What live music are you going to see tonight?

[A Lark Ascending]

My mistake. He did play alto as well. 7 reeds on the stands. There were storming alto duels but also tunes working off contrasting reeds. 

[ornette]

On 13 January 2016 at 4:58 PM, A Lark Ascending said:

Good singer and guitarist (and bass player). I thought her Yeats album was one of the most original jazz vocal albums in many a year. 

Hope the turnout is better than last time I saw her (when she did the Yates songs and some of the Cohen ones that she was then working on prior to the album). Must have been about 30 people in the audience. 

Maybe 80 people there with not much publicity. Good concert although I thought she made some odd song choices - like Joni Mitchell's The Priest and You Know Who I Am by LC, a really dull song. Great versions of Tower of Song, Sisters of Mercy and, especially, Suzanne.

[BillF]

The Big Screen Trio at Malcolm Frazer's house this evening.

http://www.linnrecords.com/artist-big-screen.aspx

[A Lark Ascending]

1 hour ago, ornette said:

Maybe 80 people there with not much publicity. Good concert although I thought she made some odd song choices - like Joni Mitchell's The Priest and You Know Who I Am by LC, a really dull song. Great versions of Tower of Song, Sisters of Mercy and, especially, Suzanne.

Glad it was good. She rarely takes the easy path - one standards disc and her take on Carole King's 'Tapestry'; elsewhere she goes for self-written or off-the-wall choices.  

1 hour ago, BillF said:

The Big Screen Trio at Malcolm Frazer's house this evening.

http://www.linnrecords.com/artist-big-screen.aspx

Dave Newton. Used to love his sets at Appleby, especially when he broke into his stride routine. Not seem him for a while. 

[sidewinder]

Dave Newton appeared at Swanage last year with one of the groups. Always worth checking out..

[jeffcrom]

Chicago guitarist Steve Marquette's improvising string trio, The Few, at Eyedrum in Atlanta.

It was a good set, but I think I was more impressed by the opening act, the local cello duet of Benjamin Shirley and Chelsea Dunn.

Besides, Eyedrum has no heat or air conditioning, and every time Marquette plays there he brings Chicago weather with him.

[paul secor]

8 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Chicago guitarist Steve Marquette's improvising string trio, The Few, at Eyedrum in Atlanta.

It was a good set, but I think I was more impressed by the opening act, the local cello duet of Benjamin Shirley and Chelsea Dunn.

Besides, Eyedrum has no heat or air conditioning, and every time Marquette plays there he brings Chicago weather with him.

The idea of a cello duet sounds fascinating to me.

[jeffcrom]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

The idea of a cello duet sounds fascinating to me.

They played a composed piece by Shirley, a long, excellent improvised piece, and Wayne Shorter's "Dolores."

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Eric Alexander is supposed to be bringing a quartet to the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA this Saturday night (1/23) but it may hinge on his ability to get out of NY before this blizzard hits. I hope he makes it. He's bringing One For All pianist Dave Hazeltine and I haven't seen Hazeltine play in a while.

[A Lark Ascending]

Peter King Quartet at Sheffield Jazz

Peter King: saxophone; Tom Cawley: piano; Jeremy Brown: bass; Stephen Keogh: drums

Great start to the Spring season in Sheffield. Peter King might not quite have the power he once did (unsurprisingly at 75) but he's as fluid as ever. Nice mix of standards and tunes by Coltrane, Shorter (a marvellous 'Footprints') and Elvin Jones. A particularly lovely ballad feature on 'I Can't Get Started' where you heard King's love of Charlie Parker; and a mainly solo 'Lush Life' with the band just joining in on the final bars. Excellent support from the piano/bass/drums. 

Just disappointed he didn't do his opera.  

[BFrank]

Going to see FORQ tonight. Should be entertaining, if nothing else. Plus it's in a VERY small venue - the Joe Henderson Lab at SFJAZZ.

*Made up of members of funk megastar band Snarky Puppy, Rudder, and Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, FORQ is, in bassist/Snarky Puppy founder Michael League’s words, “a band that is biiiiiig on groove and sonic exploration.”

