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What live music are you going to see tonight?


mikeweil

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Guest Bill Barton

I just returned from the Julius Watkins Jazz French Horn Festival at Cornish College of the Arts. 14 horns playing an adaptation of the Gil Evans arrangement of Weill's "My Ship": Miles was a horn, the flutes were horns,

gorgeous! Great compositions by hornists Adam Unsworth, Tom Varner and John Clark too. Smokin' arrangements of Trane's "Mr. P.C." and "India" (the latter with rhythm section and 14 horns.) John Clark's solo on "Body and Soul" was DEEP. Fine, fine solos from others as well: Varner, Vincent Chancey, et al. This was two sets worth of wonderful, creative, swinging music. Six stars on the five-star scale.

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only a few words - well maybe a few more than that - only stayed for the first set - although my wife wanted to try to sneak the second set in for free.....

with:

David Murray - tenor sax

Marty Ehrlich - alto sax & clarinet

Mark Dresser - bass

Andrew Cyrille - drums

3 long versions of

Comin' On

a tune with the word "pain" in it

Crooked Blues

I have all of the above except Bradford but it has been a long while for Murray and even for Ehrlich it might be 7 or 8 years

Bradford is a beautiful player in the mold of Don Cherry with some of Joe McPhee's stylings as well - understated and very tasteful

The tunes are what I expected - theme - solo - theme with interjections by the horns - not formulaic if you are coming from the world of straight ahead - I am so much less jaded than I have been in the past - so I was not dissapointed in the tried and true approach

but the news is for those who *still* don't know about some of these guys - especially Dresser & Ehrlich - methinks they might wanna better get to know

Mark Dresser is a ruler - never touched the bow except during a short intro during the second tune - but lordy lordy I *almost* forgot what this man is - Cyrille and Murray were and are Cyrille and Murray - wonderful musicians in their element here - but this is Dresser driving the band - making it go through subtlety and extreme power where this sort of music does not always go - the 2 duet sections with Bradford & Ehrlich (at the start of his clarinet solo during Crooked Blues) were what the best jazz is all about...

and Ehrlich's clarinet solo was the easy single highlight of the whole set - he is better than he ever was - and he was always just about as good of a musician as walks this earth...and the guys across from me might have been surprised that this dude played the blues beyond - and the guy across from I think reacted to some of Dresser's SICK fucking playing with a few visceral grunts of what might be considered awe - unless i was wrong because I didn't say a word to him.

Gary Giddens was on my left and I said a couple of words but thankfully resisted to let him know that I knew he would ignore Evan Parker's visit over these 2 weeks...anyone remember the quite obnoxious me (right of course - but self-righteous and opinionated as I am - a bit disgusted that this bright learned critic of this great music barely knew the man existed or what he is...

but the guy who sat down with a friend opposite my wife and I - I couldn't believe it at first - I looked over to Cherches and he was smiling ear to ear...

and guess who was eating dinner 2 feet from me?? and I didn't say a word to him - the one and only Stanley Crouch

methinks he denies Mark Dresser is the greatest bassist he might have ever heard but methinks he knows it is the great man plus a handful of other - dead or alive - that could fit that moniker...

Dresser played it all - all through the set and I think he is just warmin' up...

Mark Dresser rules and tomorrow we step it up even a little more as he joins his real element - with his long time partner Gerry Hemingway and the great man on tenor and alto...

they might be all over 50 - but jazz lives - place was packed and I think they all loved it - all musicians who play from their heart and soul out - and another reward for me in more ways than I can express here for getting my life back almost 5 years ago...

fwiw - John Carter's vibe could be felt in the room...and I thought of him when Marty picked up the clarinet - and yet Ehrlich plays nothing like the late great master, too me it was the closest thing I would ever come to hearing and feeling his spirit....

Shadows on the Wall, baby

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you need to see Mauger if you have never seen Hemingway & Dresser

I am seeing the 2 of them with Evan Parker tomorrow....

I did ultimately decide to go see Mauger. Caught both sets of intense music making.

only a few words - well maybe a few more than that - only stayed for the first set - although my wife wanted to try to sneak the second set in for free.....

with:

David Murray - tenor sax

Marty Ehrlich - alto sax & clarinet

Mark Dresser - bass

Andrew Cyrille - drums

3 long versions of

Comin' On

a tune with the word "pain" in it

Crooked Blues

I have all of the above except Bradford but it has been a long while for Murray and even for Ehrlich it might be 7 or 8 years

Bradford is a beautiful player in the mold of Don Cherry with some of Joe McPhee's stylings as well - understated and very tasteful

The tunes are what I expected - theme - solo - theme with interjections by the horns - not formulaic if you are coming from the world of straight ahead - I am so much less jaded than I have been in the past - so I was not dissapointed in the tried and true approach

but the news is for those who *still* don't know about some of these guys - especially Dresser & Ehrlich - methinks they might wanna better get to know

Mark Dresser is a ruler - never touched the bow except during a short intro during the second tune - but lordy lordy I *almost* forgot what this man is - Cyrille and Murray were and are Cyrille and Murray - wonderful musicians in their element here - but this is Dresser driving the band - making it go through subtlety and extreme power where this sort of music does not always go - the 2 duet sections with Bradford & Ehrlich (at the start of his clarinet solo during Crooked Blues) were what the best jazz is all about...

and Ehrlich's clarinet solo was the easy single highlight of the whole set - he is better than he ever was - and he was always just about as good of a musician as walks this earth...and the guys across from me might have been surprised that this dude played the blues beyond - and the guy across from I think reacted to some of Dresser's SICK fucking playing with a few visceral grunts of what might be considered awe - unless i was wrong because I didn't say a word to him.

Gary Giddens was on my left and I said a couple of words but thankfully resisted to let him know that I knew he would ignore Evan Parker's visit over these 2 weeks...anyone remember the quite obnoxious me (right of course - but self-righteous and opinionated as I am - a bit disgusted that this bright learned critic of this great music barely knew the man existed or what he is...

but the guy who sat down with a friend opposite my wife and I - I couldn't believe it at first - I looked over to Cherches and he was smiling ear to ear...

and guess who was eating dinner 2 feet from me?? and I didn't say a word to him - the one and only Stanley Crouch

methinks he denies Mark Dresser is the greatest bassist he might have ever heard but methinks he knows it is the great man plus a handful of other - dead or alive - that could fit that moniker...

Dresser played it all - all through the set and I think he is just warmin' up...

Mark Dresser rules and tomorrow we step it up even a little more as he joins his real element - with his long time partner Gerry Hemingway and the great man on tenor and alto...

they might be all over 50 - but jazz lives - place was packed and I think they all loved it - all musicians who play from their heart and soul out - and another reward for me in more ways than I can express here for getting my life back almost 5 years ago...

fwiw - John Carter's vibe could be felt in the room...and I thought of him when Marty picked up the clarinet - and yet Ehrlich plays nothing like the late great master, too me it was the closest thing I would ever come to hearing and feeling his spirit....

Shadows on the Wall, baby

I heard the second set Saturday night and my response was similar to Steve's, except the second set was only fifty minutes. I left feeling somewhat unfulfilled because the music that I did hear was wonderful.

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Guest Bill Barton

I never get to join in the fun here but I was on vacation and got to see Will Holshouser, Han Bennink and Michael Moore in Knoxville, TN last Thursday. Terrific.

I'm looking forward to hearing them Monday in Seattle! The Earshot Jazz Festival is in full swing and the amount of live music over the next few days is somewhat daunting...

Tonight I'm going to hear the Allen Toussaint Quartet at The Triple Door.

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