how is herbies 'new directions' band?

[Adam]

Playing in Los Angeles, at USC, on Feb 11.

[scottb]

OK, I just got back from the gig. Overall, it was great! Packed house.

The tour has had a month to develop and I think most of the kinks are gone.

Brecker still had a music stand and actually Herbie had some notes on the keyboard (couldn't see if they were computer settings or music charts.

The laptop has now been replaced by 2 Apple IMACs that were donated by Apple for the tour. Herbie still did a lot of fiddling with it, especially early on. Herbie was wearing some sort of computer device and had a visible wire running up his suit. At times he was playing piano but it was generating synth sounds??

Brecker announced the songs halfway through:

1 A "deconstructed" Dolphin Dance (Hancock)

2 Brown (Hancock)

3 Loose Threads (Brecker)

4 Poet (Hargrove)

5 Pinnochio (Shorter)

6 ??

...

Encore Chameleon (more later)

Carrington was impressive. I've never seen a drummer from the "Tony Williams school" live before. There really is a telepathy between she and Hancock. Really the whole band navigated the many changes well.

Brecker was solid. I was errantly recalling Late's comment about him sounding like Coltrane and thinking to myself "This is Shorter all the way." On rereading the post, we agree. The EWI thing was entertaining and fun and like he said, the crowd liked it.

Hargrove for me was the highlight! Wearing the suit, with the short hair, playing the way he was, I kept thinking "This is the closest I'll ever get to seeing Miles live." On his tune "Poet," which is a tribute to Miles, he used the fluegelhorn and nailed the Davis vibe without imitating as Quincey said. Hargrove's tone is beautiful, even while playing fast runs and nailing the high notes. He had two mics set up, one equipt with effects which he used well. After nailing solos he would swagger off stage remniscient of a young Mike Tyson going back to his corner after another early round knockout.

All of the tunes went through LOTS of changes and many times I thought I was listening to BITCHES BREW. They would be pretty far "out" then suddenly drop into a heavy funk beat. I loved it!

My wife however... she admitted later that during the first song she didn't thnk she was going to be able to listen to the whole thing. I think there were a lot of folks in the crowd who felt the same way. HH droped the Jazz bomb on Fayetteville!!

Now a moment of embarassment... for the encore, the band returned to the stage. A girl down the aisle yells "Bring on the funk!" (I think she wanted to hear "Rockit." Another guy call from the back "Chameleon" ( I am cringing, hoping they don't hear.) Hargrove actually looked to the crowd, rolling his eyes and mouthing the words "Please, no."

Brecker starts off with the Chameleon theme, but in a post-bop style. I'm thinking the band has gotten their revenge on this crowd. Eventually, they work their way around to the Headhunters and the crowd is lovin' it. Clapping, cheering, headbobbing and the song ends to a great ovation.

Even my wife commented that the musicians must feel bad when the crowd wants to hear their old stuff more than the new. She made the comparison to Peter Frampton, who I hear gets booed when he tries to play anything other than Framptom Comes Alive.

Well, that's how I saw it. By the way Herbie was brilliant! Somehow I failed to mention that. It was a great show overall, if you get chance, SEE IT!

Edited March 9, 2005 by scottb

[Peter Johnson]

Great review, Scott--felt like I was there. Sounds very similar to the HH show I saw a year ago--

[Soul Stream]

Saw this show in San Antonio tonight. For my money, Roy Hargrove made everyone else onstage sound like second place. Not that it's a competition, but at this high level of musicianship...Roy connected EVERY time like a prize fighter connecting a left hook. His ride on the heavily deconstructed Dolphin Dance was one of the best solos I've ever heard in my life. And that was just the beginning.

The band sounded like Miles 60's stuff. No complaints, but a little goes a long way sometimes for me here. When Brecker pulled out his breath computer controller for a solo showcase sans band and started a 20 minute romp through virtual Disneyland (replete with gregorian chants and jimi hendrix faux guitar licks) my mind wandered and I never got it back.

Roy Hargrove and Terri Lynn stole the show for me at least.

[scottb]

That's the way I felt and the suprising thing is, he was the one I was least excited to see!

Has he got any playing like that recorded? I have a couple of his early ones and they are solid but not like what I saw the other night!

[Big Al]

Interesting. According to the reviewer of the show in Ft. Worth, the first song lasted a full 55 minutes, and people were actually heading for the exit during that song. He said overall the show was good; I guess those that left were expecting something else.

[kh1958]

  Big Al said:

Interesting. According to the reviewer of the show in Ft. Worth, the first song lasted a full 55 minutes, and people were actually heading for the exit during that song. He said overall the show was good; I guess those that left were expecting something else.

That review was not very well done, as the concert deserved more enthusiasm.

There were of course occasional people leaving (though not that early), as this was a Bass Hall subscription concert, so there were a fair number of people in attendance who were not jazz fans.

Roy played great, as did Herbie throughout. I don't care for Terri Lynne Carrington much; she was the weakest link. The best part was the long encore, when they really caught fire.

I would love to see this group in a club.

[Soul Stream]

Let's face it, the people that go to these concerts are for the most part rich, old white people (sorry, that's the plain truth)...nothing wrong with that of course. However, I get the feeling many go to these events w/o any idea of what the event is. Many are season ticket holders for these centers (last night it was the Culver Center). I had the same, even more drastic experience at the Ornette show.

It's really embarrassing to think that these masters still have to endure an uninformed audience that is constantly streaming for the doors throughout the show.

I also think a little talking/banter/info. from the stage would go a long way toward keeping some of those on the fence interested. It was almost a competition between Brecker and Hargrove as to who could run off stage faster after their respective solos. There was so much running on/off stage it was distracting. No one said a word until almost 2 hours into the show when Brecker came out by himself and said a few nice comment and showed some humanity. No to say that this wasn't great playing at the highest levels of musicianship, no doubt. But Miles had panther-like stage charisma that was a show unto itself. Felt nothing like that from Herbie, so a few words on the mic could have kept the audience with him more imho. The computers also added distance with some of the normal folk I think.

However, not to get distracted from the music... all said a wonderful night of musicianship. Well over 2 hours, they never wavered. Herbie flew in his own piano, computers and surround sound system. The sounds from his computer were really wild, flying around the auditorium. Playing-wise from the computer, Herbie had some nice horn-type sounds blending with Brecker/Hargrove at times. Other than that, Herbie seemed to do a lot of knob twirling and not a lot of playing at points. Although several times he really, really burned on the piano.

Hargrove made me a huge fan last night. He just sounded so fresh. I was blown away.

I could go on, but let's just say "see the show" if it comes your way.

Edited March 12, 2005 by Soul Stream

[kh1958]

Similarly, in Fort Worth, there was not a word spoken until over two hours into the concert.

I vastly prefer the Cannonball Adderley approach to the Miles Davis approach which seems to dominate in jazz today.