What live music are you going to see tonight?

[king ubu]

day two (well, day one was actually two days, but music-wise, only the second really counted):

 

 

Tuesday, March 8

 

Next morning we crossed the Vistula river to visit the part of Warsaw called Praga. Feels like a different city – and looks a lot more like I remembered Warsaw from my first trip there, about 15 years back. We had a lengthy walk there, out to the Soho Factory area, a former factory ground where they build natty residence buildings, there are shops offering furniture, a restaurant and more – the glory and ugliness of hipness and gentrification with all its misery … we went back to the other side then, visiting a milk bar (used to be – still are actually – places for poor folks, subsidized by state, no alcohol, originally no meat either) to have some pierogi. The place is called Familijny Bar Mleczny and is located on the posh Nowy Świat. If you really want to make use of the offerings there, learn some Polish before visiting

 

 

Around 6:30 p.m. on we went to Pardon To Tu, first set of the night was again Kondo, this time with rhythm:

Toshinori Kondo/John Edwards/Han Bennink

Pushed by Bennink, Kondo shifted up a few gears, and it was great to hear Edwards with someone other than Noble (to me, those two are currently one of the best rhythm sections around) – Bennink did his usual berserk thing that’s still always very musical. (Drake had already left, alas, as I found out later.)

 

 

Second set was the pre-announced one again, this time as they had stated:

Peter Brötzmann/Heather Leigh

It became even more obvious than the night before with Kondo that Brötzmann was listening to Leigh, picking up clues and using her playing to kick into the next part of his amazing performance. He played all four instruments this time. Leigh sounded somewhat better to me by now (or maybe just more familiar), but again the sonic array she offered was pretty limited. Yet the result worked perfectly well, Brötzmann really put in an amazing performance – and if that’s what Leigh propels him to, her presence is more than just alright, of course! His playing ranged from a whisper to a scream, from a singsong to the snort of a steam train on his hefty tenor. While playing, he moved in what seemed to be a mix of Albert Ayler and a shokeling rabbi – everything was perfectly alright, the music glorious!

 

 

Capping the proceedings was Schlippenbach’s first appearance:

Alexander von Schlippenbach/John Edwards/Steve Noble

And that, too, was powerful indeed! I was afraid the power play of Edwards/Noble might tackle the frail old master a bit too roughly, but once he managed to climb up on stage (Bennink had luckily returned the step stool), all that was forgotten and he played with vim and vigour. Again, things got very loud (though nowhere near as the quintet the night before – where front row sitting me was somewhat afraid of his ears indeed). The piano player had me thinking of Herbie Nichols, moreso than of Monk (more of that later!), yet he kept inserting wildly hammered parts, dense changes, intersecting those with tiny motifs, and he seemed to have a ball letting Edwards/Noble drive him on. A fine finish to a great second night that was – contrary to what I was afraid after the fireworks of the first night – indeed almost on the same elevated level again.

 

In between the sets, I chatted some with Edwards, and with Schlippenbach as well. Bought a pair of CDs, too: the Trost reissue of Brötzmann/Hopkins/Ali "Songlines" and Parker/Schlippenbach/Lytton "america 2003" (on pi – it’s from a tour where Schlippenbach jumped in for Guy on short notice) – haven’t yet listened to either though.

[king ubu]

day three:

 

 

Wednesday, March 9

 

On the third day, I spent over three hours in the Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It’s located inside (rather: in the huge cellar of) a modern building somewhat further out than our hotel, all of it part of the – large – where the ghetto was located. On top, a picture of some remnants of the ghetto walls, close to the Cultural Palace (on top of the first post), and near today’s financial centre of Warsaw (around Rondo ONZ). From the museum I went over to Nowe Miasto (“new town”), which was built in 15c, just outside the town walls of the old town, and was mostly rebuilt after WWII as well. I had started with one of my German friends in the museum in the morning but lost him (he left earlier than me, but that museum is so fascinating, I could have spent even more time in there, but just got too tired eventually. By chance, I met the other guy in the restaurant I had looked up for lunch. Ate the roasted duck, and sitting there, looking out at the market square of Nowe Miasto, I had some kind of déjà-vu: I’m quite sure I sat there during my first visit, 15 years back, when I had my very first duck (back then, no ghetto markers, no museum on the history of Polish Jews, and only very few skysrapers existed). Then I went down to Vistula (not a pretty area, there’s a freeway down there), looking at the old parts of the city from outside and from below, then had another walk following the former ghetto, passing by [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keret_House]Dom Kerata, which is located around the corner from where the wooden passage way connecting the “small ghetto” with the “large ghetto” was located (it is commemorated by metal pillars two storeys high, just as the bridge was, over which tens of thousands of people passed every day). It crossed a main traffic road which the Germans wouldn’t want to close down.

