two of the artists — vibraphonist Joe Locke and pianist Vijay Iyer —  spent formative years in Rochester (and Iyer was born here). And, I swear, the local angles weren't why I selected these CDs. They simply are my favorites of the year —  and just happen to have happy links to Rochester.

Jeff Spevak's top albums of 2015

"Love is a Pendulum," composed by Joe Locke, is one of columnist Jack Garner's top picks of 2015.

Here are my favorites this year:

  • Love Is a Pendulum , a superbly poetic, thoughtful, and beautifully crafted suite, composed by Joe Locke.
  • First Impressions, a jazz tour through pieces of classical French music, by trumpeter and composer Tom Harrell.
  • My Favorite Things , the astonishing debut music of 12-year-old Indonesian wunderkind pianist Joey Alexander (it has earned him two Grammy nominations).
  • Live in Cuba by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (which just performed here last month), a tribute to the rich Afro-Cuban jazz tradition recorded in concert in Havana.
  • The Silver Lining by legendary vocalist Tony Bennett and tasty pianist Bill Charlap, echoing in many ways Bennett's historic singer-pianist 1970s recordings with the late Bill Evans.
  • Break Stuff is an intriguing combination of nine originals and three jazz standards by Fairport native and current jazz superstar Vijay Iyer and his trio. 

Karrin Allyson.

  • Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and Hammerstein finds the fabulous vocalist singing excellent jazz arrangements of show tunes, with support from pianist Kenny Barron and bassist John Patituci.
  • Live at the Village Vanguard by the Christian McBride Trio is in the grand tradition of live straight-ahead jazz recorded in America's great temple of the music.
  • Wild Man Dance recorded live in Poland finds veteran saxophonist Charles Lloyd leading a free (and free-spirited) set of world music-influenced soundscapes.
  • Brotherlee Love , a hard-bop gem, played by trumpeter Terrell Stafford and his band in tribute to the late, great Lee Morgan.

Jazz also has a grand tradition of reissues and expanded editions looking back at classics, and I was most impressed in 2015 with The Complete Concert by the Sea by pianist Erroll Garner; At Newport 1955-1975 by Miles Davis (a survey of his ever-shifting work with different bands over that period); A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters by saxophonist John Coltrane, the full story of an absolutely essential album; Swingin' on the Korner: Live at Keystone Korner by the wonderful late pianist Red Garland and his trio; and The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981 by Weather Report, the greatest of all fusion bands, with music selected from their strongest period, which the great Jaco Pastorius was on bass.

Note from Jack Garner

My friends, various events and activities — mostly pleasant — will occasionally keep me away from my normal Sunday column for several of the next weeks. Be assured, I'll jump in with opinions when I can, around Oscar nominations and awards, for example. And I hope to be back to regular weekly writing by the spring. Meanwhile, thanks for reading, and I extend my wishes to you for a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2016. Find past columns and Plan B movie recommendations at DemocratandChronicle.com.