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Posted

Loose Tubes at Brecon Market Hall.

One of my all-time favourite bands - I never thought I'd get to see them live. As wonderful as I'd imagined - old favourites and pieces I'd not heard. Great, quirky arrangements; turn on a dime ensemble playing, fabulous solos, idiot dancing from Django Bates and droll banter from Ashley Slater. Above all, jazz as fun rather than an object for a post-doctoral thesis. The horns did the old leaving the stage and wandering around bit on the encore - only within the market hall. Just as well - the streets were full of drunken shepherds.

Part of their brief mini-revival series of concerts though Slater insisted it was their last gig ever (I'm sure he said that 25 years ago too!).

No Morris dancers on the streets of Brecon. Odd.

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Posted

Trish Clowes Quintet in Brecon Cathedral. Up and coming young sax player. Still finding her way but very promising.

Vinicius Cantuaria in the lovely theatre in Brecon (about the only thing in Brecon that can be termed lovely). Excellent low key set of famous bossa novas and some originals - just guitar and minimalist, gossamer piano. Just 50 odd people in the audience - and six of them were photographers for whom size clearly matters. Mid-Wales is clearly a long way from Rio.

Posted

aug is pickin up already had toto/michael mcdonald on the 3rd (was awesome when MM announced: we'd like to welcome the newest member of our group, on tenor sax would you please welcome, Brandon Fields), Fourplay feat. bob james, Deep Purple (who sounded exactly like Deep Purple), tonight: Miami R&B legend BLOWFLY, aug. ends w/ Yes next week and then the Beach Boys finishes it off Aug 30.

Posted

Tonight at Scullers - Delfeayo Marsalis with his father Ellis on piano. I'm going more for Ellis than Delfeayo, whose trombone playing never bowled me over. I figure, it's been a long time since I've seen/heard him and I do want to see Ellis again so why not?

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Lila Downs

Good?

Love her records.

I saw her live once; her voice is very powerful. I enjoyed.

Tonight - so I'll let you know.

She was great the last 2 times we saw her.

Wonderful sold out show at the beautiful Lensic Theater in Santa Fe.

Posted

Lila Downs

Good?

Love her records.

I saw her live once; her voice is very powerful. I enjoyed.

Tonight - so I'll let you know.

She was great the last 2 times we saw her.

Wonderful sold out show at the beautiful Lensic Theater in Santa Fe.

Merci. Her records give the impression of someone who would be a hoot live. Unlikely to appear outside London here except at a big festival.

Posted

Saw Trio da Paz at Dizzy's in NYC with Harry Allen, Claudio Roditi and Maucha Adnet. They've had the last two weeks of summer at Dizzy's for the past several years (often with Joe Locke too) and are a joy to see.

Posted (edited)

Saturday night, first a set from vocalist Thana Alexa at the 55 Bar. I had no expectations, but she was pretty good.

Next, to Smalls for the David Schnitter Quartet, and then the Kenny Rampton Octet (featuring Brian Charette on organ, Sherman Irby on alto sax, Donny McCaslin on tenor sax, and Bill Sims on guitar/vocals). Both groups were excellent. David Schnitter (now 66) sounds his best. The Kenny Rampton group was mostly organ soul jazz (Rampton played trumpet for Jimmy McGriff for ten years) with a divergence into blues (featuring Bill Sims).

Sunday, an afternoon set with Zach Brock at the Blue Note (the music was okay, but the service at the Blue Note was miserable and surly). In the early evening, a couple of sets by the Junior Mance Trio at Cafe Loup. The setting here was incredibly annoying; a constant stream of waiters to and fro in front of the band and a very loud crowd, almost none of whom seemed to be there for Junior Mance (now 85); still I very much enjoyed, among other songs, the group's versions of Idle Moments and Sunset and the Mockingbird. Next, to Why Not, for a guitar duo set by Bern Nix and Christian Amigo. It was great to see Bern Nix again.

Monday, back to Smalls. First, guitarist Rotem Sivan. First set was fine, but bored with second. Then, the Ari Hoenig Time Quintet (Tivon Pennicott on tenor sax, Shae Maestro on piano, Orlando LaFleming on bass, and Gilad Hekselman on guitar) followed. Their two sets were the highlight of my visit--amazing super-intense music, a true group with fabulous soloists in all cases, and challenging compositions. This group is a joy.

Edited by kh1958
Posted (edited)

Nice, kh, you made the most of your time!

Yes, this was the first time I had been there since last October, so I had to take advantage. I also visited the Jazz Record Center and two Academy Records stores.

The proximity of jazz clubs in Greenwich Village is amazing--the Village Vanguard, Smalls, Fat Cat, 55 Bar, Why Not (a fairly new club), Mezzrow (a brand new piano/bass club), Zinc Bar, Cornelia Street Cafe, the Blue Note--nine alternatives where you can walk from any one to the other in five minutes or less.

I did notice an ominous development--construction cranes engaged in erecting what appeared to be luxury apartments in Greenwich Village. One sizable construction project was across the street and down one block from the Village Vanguard.

Edited by kh1958
Posted

Ches Smith Trio with Craig Taborn & Mat Maneri

I've been fortunate to see them the first two times they have played together and I believe this will be their third show.

Improvisation at the highest most unpredictable level. Who would think that this would make sense? Hopefully it works again.

8:00 @ Greenwich House 46 Barrow Street NYC

Posted

Across the bridge to nowhere, except it led to Babb Bros., an unlikely music venue where Tutu Jones performed tonight, and he was really feeling it by the third set, ending with a very intense pair of instrumentals that nobody, including him, wanted to end.

Posted

The concert hiatus is over. Managed to catch the Ingrid Laubrock Quintet at Bohemian Caverns, DC, before I depart for the Evan Parker Residency in NYC.

The Quintet is Laubrock on tenor, Tim Berne on alto, Ben Gerstein on trombone, Dan Peck on tuba, and Tom Rainey on drums. A wealth of brass for sure, and obviously some top-flight musicians. Rather funny when Rainey was introduced as Tom Murphy. Rainey startled, said, "Tom who?!"

Two sets, although the second was truncated a bit. Most of the music was through-composed, or at lease part-composed. Started slow and low and continued to build in volume and complexity, although it remained very much controlled. I'll pretty much come out to watch any ensemble Berne or Laubrock is in, since I enjoy the playing so much. So this was a good night. I will acknowledge, for all that, this is not my favorite Laubrock ensemble. Still, definitely worth catching, especially if you like a strong brass performance.

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