What live music are you going to see tonight?

[Van Basten II]

Tonight - Fugimundi Trio - Eric Vloeimans/Anton Goudsmit/Harmen Fraanje

They're in town tonight, how was the gig ?

Will answer myself, they were very enjoyable, a bit silly at times, especially the trumpet with his pants and shoes. Nice melodies and fine playing.

[king ubu]

So who else will be there tomorrow night to catch Abdullah Ibrahim in Basel?

Amazing concert, wow! Deeply impressed!

They played two hours and twenty minutes with no break, Ibrahim starting solo for ten minutes or so, then a trio piece, and then the horns joined in. Wonderful, wonderful music! At first it started like a celebration thing, but as they went on it got livelier, and that dude on baritone sax was terrific!

The line-up was:

Abdullah Ibrahim - piano

Belden Bullock - bass

George Gray - drums

Cleave Guyton - alto sax & flute (and musical director)

Keith Loftis - tenor sax

Jason Marshall - baritone sax

Andrae Murchinson - trombone

All four horns were marvellous, Guyton doing creamy lead playing in the big tradition (they did one very Ellingtonian piece and he almost sounded like Hodges...), Loftis was terrific, robust sound, Coltrane plus more rough edges, more volume, and plenty of ideas, Marshall as mentioned blew the roof a few times, and Murchinson was mighty fine, too - very vocal sound, soft and warm, building solos like a conversation.

Ibrahim obviously enjoyed it a lot, often just leaning back and listening to his band and smiling. He also has an obvious connection to Bullock, who often sought eye contact while playing.

Bullock/Grey turned into a fine, fine rhythm section over the years, and I think w/horns they're even better as in trio (where they played second or rather fifth fiddle to the master, when I saw them several years ago). Ibrahim too was pretty good, thanks to the horns carrying most of the melodic and "groovy" lines, he was pretty free to just add some colours and do some here and there, which was pretty cool. But he was very mellow mostly, and I'd have enjoyed one more trio piece where he'd dig into the groove a bit more... Anyway, great, great concert!

Edited March 13, 2010 by king ubu

[kh1958]

Guitar Shorty--Pearl on Commerce.

[Van Basten II]

Saw drummer Matt Wilson featured in a Joel Miller led quartet with reliable and solid Fraser Hollins and John Roney.

We had a thread about jazz performers who offered a some showmanship on stage,you can add Matt Wilson to the list of guys who enjoyed themselves on stage.

[jlhoots]

Bobby Shew Quartet

[kh1958]

Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner Trio, at Pearl on Commerce. A fantastic performance.

[sheldonm]

Us Five with Lovano/Esperanza Spalding on Friday.....Pat Martino Organ Trio on Sunday and I'm sure something in between.

m~

[Van Basten II]

Saw a quite enjoyable piano duo involving François Bourassa and Jean-Michel Pilc, it was recorded by the CBC and should be aired during the summer, so for those keeping score you might find it in some form on the web at some point.

[Van Basten II]

Attended last a fine doubleheader of music in two different venues for starters a Quartet led by sax player André Leroux involving pianist François Bourassa and bassist Fraser Hollins with guest Ari Hoenig and they played strong and hard !

Ended the night with alto Samuel Blais leading a trio with fine drummer Robbie Kuster and Larry Grenadier.For a band that has not played a lot together they looked quite tight. I knew mostly Grenadier as a sideman with Mehldau it was very interesting to see and har him in another context.

Considering that prior to the Leroux there was a band of young musicians playing for a competition, it's almost 4 hours of libve music I heard last night, life can be good sometimes

Edited March 21, 2010 by Van Basten II

[kh1958]

Saw a quite enjoyable piano duo involving François Bourassa and Jean-Michel Pilc, it was recorded by the CBC and should be aired during the summer, so for those keeping score you might find it in some form on the web at some point.

I stumbled upon Jean Michel Pilc at Smalls a couple of years back--a nice pianist. New Dreams and Live at the Iridium are quite good.

Edited March 21, 2010 by kh1958

[Van Basten II]

Pilc is also part of a fine quartet led by Lew Soloff, would love to this formation in action. He's quite versatile he did a great job backing Elizabeth Kontamonou a few years ago.

[ejp626]

I saw the Greg Osby 5 at the Green Mill last night. I have to say that the smoking ban has really improved the experience there. There was something about the layout of that place that you would come home just reeking of cigarettes, even if you were not smoking. But they may have gone too far in the other direction of trying to make this a temple of jazz.

This was advertised as a quiet show, where the bouncer did come around and hush people during the first set. Standards had slipped a bit by the second set, but Osby was playing a little louder, so it still wasn't a problem. But without the crowd's encouragement, the music felt a little spacey and etherial -- you couldn't really dig in. Applause was light and polite. It wasn't really until the middle of the second set that I recognized anything* -- they played East St. Louis Toodle-O -- that there was much energy from the crowd. Granted I was all the way in the back, but this seemed a lot more like a Keith Jarrett concert than a typical show at the Green Mill. I'm certainly glad I went, but it just seemed strange.

