sonnyhill Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) I also attended Winter Jazzfest last weekend: On Friday, I started at the New School 5th Floor Theater with Tomeka Reid Quartet, which was really nice. I still play that album frequently. Before the Tomeka Reid set was over, I went downstairs to the New Glass Box Theater to catch Jonathan Finlayson's Sicilian Defense. This was the best group that I saw during the festival. I think the new album is great, but the live performance exceeded my expectations. It is a cliche, but the group sounded like a well-oiled machine and the music was interesting. I then made the short walk to the New School Tishman Auditorium and caught the very end of Craig Harris's Breathe, which was an extremely large group. I didn't see enough of it to comment; I went to the venue to get a seat for the Andrew Cyrille/Bill McHenry Duo. I like both McHenry and Cyrille, but the two do not seem to gel in a duo format for me. It was nice to hear both of them though. I then went back to the New Glass Box Theater to see Mike Reed's Flesh & Bone. This was also outstanding. I am always hesitant when I see a vocalist or poet included in the personnel with respect to jazz ensembles. However, the vocalist/poet Marvin Tate was excellent -- not preachy and high energy in the best way. It was also good to see all of those Chicago musicians who I don't get to see so often. I was really impressed by the bassist Jason Roebke -- he was really excellent with both Tomeka Reid and Mike Reed. I then went over to the New School 12th Street Auditorium to see William Parker. I was early and caught the end of the David Murray set. The William Parker set was very enjoyable, he performed the last tune on a small wind instrument. I would describe it as acoustic drone music. On Saturday, I started at the New School 5th Floor Theater to see the Mary Halvorson Octet. I had not heard her newest album so I didn't know what to expect. The playing was nice enough, but I felt that the music sounded "congested" with all of those instruments playing the music as opposed to the quintet she employed previously. Maybe it was the performance; I have to check out the recording to see if it works better on record. I spent the remainder of the evening at the Glass Box Theater. I saw Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones, Adam O'Farrill's Stranger Days, Ben Allison's Think Free, and the beginning of Ben Wendel's Season's Band. Ben Allison premiered some new tunes that will be appearing on an upcoming album. It was a good set. The other performances were competent. However, I have tried, but do not get Ben Wendel at all; I left at the conclusion of the first song of his set. Edited January 10, 2017 by sonnyhill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 I have to get to this Fest one of these days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 1 hour ago, BFrank said: I have to get to this Fest one of these days! It is a blast. Over the two night marathon, there were 135 performer choices available. And a two day pass was only $80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 1 hour ago, kh1958 said: It is a blast. Over the two night marathon, there were 135 performer choices available. And a two day pass was only $80. Yep - sounds great! Like a small, jazz-oriented South by Southwest. I've been going to Austin for the past 10 years, but it's MUCH bigger and MUCH more expensive. Same concept, though - an enormous amount of performance options that are presented in small venues around the downtown area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 On 9.1.2017 at 2:20 PM, king ubu said: Next up, tomorrow night, is Nasheet Waits Equaliy Quartet (w/Darius Jones, Aruan Ortiz and Mark Helias), again at Moods, Zurich. On 9.1.2017 at 0:31 AM, Steve Reynolds said: Saw a version of that Nasheet band and they were amazing. They were pretty amazing indeed! Or rather, Waits was amazing all the way through - what a great drummer, of the younger generation, he may be my very favourite! They started off set 1 with an Andrew Hill tune and then segued seamlessly into three more tunes (originals, I think), then Waits pulled a short stand-up act before the break. And yeah, break time it was pretty often, musically speaking. Lots of funk in there, and lots of build-ups and explosive stuff ... sat right up front and center, two meters from the bell of Darius Jones' mighty alto, Waits to the right, Ortiz to the left on a nice baby grand, and Helias (his bass sounding slippery and ugly and overamplified) in the back behind Jones (and standing behind Jones means you won't be seen much ... but from the second of third piece on, Jones moved to the side a bit when he wasn't playing). The Intakt crew was there, to watch their latest hype Aruan Ortiz ... he was alright (though compared to the amplification of the bass and drums he was a bit low in the mix - why amplify drums in such small locations anyway, I will never quite understand ... job security for the sound man?) but I don't quite get the brouhaha, I'm afraid, his Intakt disc sounds a bit tame/restricted to my ears, but he wasn't really loosening up much more last night, except for one part where he was banging, which got boring after a while. Second set was not fully segued, after two tunes they put their instruments down for a moment, then