 

 

 

Third night brought less music, wo found out the night before that we’d get to hear two quartets. Each ended up playing for around three quarters of an hour, which was perfectly alright of course. We stood outside during the sound check and heard Leigh producing some extremely loud and most interesting sounds on her pedal steel, and I was hoping she’d play with more verve that night, attacking the audience with walls of sound. First quartet was:

Jason Adasiewicz/Heather Leigh/John Edwards/Steve Noble

There were three sonic cells there: Adasiewicz on the left, Edwards/Noble in the centre, and Leigh on the right. They fought each other, played with and against each other, layered on top of each other … I was reminded again of a bit in Sempel’s movie where Noble said something like: he wasn’t at all interested in Edwards joining his groove – that would end up in a mere jam session … he wants to hear what ideas his playing prompts with Edwards, and how he’ll react, and in turn, he, Noble will react to Edwards again. And that tightly-knit yet totally unforeseeable manner of playing together is what fascinates me so much with these two guys!

Adasiewicz again gave his everything … and actually it was good to know the vibes is mostly build of metal, or else you’d be afraid he’ll smash it to pieces right there and tehn! Leigh was alas less loud and less aggressive than during the sound check, but after last night’s amazing duo set of Brötzmann’s and hers, I was quite reconciled with her playing by now.

 

 

Pre-announced for this night was a trio of Brötzmann, Schlippenabach and Bennink – a reunion of three old comrades. But it got even better as Kondo joined the proceedings, and this was a more powerful and wonderful set, topping the first of the night clearly (yet, over the course of the four days, there was no misfire at all).

Peter Brötzmann/Toshinori Kondo/Alexander von Schlippenbach/Han Bennink

The four really delivered, almost reaching the burning intensity of the quintet with Drake on night one. Kondo and Brötzmann were often turning in musical dialogue, Kondo getting up from his chair (as always right in front of my seat) and turning towards Brötzmann (as always standing at the right end of the stage). There were moments when musical ideas were flying around the room as fast as bullets. Schlippenbach sat behind his baby grand, to the far left of the stage (and is missing from my pics as there was too bright a light pointed at him that night), but that didn’t keep him from joining the musical proceedings. Again, he made an impression both fresh and his playing was full of surprising turns. Kondo again got plenty of fascinating sounds from his equipment, from wah-wah in the style of electric Miles to spheric tones, at times biting, at others sharply cutting through, sometimes with a lout scream. As I sat right in front of him, I could often hear the natural tone coming out of the bell of his trumpet at a much lower volume. This offered some fascinating insights in the nature of his use of the amplification and effects and of course added to my astonishment in no small way.

[king ubu]

day four and final part:

 

 

 

Thursday, March 10

 

Last day started with a visit to the Chopin museum (he didn’t enjoy himself much in Marseille, as seen by Maurice Sand). I went to some of the record stores once again, had to take picture of that funny door shared by AA and the Polish Jazz Society … then, as it was just around the corner, I returned to Familijny Bar Mleczny, this time tasting a vegetarian type of pierogi, looking for the remnants of the ghetto wall (photo above) and then having a lengthy stroll around the neighbourhood of our hotel.

