Steve Reynolds

Last night at The Stone Trio M Mark Dresser, Myra Melford & Matt Wilson an hour of playful & often moving compositions. Saw them years ago. Last night exceeded my expectations. Myra peaking madly. Very unique uber melodic sense. Plus to this day, I don’t think people realize how great Mark Dresser is.

Han Bennink & Misha Mengelberg Paul Lytton & Evan Parker

Last night at The Stone Mark Dresser, Izumi Kimora, Earl Howard & Gerry Hemingway 19 minute piece with Earl switching off his synthesizer & silence to some stunning alto saxophone playing, followed by a 27 minute slab of improvised genius starting with Izumi’s grand piano joined by Gerry dueting with her for a few minutes. Earl’s synth was then incorporated magically throughout. Great more subdued 9 minute coda with Howard’s creaky gorgeous saxophone joining Dresser’s stunning intro. Dresser playing his 5 string contrabass / not sure even Joelle has a better *sound* on the bass. Just incredible as always. yeah Hemingway plays like he’s 30 and his sense of dynamics & time is beyond reproach. Wowza.

Fwiw Gerry Hemingway was incredible tonight. Mark Dresser seems to be still amazed at his playing and they’ve been playing together for over 40 years. As per usual I was with 7-8 feet of the master drummer.

Seeing Dresser/Hemingway in about 3 hours:) Randy Peterson with Mat Maneri on viola / numero uno for me. Only thing better was with Papa Joe back in the day Gerald Cleaver with Brandon Lopez on bass /meanest best bass/drum tandem in NYC before Gerald relocated 2 plus years ago Tom Rainey with Tim Berne on alto saxophone /40 years simpatico Nasheet Waits with Sylvie Courvoisier on piano / sounds like it doesn’t make sense but it’s incredible Mike Reed with Jack Wright on saxophones (brand new pairing / saw 3 great shows this past Spring) these are all magical combinations

I’m a fan & a friend of Joey. He’s well under 30. He’s getting better too. He’s very good with his assorted cymbals. Got a bit of Lytton in him. Nasheet for one is never well served on record compared to live. Rainey is another. Hard for their dynamics & sound to shine on record. Ches Smith is another. His astonishing power live in a small room never translates to recordings. Plus as I’ve seen lots of the NYC based drummers up to dozens of times, I get very very spoiled. Certainly Drake, Hemingway, Sanders & Peterson come across better on recordings than the above 3 examples

Not listening to the great drummers of today. Blessed to be seeing Gerry Hemingway tonight at The Stone. It’s actually a golden age for drummers. The older guys like Hemingway, Hamid Drake, Paul Lytton, Han Bennink & Andrew Cyrille still playing at a very high level. the slightly younger drummers than the old dudes like Randy Peterson, Gerald Cleaver, Tom Rainey, Mark Sanders & Steve Noble are incredible. then we have Tyshawn Sorey, Ches Smith, Nasheet Waits, etc. the real gap is we don’t have many under 40 drummers making their mark. Not sure why a few have not emerged as of yet. Especially here in NYC.

RIP, sir

Wonderful quintet on Wednesday. At Jazz Gallery. Michael Attias on alto sax, Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, Eric McPherson on drums, John Hebert on bass & a special guest from Berlin on vibes. Can’t find her name. 2 sets. Takeishi is brilliant. Hebert is always great in these in/out jazz contexts. last night at Roulette Lee Renaldo, David Watson & Brian Chase incredible hour improv. Drones, awesome bagpipe care of Watson. Chase always great. Renaldo was even better than I expected. Great electronics, great guitar with feedback. Even some gorgeous piano with the great grand piano at the venue. Like nothing I’ve ever heard overall. tonight at The Stone Henry Fraser on double bass, Brandon Seabrook on guitar (and banjo?) & the *great* Randy Peterson on drums

Tony Malaby, Dave Ballou, Angelica Sanchez, Brandon Lopez, Billy Mintz & Randy Peterson tonight at Close Up