played a ballad and one more tune, and in the end returned for an encore ... I guess the playing time amounted to around two hours, and all in all, I really enjoyed it. And watching Waits was amazing. I have heard him at least three times - with Vijay Iyer's trio, with Tarbaby + Oliver Lake, and in November with Wadada Leo Smith's Great Lakes quartet in Berlin. But only yesterday, it dawned on me how much of a Max Roach man he is ... of course he adds plenty of other ingredients, but he has that marching, vertical style, and he has that heavy, drum-based sound, making the snare, the bass drum and the two toms (one on the floor, one on top of the bass drum) his main instruments, using hi-hat and cymbals more to puncuate rather than to create a constant flow. He does get into a flow, but it's a charged one that can go in any direction at any time, that is never one of equal division of time, rather it's rolling and strutting, it stutters, it gets delayed minimally only to catch up and lead the pack again a mere second later. Mesmerizing to sit so close to a master at work for an entire night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Reynolds Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 16 hours ago, king ubu said: They were pretty amazing indeed! Or rather, Waits was amazing all the way through - what a great drummer, of the younger generation, he may be my very favourite! They started off set 1 with an Andrew Hill tune and then segued seamlessly into three more tunes (originals, I think), then Waits pulled a short stand-up act before the break. And yeah, break time it was pretty often, musically speaking. Lots of funk in there, and lots of build-ups and explosive stuff ... sat right up front and center, two meters from the bell of Darius Jones' mighty alto, Waits to the right, Ortiz to the left on a nice baby grand, and Helias (his bass sounding slippery and ugly and overamplified) in the back behind Jones (and standing behind Jones means you won't be seen much ... but from the second of third piece on, Jones moved to the side a bit when he wasn't playing). The Intakt crew was there, to watch their latest hype Aruan Ortiz ... he was alright (though compared to the amplification of the bass and drums he was a bit low in the mix - why amplify drums in such small locations anyway, I will never quite understand ... job security for the sound man?) but I don't quite get the brouhaha, I'm afraid, his Intakt disc sounds a bit tame/restricted to my ears, but he wasn't really loosening up much more last night, except for one part where he was banging, which got boring after a while. Second set was not fully segued, after two tunes they put their instruments down for a moment, then played a ballad and one more tune, and in the end returned for an encore ... I guess the playing time amounted to around two hours, and all in all, I really enjoyed it. And watching Waits was amazing. I have heard him at least three times - with Vijay Iyer's trio, with Tarbaby + Oliver Lake, and in November with Wadada Leo Smith's Great Lakes quartet in Berlin. But only yesterday, it dawned on me how much of a Max Roach man he is ... of course he adds plenty of other ingredients, but he has that marching, vertical style, and he has that heavy, drum-based sound, making the snare, the bass drum and the two toms (one on the floor, one on top of the bass drum) his main instruments, using hi-hat and cymbals more to puncuate rather than to create a constant flow. He does get into a flow, but it's a charged one that can go in any direction at any time, that is never one of equal division of time, rather it's rolling and strutting, it stutters, it gets delayed minimally only to catch up and lead the pack again a mere second later. Mesmerizing to sit so close to a master at work for an entire night! Thanks for those comments. Exactly my experience with Nasheet. On a good night with a guy like Darius wailing it's a very exciting experience. For me I hear Elvin more than Max. They played 2-3 Andrew Hill tunes when I saw them. Missed them last time due to a conflict. I'm also not sure if Helias was on bass. Too bad they messed up his sound. Usually his sound is sublime. Love LOVE seeing great drummers - Monday night it was Lou Grassi, Michael Wimberly & Hamid Drake - from very good to great!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Hm, actually when I heard Waits with Wadada in Berlin, he was playing differently - more into a straight flow, that may have had some Elvin in it, kind of a waves thing, one wave rolling in after the other, a dancing groove of a very different type than what he played this time. This time I definitely never thought of Elvin at all. And I didn't really when I was in Berlin, I lacked references there, which of course isn't exactly a bad thing either I know Helias is good, I've heard him with Open Loose (on a so-so night, at least so it seemed to me) and in a gorgeous trio set with John Surman and Pierre Favre a bit more than a year ago ... I really don't get the over-amplification thing really. I mean Jones clearly profited as he was able to adapt his volume on a much broader level regardless of how loud Waits was, but the piano wasn't loud enough and the bass just had this slippery, somewhat thin sound ... that ugly bass sound you find so often on late 70s/early 80s productions. I guess