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randyhersom

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Posts posted by randyhersom

  2. Big Ears Festival

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    Craig Taborn trio starts Day Two in fine fashion.  Ches Smith really impressed me playing with Roscoe Mitchell at a previous Big Ears, and Tomeka Reid was a great fit as well.  Craig supplemented his piano with some electronics which was done well.  I heard some audience members pronouncing the set superior to the 2019 duets with Vijay Iyer, I'd call them about equal.

    Harriet Tubman is next.  The sheer force of the amplified bass dominates the impression, I'm a Brandon Ross fan and enjoy his guitar playing.  The best moment is actually when they check Brandon's voice mike in the soundcheck and he gets off a great couplet, expressing sympathy with the mothers of the Russians, then noting that "something needs flushing".  But the set itself was fine.

    I arrive in time for Kris Davis Diatom Ribbons set.  Her taste in drummers is once again confirmed, as Teri Lynne Carrington is at the kit.  Voice processing electronics are a big part of the set and are a big audience pleaser.  I don't have the clear preference for this band that kh1958 had, but liked the set just fine.

    Now I head for the first Andrew Cyrille duet set with Ambrose Akinmusire.  Utterly brilliant.  Unfortunately I missed the first part.  For the encore, after determining that he has permission from "the cops" he walks around his kit playing from the outside before taking a seat to finish up.

    I have been schooled on the long lines and decide to get in line for Patti Smith II instead of trying for a part of the second Diatom Ribbons set.  It looks like this was the right move.  Patti's even better with the full band.  She speaks highly of Kim Gordon, and I decide to start around for that set instead of checking out Aurora Nealand.  I'm not familiar with any of the material.  Videos are used well, first an animation of a triangle drawing geometric patterns, then a city travelogue.  Big prerecorded loops of industrial riffs are used a lot and the trio rock hard on top of them.  Not my go-to style, but an OK diversion. 

    Unfortunately I stick with it too long and the Frisell/Moran tribute to Ron Miles has 40ish people outside 15 minutes after show time.  I know this means "one out, one in" and I liked what I heard of Mdou Moctar on Amazon Music, so I head for the Mill and Mine for their set.  The guitarist plays brilliant, ecstatic lines, but the band as a whole is a little too wooden rhythmically for my taste.  I stay for the whole set.

    Day 3 begins with one of the two twin highlights of the festival, Myra Melford's Snowy Egret.  I'm pleasantly surprised to hear Cuong Vu announced.  I have heard the albums but didn't pay much attention to credits.  It turns out the recently deceased Ron Miles was a member of Snowy Egret, and also that Liberty Ellman just had a hand injury so they are playing as a quartet.  Passionate playing from Myra and Cuong and I like the chopsy electric bassist and new drummer (I also didn't know that Tyshawn Sorey was in Snowy Egret for the albums).

    The distance of the walk to see Ches Smith makes me choose a full set of Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah over a part set of Ches.  No regrets, he talks quite a bit but I like what he's saying about the jazz tradition, he really talks up his band, and the muscular McCoy influenced band is very enjoyable.  Nubya Garcia is up next, She's solid, it's great that what we used to call spiritual jazz is finding a good audience, but it's not very adventurous.

    I leave early for Zorn's Simulacrum featuring John Medeski.  It's more prog-rock than jazz, extreme organ and guitar virtuosity, but the rhythm is anything but wooden, a real trio.  I loved it, and want to hear the 2015 album it came from.

    Now is Andrew Cyrille and Marc Ribot.  More brilliance, I like Ribot better here than anywhere else I have heard him.  But I have decided to leave this set early for Jason Moran's solo set, and do so.

    Moran's set is the other highlight of the festival for me.   He talks a bit about how the difficulties of the pandemic and how New York is dying a little.  He starts out with a nice standard, then namechecks his teacher Jaki Byard announcing the next tune.  A little later on he reads some Toni Morrison about how there are different shades of black, leading to the phrase "it might as well be a rainbow" then begins a composition inspired by the words.  At some point the lights change so that you only see his hands, as he plays a rumbling low ostinato with the sustain pedal down that changes only very subtly.  Then the light on his hands goes away and the stage is entirely dark.  there are lights from the back of the theater so you can see the people in rows ahead of you, but you can't see Jason at all.  The deep rumbling keeps going on for a long time in the dark, then other shades are explored as the lights come back up.  Brilliantly dramatic, and fully musical.

