What live music are you going to see tonight?

[jeffcrom]

What an interesting day....

The five horns of the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra played at the wedding of our guitar player this afternoon: traditional and original wedding music.

The Janiva Mangess band at Blind Willie's tonight was smokin' - great singer, great band, and Jim A. was fabulous.

Then I drove across town to Kavarna and walked in halfway through Richard Devine and Josh Kay's duo set of analogue synth improvisations. It was fascinating to hear/see musicians improvising by turning knobs and plugging in patch cords rather than by pressing keys. I really enjoyed it. Then Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel worked their magic for 45 minutes. They produce an amazing range of sounds. Col. Bruce Hampton was in the audience at Kavarna; that might mean something to some of you.

What a great day and night.

Edited May 2, 2010 by jeffcrom

[BillF]

Up to Whitefield this afternoon on the Metrolink to hear Simon Spillett again - this time with the Gerry Tomlinson Trio.

[BillF]

Up to Whitefield this afternoon on the Metrolink to hear Simon Spillett again - this time with the Gerry Tomlinson Trio.

Yes, it was a fine session. Had a great talk with Simon - about my memories of Tubby Hayes and Victor Feldman and his admiration for Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart.

[kh1958]

Bernard Allison at Pearl on Commerce. While not comparable to his father on guitar, he is pretty good and is a nice singer who plays mostly original material. The band was strong, featuring tenor saxophone as much as guitar, and the tenor player (didn't catch his name) played rather well. The drummer has chops way beyond what I expect in a blues band. Overall, quite enjoyable.

Edited May 2, 2010 by kh1958

[sidewinder]

Up to Whitefield this afternoon on the Metrolink to hear Simon Spillett again - this time with the Gerry Tomlinson Trio.

Yes, it was a fine session. Had a great talk with Simon

You didn't ask him when his Tubby Hayes bio was coming out by any chance?

[BillF]

Up to Whitefield this afternoon on the Metrolink to hear Simon Spillett again - this time with the Gerry Tomlinson Trio.

Yes, it was a fine session. Had a great talk with Simon

You didn't ask him when his Tubby Hayes bio was coming out by any chance?

With gigs this last week in Wigan, Marlow, Stoke-by-Nayland, Mumbles and Whitefield, my guess is no time soon! But I shall certainly be reading it when it does come out. He's incredibly knowledgeable about British jazz history. When I said I had been at Scott's for Victor Feldman's triumphant Xmas visit to Britain (couldn't remember the date), he immediately said "1960 - just after he joined Cannonball Adderley"!

Edited May 3, 2010 by BillF

[paul secor]

What an interesting day....

The five horns of the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra played at the wedding of our guitar player this afternoon: traditional and original wedding music.

The Janiva Mangess band at Blind Willie's tonight was smokin' - great singer, great band, and Jim A. was fabulous.

Then I drove across town to Kavarna and walked in halfway through Richard Devine and Josh Kay's duo set of analogue synth improvisations. It was fascinating to hear/see musicians improvising by turning knobs and plugging in patch cords rather than by pressing keys. I really enjoyed it. Then Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel worked their magic for 45 minutes. They produce an amazing range of sounds. Col. Bruce Hampton was in the audience at Kavarna; that might mean something to some of you.

What a great day and night.

Damn! Playing one gig and then catching two more - all in the same day. Lucky you're still a young fella.

[jeffcrom]

Damn! Playing one gig and then catching two more - all in the same day. Lucky you're still a young fella.

A blues harp player I used to play with would say, "We can sleep when we're dead."

[Van Basten II]

Saw Cindy Blackman playing an hommage to Tony Williams called Another Lifetime. A bit too rock for my liking, ended up with damaged earing and a headache, as the sound was on the too strong side of things.

[BillF]

Just got back from Southport, where I saw tenorman Frank Griffith with the Swing Shift Big Band. Hadn't heard of Griffith before, but he's an expatriate American who's recorded with Tom Harrell in the States and Jimmy Deuchar here. It was great to hear Bob Florence arrangements live!

[alankin]

"Klezmer Meets Swing" with CB Calloway and the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Regent Theatre, Arlington MA.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/news/x998202817/CB-Calloway-and-the-Klezmer-Conservatory-Band

http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/newsnow/x1394812335/Swing-The-unlikely-offspring-of-jazz-and-klezmer

[Van Basten II]

Saw another fine gig with the David Binney quartet, gave a lot of playing time to his fine sidemen, check out drummer Dan Weiss ! Man, does Binney loves long pieces , he played 7 pieces that lasted more than two hours.

