What live music are you going to see tonight?

[kh1958]

Last night, Evan Weiss/Davy Mooney Quintet at Scat Jazz on Fort Worth.

[Steve Reynolds]

Well from Tony Malaby channeling Coleman Hawkins to Billy Drummond reinventing Tony Williams as himself, a pretty great 2 sets.

Drew Gress is a groove monster and Ralph Alessi is precise yet at times exhuberent.

The second set ended with a Sidney Bechet piece followed by Grachan Moncur's Frankenstein.

Btw all tunes played were selected by Tony right before each set and played without rehearsal. Tunes included a Motian piece, a Chris Lightcap tune, a great Malaby original that was post bop groove based madness that ended the 65 minute first set on an extraordinary high note and Blessed by Mat Maneri.

The composition/performance was at times almost silent with the whole place as quiet as any club could be. Mat himself was in the audience and might be a harbinger of things to come for this music. The best composition of the night, IMO, and inspired some of the most precise, yet heartfelt improvising from the dual horns.

[Steve Reynolds]

A few more thoughts:

As some know Tony might be my favorite or second favorite saxophonist alive(along with Evan Parker) but he might also be inconsistent, maddening and mystifying. But he has his own sound, can play anything in any context and never settles for anything other than risk taking adventure no matter what the context.

There were moments last night when I KNEW I was listening to the greatest tenor player alive and there were also times I was thinking WTF is he doing?? And it seems to happen every time I see him. His extended improvisation during the Bechet slow blues was at times exasperating and then just as I thought that he again is going down some insane path of no return, he transformed his solo/improv into something teetering on genius.

The guy is the greatest high wire performer in all of jazz with practiced technique honestly untouched by most any other tenor players on the scene today. Maybe he is not the pure bop/post bopper that Chis Potter or Jerry Bergonzi, but as far as the sound of surprise and the idea of never knowing where he's gonna go or what the hell is gonna happen, he is unmatched in jazz today.

And last thing, Billy Drummond is a grand master and the in and out nature of the Malaby Reading Band showed him to be that master.

A few people here might have died and gone to heaven hearing Frankenstein last night. Pure joy with not a sound of nostalgia in it. Alessi and Malaby during the heads and the stop time rhythm throughout with a great, great drum solo playing the melody before the classic theme ended the night

[Larry Kart]

Last night at the Hungry Brain:

Jaimie Branch (tpt), Jarrett Gilgore (alto), Anton Hatwich (bs), Frank Rosaly (dms)

Branch, who has been in living Baltimore recently, studying under Dave Ballou at Towson State, was excellent; Gilgore, age 21 from Baltimore, was scary good.

[BFrank]

RT at Antone's in Austin last Thursday

RT at the Parish in Austin last Friday

[Justin V]

I just caught the (Michael) Wolff & (Mike) Clark Expedition with Jeff Berlin. It was a very loose, fun set. Michael Wolff is an underrated pianist and Mike Clark, known for his distinctive funk style, is a pretty versatile drummer. I was pleasantly surprised by Jeff Berlin, whose playing is quite fluid. They all obviously enjoy each other's company as well, so their in-between-song banter was pretty funny. I'm looking forward to giving the new Wolff & Clark Expedition album a spin; it has Chip Jackson on bass, and he has a different style from Berlin and is on double bass rather than electric.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Justin V

[skeith]

A Tribute to Paul Motian - tonight at Symphony Space in Manhattan - incredible lineup of musicians.

[B. Clugston]

Off to see Evan Parker tonight--solo and small group. Archival LP of 1978 concert also will be released.

[Steve Reynolds]

Enjoy Evan Parker.

Would love to read a report on the band/performance, etc

[A Lark Ascending]

Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party.

Slightly different band than here (and last time I saw them at Sidmouth in the summer) but the same dress (was Fay Hield a Von Trapp child, doomed to wear curtains?).

Utterly brilliant - rumbling, squeaky ox-cart English folk. No modern instruments or laptops (unless you count an acoustic guitar and a nyckleharpa as inauthentic modernism!); mainly squeezeboxes, fiddles with a bit of banjo, cello and mandolin. The band worked up a wonderful head of steam in the instrumental passages (both within songs and in the non-vocal pieces), especially when there was just a melodeon and three fiddles scratching away.

Field's voice is a million miles away from gentle folksiness - there's a rough edge there and a completely distinctive sound. Playing here on her home ground (Sheffield), she was in her element.

Her last album, 'Orfeo', was one of my favourite records of last year. Live performance just proves she's up there with The Unthanks, Chris Wood and Jackie Oates in the keeping the flame alive stakes.

Edited March 23, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[B. Clugston]

Enjoy Evan Parker.