    I'm getting lucky with the shuttles and catch the beginning of Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die.  I'm surprised by her appearance, but enjoy the punk and protest aspects of her set, expressed vocally, as well as her trumpet playing.  I leave early, and that was a mistake in retrospect.

    Annette Peacock is playing solo at the Tennessee theater, with piano and string synthesizer and a drum machine on some tracks.  I first heard her during my prog-rock days, but this set is what I think of as a "chanteuse" style.  The lyrics are torchy but the vocals are reserved.  She's a good singer but there's not much variety.  On the last track the "drum machine" turns out to be a tape loop including bass, and then she walks off stage while the tape loop is still playing her voice, and it's clearly not coming from her.  Clever, but expressing some distance from the audience.

    I head back to the Standard which has no seating options unless you paid 3x for the VIP pass.  I saw Melford and Cyrille/Ribot here.  Joshua Abrams Information Society is very good and just what I expected, entrancing long jams where the horn plays background and the bass and drum instruments shine out front.  They did start about 30 minutes later than scheduled.  Unfortunately I'm not up for standing the whole set and leave early, but no fault to the fine musicians, and I'm glad I came to hear them

    The next morning I get in a traffic jam that keeps me from hearing another Zorn act at noon, and before I hear a single note, I learn of a minor emergency at home that I need to start home early to deal with.  Big Ears has lived up to its reputation and I'm OK with leaving it under the circumstances, but ready to come back next year.

  3. Big Ears Festival

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    Day 1

    I made a navigational error compounded by other errors and managed to miss Kronos and So Percussion.  I checked in at the hotel desk and went straight to the line for Patti Smith.  Both of her sets were excellent, and different.  People Have The Power is an anthem for our times and closed the sets both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday she had only two band members with her, including her son, and included poetry readings on several occasions.  Friday was a tight and committed rock and roll band. 

    Next was Trefoil's first set, in progress.  There's something mathematical about Kris Davis' playing, feeling more kinship with Anthony Braxton than Coltrane or Ayler.  Good, and not unemotional, but architectural.  Gerald Cleaver made the strongest impression on me in this set.  I got to move up the the front row for the second set and they announce it was being recorded, so please turn of phones.  Both Davis and Ambrose Akinmusire turned it up a notch for this set, and I look forward to the chance to hear it again.

    Joe Henry was quite good.  I was unfamiliar with his work, and the presence of Jason Moran in his band was the deciding factor in choosing to see him, but I'll be checking out his work more.

    More soon ....

     

  7. Dennis González (1954-2022)

    in Artists

    Posted

    Wish we had been able to hook him up better to discuss his Blindfold test,  He created a Blindfold test that I missed, but wasn't able to log in and comment.

    For a few years I kept up with him on his corner at JazzCorner (or was it AllAboutJazz)   He was exceptionally welcoming to listeners and sent a personal note after I ordered several CDrs, including some featuring Jim Sangrey.  He appreciated Oregon and ECM as well as Ornette and Trane, and the younger influences his sons brought to Yells at Eels.  Everything I have heard has been worthwhile, and together covers a wide range of styles and moods.  He will be missed, but he will continue to be appreciated for a long time to come.

     

     

  11. BFT216

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    BFT 216
    1. April in Paris with Brownie, Harold and Max?
    2. Medley, possibly JATP. Prez, Summertime with Cootie, Sassy Come Rain or Come Shine
    3. Bowed bass, soprano and piano.  Very lyrical.  Maybe Jane Ira Bloom?
    4. Mal Waldron.  I recognized musical materials from a familiar source but didn't place it right away.  I realized it was the First Encounter album by Mal and Gary Peacock, but this is not a track from that album.  It does remind me why I love that album, and this too.
    5. Electric piano enters the picture, but still feels more hard bop than fusion.  Sounds like it pushes the harmonic edge a little more than your average Messengers date.  Maybe Stanley Cowell?
    6. Adele Sebastian?  She was part of the Horace Tapscott Arkestra scene and passed away very young.
    7. That sounds like Terje Rypdal, but Rypdal as sideman, or early Rypdal.  I've also heard Brandon Ross play in the style so Harriet Tubman is my backup guess.  Near the end there may be some electronics in the mix, so I also thought of Andrew Cyrille's ECM with Blll Frisell.
    8. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.  Wow. I want to know who this is.  Only weak guess I can offer is Dwight Trimble.  As soonas I typed "no piano" the piano came in, so it could be with Horace Tapscott.  Changing my mind to Archie Shepp, maybe with Joe Lee Wilson.
    9. Not Ibrahim because no piano, but it's got that township sound.  Now some vocals that sound more American than South African.  I'll google Mama Ann after I post my initial guesses.  In desperation I'll guess Thomas Buckner with Roscoe Mitchell.

