What live music are you going to see tonight?

[king ubu]

going to the Jazzfestival Schaffhausen tonight:

Irene Schweizer & Pierre Favre Duo (*)

Araxi Karnusian: Miniatur Orchestra

Malcolm Braff Voltage (w/Patrice Moret & Marc Erbetta)

*) Schweizer should have appeared with the Where's Africa Trio with Makaya Ntshoko and sax player Omri Ziegele.

I just read that Ziegele has had some accident and will be unable to play for about a month... as much as I love the Schweizer/Favre duo, I'd have loved a Schweizer/Ntshoko duo even more and was very much looking forward to seing Ntshoko live finally... well, guess it was not to be this time...

Wow, wow, wow! The Schweizer/Favre set was absolutely stunning! One of the most beautiful concerts I've witnessed!

Malcolm Braff's "Voltage" is - as the title suggests - plugged in. He's playing a modified/extended fender rhodes (some "pad" and an ibook on a desk next to him, but he never "played" that, I guess it was just there to steer the stuff), and Marcello Giuliani/Marc Erbetta of Erik Truffaz fame were the rhythm section. Giuliani had this huge sound, you couldn't make out notes, you saw him playing but could only feel it in your guts, and mightily so! Very cool!

The band in between took me a while to get into... it's a septet with trumpet, trombone, tenor, clarinet and bass clarinet, as well as two drummers. Sort of minimalist at times, the pieces being short, mostly composed and written out (with some room for solos, the bass clarinet guy was terrific, Araxi herself, more or less the leader of the band, had a few fine spots on tenor, too). Anyway, the very special world of sound they're creating started really opening up to me about a quarter of an hour in, and it got beautiful at spots, intriguing at others (imagine some funk rhythms by the group, and some very easily and flowingly done 15/8 stuff etc, paired with beautiful voicings and quite some humour, too).

Bought the "Voltage" (two gentLemen records, 2010) and Miniatur Orchester discs (the later is titled "Pro Specie Rara", Unit Records 2010). Got the most recent Schweizer/Favre disc of course, the magnificient "Ulrichsberg" on Intakt.

[kh1958]

Last night, again the Lucky Peterson band at Tucker's Blues in Deep Ellum.

It was another fine night of music, performed in two long sets. Featuring Lucky Peterson on organ, piano, guitar, bass guitar and vocals, with Tamara Peterson on vocals. Backed by a trio of bass, drums and percussion. The band is very smooth and accomplished--either of two bassists and two drummers may appear on a given night. The club has clear sound from any vantagepoint, and is not excessively loud.

Commencing in somewhat of a jazz vein, with Stanley Turrentine's Sugar (Lucky on piano), followed by a Grover Washington song (Piano followed by organ). Moving on to a Lucky Peterson original (Something is Holding Me Back), with powerhouse organ playing. The set then shifts into a blues vein, with Lucky switching to guitar. It was amusing to watch the incredulity of people at the table next to me, as having demonstrated superior facility on piano and organ, Lucky switches to guitar, which he also plays with the best in the blues field.

The second set featured a guest on keyboards (they performed one of his compositions and it was amazingly infectious)--the bassist wasn't there at the start of the set, but no problem, Lucky steps in on the bass until he shows, the rest of the set Lucky mostly performs as a vocalist, picking up his guitar a couple of times to play some wicked solos. This was mostly a soul/r&b set--it was quite enjoyable.

I'm wondering how long this will continue (the audiences at the club are moderate in size)--but I'm really enjoying the opportunity to hear a long-time favorite musician on a weekly basis.

[kh1958]

Last night at Poor David's Pub, before a meager crowd of about 30, Guitar Shorty. It was a fantastic show--two hour and a half long sets. Shorty has not slowed down in the least and sounded amazing, with a fine backup band (guitar, bass and drums).

Edited May 28, 2011 by kh1958

[ejp626]

Small chance I will see Miguel Zenon at Jazz Showcase tomorrow. Depends a bit on the weather and how things go with the in-laws tomorrow afternoon.