I prefer unamplified bigtime, but with Waits on a kit like the one he played that night, none of the others would be heard any more, so there's that. But put a microphone in front of the bass, catch it's natural sound, and that's that. Oh, btw, the last number before the encore (it was like this, I think: set 1 was 4 tunes all in one segue, set 2 was 2 tunes, then the ballad, then 2 tunes, then the encore) was Charlie Parker's "KoKo". Another old-school aspect, throw in a bebop tune. Nice. Not something you get to hear by such great musicians often, over here! Next up, maybe Defunkt in about two weeks, not sure I'll make it (several classical concerts scheduled in the meantime and around that time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relyles Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Tonight at Birdland in NYC: The Story of Jazz: 100 Years A 10-piece All-Star ensemble lead by Vincent Herring (alto sax) with Jon Faddis, Jeremy Pelt (trumpets) James Carter, Eric Alexander (tenor saxes) Steve Turre (trombone) Mike LeDonne (piano) David Williams (bass) Carl Allen (drums) Nicolas Bearde (vocals) The group will perform newly commissioned arrangements of classic jazz songs written by prominent artists from each decade of jazz history from 1917 to 2017. A musical journey celebrating 100 years of America’s original art form begins with the African drumming and work songs that led to the birth of the blues – the basis of all jazz. The show moves through 1920’s Ragtime, to 1930’s Swing, to 1940’s Bebop, to 1950’s Cool. In the 1960’s jazz explodes with innovation: The Hard Bop of Miles Davis and Art Blakey, the Modal Jazz of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Soul Jazz, the Bossa Nova craze, Latin Jazz, and Free/Avant-Garde sounds of Ornette Coleman. The program concludes with 1970’s Fusion and the many Post-Bop iterations from the 1980’s to the present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 10 hours ago, relyles said: Tonight at Birdland in NYC: The Story of Jazz: 100 Years A 10-piece All-Star ensemble lead by Vincent Herring (alto sax) with Jon Faddis, Jeremy Pelt (trumpets) James Carter, Eric Alexander (tenor saxes) Steve Turre (trombone) Mike LeDonne (piano) David Williams (bass) Carl Allen (drums) Nicolas Bearde (vocals) The group will perform newly commissioned arrangements of classic jazz songs written by prominent artists from each decade of jazz history from 1917 to 2017. A musical journey celebrating 100 years of America’s original art form begins with the African drumming and work songs that led to the birth of the blues – the basis of all jazz. The show moves through 1920’s Ragtime, to 1930’s Swing, to 1940’s Bebop, to 1950’s Cool. In the 1960’s jazz explodes with innovation: The Hard Bop of Miles Davis and Art Blakey, the Modal Jazz of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Soul Jazz, the Bossa Nova craze, Latin Jazz, and Free/Avant-Garde sounds of Ornette Coleman. The program concludes with 1970’s Fusion and the many Post-Bop iterations from the 1980’s to the present. What a killer band! It's shows like this that make me wish I lived a lot closer to NYC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Saw Joey DeFrancesco tonight at Scullers in Boston. I found the band underwhelming. Set lasted just about an hour. Never saw him play before, was expecting a lot mo' greaze. There definitely was some, but it dripped, not poured. Joey didn't break a sweat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duaneiac Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 2 hours ago, Dmitry said: Joey didn't break a sweat. Unless he has slimmed down considerably, I would think that just walking from the dressing room to the stage might cause him to break a sweat . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 I saw Joey D a few months ago in the Bobby Hutcherson Memorial Concert at SFJAZZ. He only did a few tunes, but seemed pretty locked in even though there were sound problems with his B3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 1 hour ago, BFrank said: He only did a few tunes, but seemed pretty locked in even though there were sound problems with his B3. Funny you should say that. At the Scullers gig the first thing he did when he sat down was to announce that one of the keys had fallen off the organ, and the percussion was broken. I wonder if they did a soundcheck. Anyway, that didn't seem to affect the sound, at least to my ears. I dunno, it just felt that he was holding back, passing time, like a boxing champion in a fight with a no.10-rated challenger. I suppose the gigs can get pretty tedious, understandably. Just my $.02, which cost $170 for the music charge, and food and drinks for two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 2 hours ago, Dmitry said: Funny you should say that. At the Scullers gig the first thing he did when he sat down was to announce that one of the keys had fallen off the organ, and the percussion was broken. I wonder if they did a soundcheck. Anyway, that didn't seem to affect the sound, at least to my ears. I dunno, it just felt that he was holding back, passing time, like a boxing champion in a fight with a no.10-rated challenger. I suppose the gigs can get pretty tedious, understandably. Just my $.02, which cost $170 for the music charge, and food and drinks for two. This was