What live music are you going to see tonight?

[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

[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

Phew! Billy Harper smokes - but he doesn't smoke never has, he told me.

I got put in a seat at the bar and, after a minute, someone addressed the guy sitting next to me as Mr Harper. So I said "Are you Billy Harper?" "Yes." @Sorry I didn't recognise you; I don't get out much." He thought that was funny.

Eddie Henderson seemed to be having trouble with his lip and also to be fighting a cold. Nevertheless, he made effective music - not flashy, but effective. Azar Lawrence impressed me, too. I've never heard him play before. Looks like I made a mistake not listening before.

Billy Hart drove the band like mad. He was heroic and Cecil McBee only slightly less so.

My only regret is that the band is slightly too big for everyone to get solos. But it does enable rather interesting voicings to be written - George Cables seems to be responsible mainly.

And I've made a HUGE mistake in not keeping up with Mr Harper after his recordings with Lee Morgan and Charles Earland. He was fire and had me jumping up and down on the stool, nearly falling off at one point. Oh, what an exciting player!

Damn good gig.

MG

[Larry Kart]

Probably Keefe Jackson's large ensemble Project Project at the Hungry Brain tonight. I saw the band last week and was impressed. They might play the same pieces, though.

[kh1958]

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

Phew! Billy Harper smokes - but he doesn't smoke never has, he told me.

I got put in a seat at the bar and, after a minute, someone addressed the guy sitting next to me as Mr Harper. So I said "Are you Billy Harper?" "Yes." @Sorry I didn't recognise you; I don't get out much." He thought that was funny.

Eddie Henderson seemed to be having trouble with his lip and also to be fighting a cold. Nevertheless, he made effective music - not flashy, but effective. Azar Lawrence impressed me, too. I've never heard him play before. Looks like I made a mistake not listening before.

Billy Hart drove the band like mad. He was heroic and Cecil McBee only slightly less so.

My only regret is that the band is slightly too big for everyone to get solos. But it does enable rather interesting voicings to be written - George Cables seems to be responsible mainly.

And I've made a HUGE mistake in not keeping up with Mr Harper after his recordings with Lee Morgan and Charles Earland. He was fire and had me jumping up and down on the stool, nearly falling off at one point. Oh, what an exciting player!

Damn good gig.

MG

Azar Lawrence (who played with McCoy Tyner in the '70s) has recently re-emerged and released a couple of excellent albums--Prayer for My Ancestors (a really good one) and Speak the Word. A third release is imminent.

Billy Harper's most recent (fine) recording is Blueprints of Jazz.

[jeffcrom]

Damn good gig.

MG

Sounds fabulous. I'll warn you in advance that Atlanta won't be quite as exciting.

The Panorama Jazz Band was better than I've ever heard them last night. Leader/clarinetist Ben Schenck and alto saxophonist Aurora Nealand just keep getting better and better. Those with a taste for traditional jazz, klezmer, and calypso should check out their album Come Out Swingin'. It can't quite match their performance last night, but it comes close.

[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

Phew! Billy Harper smokes - but he doesn't smoke never has, he told me.

I got put in a seat at the bar and, after a minute, someone addressed the guy sitting next to me as Mr Harper. So I said "Are you Billy Harper?" "Yes." @Sorry I didn't recognise you; I don't get out much." He thought that was funny.

Eddie Henderson seemed to be having trouble with his lip and also to be fighting a cold. Nevertheless, he made effective music - not flashy, but effective. Azar Lawrence impressed me, too. I've never heard him play before. Looks like I made a mistake not listening before.

Billy Hart drove the band like mad. He was heroic and Cecil McBee only slightly less so.

My only regret is that the band is slightly too big for everyone to get solos. But it does enable rather interesting voicings to be written - George Cables seems to be responsible mainly.

And I've made a HUGE mistake in not keeping up with Mr Harper after his recordings with Lee Morgan and Charles Earland. He was fire and had me jumping up and down on the stool, nearly falling off at one point. Oh, what an exciting player!

Damn good gig.

MG

Azar Lawrence (who played with McCoy Tyner in the '70s) has recently re-emerged and released a couple of excellent albums--Prayer for My Ancestors (a really good one) and Speak the Word. A third release is imminent.

Billy Harper's most recent (fine) recording is Blueprints of Jazz.

Thanks Ken.

I had a quick word with Azar afterwards and apologised for having ignored him for forty years, although I was well aware of his Prestige recordings. He said to get onto his website, which I shall do, once I get home. I got the impression he's selling his own stuff. Good.

A further gloss on the gig - David Weiss didn't get through to me at all. We've discussed showbiz and jazz in a number of threads here. Weiss struck me as the most un-showbiz jazz musician I've ever come across.

I don't expect jazzmen to come on in short spangly skirts and kick their legs up But I do expect open body language that tells me they're glad to be there playing their music, which I feel shouldn't be hard for a jazzman 99% of the time. I also expect a bit of eye contact with the audience - not necessarily with me; Harper was standing sideways on to me; Cables was hidden behind the corner of the stage, except his hands, but they were eloquent anyway - even though it is probably hard to pick out individuals in a dark room when the stage is lit.

For the whole set, David Weiss held his trummpet close to his body, pointed at the floor, and looking at the floor. That kind of tight, locked into himself body language, not interested in whether he was getting through, put me right off. It didn't matter what he was playing, I wasn't listening.