 

 

Opening the last night was another duo:

Alexander von Schlippenbach/Han Bennink

They played an amazing set consisting of – as far as I could tell – Monk tunes entirely, with Schlippenbach joining them together to a set with no break, playing some free but most fitting interludes. Bennink was playing snare exclusively, sitting on that step stool again. Schlippenbach’s playing climbed to really amazing heights this time. He sat there, playing in his usual, almost stoic manner, laying down Monk’s complex lines, adding even more angularity to them with his own improvisations, accompanied by Bennink perfect to a tee. The way these two treated the beloved Monk tunes was wonderful indeed, at the same time they made them theirs, yet stood true (maybe *because* they took their own approach and their liberties) to the originals. As you can see on the pics, Bennink eventually sat down on the edge of stage and started playing on that step stool, which he insisted on using as his seat when performing ...

 

 

The pre-announced set of the night was an octet of all eight musicians. This didn’t take place, but we got to see an octet indeed, scheduled to be a septet initially. There was a second double bass on stage, and a young guy nervously sneaking around before and between the first set turned out to be Mateusz Rybicki (cl, bcl), joining in the big wrap-up (or so we thought), just as did bass player Zbigniew Kozera. The piano micorophones (recordings mics, it seems, so let’s cross fingers for a CD box!) were moved over to the vibes, but a few minutes into the set, Schlippenbach climbed back up on stage, and they had to quickly install one more microphone. So we got to hear:

Peter Brötzmann/Mateusz Rybicki/Toshinori Kondo/Jason Adasiewicz/

Alexander von Schlippenbach/John Edwards/Zbigniew Kozera/Steve Noble

Not surprisingly, this turned into yet another high-energy affair, sometimes so loud that I did hold my ears for a moment … yet again it proved most rich in sonic colours, full of shifts of musical textures and variants of combinations (similar to what the Chicago Tentet used to offer, which was also blazingly loud yet enormously colourful and highly sophisticated). Rybicki, so said one of my older German friends who has heard an amazing amount of great live concerts since the seventies, sounded similar to John Carter. The music was so dense I had trouble pinning down all the details and paying attention to individual voices, but the changing combinations with the two basses, the piano and the vibes, the two reeds players and the trumpet (again with all those effects) had so much to offer, it was amazing indeed! Regarding Schlippenbach joining, I thought first that this was a vain attempt, but then toward the end he and Adasiewicz had this part where they played together wonderfully. Rybicki was playing very good (might have been his bass clarinet that Brötzmann had been playing the nights before?). Again, as with the quintet on the opening night, this was music that opened all flood gates, music to end all music.

 

 

Yet surprisingly, this hadn’t quite been it yet – there was a third set again, with the two so far absent ones joining Brötzmann and Kondo for another quartet:

Peter Brötzmann/Toshinori Kondo/Heather Leigh/Han Bennink

Leigh played like the night before, still not quite fulfilling the promise of that sound check, but more agitated than on the first nights. It was great witnessing again the affinity between Brötzmann and Kondo – and either way, hearing Kondo on four successive nights, to me, was certainly one of the best parts of these great four nights!

 

 

 

Friday, March 11

 

 

Near our hotel, there’s all the large cemeteries of Warsaw. I had around two hours before I had to check out my room and leave for the airport, so I took a tram once again and went out to the Powązki cemetery (the big catholic one). Near the entrance, there’s boards listing many names of famous persons buried there and the sections where their graves are located. Komeda, Wieniawski, Lutosławski or Rowicki didn’t make it to the “Avenue of Notables” (the graves of Lutosławski and Rowicki are next to each other), but Wieniawski is located prominently with a large monument. I went to look for Krzysztof Komeda’s grave first, of course. While ambulating around there, I listened to Chopin’s Ballads as played by Witold Małcużyński, whose grave is in the aforementioned Avenue of Notables indeed, as is singer Jan Kiepura’s (when I visited Poland for the first time, 15 years ago, I went by night train, and it was called “Jan Kiepura”, and of course my Swiss army knife made sure I got some souvenirs from then – still have them, in fact).

 

After that, I took a quick stroll through the adjacent Jewish cemetery (two stops by tram – these are huge cemeteries indeed), found the graves of Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (during my first visit in Warsaw, we also walked through ul. Esperanto which runs parallel to the cemetery walls, block or two back) and right next to it of Adam Cerniaków, but looked in vain for Marek Edelman’s – ran out of time, alas.

