Stanko in Ann Arbor, Chicago and West Coast

[ejp626]

I don't have all the dates in front of me, but I wanted to let the Michigan board members know that Stanko is going to be at the Firefly on the 15th, then coming to Chicago on the 16th where a number of us will see him, then heading up and down the West Coast. Should be a good show.

[GregK]

Yep, I would go if it wasn't a Tuesday, but that is my big babysitting night, when the Mrs. is at school until almost 10pm. So, I'll miss this one

[Guest che]

Wow.

Go and see him.

He is fantastic live!

Che.

[Rooster_Ties]

Yep, I would go if it wasn't a Tuesday, but that is my big babysitting night, when the Mrs. is at school until almost 10pm. So, I'll miss this one

Hire another babysitter to cover for you, and go see Stanko.

If he were playing anywhere close to where I was, I'd make every effort to go see him. He doesn't tour the U.S. all that often, and what I've heard on record and in some private tapes, has been uniformly amazing.

[dsgtrane]

I just caught him last week at Birdland in NYC while up there on business. He was great but his long-time pianist stole the show. Took 7 of my co-workers (who are not jazzaholics) and most of them were equally impressed.

[Patrick]

Just saw the quartet tonight at Blues Alley in Washington DC. They played many of the tracks from Suspended Night (my only exposure to TS thus far has been this recording). Tomasz certainly is not a technician on trumpet but the compositions (what first interested me), and especially the interplay between the members of his young rhythm section were electric. Highly recommended. Find that babysitter [...or arrange for passage to Poland]!

[ejp626]

Just saw the show last night. It was good, but Hothouse was completely packed. I think half of Chicago's Polish population was in the house. And they were generally saving seats for 6 and 8 people. I wasn't able to even get a seat, so I stood through 4 or 5 songs, then moved to a different room and sat for the last two songs of the set, then left. I just can't enjoy music when I am that uncomfortable. (I love Hothouse but they have to stop overselling their shows. Even the somewhat dingy Green Mill does a better job of crowd control. It would just take one visit from the fire marshall to shut them down for a while.)

Anyway, I thought Stanko came on kind of "pitchy" (to steal from Randy Jackson), but those problems went away as the evening wore on, and as the tunes got "hotter." I think he was mostly playing songs from Suspended Night. There was a little more fire to them than I remember, playing the ECM style "hot" if you get my drift. It worked for me anyway. I particularly liked a piece where the pianist played the piano with drum sticks inside the piano, hitting the strings and the wood inside the piano. From where I was standing, the drummer looks a little bit like Joe G.

[GregK]

I wish I could have gone. Some things just have to be missed...