[BillF]

Just saw the Tubby Hayes Legacy Orchestra at the Southport Jazz Festival. Superbly disciplined, roarin' big band that really delivered a punch. All the charts were by Hayes - particularly liked Bud Powell's "Strictly Confidential" and "Parisian Thoroughfare" and Hayes' own "Dear Johnny B". Strongest soloists were Peter King, Alan Skidmore and Brian Dee. (Simon Spillett didn't show). Really the best British big band I've seen!!! (I won't make invidious comparisons with American bands I saw in my youth: Ellington, Basie, Hampton, Herman, Jones/Lewis, Gil Evans. )

Edited May 29, 2011 by BillF

[ejp626]

Saw Charles Lloyd at CSO last night. To be honest, a big part of the draw for me was to see Jason Moran on piano. That did happen but for probably only 1/3 of the show. The main focus was on his Sangam grouping with Eric Harland on drums and Zakir Hussain on tabla. Charles came out and did a somewhat loopy introduction where he talked about being inspired by Billy Higgins and so forth. He lost his train of thought a few times, particularly when distracted by some late-comers and the sound check guy. He wasn't nearly as nasty as Jarrett can be, but it was still a little off-putting. Even Zakir, who probably hears this spiel a lot, was getting bored and starting playing a little bit in the background to try to get him to wrap it up. After the talking was over, it got a lot better.

Harland and Hussain have really got quite a rapport, throwing stuff back and forth, with Charles occasionally playing on sax or flute (a bass flute perhaps?). Then the second piece, Lloyd went over a played the piano a bit, and eventually Harland moved behind him and started messing around with it, making it play like "prepared piano" (in the context sounding a little like a sitar) and sometimes directly pounding the inside to get some bass sounds. In performance it sounded better than I am describing it. Anyway, then Charles moved over to Harland's drum kit and did some messing about (shades of an AEC concert perhaps). It was all very odd and a bit trance-inducing. The only thing that concerned me was that if they were going to mess around on the piano, I thought it would be better to do this after Moran had a chance to play it, since they certainly didn't have time to retune it. So these two pieces took about 45 minutes. Then Moran and a bass player made a quartet and Hussain sat out for a bit. They did a Monk composition and something else which I probably should know, but don't know the name of. Then Hussain rejoined and they did a relatively short piece. All enjoyable, but the strongest stuff had been the Sangam material.

Then a lot of people fled for their Metra trains when the group left the stage. Lloyd seemed a bit put off by this when he came back on. The five musicians did an encore, and this next piece was probably the single most beautiful music they did. Would love to get a sound check of that... Then it was 10, and time for me to leave. Apparently, Lloyd came back out for a second encore, maybe playing solo, but I was through for the night. Enjoyable, though if the whole set had featured all five musicians and they could have sustained the magic of that first encore, it would have been truly incredible.

[Cali]

Caught Carlos Garnet with Phil Ranelin's group yesterday at The Barbara Morrison's Center for Performing Arts. Smokin'!

[Larry Kart]

Probably Jeb Bishop and Paal Nilssen-Love at the Hungry Brain. First set a duo, second adds Dave Rempis and Josh Abrams:

http://www.umbrellamusic.org/concerts/hungry-brain/2011-06-05

[medjuck]

Saw Taj Mahal on Thursday. Lot's of blues, which surprised me since last time I saw him he was more into his island thing. Then Saturday night, my wife's bands MYNX. No blues (wife can't convince the rest of the girls to try it) but lots of fun.

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jun/01/girls-are-back-town/

[Larry Kart]

Probably Jeb Bishop and Paul Nilsson-Love at the Hungry Brain. First set a duo, second adds Dave Rempis and Josh Abrams:

http://www.umbrellamusic.org/concerts/hungry-brain/2011-06-05

To modify an old John Litweiler line, Paal Nilssen-Love is a Philly Joe Jones from hell. That's praise BTW. Further, as fierce as he typically is, what P N-L plays makes beautiful sense, complements and stimulates whoever else is on the stand. I think that's because, as with PJJ, one can always feel the rudiments at the base of things.

