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Pharoah Sanders/Kenny Garrett @ Iridium this week


bluesForBartok

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Ok well I saw the show last night (2nd set).

They played four tunes (Giant Steps, Chief Blackwater, Body & Soul and some generic funk tune). The show was about 1 1/2 hours.

The line up was: Garrett, Sanders, Dave Kikoski, Nat Reeves, and Jeff "Tain" Watts.

Garrett was absolutely incredible as always. They opened with Giant Steps and his solo was stunning. His command of the changes and his ability to build up intensity sent a shiver down my spine. I've seen him a number of times and it just gets better and better.

Kikoski was incredible as well. I had not really checked him out before. I was very impressed. He was not only technically commanding but he gave the rhythm section, along with Watts, an elasticity that I've not seen with Garrett's regular working groups. Think Miles' Plugged Nickel material.

I have to say Sanders was the weak link among the band. While his tone was beautiful and he has excellent technique, his grasp of Giant Steps and it's possibilities as an improvisational vehicle were rather limited. He just played fast and glided over the changes with no real harmonic or rhythmic command. It was just a flurry of notes with no real thought process going on.

Sanders sat out for the second tune, Chief Blackwater which is a Garrett tune from his last record. The tune in structure is like a 16 bar blues. At least that's what it sounds like to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong someone. Anyway, I couldn't understand why he didn't want to blow on a tune like that. It swung like mad and I would have loved to hear what he had to say on a tune with a less demanding harmonic structure.

Body & Soul was for the most part a feature for Sanders and he really sounded great on this one. I really can't say enough about his tone. Very warm.

The last tune was great but again Sanders seemed out of his element. His solo seemed lazy and he just appeared to be uninterested. I don't know, perhaps I just caught him on an off night.

At any rate it was worth checking out and I recommend seeing this group if they hit your town.

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