What live music are you going to see tonight?

[kh1958]

1 hour ago, HutchFan said:

I had the good fortune to see Larry Willis perform on Friday night at the Velvet Note, a local club. It was an excellent show, the highlight of which was a performance of "Flamenco Sketches."  Very, very moving. 

Willis' sidemen were Curtis Lundy on bass and Jason Brown on drums. 

So glad I had a chance to see him.  If you ever have an opportunity to see Willis perform, don't think about it -- GO!!!  

For awhile in the mid-1980s, he was the pianist who was part of the unofficial rhythm section at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth--with Walter Booker or Bob Cranshaw on bass and Idris Mohammed on drums--they would back up the likes of, for example,  Freddie Hubbard or David Newman at the club--some definite highly fond memories of seeing Larry Willis perform. After a long drought, I saw him last year with Head of State at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and he sounds as good as ever.

[Steve Reynolds]

Francisco Mela Crash Trio + 1 @ Cornelia Street tonight 9:00 & 10:30

Mela on drums with Leo Genovese on piano, Santi Debriano on bass & Tony Malaby on tenor as the plus one:)

never seen any of them save for my guy Malaby

sounds/seems like it should be a burning band

Edited February 24, 2017 by Steve Reynolds

[Patrick]

Maria Schneider Orchestra at the Kennedy Center last night. Started out with a pair of tunes from Evanescence ("Green Piece" and "Gumba Blue") and then moved to more recent material including "Home" (much love for Rich Perry), "Nimbus" (Clarence Penn and Frank Kimbrough having fun getting stormy with Steve Wilson) and "Walking by Flashlight" (featuring Scott Robinson) from The Thompson Fields. Also performed was a recent Library of Congress (and others) commission called "Data Lords" -- a darker composition inspired (?) by Google that she worked on after the recent collaboration with Bowie. First set ended with another of the Winter Morning Walks compositions, "How Important It Must Be", featuring Donny McCaslin. Great performing all around. Maria rules in her space.

Had a nice conversation with Frank Kimbrough afterward discussing Herbie Nichols and other topics.

[OliverM]

Tonight: Noël Akchoté KCS project

NA with Mary Halvorson, Joachim Badenhorst, Brad Jones, Han Bennink

At Dynamo, Banlieues Bleues festival, Pantin (Paris)

Edited March 7, 2017 by OliverM

[Rooster_Ties]

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 9:54 AM, Patrick said:

Maria Schneider Orchestra at the Kennedy Center last night. Started out with a pair of tunes from Evanescence ("Green Piece" and "Gumba Blue") and then moved to more recent material including "Home" (much love for Rich Perry), "Nimbus" (Clarence Penn and Frank Kimbrough having fun getting stormy with Steve Wilson) and "Walking by Flashlight" (featuring Scott Robinson) from The Thompson Fields. Also performed was a recent Library of Congress (and others) commission called "Data Lords" -- a darker composition inspired (?) by Google that she worked on after the recent collaboration with Bowie. First set ended with another of the Winter Morning Walks compositions, "How Important It Must Be", featuring Donny McCaslin. Great performing all around. Maria rules in her space.

Had a nice conversation with Frank Kimbrough afterward discussing Herbie Nichols and other topics.

My wife and I were at both sets that night too! -- my first time hearing Schneider's group (which played in Columbia, MO (2 hours drive) quite often, but never quite to Kansas City, where I lived for some 17 years - and I never got around to getting down to hear her).

Anyway, such an amazing evening!!  I really loved "Data Lords" (my favorite tune of the night), and you can REALLY hear how the general feeling of the tune came out of her work with David Bowie (the tune they did together, "Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)" is most definitely a cousin-composition, at least in timbre).  IN addition to the tunes you cited, I also remember a really great version of "Love Theme from Spartacus" (also featuring Rich Perry, iirc) -- which, to my ears, was the most Gil-Evans-ish-sounding tune/arrangement all night.

Would have liked to have heard a couple more trumpet features, but overall, an incredible evening.  I wish I'd suggested to Ms. Schneider at the autograph table between sets, that she might consider doing an entire album of jazz-orchestra arrangements of all of Bowie's Blackstar album (which she clearly loves).  I'd probably personally kick in $200 on such an effort through Kickstarter (or ArtistShare).  She had a semi-(in)direct hand in Blackstar even coming into being the way it did, so it might even be fitting.  I heard/read somewhere recently that "Lazarus" was the other tune that Bowie had brought to her (in addition to "Sue"), but that they hadn't gone anywhere with it.

[Patrick]

Glad you enjoyed it! For me, been fortunate to catch MSO at Univ Maryland twice, and made it to their Jazz Standard Thanksgiving hang once (...MSO playing on their home court?). "Spartacus" was definitely a second set tune that I did not hear -- would have remembered that one. Question that I forgot to ask Frank that perhaps you can answer: in terms of tunes played, how repetitious from first set to second? [I've ever only enjoyed one at a time.]

[jlhoots]

Perla Batalla

[Chuck Nessa]

Last night it was Extraordinary Popular Delusions at the Beat Kitchen on Belmont in Chicago. Jim Baker - keyboards +, Brian Sandstrom - bass & guitar, Steve Hunt - drums and Mars Williams - reeds.  These guys are all old friends but this is the first time I heard the band in the home place.

Luckily the venue is a 10 minute bus ride from Carla's apartment.

I miss living in Chicago.

[Chuck Nessa]

About 15 minutes ago I posted the same message on Facebook and have had 14 responses.

