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I am a fan of Akinmusire - largely after hearing him live at Smalls with Mark Turner's quartet. Then he played with a lot of imagination and fire. I have generally "appreciated" his three recordings as a leader. I have also been able to hear a number of radio broadcasts of live performances. I think what he is trying to do comes across better in a live setting than on some of the productions of the recordings. Live, it is generally a quintet blowing. Yes, the compositions at times seem to be clever, just for the sake of cleverness, but IMO they work live when the energy of the setting inspires the musicians.

2014 UMOJA Music Series Friday, June 20, 2014 – 6 pm - FREE Charter Oak Cultural Center - 21 Charter Oak Ave – Hartford, CT Jay Hoggard + UMOJA UMOJA | UNITY Jay Hoggard - Vibraphone Yunie Mojica - Alto Saxophone Raynel Frazier - Trombone Josh Evans - Trumpet Jen Allen- Piano Stephen "King" Porter - Bass Jocelyn Pleasent - Drums /Percussion Jonathan Barber - Drums

I would be interested to hear how this show was! I love the playing of Mario Pavone, and have the Streets Songs album high on my wish list. Nice set last night. This was the first of five dates this ensemble will be playing over the next month. I might try to catch one or more of the upcoming shows. The texture created by the brass ensemble and the two basses was very warm and slightly dark. The accordion blended well into the overall sound of the ensemble. Ballou and McEachern have several impressive solos. At times it was a little difficult to hear Testa's bass, but there were a couple of spots when the two bassists were featured that were very interesting. Different kind of venue. It is an old church that has been converted into a setting reminiscent of an Eighteenth Century European drawing room. I was seated on a sofa directly in front of the musicians and there were a variety of parlor chairs and couches in various spots in the room. All things considered sound was solid.

I was extremely tempted, but since it was close to 12:00 when Vision was over and I had a long drive home by myself, I made what for me was the responsible decision to just get on the road.

I would be interested to hear how this show was! I love the playing of Mario Pavone, and have the Streets Songs album high on my wish list. In that case I will make the effort to report back. Living in CT I get to hear Pavone with some frequency. Each time it seems to be a different ensemble. In March I heard him with the Arc Trio featuring Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey. A week later was the Orange Septet with Dave Ballou, Peter McEacher,. Ellery Eskelin, Kris Allen, Mitchell and Gerald Cleaver. Last summer I was involved in presenting the Double Tenor septet. I am eyeing a few dates he has in July at Cornelia Street Cafe with two completely different ensembles. I have never been disappointed at a Pavone concert. And by the way, Street Songs is very good. I bought it from him at the second concert in March. I did not have high expectations because I have not been overwhelmed by most of the recordings I had heard in the past featuring accordion. This recording was a very pleasant surprise. Typical strong writing by Pavone and nice overall texture to the music. Recommended.

Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 7:30 pm STREET SONGS/THE ACCORDIAN PROJECT WITH MARIO PAVONE Studio 59 - 59 Barber Street - Downtown Torrington Mario Pavone - bass / compositions Matt Mitchell - piano Adam Matlock - accordion Carl Testa - bass Steve Johns - drums Brass Quartet: Dave Ballou - cornet, flugelhorn Peter McEachern - trombone Leise Ballou - french horn Gary Buttery – tuba

Whoa! Had no idea about this group or album... many thanks, off to track this down! They have 2 recordings I saw last night. One recently released and the other from about 3 years ago, I think Now that you mention it, it's quite probable that someone recommended me their earlier CD last year when i belatedly discovered Mitchell... anyway, this horse is ready for the water now. The first recording on RogueArt (Emerald Hills) is excellent. I started listening to the recent recording on the drive home Saturday night, but decided it was too close to the experience of hearing it live. It quickly paled in comparison.

Leeway - thanks for all your hard work. Just a small correction - it was Fujii's husband Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and not the billed Kappa Maki. Interesting comment about Boykin and David Murray. By coincidence, at the beginning of the Mitchell set Murray was sitting right in back of me engaged in a passionate discussion with bassist Brad Jones (I think) about Sun Ra.

