Gig a month in 2009 - a challenge

[A Lark Ascending]

Marilyn Crispell was excellent last night. A wonderfully inventive 45 minute improvisation to start with that eventually came to rest on a lovely 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most' (perfect for the season. Shorter pieces in the second half (well one was 25 minutes!) and a couple of encores.

Interested is how she sustained the longer improvisations without resorting to the vamps that often root Jarrett's longer solo recordings.

[PHILLYQ]

I made my October gig on Saturday at the Abron Arts center in NYC. It was an Incus Records festival and had a bunch of AG people playing there. Susie Ibarra, Fred Frith, Zorn, Milford Graves, George Lewis, Richard Teitelbaum, Cyro Baptista and Min Xiao Fen in various groupings and a big finale with all at the end. For me it's very difficult to explain the music in words, but it was quite powerful and enjoyable. Fred Frith had a bunch of different objects he applied to the guitar, like rolls of tape, a bow, and other stuff I didn't quite recognize. Milford Graves is one hell of a drummer, I'd heard some fine things he did on recordings but live he really burns(His dancing bit gets a bit showbizzy though). George Lewis was amazing!!!

I'm going to start looking for a November gig to catch as I need only that and a December gig and I'll have met the 'gig a month' for 2009!!!

[king ubu]

Bona was devastatingly bad... he couldn't sing and they didn't cancel it... the crowd adored him (my theory is: every chick in there wanted to do the ole in-and-out with him, while every bloke wished he was so cool and tall and all...).

Anyway, I told that story to some in German and don't feel like repeating. In short: he noticed early on that people would frenetically applaud whatever he did (silly political stories that went on for way too long, for instance), and he played it very easy, performing some ugly fusion music, showing off his chops, doing a Jaco song (that started out great but turned into a silly quote-fest), doing sing-alongs in every other song, telling the crowd that he'll fire his band and take them along on his tour because they sing so well... yuck yuck.

I wrote an email to the club, but of course got no reply...

Couple of days before I caught BraffOesterRohrer again - a whole different story!

Most certainly one of the finest piano trios around these days! Braff is incredible, and Rohrer is one of the funniest, wittiest, most playful drummers I've seen (in the league of Joey Baron or Bobby Previte, I guess, though he's different... less "chops" and more whimsicality, I guess).

I'm thinking of catching CéU live on Friday. Her second album is just out but I didn't get it yet (too expensive here, will have to search the webs for a feasible offer).

Anyone caught her live?

[king ubu]

Caught CéU on Friday 30th - excellent gig (see the "Hard Bossa" thread for a short review).

On Wednesday (Nov 4th), I caught Dave Douglas' Quintet (Donny McCaslin, Uri Caine, Matt Penman, Clarence Penn). Excellent concert. Great tunes, funny, charming, groovy, from marching band to dixie, from Masada to gypsy, from Monk to Ornette... Douglas and McCaslin were excellent, both with plenty of dirtiness in their sound, and lots of punch. Clarence Penn was terrific as well, very lose in his feel, very relaxed yet very poised and often very busy, sort of a groovier/funkier version of Elvin at some times, it seemed. Penman had some fine spots as well, but they were rather few. He and Penn were excellent in their backing though. Uri Caine was - interestingly enough, as Douglas kept pointing at him "the GREAT Uri Caine on piano, these tunes were written especially for him, and especially for him on grand piano" - pretty superfluous and boring. Of course he has great technical skill, but the piano was totally uncalled for in these tunes. They'd be much more open-ended without a harmonic instrument, and the clean sound of the piano (as Caine played it) was not a good match for McCaslin and Douglas' sonic inflections. Anyway, on top of that, Caine totally lacked humor in his playing...

Still, it was an excellent concert!

Next up: Cesaria Evora on Nov. 12th, Carla Bley & The Lost Chords on Nov. 20th, and possibly on Nov. 22nd The Klezmatics. Not sure the wallet will allow all of this, alas... but tickets vor Evora I have already.

[kh1958]

Bona was devastatingly bad... he couldn't sing and they didn't cancel it... the crowd adored him (my theory is: every chick in there wanted to do the ole in-and-out with him, while every bloke wished he was so cool and tall and all...).

Anyway, I told that story to some in German and don't feel like repeating. In short: he noticed early on that people would frenetically applaud whatever he did (silly political stories that went on for way too long, for instance), and he played it very easy, performing some ugly fusion music, showing off his chops, doing a Jaco song (that started out great but turned into a silly quote-fest), doing sing-alongs in every other song, telling the crowd that he'll fire his band and take them along on his tour because they sing so well... yuck yuck.

I wrote an email to the club, but of course got no reply...

Couple of days before I caught BraffOesterRohrer again - a whole different story!

Most certainly one of the finest piano trios around these days! Braff is incredible, and Rohrer is one of the funniest, wittiest, most playful drummers I've seen (in the league of Joey Baron or Bobby Previte, I guess, though he's different... less "chops" and more whimsicality, I guess).

I'm thinking of catching CéU live on Friday. Her second album is just out but I didn't get it yet (too expensive here, will have to search the webs for a feasible offer).

Anyone caught her live?

I haven't seen her live, but can attest that her second CD is a good one.

[king ubu]

Yes, got it in the meantime. I think it's even better than the first!

But live, it was different, harder, more edge, more "body" to the music, more bass, less ethereal stuff... quite good. They should do a live disc!