 

At the airport, later, I suddenly saw Kondo walk in front of me, and when he stopped to sit down in one of those dreary airport cafés, Steve Noble was sitting there – so I had one more chance to offer my thanks and utter some words of appreciation.

 

Edited March 15, 2016 by king ubu

[alankin]

Thanks for the report!  Enjoyable reading, wish I could have been there.

[Steve Reynolds]

All mad props to Sir Ubu

what this board should have more of are experiences and posts like the above

next show this upcoming Sunday night March 20th / choice between:

Tomeka Reid quartet with Mary Halvorson, Jason Roebke & Tomas  Fujiwara at I-Beam in Brooklyn

plus: the band!!!! Want to see them live very badly!!

minus: Brooklyn - maybe only 1 set as it simply lists 8:30

OR:

Angelica Sanchez Nonet at The Stone in Manhatten

plus:  2 sets!!! with Thomas Heberer AND Kirk Knuffke on trumpets and what looks like a fine band including Michael Attias, Chris Speed and John Hebert

minus: I don't know the drummer, no low brass and especially the fact that the other band (above) is playing the same night I've finally carved out for a show - first since February 20th!!!

Help me Rhonda!!!

 

[king ubu]

Thanks guys!

Enjoyed writing, hope the fact that I mostly translated the above from my German report doesn't show all that much

 

I'd go with Reid, but then a Sanchez nonet might be the rare event, so ...

 

No really exciting jazz coming up too soon for me again, but after this Brötzmann week, that's alright ... will be in Ravenna in June for Moholo/MinafricaOrchestra and Tippettses and Moholo's Five Blokes, until then some classical, some world, and maybe Robert Glasper, too. Hopefully some more interesting concerts will pop up that I'm not yet aware of though.

[Olie Brice]

On 15/03/2016 at 8:57 PM, king ubu said:

At that point, I had no clue yet as to how warmly his music was to be welcomed there, and how enthusiastically the young folks in the audience would react to the intense waves of sound breaking over their heads. It felt as if the music had some sort of existential meaning, rather than the nice to have quality it has for us saturated and indifferent folks in western Europe.

Great review!  That's very much been my experience of both Pardon To Tu in particular, and touring in Poland in general - an incredibly emotional audience response, it's a really special experience

[OliverM]

Many thanks King Ubu! Also love the way you have of traveling and the side visits. Really hoping to hear some of those nights on record.

Will be next week in Paris at: Tiger trio -- Nicole Mitchell, Joëlle Léandre and Myra Melford, for a concert that will be recorded for a future issue on Rogueart.

Also more live Léandre next month with her Tentet...

 

[Steve Reynolds]

Leaning towards the Nonet

note that Peter Brotzmann touring with the quartet including Edwards & Noble

closest show to me Montreal - 327 miles away. Oh to see this band - disappointed no NYC stop?

[Steve Reynolds]

Above tour in May includes Jason Adasiewicz filling out the quartet

maybe I can make a trip to Montreal or Louusville or Chicago - not likely

look it up - band in Austin, Dallas, LA, SF, Portland, Detroit and a couple of other stops - well worth it / see above from Ubu!!!

I need another Brotzmann experience and I need to see Edwards/Noble one of these days. I don't think either the great bassist or the extraordinary has ever been to NYC - not sure if they ever have been stateside until this upcoming short tour

[A Lark Ascending]

Stick in the Wheel at the Royal Hotel, Dungworth (on't moo'ers above Sheffield)

First time I've been to a 'proper' folk club in decades. A few squeezebox tunes from Jon Boden (of Bellowhead and Spiers and Boden fame - he runs the club with Fay Hield), communal singing with hymn sheets (never seen that before) and two marvellous sets from folk music's hippest band at the present (expect some victories in the Folk Awards next month). Plain singing, simple instrumental accompaniment, totally engaging. They don't just sing like Eastenders...they talk that way too. Absolutely no polished stagecraft. All in the main room of the pub (rather than tucked away in a back room) with the fiddle player's bow threatening to take off my ear. 