Would love to read a report on the band/performance, etc

It was a great concert. Evan Parker opened the first set with a 25-minute soprano solo, circular breathing the whole time. I've seen Parker in many configurations before, but never solo, and it was quite amazing to experience. Surprisingly, he followed that up with a very brief rendition of a Monk tune, played in a Steve Lacy style! (I think it was "Well, You Needn't.") Set two was Parker on tenor with Gordon Grdina on guitar and oud and Kenton Loewen on drums. They played two improvised pieces--the second, featuring the oud, had a real Moorish feel to it and it was interesting to see what a great listener Parker is—he really adapted to what the others were playing. Both sets were recorded.

The LP release is from the same tour that produced At the Finger Palace. There's some details here: http://front.bc.ca/events/evan-parker-concert-and-lp-launch/

[Steve Reynolds]

thanks for the comments - I check every week or so to see who Evan will have playing with him when he is here in NYC in September....but not yet updated but if it is anything like the longer residency he had for his 65th birthday celebration in 2009, it will be mostly some of the best NYC area improvisors....

very much looking to seeing him again live and great to hear, as expected, that his playing is in fine shape.

[BFrank]

Tomorrow night at the Bottom of the Hill club - very small venue.

#BOTH (Aimee Mann and Ted Leo)

My friend is a big Aimee Mann fan, so we're going to check this out.

[relyles]

Thursday, March 28, 2013 8pm

Bezanson Recital Hall Umass - Amherst, MA

HARRISON BANKHEAD QUARTET

Edward Wilkerson, Jr. and Mars Williams, reeds; Avreeayl Ra, drums

Edited March 28, 2013 by relyles

[Steve Reynolds]

Huge having Wilkerson and Bankhead on the east coast!

Enjoy the show. Look forward to hearing your comments

[Justin V]

Lee Konitz Quartet with pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, bassist Jeff Denson and drummer Ronen Itzik in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I was very impressed with the entire group, none of whom I'd ever heard (excluding Konitz, of course). Konitz had apparently only just met Neselovskyi and Itzik; despite his unfamiliarity with them, he had the same adventurous spirit, first asking the audience for requests and then asking individual bandmates to start playing a song of their choice.

Other than Denson, the entire group was unamplified. As a result, I didn't need to wear earplugs, and sitting in the front row, I really got to soak up Konitz's gorgeous sound. To see Konitz at the top of his game, cracking jokes and leading a group of musicians 50 years his junior, is simply remarkable.

We may even visit Antietam after checking out of the hotel.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Justin V

[Larry Kart]

Last night at Elastic:

• Caroline Davis Quartet, with Mike Allemana, Matt Ferguson, Jeremy Cunningham
• Russ Johnson, Nick Mazzarella, Joshua Abrams, Damon Short

Hadn't heard Davis in some time. She's worked a lot on her sound, or maybe it's just evolved -- beautifully round and kind of cool-warm, somewhat reminiscent of the late Hal McKusick's sound at times. OTOH -- and this may have been the result of fairly worked out compositions -- she didn't seem to give/immerse herself in the act of improvisation as much I might have thought she would, a certain reticence. Also, at times she seemed rather soft-edged rhythmically, which of course could be a choice because Davis is basically a lyrical player, but when I noticed this I wondered a bit. More listening on my part is called for.

Was awfully tired by the second set, but it was a good one. Johnson's recent appearances have been a delight -- what a distinctive, mature player, with a fabulous but also more or less unobtrusive technique -- and the whole group, a new one, was fruitfully in tune with each other. Short is a fine partner for the horns and such a swinger; Mazzarella often gives me the feeling that his lines are almost literally in flames. That is, there's the slower moving basic melodic line, but the overtones/roughed-up timbres more or less add additional flickering/flaming, very "hot" melodic details to the core melodies. It's an effect we're all familiar with from Ayler and some periods of Trane, but it's not often heard on alto, except (in my experience) from that great Japanese player Sakata, and Nick's version of it is quite his own. I feel good that I felt that he was going to be something special when I first heard him maybe three or so years ago, when he was so drenched in Ornette that some thought that he was and would always be a mere imitator. But, no -- I knew right off that Nick was focused like a banshee and heading outwards. Had a similar experience about twelve years ago with Keefe Jackson, just knew right off that he would grow and grow, even in his case had a pretty good idea of HOW he would grow. Also had at least one experience the other way on this scene -- a player who shall be nameless who I and a lot of people were more or less knocked out by in the early and mid-2000s, and then IMO he began to run in place so to speak and lose a fair amount of his former creative intensity. Music can be a cruel mistress.

[Chuck Nessa]

Tonite it is the Roscoe Mitchell quartet with Hugh Ragin, Tani Tabbal and Jaribu Shahid at the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston.