I made it down for Saturday's lineup. First performance was by Satoko Fujii's Trio + 1. I also heard two sets by this ensemble the night before in the intimate setting of Firehouse 12 in New Haven. So I heard a lot of this group over two days. In addition to Fujii on piano, the group featured Todd Nicholson on bass, drummer Yoshi Shutto and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet. I am not sure how I feel about the drummer and I wish that Tamura spent more time playing trumpet as opposed to some of toys and other small instruments. Combined with some of the random things Shutto employed at times the performance felt a bit gimmicky. However, when she actually was not cedeing the spotlight to her cohorts Fujii was spectacular as always and Nicholson impressed on bass. After a brief interlude from a poet, Matthew Shipp's trio with Michal Bisio and Whit Dickey played a 47 minutes set of pure focused intensity. Mesmerizing, I have heard this trio live several times and they seem to have performed a near identical set every time I see them, but it does not matter. They are that good - even if Dickey at times seems to be barely playing. Tarbaby (Orrin Evans, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits) is another group I have some prior experience with. Just two weeks ago I heard the trio (with Luques Curtis subbing for Revis) with Oliver Lake at the Eric Dolphy: Freedom of Sound Series. I consider myself a devoted fan of the ensemble and all its members individually. With that said, although their set was solid, it did seem like something was missing. After some thought on the two and a half hour drive home alone I decided it was that they seemed a bit out of place at the Vision Festival - especially considering the two other piano trio like ensembles on the schedule. I appreciate that Tarbaby is trying to extend the boundaries of more conservative straight ahead music a bit - but in the context of the Vision Festival the trip sounded more like a group playing "at" out, as opposed to being an authentic out group. I did not feel that way when I heard them a couple of weeks ago playing Dolphy's, but I think Oliver Lake gave the group some street cred that it would not otherwise have on its own. I think most of my feeling relates to Evans. Again, I have been a big fan of Orrin Evans since I first heard him live with Bobby Watson a few years ago, but he is more convincing in the more intentionally straight contexts. Without Lake to take most of the attention, when he is the lead dog at times he sounded more like he was just tinkling the keys. Again, I have thoroughly enjoyed all the recordings I have heard by the group - and I did enjoy this particular performance. It's just that compared to Shipp's trio which preceded it, their performance was somewhat of a let down. The final performance of the night was by Nicole Mitchell's Sonic Projections with David Boykin, Craig Taborn and Chad Taylor. Since I had heard the other three groups live on multiple occassions before, and there are not as many opportunities to hear this particular ensemble, this was the performance that was the primary motivator for me to drive into Brooklyn. And they did not disappoint! Mitchell is a fabulous flutist, most of the time an interesting composer and admittedly one of my favorite musicians on the scene. From the first song this group was on fire - in particular Taborn who was the most animated than I have heard him live before. I have long enjoyed Boykin's playing on recordings and it was a joy to hear him live for once and Taylor impressed throughout. They performed titles from the groups just release RogueArt recording dedicated to Fred Anderson. Nice variety and great playing. Glad I was able to make what is becoming my annual trip for at least one day of the Vision Festival.

Thanks for taking the time to share these thoughtful comments. They are really helping me keep my enthusiasm up about the plan to drive down tomorrow by myself.

Lawrence is scheduled to be the final performer in the three day Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in July. In a festival where the other two artists on the same day are Sherry Winston and Javon Jackson, and the big day Saturday of the festival is headlined by "Jazz All Stars - Marion Meadows, Brian Simpson & Kim Waters", I will be looking forward to spending an evening in the park with Mr. Lawrence. He previously appeared at the festival in 2009 and it was a great performance.

I plan to get down for the Saturday lineup. Really looking forward to it.

This is a great recording.

I was in the center of the front row last night with my wife, who enjoyed it much more than she anticipated. Wish I had known. I was right in back of you in the third row.

Clifford - didn't I already purchase that Musillami disc? or did you have duplicates?

I happily attended both nights of the festival. The format in which most of the ensembles only performed one or two tunes meant that at times their performance was over before I was able to completely settle in to what they were doing. The symposium had the potential to be really great, but a couple of people rambled on a bit long and they ran out of time just when it was about to get to the meat. The acoustics in the venue also were not ideal. Other than those relatively minor quibbles, it was a very special event on the whole. Particularly noteworthy performances included Russ Johnson's Still Out to Lunch, The Dolphy Bass Clarinet Quartet, Tarbaby featuring Oliver Lake, Richard Davis & Aska Kaneko (especially good considering I had never even heard the violinist - the group also included Angelica Sanchez and Andrew Cyrille), the Grachan Moncur III ensemble (although Moncur only directed and did not play) and the Sound of Freedom Ensemble conducted by James Newton. And Allen, for what it is worth Austerlitz did accompany poet Michael S. Harper and Parran was at least in attendance.

Tickets purchased and all necessary arrangements have been made. I plan to be there both Friday and Saturday.

Seriously considering driving down for this.

I have it and like it a lot. Some of it is familiar from the few times I have heard the trio live, but there also seems to be something different happening with the trio. If you are a fan, definitely worth hearing.

I heard that Blake group live last September. Great show. Looking forward to that release especially.

One of my favorite Gary Bartz recordings.

I thought about catching the show at Cornelia Street, but mid-week trips to NYC are tough for me. I did not know about Taylor's issues that prevent him from playing French Horn. He was (is) a fine French Horn player. I own his three recordings as a leader and have heard him in other groups such as with Threadgill. I have also thought he was an interesting composer as well, so I would have really enjoyed hearing this ensemble. I will have to keep my ears/eyes open for future opportunities.

Darn. I had plans to drive into NY/NJ Saturday night and contemplated getting to this show. Unfortunately, I was so worn out after a full day of running around for kid related stuff, I did not have the energy to leave as early as I would have to get there.

I recently listened to his Invisible Trio disc on Fresh Sound New Talent. Enjoyed it a lot. I was not very familiar with him before, but as a result of that disc and the personnel on this one, I am sure I will seek this one out at some point.

Taylor Ho Bynum Sectet at Firehouse 12, New Haven.