Chris McQueen guitar
Henry Hey keyboards
Michael League bass
Jason "JT" Thomas drums

[relyles]

ROVA saxophone quartet

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Kenny Garrett Thursday night (1/28) at Scullers in Boston.

[BFrank]

On 1/24/2016 at 3:48 PM, BFrank said:

Going to see FORQ tonight. Should be entertaining, if nothing else. Plus it's in a VERY small venue - the Joe Henderson Lab at SFJAZZ.

*Made up of members of funk megastar band Snarky Puppy, Rudder, and Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, FORQ is, in bassist/Snarky Puppy founder Michael League’s words, “a band that is biiiiiig on groove and sonic exploration.”

Chris McQueen guitar
Henry Hey keyboards
Michael League bass
Jason "JT" Thomas drums

This turned out to be just "meh," but entertaining enough for an hour. Wouldn't buy their albums.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 1/26/2016 at 11:01 AM, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Kenny Garrett Thursday night (1/28) at Scullers in Boston.

Had a blast last night. It was a great show with an incredible drum performance by Marcus Baylor (I think that's who it was - the mics there are not favorable to the spoken word). Unfortunately, said drummer was playing so loudly that the sound guy felt the need to crank everyone else up to pain-inducing levels. You could actually feel the "acoustic" bass thumping your chest. There was an older guy sitting next to me who left early. It was that loud. I went out in the hall for a tune to give my ears a break. My right ear is still complaining shrilly at me today.

I am not a fan of loud gigs and there is really no need to do this at Scullers, a club with good acoustics to begin with. The solid wood panels on the walls act like acoustic mirrors, making it pretty loud & bright. A little amplification goes a long way in that space.

A note to Kenny Garrett if he reads this - Tell your incredible drummer that he can still play like a maniac without trying to pound the sticks through the drum heads.

BTW, I think this was the band I saw. I say "I think" because the pianist was behind a pole. Check out the duet with the drummer starting at around the 21:30 mark. It was even wilder last night (if you can believe it).

 

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Kevin Bresnahan

[sidewinder]

Kenny's a good guy - remember him coming around to the tables at Pizza Express in London years ago and shooting the breeze, also chatting in Japanese to people at the table next to me.

[BillF]

25 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Had a blast last night. It was a great show with an incredible drum performance by Marcus Baylor (I think that's who it was - the mics there are not favorable to the spoken word). Unfortunately, said drummer was playing so loudly that the sound guy felt the need to crank everyone else up to pain-inducing levels. You could actually feel the "acoustic" bass thumping your chest. There was an older guy sitting next to me who left early. It was that loud. I went out in the hall for a tune to give my ears a break. My right ear is still complaining shrilly at me today.

I am not a fan of loud gigs and there is really no need to do this at Scullers, a club with good acoustics to begin with. The solid wood panels on the walls act like acoustic mirrors, making it pretty loud & bright. A little amplification goes a long way in that space.

A note to Kenny Garrett if he reads this - Tell your incredible drummer that he can still play like a maniac without trying to pound the sticks through the drum heads.

BTW, I think this was the band I saw. I say "I think" because the pianist was behind a pole. Check out the duet with the drummer starting at around the 21:30 mark. It was even wilder last night (if you can believe it).

 

 

I think Kenny must like loud drummers. I saw him a few years ago at Manchester's Band on the Wall with a young drummer called McClenty Hunter, who was deafeningly loud. He attacked the kit with such ferocity that he had to move it back towards him three times during the first set. As for the second set, I don't know - I fled at the end of the first!

[relyles]

Tonight I caught Farmers By Nature (Craig Taborn-William Parker-Gerald Cleaver) at the Stone in NYC. Two fantastic sets of music!

[Hardbopjazz]

Last night Charles Lloyd and the Marvels. I managed three photos before I was asked to stop.