[relyles]

Johnson's recent appearances have been a delight -- what a distinctive, mature player, with a fabulous but also more or less unobtrusive technique

Trumpeter, Ron Horton recommended Russ Johnson to me several years ago and I have been very grateful for that introduction. I have had the opportunity to hear him live several times and I think your description above is right on point. Although at the moment not documented by an official recording, I have loved what I heard of him in the Out to Lunch band with Roy Nathanson, Myra Melford, Brad Jones and George Schuller. Not usually a fan of the tribute bands, but this one works. I checked out Mazzarella on your recommendation and would be very interested to hear him with another horn like Johnson.

[relyles]

Thursday, March 28, 2013 8pm

Bezanson Recital Hall Umass - Amherst, MA

HARRISON BANKHEAD QUARTET

Edward Wilkerson, Jr. and Mars Williams, reeds; Avreeayl Ra, drums

They performed two sets consisting of two extended pieces each set. This ensemble is clearly in sync with each other and was overall good to hear. In addition to a number of reeds, Wilkerson and Williams also played a variety of "little instruments", toys, flutes and percussion. Bankhead also played some piano, scatted on one piece and had some low key wordless vocals at another time. On one piece Ra picked up the thumb piano. In some regards the different sounds and textures accomplished by the use of a variety of instruments by the musicians seemed representative of what many associate with a frequently used AACM approach. Especially in the way a couple of the pieces seemed to develop with changing moods and dynamics. At times the band rose to a roar with Ra bashing away and Williams and Wilkerson blowing hard. I have been a fan of Wilkerson for quite a while and as Steve noted opportunities to hear him live on the east coast have been rare. He was a delight to hear, although at times when he put a cloth inside his horn the sound did not project as well over Ra's drums, which were loud. I get the difference in the sound and it was definitely appealing, but one had to make an extra effort to hear. The sound from where I sat right in front of the stage was a bit loud and Bankhead's bass at times had a little too much something in the mix, but he did not disappoint. Overall, very happy I was able to catch this group because there is no telling when they will be back around. I think they are scheduled to go into the studio today to record Bankhead's next Engine Studios release.

[Larry Kart]

Some Caroline Davis links:

Of those below, I've listened to "Blood Count" and "You Send Me," both interesting:

http://carolinedavis.org/#f93/soundcloud

[Blue Train]

Last night, it was Mitsuko Uchida dropping Mozart. Tonight it was supposed to be Sonny Rollins.

Thurston Moore's Chelsea Light Moving

Speaking of Chicago. What exactly happened to Green Mill and Empty Bottle?

P.S. Keeping in mind I there were no problems the first 7 times. Last three Sonny Rollins performances we had tickets for.

1. Took my fiancee to see him for the first time in Detroit. It was our first time in Detroit. I broke my foot while running the next morning. I needed surgery for the first time in my life.

2. Fiancee was sick and we gave our tickets in the UK away.

3. A respiratory illness cancelled tonight.

There might be a hint in there for us and Sonny Rollins.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Blue Train

[Larry Kart]

Speaking of Chicago. What exactly happened to Green Mill and Empty Bottle?

AFAIK, the Empty Bottle no longer books jazz; The Green Mill is going strong:

http://greenmilljazz.com/

[Blue Train]

So everyone that used to go to Green Mill, Empty Bottle, or for that matter Velvet Lounge are now going to the Hideout and Elastic. I don't agree about the Green Mill. I went through several months of calenders, which is why I made the comment I made.

Several good performances at the Hideout and Elastic that I won't be able to make for anyone interested.

With the talk about Roscoe Mitchell in Houston and sorry if this a repost.

Surround Sound: Prairie and Beyond

From cities to environmental ecosystems to musical notes, how things fit together and influence one another to shape patterns and systems is a topic of limitless discussion and a site of continuous innovation. This panel convenes some extraordinary thinkers across discipline to consider ideas such as organizing sound, planning dynamic spaces and innovative environments, improvising and self-organizing systems, and convening natural and manipulated environments.

Thursday, April 18 6:00 pm-8:00 pm

Panelists: Roscoe Mitchell, Ken Vandermark, Pamela Jennings

Moderator: Dieter Roelstraete

Location: Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater

Edited March 30, 2013 by Blue Train

[Larry Kart]

So everyone that used to go to Green Mill, Empty Bottle, or for that matter Velvet Lounge are now going to the Hideout and Elastic. I don't agree about the Green Mill. I went through several months of calenders, which is why I made the comment I made.

I didn't say that "everyone that used to go ... is now going to" etc. I was just responding to your "what happened to?" question. Do agree, though, that the Green Mill calendar doesn't make the heart go pitty-pat. Just meant that the place is still up and running and probably still drawing its regulars.