[PHILLYQ]

I made my November gig on a lucky Friday the 13th- I caught Tab Benoit at Sullivan Hall in NYC. Opening was Mike Zito, a passable singer and pretty good guitarist playing blues/rock/Cajun stuff. Tab Benoit was another story, he's not only a very good singer, he's a cracklin' guitarist mining the same general territory as Mike Zito but with better results. Tab Benoit had the packed club screaming and dancing and he delivered in spades. Great gig, and now if I make a December gig I'll have the entire year with a gig a month!

http://www.tabbenoit.com/

Edited November 17, 2009 by PHILLYQ

[king ubu]

next up (November will be a seven-gig-a-month-month, or so...):

Carla Bley & The Lost Chors (Friday 20th)

The Klezmatics (Sunday 22nd)

www.unerhoert.ch (Friday 27th to Saturday 29th)

including: Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief, Iva Bittova/Pierre Favre, Nate Wooley (in a trio with Christian Weber, Paul Lytton), Nik Bärtsch Solo, Co Streiff/Russ Johnson Quartet, OM, Han Bennink solo, Gerry Hemingway/Marilyn Crispell Duo

Not sure I'll manage all three nights (financially, that is...)

[sidewinder]

next up (November will be a seven-gig-a-month-month, or so...):

Carla Bley & The Lost Chors (Friday 20th)

The Klezmatics (Sunday 22nd)

www.unerhoert.ch (Friday 27th to Saturday 29th)

including: Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief, Iva Bittova/Pierre Favre, Nate Wooley (in a trio with Christian Weber, Paul Lytton), Nik Bärtsch Solo, Co Streiff/Russ Johnson Quartet, OM, Han Bennink solo, Gerry Hemingway/Marilyn Crispell Duo

Not sure I'll manage all three nights (financially, that is...)

The 'Sleepthief' should be good. Saw them a while ago in Birmingham. A German/Brit/US combination that works !

[king ubu]

Laubrock seems to be more at home in the UK scene, after all, no? There was an article about her in The Wire some months back, but I only dimly remember it (not sure I even read it all).

[king ubu]

November duty went on with two highlights:

Friday night it was Carla Bley & The Lost Chords. I went there more to hook up with a friend whom I've not been in touch with for years than for the concert... he's a jazz musician by now (we were in the army band together), here's his website.

Anyway, we were both mightily impressed! I guess the most astonishing about the band is how they manage to keep things at low volume, almost low-key, but then do so much inside this self-imposed restriction. For instance, how Andy Sheppard did lengthy stretches of overblowing on tenor, or circular-breathing stuff (mainly on soprano), yet always kept it down and completely controlled, that was very impressive! Same goes for Billy Drummond, who played A LOT but never, ever covered the others. He also had a weird drum set-up, using three ride cymbals, but no other cymbals at all...

THE highlight, to both of us though, was Steve Swallow. How he nailed every note, just where it ought to be, and just the note that ought to be there... or so it seems. And his groove is just amazing! (I've seen him about five times by now, in various settings, Lee Konitz, Bobby Previte, his own Damaged in Transit trio... and was impressed each time!)

The arrangements were great of course - as is to be expected with Carla Bley. They did songs from the Lost Chords and Songs with Legs discs (and possibly also some from the Fresu disc, which I don't have), and highlights included "Misterioso" (what a hard song to pull! Sheppard's solo opening was slightly reminiscent of Rollins' great opening on his Volume 2 Blue Note album, but of course in a subdued way...), Carla's take on Mogie's "Sidewinder", and then - opening the second set - a duet of Carla & Steve's, from the new christmas carrols disc.

Then last night, The Klezmatics. Great party music! Lorin Sklamberg was great, I loved the Woody Guthrie songs they included in the second set... Matt Darriau could have played a few solos more, and Frank London could have... well, he was sort of over the top after maximum four bars into each solo, which got a bit tiring. There was also an excellent violin player, a good bassist (with one of the ugliest basses there is... the contrast between it and Swallow's beautiful hollow-body bass couldn't have been bigger), as well as a young guy who happily bumped away on the drums (including 8 toms, allowing him to play little melodies and stuff).

Party music for the global village, I guess... I'm back in the Zurich village for now, waiting to fulfull November duties with some of the concerts at the Unerhört festival.

Not sure what December will bring, but Depart (Harry Sokal/Heiri Känzig/Jojo Mayer) will play and I'm sure they'd be great to hear live!

[king ubu]

next up (November will be a seven-gig-a-month-month, or so...):

Carla Bley & The Lost Chors (Friday 20th)

The Klezmatics (Sunday 22nd)

www.unerhoert.ch (Friday 27th to Saturday 29th)

including: Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief, Iva Bittova/Pierre Favre, Nate Wooley (in a trio with Christian Weber, Paul Lytton), Nik Bärtsch Solo, Co Streiff/Russ Johnson Quartet, OM, Han Bennink solo, Gerry Hemingway/Marilyn Crispell Duo

Not sure I'll manage all three nights (financially, that is...)

The 'Sleepthief' should be good. Saw them a while ago in Birmingham. A German/Brit/US combination that works !

I skipped the whole festival... too tired and too exhausted from all the pre-x-mas stress...

Next up: Depart, December 20th

[PHILLYQ]

Well, I made my December gig in a roundabout way- I went to see 'Fela' on Saturday and caught lots of Afropop done by a terriffic band(Antibalas)- to my ears it's a gig, but I may squeeze something in later in the month to boot. 'Fela' is most highly recommended, spectacular dancing, costumes, great music, charismatic lead, etc.