Guy Berger

I was at Thursday evening's Ware/Grimes double bill. I was a little apprehensive because it was the first free jazz gig I'd ever attended. Anyway... Grimes's group (which was the first performance of each set) consisted of him, a pianist (don't remember the name), altoist Rob Brown, trumpeter Roy Campbell, and and drummer Michael Thompson. The first set consisted of two collective improvs of the kind that you'd hear on a 60s ESP session. This kind of energy music is hit and miss with me -- if the soloists generate enough heat, it can be exciting, but otherwise it falls flat. I thought their first set was pretty disappointing and was not especially impressed with either Brown or Campbell. Ware's first set, on the other hand, was outstanding. I have a couple of Ware CDs, nothing more recent than Dao, and I like them, but the group sounds pretty unrelenting on those records. It seems like group has achieved a much better dynamic balance since then while maintained the high level of intensity. Shipp and Parker are phenomenal players, in total command of the instruments and the music. And Ware was great, though he seemed a little grumpy during the first set. Guillermo Brown didn't do much for me -- he did his job but was completely overshadowed by the other three. Apparently the Ware performance energized Grimes's quintet, because they were much, much better for the second set. They started with a slow, modal number which made me completely re-evaluate Campbell's playing. Afterwards they launched into a collective improv that started with a great Campbell solo, then a Rob Brown solo which was really freakin' intense (with Grimes and Thompson absolutely terrific in support), and then finally reminded us that "this one goes to 11" when Campbell joined in for a few minutes of high energy screaming. Whew.... it was awesome. I noticed that a couple of people had their fingers in their ears during this part -- I wonder whether it was because they were surprised at the uncompromising music (just happened to walk into the Iridium to catch some late evening jazz) or simply because the group was so loud!* Ware closed the evening with another great set. It seemed like he was a bit more upbeat, though it's hard to tell. These performances have convinced me to expand my Ware collection. What should I get next? *The crowd was interesting. Typical Iridium, with more indie types than usual. I was surprised at how many guys brought their girlfriends/wives to the performance -- hopefully this won't result in too many break-ups.

Wasn't his debut on Kenny Dorham's Una Mas? Anyway, I like Joe a lot as well. His contributions as sideman were usually excellent -- and he ascends to deity level on The Real McCoy and on Larry Young's Unity. ZOLTAN. It's also nice to hear him with Pharoah Sanders on Alice Coltrane's Ptah the El Daoud; it seems that this one is always overlooked when people talk about Joe.] As for the dates as a leader, the BNs from the 60s are all good. My faves are Our Thing (w/Kenny, Andrew, & Pete LaRoca) and Inner Urge (w/McCoy, Elvin, and Bob Cranshaw). My favorite of the Milestones is Power to the People -- some of the most tasteful use of electric piano on a jazz (rather than fusion) album that I've heard. Joe Henderson in Japan is also really good, though here the e-piano gets a little annoying.