[Larry Kart]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Last night it was Extraordinary Popular Delusions at the Beat Kitchen on Belmont in Chicago. Jim Baker - keyboards +, Brian Sandstrom - bass & guitar, Steve Hunt - drums and Mars Williams - reeds.  These guys are all old friends but this is the first time I heard the band in the home place.

Luckily the venue is a 10 minute bus ride from Carla's apartment.

I miss living in Chicago.

We miss you living here too.

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

About 15 minutes ago I posted the same message on Facebook and have had 14 responses.

FB either is hipper or casts a wider net -- maybe both.

[uli]

My shortfalls of living in Chicago is that i have had on my mind to go... hear the band at Beat Kitchen foir about 10 years, but i never go because they will be there next week. I will go and hear them in the next couple of weeks , promised. I alsways enjoyed them when they played in the good old velvet.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by uli

[fkimbrough]

On 3/7/2017 at 3:23 PM, Patrick said:

 Question that I forgot to ask Frank that perhaps you can answer: in terms of tunes played, how repetitious from first set to second? [I've ever only enjoyed one at a time.]

Hi Patrick - If we're playing two sets. we almost never repeat anything from the previous one .  The exception, and it would be rare, might be a brand new piece that we're breaking in.  When we play the Jazz Standard on Thanksgiving week, the book could easily be 30 - 40 tunes deep, with material ranging from stuff she wrote or arranged in college (My Ideal, for instance) to new pieces. Maria works very hard to put sets together in such a way that everyone gets featured in each set.  Sometimes that's impossible, but that's always her goal.  When there's a recent recording, sets are usually weighted more heavily with recent material, but otherwise, we could play almost anything, from any period of the band's existence.  Thanks for making it out - it was so nice to meet you, and I'm glad you enjoyed the concert! 

[Patrick]

After thinking about it a bit more, I think the two UMD shows were single sets. Each time I've enjoyed MSO I did notice an emphasis, not surprisingly, on new material, and a balanced approach with respect to solo features. Obviously the book, as you note, can be, and is, quite large.

I'm glad my wife said "there's the piano player" to me as we were headed out of Kennedy Center, and that the three of us had a good conversation. Next time in warmer climes (...or indoors), and two sets!

[jlhoots]

Giacomo Gates

[Steve Reynolds]

Mat Maneri Quartet with:

Mat Maneri: viola  

Lucien Ban: piano

John Hebert:  bass

Randy Peterson: drums

9:00 & 10:30 @ Cornelia Street Cafe NYC

Been maybe 2 years since I've see the *great* Randy Peterson. Fired up.

 

[Ken Dryden]

Nothing jazz wise is in my area until April:

Judy Carmichael with Harry Allen and Chris Flory

Fred Hersch solo (a 2 + hour drive)

Hopefully there will be more local booking of interest next month

but the rest of the acts haven't been announced.

 

 

[BillF]

Bruce Barth with Arnie Somogyi (bs) and Stephen Keogh (dms) at Malcolm Frazer's house. Great session! Bruce far more of a swinging pianist than he sounds on record.

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by BillF

[king ubu]

Joe Lovano's quartet tonight - it's been a while since I heard this kind of "mainstream" jazz in concert, looking forward.

[Steve Reynolds]

I've been trying to decide if and how to write about what I experienced on Saturday night at Cornelia Street and I've come up almost empty.

I will say that Mat Maneri is insane and out of his mind and yet he is in thoroughly and completely a genius level improvisor. I will also say I'm more in awe of Randy Peterson than I've ever been. Therefor I'm even more confused about his place in the world of music as far as being almost completely unknown and therefore unheard and under appreciated.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Steve Reynolds

[king ubu]

True dat, Steve!

I've had nowhere near the exposure to them that lucky you had and continues to have ... but last summer, the final concert at Willisau -- upside down the world seemed to be that day. Everybody there to hear a rather dreadful Joachim Kühn trio set, but no one seemed to know who those two weirdos were that happened to be there as uhm, supporting act. To me, the first set by Maneri/Peterson was pure bliss, a magic set really ... I should've known better and left right after ... the audience loved Kühn (and I got why - but that just adds to my contempt for crowds I'm afraid), which made it even more dreadful to me.

[HutchFan]

ubu - I'm curious: What is it about Joachim Kühn's playing that you find so distasteful?  Do you think he overplays?

Honest question. Just asking.

[king ubu]

I actually like some of his music alright (Kühn-Bekkas-Lopez for instance), and I respect Ornette ... but yeah, he overplayed, underplayed, forthepeopeplayed, milked motifs noteven existing, romanticised for hours no end in c major, and he was pretending to be oh so relaxed and savvy when he was just sloppy and careless and in reality as stiff as his extremely boring (though of course technically competent [musically impotent] ... for the people, dig?) rhythm section. Funny visual detail: accompanyists bald=impotent monk like chaste, boss with lion's mane=hippy happy hoppy huppy etc diddle do dum ...

That

[HutchFan]

Ah. Understood. 

I've never seen him perform -- so I didn't realize that he "plays to the house" so much. . . 

[king ubu]

Yeah, I found that somewhat disturbing actually, was going in there fairly positive, at least neutral ... and found it pretty drab.

Pics from last night - was good, not great:

[kh1958]

Kadri Gopalnath, at Unity Church of Dallas. An amazing Carnatic saxophone concert--a single set lasting three and one quarter hours. A group consisting of alto saxophone, violin, and two percussionists. Quite wonderful music.