No Christmas Tree or friend of Dave Boy though.  

Edited March 20, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[erwbol]

The Joe Lovano Quartet at the Bimhuis tonight, with Lawrence Fields on piano, Peter Slavov on bass, and Lemy Estrefi on drums. Terrific concert. 

[kh1958]

On March 20, 2016 at 8:59 PM, Steve Reynolds said:

Above tour in May includes Jason Adasiewicz filling out the quartet

maybe I can make a trip to Montreal or Louusville or Chicago - not likely

look it up - band in Austin, Dallas, LA, SF, Portland, Detroit and a couple of other stops - well worth it / see above from Ubu!!!

I need another Brotzmann experience and I need to see Edwards/Noble one of these days. I don't think either the great bassist or the extraordinary has ever been to NYC - not sure if they ever have been stateside until this upcoming short tour

Dallas? Not according to his website. In Austin only.

[Steve Reynolds]

11 hours ago, kh1958 said:

Dallas? Not according to his website. In Austin only.

Oops - I should be more careful. In any event, great opportunity if one is near Austin!!

[kh1958]

1 hour ago, Steve Reynolds said:

Oops - I should be more careful. In any event, great opportunity if one is near Austin!!

I  was hoping you had some sort of inside information. Oh well. 200  miles away is too far on a work night.

[Steve Reynolds]

Sorry to get any hopes up. Mine were dashed when I opened up the thread I found and NO LISTING appeared for NYC

I rarely travel but I sure am trying to figure out a way to have a business trip to Louisville, KY on May 13th!!!

[erwbol]

Several good concerts coming up at the Bimhuis. Yesterday, I booked tickets for Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach duo (May), and the Steve Lehman Octet (November).

[Utevsky]

The Orrin Evans Trio with Thomas Marriott at Tula's in Seattle.  An excellent performance all around, featuring Evans, piano; Marriott, trumpet; Luques Curtis, bass; and Mark Whitfield, drums.  Evans also gave up the piano bench to Sumi Tonooka for one piece. 

[A Lark Ascending]

SHAKESPEARE'S SONGS - Andy Sheppard - Saxophones; Guillaume de Chassy - Piano; Christophe Marguet - Drums (Lakeside Centre, Nottingham)

Billed under Sheppard's name in the UK though all the writing came from de Chassy and Marguet. I blow hot and cold over Sheppard, generally enjoying him live whilst rarely getting excited by his records. This was a lovely concert - as the title suggests, all songs inspired by characters and scenes from The Big Will. Well written with a range of moods. Though the suspicion remains, as with most jazz suites, that the evening could have been called 'Scenes of the Dordogne' or 'The Hittite Suite' and we'd have been non the wiser - gets you into 'arts' centres though!  Good playing - don't know either of the French musicians but Marguet in particular stood out. Sheppard was especially exciting on soprano. 

Seemed a bit short - one continuous set of just under 90 mins. They usually perform this with someone reciting bits of Shakespeare which would probably make for a fuller evening. Incredibly quiet and polite audience - no whooping, just the refined ripple of applause. So polite that when they took a second bow everyone assumed they wanted to go to bed and didn't demand an encore. Lakeside is on the University of Nottingham so maybe they were all academics who needed to get away to think about Barthes. At least no-one brayed 'Bravo!'. 

[jlhoots]

Concha Buika

[Steve Reynolds]

Tomorrow night @ Rubin Museum of Art in NYC @ 7:00

Ches Smith Trio with Craig Taborn & Mat Maneri

 

[Steve Reynolds]

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[Chuck Nessa]

42 minutes ago, Steve Reynolds said:

 

 

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must have been great.

 

[Steve Reynolds]

27 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

must have been great.

 

Trying to post a couple of pictures?

And yes it was awesome. As good as music gets for me. Craig Taborn is a marvel, Ches Smith is masterful and the *great* Mat Maneri makes the whole thing gel. Standing ovation which is not an every day thing around these parts. Big crowd - full room. Intense 75 minute set. Front row center. Lady next to me almost fainted a few times when the sound was more than a bit elevated. 

[Steve Reynolds]