only 2-3 tunes and the sound problem seemed to have something to do with a faulty cable. I've heard at least one of his live albums and was a little under-whelmed, myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 (edited) Gilad Atzmon Plays Coltrane (Bonington Theatre Nottingham) GILAD ATZMON (SAXES); FRANK HARRISON (PIANO); YARON STAVI (BASS); ASAF SIRKIS (DRUMS) Very enjoyable gig of famous Coltrane tunes. Mainly ballads but the band occasionally sped things up - took the roof off with 'Impressions'. Four superb musicians - particularly taken by Harrison. Atzmon was anxious that we knew that this particular theme was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Coltrane, not the 50th of the Six Day War or the centenary of The Balfour Declaration. Theatre packed to the gills. Edited January 13, 2017 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 1 hour ago, A Lark Ascending said: Gilad Atzmon Plays Coltrane (Bonington Theatre Nottingham) GILAD ATZMON (SAXES); FRANK HARRISON (PIANO); YARON STAVI (BASS); ASAF SIRKIS (DRUMS) Very enjoyable gig of famous Coltrane tunes. Mainly ballads but the band occasionally sped things up - took the roof off with 'Impressions'. Four superb musicians - particularly taken by Harrison. Atzmon was anxious that we knew that this particular theme was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Coltrane, not the 50th of the Six Day War or the centenary of The Balfour Declaration. Theatre packed to the gills. Glad he's drawing in a good audience. He deserves it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 He sold out his latest book and the copies of the Atzmon/Barnes CD he had in the interval. He seems to have a very loyal following. And I won the raffle (a Pete Hurt CD)! Bet they don't have raffles in New York clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 On 12.1.2017 at 5:39 AM, king ubu said: Hm, actually when I heard Waits with Wadada in Berlin, he was playing differently - more into a straight flow, that may have had some Elvin in it, kind of a waves thing, one wave rolling in after the other, a dancing groove of a very different type than what he played this time. This time I definitely never thought of Elvin at all. And I didn't really when I was in Berlin, I lacked references there, which of course isn't exactly a bad thing either Uhm, yeah ... he was playing differently with Wadada because that (as well as the drummer with Vijay Iyer) was obviously not Nasheet Waits but Marcus Gilmore - and Gilmore was actually the one of this generation missing in Berlin to make the festival complete (Gilmore, Sorey and Cleaver were there, Waits was not). DOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relyles Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 14 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said: What a killer band! It's shows like this that make me wish I lived a lot closer to NYC. I probably would not have decided to drive the 2.5 hours to NY to see that show if I had not been invited to hang by a close friend. Ultimately I enjoyed the set much more than I anticipated. They really took it from the early jazz through more modern. I really started remembering my own roots in the music when they played tunes like Sugar, Headhunters, some Woody Shaw, RRK's Bright Moments and other recognizable tunes. They were doing a lot of reading and some of the segues were a bit rough, but a lot of strong solos throughout. Carter was his usual extroverted forceful self and receive the most enthusiastic responses from the audience, but everyone had moments when they represented themselves quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Dave Alvin / Jimmie Dale Gilmore / James McMurtry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted January 14, 2017 Report Share Posted January 14, 2017 Club d'Elf with John Medeski. A phenomenal show at the storied Columbus Theatre!!! Loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted January 14, 2017 Report Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) Pierre Omer's Swing Revue from Switzerland playing a downtown club. https://www.voodoorhythm.com/125-artists/pierre-omer-s-swing-revue/218-pierre-omer-s-swing-revue.html Small-group swing (including some gypsy swing influence) with a somewhat different modernized twist showing new directions this style of jazz can take. Edited January 14, 2017 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Laura Jurd's band 'Dinosaur' at the Turner-Sims, Southampton. Full house and deservedly so. More than a hint of Ian Carr in Laura's trumpet playing I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 On 1/13/2017 at 7:19 AM, A Lark Ascending said: He sold out his latest book and the copies of the Atzmon/Barnes CD he had in the interval. He seems to have a very loyal following. And I won the raffle (a Pete Hurt CD)! Bet they don't have raffles in New York clubs. I don't think they do. I saw Eric Alexander roped in to draw raffle tickets in Leeds. He seemed very unfamiliar with this strange British rite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) New York singer/pianist Daryl Sherman at Malcolm Frazer's house last night. Very much in Blossom Dearie vein. Entertaining. Edited January 16, 2017 by BillF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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