[A Lark Ascending]

Two extra-curricular concerts:

Steven Wilson at the Apollo in Manchester

Excellent concert. I can probably count on one hand, maybe two (just) the number of pure rock concerts I've been to in the last 40 years so this was a bit like entering an alternate universe. First set was basically his last full album; second drawn from his just released EP and older songs from his solo and Porcupine Tree careers. An audience of True Believers (1/4 of who were in uniform [i.e sporting teashirts of the man] who started at ecstatic and went on from there). 

Apart from enjoying the music, what struck me was the professionalism of the concert - perfect sound balance (loud but not too loud) with all the instruments audible (and properly plugged in!), meticulous playing, mid-song instrument swap overs choreographed to perfection. Spectacular light show and extensive use of video backdrop (I come from the days when the best you got was a bit of dry ice and a burst of strobe). It's not hard to see why a jazz concert must seem a very dull affair if you've not been initiated into its mysteries - jazz (and classical) concerts tend to engage the ear and brain with visual being restricted to aiding the brain follow the music; this concert engaged more of the senses (and it's not hard to see how rock/pop concerts that encourage dancing take that even further [the audience here were very polite staying seated (apart from during applause) except on the first encore when we were asked to stand and obeyed automatically]). 

What did I miss? - well it was all very carefully scripted (not surprising because the music is very tricksy) and even the soloing felt quite rehearsed. There is where something like jazz leaps ahead. But a thoroughly enjoyable 150 minutes.

 

Aoife O'Donovan at The Greystones, Sheffield

Equally excellent concert at this wonderful little venue (back room of a pub), packed to the rafters. 

Only know her from her records with Crooked Still and the Dave Douglas record she appeared on. Was not at all prepared for what a powerful singer she is (I've always thought of her as quite wispy) but what really struck home were the quality of the songs, none of which I know. Unusual shapes, real care to choose odd chord progressions (my favourite thing) and choruses that don't do what you expect. Oh, and short songs that don't make you over familiar too soon - you're going to play the record again to catch what has attracted you.

The concert the previous night in Glasgow had apparently been noisy and inattentive so she absolutely beamed through this one. An audience who with her from the off - quiet and listening yet fulsome in the applause - and seemed to know some of the choruses already when she tried to teach them. And to cap it all, she did 'Boulder to Birmingham' as the encore which brought a tear to my eye.

*************************************

We live in rich and varied musical times.  

[kh1958]

On January 30, 2016 at 0:46 AM, relyles said:

Tonight I caught Farmers By Nature (Craig Taborn-William Parker-Gerald Cleaver) at the Stone in NYC. Two fantastic sets of music!

Question for regulars at the Stone--what does one do/where can one go in between sets?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 10:37 AM, Hardbopjazz said:

Last night Charles Lloyd and the Marvels. I managed three photos before I was asked to stop.

Why? Were you using a flash? At all of the shows around here, as long as you don't use a flash or actually record the show, you can take as many pictures as you want.

[BillF]

15 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Why? Were you using a flash? At all of the shows around here, as long as you don't use a flash or actually record the show, you can take as many pictures as you want.

Same here.

[Steve Reynolds]

3 hours ago, kh1958 said:

Question for regulars at the Stone--what does one do/where can one go in between sets?

Not many options. Don't need any really. Regulars usually hang out inside and/or on the corner. Lots of time to talk to the musicians and friends. One of the pluses. Go down to the deli and buy a water/cold drink. The 45 minutes is gone in no time and we are seated by 9:50 or so.

next show 2/19 or 2/20 for me - I'll choose one of the wonderful nights between Friday or Saturday night of the stellar week that Darius Jones is leading bands. Tough choice - quartet/quintet anchored by the *great* Nasheet Waits or a quartet featuring the one on only Cooper-Moore on organ of all things.

btw - take a peak @ Joe Morris' week in August. There are at least 3 nights that defy and surpass my dreams of what I was imagining I would experience this year.

[Hardbopjazz]

3 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Why? Were you using a flash? At all of the shows around here, as long as you don't use a flash or actually record the show, you can take as many pictures as you want.

I didn't realize I had my flash on still. I was asked to not take flash photos.