  12. Big Ears Festival

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    I thought I had seen something that changed the original statement that wristbands would be mailed two weeks before the festival (from ticket purchase email).  I want to make sure I and everyone else arrives in Knoxville with everything they need to enjoy the festival.  Does anyone have the details on what you need to present at the festival office to get your wristbands?

  13. *** Cecil Taylor ***

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by randyhersom

    I have the lp but bought the whole thing.  The PDF notes remind me that I saw the red type insert in my LP copy, but have never seen Indent II.  Did it ever exist?  If not, can Chuck Nessa make it so?

  15. Joe Chambers

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by randyhersom

    I collected and very much enjoyed his leader dates, The Almoravid, New World and Mirrors, as well as Double Exposure where he co-leads with Larry Young.  Wikipedia is showing me that I missed quite a few, will have to catch up.  My choice for a sideman date is Dialogue with Bobby Hutcherson.

     

  16. Big Ears Festival

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    Things will change of course, but here's my initial plan

    Thursday
    4:30 So Percussion
    6:30 Patti Smith
    7:45 Trefoil in progress
    9:00 Trefoil
    10:00 Fennesz in progress
    possibly Low or Joe Henry (in progress)

    Friday 
    12:00 Craig Taborn
    1:30 Arooj Aftab, leaving early for 
    2:30 Harriet Tubman
    4:15 Cyrille Akinmusire
    5:15 possibly end of Kris Davis Diatom Ribbons
    6:15 Kris Davis Diatom Ribbons
    7:30 possibly end of Sons of Kemet
    8:30 Ensemble Dal Niente & Ken Vandermark
    10:00 Patti Smith
    11:30 end of Jason Moran, or Mdou Moctar

    Saturday
    10:00 Ensemble Dal Niente
    1:00 Myra Melford, (narrowly over Ches Smith)
    2:00 Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
    5:30 Jason Moran
    7:00 Cyrille Ribot
    9:00 Jaimie Branch
    10:30 Annette Peacock, possibly leaving early for 
    11:00 Joshua Abrams

    Sunday
    12:00 Zorn
    2:00 Miguel Zenon
    3:15 Bill Frisell in progress
    4:15 Odean Pope
    6:00 Bang on a Can, leaving early for 
    6:45 Ambrose Akinmusire
    8:00 GEORGE leaving early for 
    9:00 Zorn New Masada Quartet

     

  17. BFT 215 link and discussion

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted · Edited by randyhersom

    Joe Henderson on 5 and 9?  If we take you literally, all four players can't be American, because Greg Osby was already identified as American. .Not finding anything in his discog that features European rhythm section.  Not much better luck with Griffin, Joshua Redman or Brecker..  If the tenor is European, Tommy Smith and Courtney Pine are possible.  The musical style seems too modern to fit Tubby Hayes or Barney Wilen...  

    Jeez, Dexter?

    Essbjorn Svensson Trio for 10?

     

  19. BFT 215 link and discussion

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted · Edited by randyhersom

    1. ECM on the licorice stick?  Anat Cohen?
    2. Stride aware composition and playing from more modern players.  Jaki Byard?
    3. Despite thinking it was an alto for the first few minutes, I'm going with Stan Getz.  Piano sounded a bit like Ran Blake at the beginning, but by the end I couldn't rule out Kenny Barron.
    4. Sounds experimental at the beginning and South American in the second half.  Luciana Sousa?
    5. Jarrett without the vocal sounds meets a milder variant of Dewey.  Definitely not those two, so maybe Frank Kimbrough?
    6. Modern piece with a humorous ending.  Too much piano to be Gil Evans.  More tightly arranged than I would expect of LCJO.  Barry Guy?
    7. Bass Clarinet.  Guessing James Carter, without much certainty.
    8. I like guitar players with a rock edge in jazz bands so this is right up my alley.  I thought of Phalanx with Blood Ulmer and George Adams, but the sax does not ever play the agitated flurry of notes that Adams probably would.  Is this the Hudson Project with John Abercrombie?
    9. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a lesser known Monk composition.  I suspect, but am not sure that there is a latin percussionist and a drummer too.  The restless groove adds to the interest of what's going on up top.  very close to no clue - my thoughts were Kenny Barron or one of the Gonzalez brothers, Andy or Jerry.
    10. Maybe Mulgrew Miller with Christian McBride, or vice versa?

     

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