Only negative was the sonorisation , little tip to those planning a trip to Montreal L'Astral is just not a great venue soundwise

For those interested, there were tapers and you can find it if you want to look for it.

Edited May 14, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Chuck Nessa]

Tonight Ann and I are headed to 504 E 75th St to hear Von Freeman and his New Apartment Lounge Quartet. We'll start driving home sometime after midnight.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Tonight Ann and I are headed to 504 E 75th St to hear Von Freeman and his New Apartment Lounge Quartet. We'll start driving home sometime after midnight.

Is that a regular gig? I'll be in Chicago in late June.

[Chuck Nessa]

Every Tuesday nite at 10:30. We will be back on June 29. If u be there then, we should connect.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Every Tuesday nite at 10:30. We will be back on June 29. If u be there then, we should connect.

Shoot, no it'll be the previous Tuesday. I tried finding it on Google Street View. Is it on the corner?

[Chuck Nessa]

It's a couple doors east of the corner.

[David]

Saw Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion last night at the Strathmore in MD. Apparently Gary Burton (per Pat's announcement one of his 'heroes in life' was there) was in attendance as well.

First time seeing Metheny and definitely won't be the last. The man is a musical force onstage and kept the audience's rapt attention for 2.5+ hours.

For those curious about his Orchestrion, I highly recommend seeing it 'live', as it is a one-of-a-kind contraption and the record really doesn't do it justice. To Pat's credit, it never overwhelmed his magnificent guitar playing, but rather provided the semi-interactive backdrop it was meant to provide. There was a brief technical difficulty with it at the beginning of the show, but it was fine after that.

The Orchestrion Suite itself was far more powerful live than on the record and the improvised pieces (including an Ornette tune I couldn't place!) hinting how the thing worked were amazing -- it was fascinating to see his creative thought process play out in real time as he added layer upon layer of sounds from the Orchestrion and his guitar.

Two thumbs up from me.

[jazztrain]

I saw Metheny and his Orchestrion project last night in Boston at the Orpheum (kind of an old dump). It may have been my first time seeing him (or at least the first time in many, many years). I went, in part, for the spectacle (the opportunity to see the Orchestrion) but was pleasantly surprised, in general, by the music. I agree that seeing it in person goes way beyond listening to the recording. As described by David in the previous post, the improvised demonstration pieces at the end were fascinating, since you gained more insight into how the process of controlling the mass of instruments worked. An interesting evening.

[Van Basten II]

Saw Kurt Eiling in a church tonight, nothing mindblowing but a well executed show.

[ejp626]

Danilo Perez Things to Come concert at CSO. This was called a 21st Century tribute to Dizzy Gillespie.

Featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa, Amir El-Saffar, David Sanchez, John Patitucci on bass, Adam Cruz on drums and Rogerio Boccato, a Brazilian percussionist.

This was quite the super group, and Perez has played with this group on a few dates, including Ann Arbor back in April, but it isn't clear when they will play again next. This might have been the only date with David Sanchez. I have to give them credit -- it would be easy to put together a group and play tribute to Dizzy by using the old arrangements, but this was certainly more "out" than most of Dizzy's shows, though it wasn't free jazz by any means. Basically in McLean's Destination Out territory. 10-15% of the audience did drift away early (obviously expecting something safer), but most people were into it. They played 2 hours straight, doing somewhat inverted arrangements of Salt Peanuts and a cubist version of Manteca. At one point, Perez did a piano trio piece in honor of Hank Jones (couldn't catch the title), then this became Round Midnight and a restrained (compared to the rest of the evening) David Sanchez came out and joined in. Very lyrical and touching. If they keep the group together and tour more, I would recommend trying to catch them; certainly I will have an eye out to see if they record anything.

[BillF]

Well, here's something to look into tomorrow afternoon at Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool:

"BBOctet bring the sounds of cool 1950s West Coast jazz. With emphasis on the seminal Dave Pell Octet, and influenced by Shorty Rogers and The Birth of the Cool. Members hail from St Helens and Leigh and are North West in attitude but Californian West coast in ambition. The band will play the numbers you know with a touch more sunshine than you are used to!"

[BillF]

Yes, it was great! The band told me that most of their arrangements have been sent to them by the 85-year-old Dave Pell! The venue (a Victorian palm house) wasn't the best, though, either acoustically or climatically (we're having a heatwave).

[Chalupa]

Saw the Sun Ra Arkestra last night. It was Marshall Allen's 86th birthday celebration. Fantastic. They did a great version of this song.

Edited May 26, 2010 by J.H. Deeley

[jlhoots]

Fri. night - Lou Donaldson Quartet