Tony Malaby, Ben Monder & Tom Rainey tonight at Close Up

I’ve brought many friends to live shows. Mostly very abstract avant-garde music. Most like or even loved it. All have different backgrounds in listening. One is a huge Dead listener (like me). Others are into Tool, popular music or are into straight jazz, modern punk or post punk. None had ever heard any of the music I go see live as most of it is beneath the underground and seemingly incomprehensible. Much more “out” than the great mid 60’s Miles quintet. key is that they go in with little pre-conceived ideas about what it or or try to understand it. With an open mind most anyone will find something to like with genius master musicians improvising in a small intimate room. Mat Maneri, Hamid Drake, Gerry Hemingway, David Torn, Ches Smith, Nate Wooley, Brandon Lopez, Nels Cline, Randy Peterson, Darius Jones, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Michael Foster, Tyshawn Sorey, Chuck Roth, Tom Rainey or Tony Malaby playing in front of an unsuspecting listener? Almost all can’t believe nobody knows these musicians after the shows. They know it’s “out” but they don’t hear it the way serious straight ahead jazz listeners hear it. A few struggled with the purely improvised stuff but most get into the actual playing. My wife liked it. Sometimes the screaming altissimo stuff might get her a bit nervous, but she LOVED the drummers.

Chris Cochrane is a great guitarist. Andrew Drury is a fine drummer. Where & when? Maybe I can drive up to Kingston area if it’s there. I looked! Untouchable Bar but no time listed. Jill Burton is some sort of singer, I see.

Tonight at The Stone Tomeka Reid, Ikue Mori & Tomas Fujiwara

Last night Camila Nebbia on tenor saxophone, Chuck Roth on guitar, Ryan Sawyer on drums Duo with Chuck & Camila Duo with Camila & Ryan trio / the trio was an intense genius level 38 minute improvisation with Chuck destroying my mind. No one has ever played guitar like this.

Last night at Roulette John Zorn’s Cobra the 4th time I’ve seen it over the past 2-3 years. As good as ever. Best performers Ches Smith (as always) although he was stage right while I was front row 2 seats from Zorn’s prompting position center stage. Simon Hanes, John Medeski, Kenny Wolleson, Billy Martin, Wendy Eisenberg were very effective. Cool to have Medeski’s Hammond B3 (with the big Leslie rotating amp) right next to Martin. The bassists were both great as well, Jorge Roeder & Henry Fraser as well as the cellist, Jay Campbell. SO much fun. The musicians & crowd love it.

53 minute continuous piece / recency bias but one of the greatest sets I’ve ever witnessed. The intensity & power of this trio is boundless. Ches’ electronics were deeper & heavier than last week & David played the disruptor as well as being even grittier than last week. Wowza.

Same band, same time, same place. 15 minutes until take off:)

Last night in brooklyn Brandon Seabrook solo tenor banjo Chuck Bettis on electronics duo with Nava Dunkelman on percussion then a short trio

Last night at Lowlands Son of Goldfinger Tim Berne, David Torn & Ches Smith 50 minute piece with 11 minute short piece to close all improvised as is the group’s way incredible as always. First show of the group in over a year. Playing again next Tuesday. Ches Smith is a force of nature. Best playing I’ve heard from David Torn. Peaking at 72, apparently:)

Recency bias but Webb Crawford last night played as great on guitar as anyone I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen Webb many times over the past 2 years but last night Webb was driving that trio madly. 23, 12 & 13 minute improvisations. Wowza tonight Webb & Chuck duo trio with Michael Foster, Leila Boudreuil & Corsano Leila is an incredible cellist. This trio should be great. Early 6:00 gig in Brooklyn.

I’d give my right pinky finger to see Brandon, Steve & Gerald Cleaver again. Saw them in December 2019. Maybe one day Cleaver will come back to NYC. Brandon & Steve are off to Europe today for 2 gigs. One in Antwerp tomorrow and the second in Amsterdam on Saturday.

Last night in Brooklyn Steve Baczkowski, Brandon Lopez & Chuck Roth Baczkowski is among the greatest saxophonists on the planet. the opening unaccompanied solo to start the short second set was one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard. Brandon was beyond even his very high standards. Most intense playing I’ve heard from him a while. And besides John Edwards, no bassist brings it like Brandon Lopez. Too bad I don’t see Edwards live. I’m very grateful I see Lopez play at least 10-15 times a year. Probably more than that. He’s playing shit that no one else even knows exists. Chuck Roth was a bit differential but it’s understandable. First time playing with Steve. Chuck was typically brilliant again playing stuff I’ve never heard him play before. Like Brandon but to a lesser extent, I’m gifted to be able to see the *great* Chuck Roth play often probably at least once a month for the last 2 plus years. No one has ever played the guitar like Chuck Roth. tonight at The Stone Trevor Dunn, Webb Crawford & Chris Corsano

Last night at Close Up Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier & Chis Corsano 46 & 42 minute sets. Stunning.

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