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7/29/15 Two Hemingway Trios @ The Stone


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Ok - been a while since I wrote one of these accounts. Hottest day of the year - 96 degrees in NYC - hottest in 2 years and still blazing hot @ 7:30. Inside the new AC is working wonders. All set middle front row with my wife 5 feet from the drum kit with Marty Ehrlich right in front of us with the baby grand piano off to the left with Anthony Coleman facing Hemingway.

first piece 30 minutes pure improvisation with Ehrlich going from    clarinet to flute to alto saxophone to a short time on harmonica and then to bass clarinet. How they got to wherever they got and how and why it was stunning speaks to these 3 musicians. Coleman is older yet new to me and was a fine foil but Hemingway and Ehrlich were why I was there.

To be blunt, Hemingway and Ehrlich are a large part of why I am at any of the music shows I attend. No need to try to explain the piece any further. I'm not capable.

Next piece based on a Hemingway composition - "Pumblum" which I was sure was "If You Like" (GH corrected me when I told  him what tune it was:)).

the music was recorded and videotaped. If it's made available in any way, let's hope a few here watch and listen to at least this 15-18 minute excursion into the impossible. Mostly on clarinet (along with his voice and maybe some scorching alto saxophone), he again played that b-flat clarinet with the highest intensity of anyone who has ever played that horn. By the end with Hemingway being Hemingway when he blows it all the way out and at complete full volume, I thought my brain was going to melt down - and with a monster crash it was over.

a short softer encore and we awaited the second set

Rudresh Mahanthappa played strong lines throughout playing themes and music from a suite Gerry and Rudresh. Russ Lossing combined the inside and outside of the piano like few others as the music undulated via velocity, volume, and detail.

Mahanthappa has a fine sound and it took a whole for me to forget that I couldn't hear the great Marty Ehrlich again in this set. Rudresh is simply not the same genius level improvisor and musician that Ehrlich is so much of the energy and intrigue of this set came from the dynamic between Lossing and Hemingway. But really all anyone needs is Gerry Hemingway. His power, creativity and his simple presence is overwhelming and the fact that I was again able to experience it in the best venue possible to hear and feel his music was incredibly gratifying.

THEN when the continuous set was losing steam, something happened and the intensity was back, then a pause, they go into Monk's "Oska T", they blow the roof off, the audience is astounded, I'm stunned, we go home - not a thought to put on any music for the hour ride home

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Nice review Steve.Sounds like a great evening.

"not a thought to put on any music for the hour ride home" the quiet journey home is always an indication of a good night's live music

I've slept on both Hemingway and Ehrlich's output for a decade or so. Your writing gets me thinking it's time to re-engage with them both

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