* If pressed I would say the first set was mostly drawn from 9 Levels -- the tracks without vocals. I do have 9 Levels but I have not internalized it. Anyway, Osby did not say one word to the crowd (certainly no songs were introduced). It was the Green Mill manager that introduced him and the other band members. I think I remember previous Osby shows with a bit more interaction. Anyway, it just sort of added to the somewhat negative feelings of preciousness I was getting. I'd really hate to see Osby go further in this direction.

Edited March 27, 2010 by ejp626

[kh1958]

That's odd--Greg Osby talked quite a bit the last time I saw his band, about the time when Nine Levels was released.

[Van Basten II]

Saw Osby last summer, was quite talkative, maybe he was in a bad day ?

[ejp626]

That's odd--Greg Osby talked quite a bit the last time I saw his band, about the time when Nine Levels was released.

That's what I seem to remember, which is why I found it a little off-putting. I mean you can go too far the other way (Lou Donaldson), and I don't begrudge him wanting to focus on the music, but I think a bit of interaction would have warmed up the crowd. Still a good show.

[WorldB3]

Ralph Towner and Paolo Fresu at the SF Jazz Festival.

My expectations maybe were low, I like the new album Chiaroscuro quite a bit, its a lovely record but I wouldn't put it in my list of favorite Towner releases. The location wasn't one one of my favorite places to see a show and they were only going to do one set and there was no 12 string on stage (only a classical and baritone guitar) and Towner is now 70 years old, I was thinking I may have waited to long for my first chance to see Towner.

That said two minutes I knew I was in the presence of greatness. I left saying saying that was the best live guitar performance I have ever seen. My friend said it was one the three best shows he has ever seen by Towner and he has seen him over 20 times. Paolo Fresu was also great and their swing together was something, the record doesn't quite captured the energy they have together. For those of you in Europe if you get a chance to see them this year I highly recommend it.

After the b.s with Jarrett last week it was nice to see someone as humble and talented as Towner.

Edited March 29, 2010 by WorldB3

[kh1958]

Gilbert Gil at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie--A wonderful acoustic concert, with Gil on guitar and vocals, his son on second guitar, plus a cellist. A couple of solo songs, a few duets with cello, mostly trio in a two hour concert. Very relaxed and beautiful. Just me and every Brazilian in Dallas-Fort Worth.

[Elissa]

Orrin Evans bday party last night at the Zinc simply killing. Nasheet Waits on drums, but a revolving trio with horns galore sitting in. Perfectly swinging. The reason I love NYC

[Guest Bill Barton]

I recently returned from hearing Wayne Horvitz, Briggan Krauss and Lê Quan Ninh at the Chapel Performance Space. Beautiful! An ear-opener and a head-clearer for sure.

Eyeshot Jazz - Daniel Sheehan

Edited April 2, 2010 by Bill Barton

[Guest Bill Barton]

tonight:

Zachary Watkins & Tiffany Lin

at The Chapel Performance Space

http://waywardmusic.blogspot.com/

[Chalupa]

Last night I went to see the Giuseppi Logan Quartet featuring special guest Dave Burrell. Afterward I caught the first set of Bobby Zankel and the Wonderful Warriors of Sound.

[save0904]

Jeremy Pelt Birdland/Hamburg

[WorldB3]

Saw two more shows this week at Yoshi's. Sometimes I will go four months without seeing a show yet this week its been three in seven days.

Tue: Kenny Werner with Chris Potter, Johannes Weidenmueller & Peter Erskine.

If Werner's book is called Effortless Mastery then the show I saw should have been called Effortless Swing. First time seeing Erskine and he is truly a master. Potter makes everything look easy and Werner looked to be having a blast. His young Bass player wrote a great arrangement of Monk's Evidence which smoked. A great night of top tier NY Jazz for us on the West Coast.

Fri: Brad Mehldau Trio:

Unlike his new record which is a bit hard for me to get into he came out last night and gave me exactly what I wanted. A Nick Drake cover to open, a deconstructed swing blues that went in and out of free jazz, a Be Bop workout and a gorgeous show tune ballad. One of the better nights I have seen form Mehldau and his trio.

[jeffcrom]

I'm in New Orleans for my annual visit - just got back from hearing Matt Perrine's Sunflower City playing at a street festival. Perrine has got to be the best tuba player in New Orleans, and by my logic, in the world, since New Orleans has the best tuba players on the planet. (Apologies and due respect to Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, Harvey Phillips, Roger Bobo, etc.) Perrine played solo after solo that was audacious and virtuosic - just amazing. I'm going to hear him again with the Tin Men on Wednesday, and I would guess that he will be the tuba or bass player with several other bands I see on this trip.

Ben Schenck was the clarinetist with Sunflower City, and I'm now headed for the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street, where Ben's Panorama Jazz Band plays every Saturday night. They're one of my favorite New Orleans bands, playing traditional jazz, klezmer, calypso, and more.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Never posted in this thread before, but here I am in NYC and just round the corner at Smoke, there's The Cookers, with Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, David Weiss, Azar Lawrence, George Cables, Cecil McBee & Billy Hart.

This isn't quite my stuff, but it'll be good music and really not to be passed up. Will report back.

MG