[save0904]

Brad Mehldau solo at Laeizhalle Hamburg

[Van Basten II]

Saw Charles Gayle solo a few days ago, not a very gifted technically player but with still plenty of soul, he played a few pieces on the tenor and then switched to the piano for the balance of the evening. Typical free jazz with afro-american influences, ended the gig singing Amazing Grace. It felt like going to church. Thank you mister Gayle for the beautiful evening.

[marcello]

Last night I heard only the first song of the Soweto Kinch Quartet . It was all I could stand.

Later I heard a set of Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts with Martin Wind on bass Gary Versace on piano, Hammond, piano and accordion and Terrell Stafford on trumpet. A typical fun set with some real nifty brush work by Matt.

Tonight, mostly it will be the Arild Andersen Trio with Tommy Smith on tenor and Paolo Vinaccia on drums.

Maybe some of Bill Charlap's "Rolls Royce" (my term) trio too.

[ejp626]

Rudresh Mahanthappa is in residence at the Jazz Showcase starting tomorrow (June 16).

I intend to make the Sunday matinee.

[Van Basten II]

Later I heard a set of Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts with Martin Wind on bass Gary Versace on piano, Hammond, piano and accordion and Terrell Stafford on trumpet. A typical fun set with some real nifty brush work by Matt.

Matt is fun to watch indeed, saw David Ware solo, quite a fascinating set he played one piece on the Sopranino and one on tenor, despite his health problems he seems in great spirots as after the set he went for an inpromptu Q&A with the audience, demanding questions from the audience.

Edited June 17, 2011 by Van Basten II

[mjazzg]

Steve Lehman Trio w, Matt Brewer, Damion Read

stunning. great facility, energy and invention

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

This weekend: Eric Alexander and Bill Charlap in ny.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Saw the Nilson Matta/Roni Ben-Hur Quartet at The Kitano last night. Great show.....heavy rains kept some away though.

[kh1958]

Last night, the Cedric Burnside Project at Poor David's Pub.

I like R.L. Burnside's music, so I attended, though with no particular expectation of how good this would be.

Cedric Burnside--grandson of R.L. Burnside and the drummer in his band--opened on solo electric guitar--playing a number of songs in the style of Mississippi Hill Country Blues. He's a fine singer and pretty decent on country blues guitar, I was pleasantly surprised.

Eventually, he added a backup singer, and a drummer joined the group. For the next few songs, the momentum of the set flagged a bit from the promising start. But then Cedric Burnside and the drummer traded places, so to speak, as Cedric took over the drum chair, and the drummer took over lead guitar. This effected a dramatic change in the vitality of the music--Cedric Burnside is an electric and dynamic drummer, and the new guitarist was quite effective in the Mississippi trance blues style. The rest of the set was rather fantastic--amazing the sound that just two musicians achieved. They played a mixture of original music, R.L. Burnside pieces, and just a couple of hoary blues classics (sounding rather different in this style). The meager audience of 25 or so was wildly enthusiastic. After a single long set, Cedric announced they had to drive back to Mississippi for Father's Day, so that was it.

[Head Man]

Staying with my daughter in Princeton for the next week and will be going in to New York to see Ethan Iverson at Small's on tuesday. Any 'must-see' gigs that people can recommend for next week?

[kh1958]

Henry Threadgill is at the Jazz Gallery on Thursday.

Plus the Undead Jazz Festival.

http://www.undeadjazz.com/?page_id=276

[Van Basten II]

Saw another excellent gig showcasing the very fine Satoko Fujii with her project Ma-Do.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

Farmers by Nature, another outstanding gig

This is turning into the best Suoni edition ever.

[aparxa]

Johann Sebastian Bach : Matthaüs Passion

Akadêmia, dir. Françoise Lasserre

Basilique Saint-Remi

[Head Man]

Henry Threadgill is at the Jazz Gallery on Thursday.

Thanks for this but I didn't pick it up until today so I've missed the opportunity to see one of my favourite jazzmen. What a shame!

Anyway, The Ethan Iverson Trio were excellent at Small's, although Mr Iverson seemed a bit in awe of his sidemen (Buster Williams and Ben Riley) and stuck to standards for the early set that I watched. I guess it must be really difficult being the junior partner playing with a couple of jazz legends.