MG

[Van Basten II]

Going out to see the Gebhard Ullmann Clarinet Trio

[jeffcrom]

New Orleans has a staggering number of accomplished traditional jazz bands. Jeffery's choice tonight was the Palmetto Bug Stompers at d.b.a. I've been vaguely aware of this band for a couple of years, but my level of interest went up last night when I learned that Carl LeBlanc has been playing guitar with them of late. LeBlanc (with Sun Ra in the late 80s) did some great playing tonight, as did clarinetist Bruce Brackman and trumpeter William Smith (who has not impressed me in the past). The Stompers play living music, not tourist Dixieland or museum artifacts; they attracted lots of dancers, and a good time was had by all. At one point, 79-year-old New Orleans icon Uncle Lionel Batiste (bass drummer with the Treme Brass Band) walked in, looking like a million bucks: white suit, lavender shirt, striped tie, and panama hat. He sang "I Got a Big Fat Woman," "Crazy," (which elicited a great Brackman clarinet solo), and "Caldonia."

I love New Orleans.

[Michael Weiss]

Tom Harrell's quintet at the Vanguard. Still one of the best BANDS in the business. And there aren't too many bands out there. Particularly ones that SOUND like working bands. And this one really does.

Wayne Escoffrey, Danny Grissett, Ugonna Okegwo, Jonathan Blake.

[mikeweil]

Jeremy Pelt was in town tonight - with J.D. Allen, Xavier Davis, Dwayne Burno and Gerald Cleaver.

I have to admit I was a bit underimpressed. Allen sounded like a cleaned-up version of mid-sixites Wayne Shorter - the whole band was very accomplished, relaxed, to the point, really knew their stuff - but it all sounded to me like they were all working hard to digest all the jazz created during the last 50 years but had no idea how to do something new with it. A very classicist approach, a simmered-down Jazz Messengers approach filtered through Miles' 1960's quintet, but all without the freshness or excitement of their idols. And way to little humor in the music, not very much communication. Cleaver was the most interesting player, with a featherlight touch and very alert, but not given enough room to display his facilities. 

Very good music, but not a bit raw or exciting.

[jeffcrom]

I'm going to Fritzel's in New Orleans tonight to hear one of my favorite NO clarinetists - Tim Laughlin. In all my trips here, it has never worked out to hear him, although I have a half dozen or so of his albums. I'm looking forward to hearing him in a small club.

[jeffcrom]

Tim Laughlin has the most beautiful clarinet sound I've ever heard - this is what Irving Fazola must have sounded like. And he can play - with fire and imagination. Jon-Erik Kelso sat in on cornet for much of the night. A magical evening of music.

[jeffcrom]

OMG, y'all. This evening was weird.

I was so knocked out by Tim Laughlin last night that I checked out his website this morning and saw that he was playing with his mentor, Pete Fountain, at a Mississippi casino about 50 miles east of New Orleans. So I passed up the Rebirth Brass Band at the Maple Leaf (don't worry - I've heard them there many times) and made the drive.

I don't even know where to start. Casinos seem to be based on some principle of over-stimulation: noise, color, activity. It was loud and disorienting. I'm not much of a gambler, and it's been seven or eight years since I've been in a casino. That last time I broke a twenty into quarters and blew it in the slot machines. I wasn't even going to do that tonight, but I thought I would at least use all the quarters in my pocket. Well, this Luddite didn't even know that, at least in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, none of the machines take quarters. I think you have to buy a card like a debit card, but I couldn't figure out the procedure, so I ended up not gambling at all.

I had pictured the show being in an theater away away from the gaming floor. But no - it was in the middle of the casino, separated from the slot machines only by columns. I shared a table with an older couple - I'm in my 50s, but I was the youngest person in the "theater." I kept trying to catch the waitress's eye to get a beer, but she never stopped at our table. By the time she finally stopped by, it was about 15 minutes from the end of the show, and I had already decided to leave the casino without spending a dime.

The show started promptly at 8:00. Fountain had a nine-piece band, with several New Orleans heavyweights. John Royen was on piano, and the trumpet player was Connie Jones - a real New Orleans "musician's musician." He's the favorite Dixieland trumpeter of lots of New Orleans guys, and I understand why - his solos were thoughtful, interesting, and "told a story." But the music competed with the noise of the slot machines, as I knew it would. But I thought they would at least turn down the Muzak that was blaring in the rest of the casino - they didn't. Any time the music was less than forte, you could hear some pop song along with it, as well as the din from the machines. As I looked around, nobody else seemed bothered by this. But it drove me crazy. By 30 minutes in, I was a nervous wreck and couldn't really listen anymore.

Fountain didn't sound too good, to tell the truth. He still has his sound, but it's kind of uncontrolled, and he no longer has the coordination to do anything very technical. That didn't stop him from trying. I wish he had just stuck to some more lyrical stuff, but he tried a lot of things that didn't come off. On the other hand, Tim Laughlin sounded great, and it was nice to see Fountain's expression after every one of Tim's solos - he looked like a proud parent. The whole vibe was of a kind of show-biz jazz I didn't know existed any more - but I'm glad it does.

It was a strange evening. After trying to listen to show-biz Dixieland, Muzak, and slot machines all at the same time, I was a wreck. But I'm glad I made this choice tonight. And I'm glad I never have to do it again.

Edited April 7, 2010 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

My last night in New Orleans. (Sigh....) I went to d.b.a. to hear The Tin Men, "America's best guitar/sousaphone/washboard trio" - Alex McMurray on guitar and vocals, the great Matt Perrine on tuba, and Washboard Chaz on vocals and, well, you know. They play obscure standards ("He Ain't Got Rhythm," "Lulu's Back in Town"), New Orleans R & B ("Smoke That Peace Pipe," "Palm Court Strut"), and McMurray originals - and he writes some strange songs. It was surreal to see people dancing to his "Baby," a bizarre song about selling a baby.