Singer Leah Crane and bandleader Pavel Polanco-Safadit are shown during a photo session. Pavel & Direct Contact, an all-star ensemble together for 18 years, will perform at the intimate Jazz at Helen’s summer series May 31 in Columbus.
Most of Pavel Polanco-Safadit’s concert and publicity photos show a performer who looks like he just won the lottery.
Big, exuberant smile. The hint of an even bigger, more exuberant energy.
So it seems more than understandable that, when asked about it during a phone conversation from his Carmel home, he broke into laughter. The guy hardly can help himself.
“That joy comes from simply being alive,” he said. “I just think we can take way too many things for granted.”
Leah Crane, his lead singer, offered some perspective on the charismatic leader of Pavel & Direct Contact, an all-star ensemble together for 18 years.
“That’s just Pavel” (pronounced Pa-VELLE), Crane said. “He just has so much energy that we can’t keep up with him. He’s always happy, always bringing joy. Doing jumps. Feet on the piano.
“He’s like the Jerry Lee Lewis of Latin jazz.”
The six-member group, including brass, will bring that zip and more to Columbus May 31 when it emphatically kicks off the new summer segment of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s Jazz at Helen’s series — the one that just sold out every date of its winter/spring schedule. The shows with artists who have toured nationwide and beyond unfold amid the intimate, 96-seat format of Helen Haddad Hall, 315 Franklin St. in downtown Columbus.
Producer Warren Ward calls the four-concert schedule one “with very different performance styles than we’ve become used to.”
Fair enough. Consider that, for Pavel & Direct Contact, that means a fusion-oriented version of disco classics such as Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” And there will be similarly Latin-jazz or salsa reworked presentations of material from artists such as Alecia Keys and Andre Day.
“We definitely give our songs that distinctive, Latin feel,” Crane said.
The set list also will include some original compositions from the band’s 2023 recording “Essentials,” featuring the band’s most downloaded songs.
According to promotional material, the ensemble’s passion is to connect cultures around the globe to promote musical cross-cultural experiences. With a combined experience from around the globe, group members have played throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. The ensemble is composed of Indy Jazz Hall-of-Famers, studio musicians, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra players, and international artists.
“Our band is actually more like a family,” keyboardist Polanco-Safadit said. “We’re there for each other for many things outside of music.”
That explains some of the extreme pain when longtime group member and percussionist Raul Padro died in 2019.
“That was the hardest thing that we’ve every gone through,” he said.
The band leader figures that the original tune, “Raul’s Song” might be a part of the set list here. And, on a lighter note, Polanco-Safadit acknowledged that when the group hits its musical stride, attendees might have to move their chairs to dance.
The group has seen that happen everywhere from gigs at The Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis to the city’s Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, where there have been monthly performances the past two years — right in the lobby, where Polanco-Safadit has pounded their baby grand.
And where he has seen the power of music work a melodious magic. You could hear the wit in his voice when he summarized those hospital visits.
“I think,” he said, “that we have healed people there.”
About the concert
Who: Latin Jazz act Pavel Polanco-Safadit & Direct Contact opening the new summer segment of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s Jazz at Helen’s series.
When: 7:30 p.m. May 31.
Where: Helen Haddad Hall, 315 Franklin St. in Columbus.
Tickets: thecip,org.
