Best Concert You Have Been To?

[Ron S]

AEoC at Haverford.

WHAT??? Wasn't Benny Golson the best because you got to sit next to ME???

[chris olivarez]

Man there have been so many it's hard to say. I guess I'd have to go with the Butterfield Blues Band because it's the first show that I saw with really first rate professional musicians who had a totally cool vibe about them. Another good one was Miles Davis up front and personal at Shelly's Manne Hole.

[birdstrings]

Roland Kirk at the Vanguard. I flipped at at all the instruments he was playing, and some together. I had a table right in front of the bandstand.

[Jazz Kat]

Did he start playing two different melodies with two different instruments in his mouth at the same time?

[alankin]

AEoC at Haverford.

WHAT??? Wasn't Benny Golson the best because you got to sit next to ME???

Err, I don't want to cause you any pain, but...

Edited March 21, 2005 by alankin

[Ron S]

AEoC at Haverford.

WHAT??? Wasn't Benny Golson the best because you got to sit next to ME???

Err, I don't want to cause you any pain, but...

[Peter Johnson]

No question (wrt jazz) for me: Elvin Jones (with the Jazz Machine) in Seattle, 1999.

My wife and I sat in the first row, just to Elvin's right. He made eye contact with us almost the entire evening.

I'm not being melodramatic when I say that the amount of unbridled joy that emanated from him and his drum kit brought me to tears a number of times...it was gripping and a completely emotional, life changing experience. I haven't seen anything quite like it since.

As you can imagine, I was quite shaken by his recent passing.

[Guest]

Coltrane in walthamsow london 1961 an absolutely monumental performance,I cycled to the box office in my lunch break and got the first pick, right in the front row ,as on another post Elvin was fixated on my fiance the whole set,but what was remarkable, was the gradual appearance on stage of what must have been he`s entire entourage ,quite incredibly I recently heared that the uk shows were poorly reviewed in the melody maker and because of that he didn`t return to the uk .I have seen Miles ,Dizz,Monk,Basie, et al but that concert was mind blowing

[Steve Gray]

I was at the Walthamstow show as well, second or third row.

First house as I had to get to bed early because I was only fourteen at the time.

JC, Eric, McCoy, Reggie and Elvin opening for

Dizzy, Leo Wright, Lalo Schifrin, Mel Lewis and ... Who the hell was the bassist, was it Bob Cunningham?

[Allan Songer]

Any number of Art Pepper shows in and around LA in the '77'-81 period--but TWO stand out.

The best? Maybe it was New Year's Eve show--must have been '79 or '80 at Dontes's. Warne Marsh dropped in for the 3rd set and it was really something special.

Or maybe it was another show at Donte's the night before the Konitz/Pepper Atlas LP--the whole band from that record played for like 4 hours and there were only about 40 people there.

[Bright Moments]

Roland Kirk at the Vanguard. I flipped at at all the instruments he was playing, and some together. I had a table right in front of the bandstand.

if only...................................................

[kinuta]

Roland Kirk at Ronnie Scott's

Little Milton & His Band at the Live House in Shibuya Tokyo

Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Mojo Club in Sheffield

[martini]

My contenders (in no particular order):

1. John Tchicai 8/16/04 Disjecta, Portland, Or.

There were only 23 people there. I counted. In between sets, John and the other two guys in the band stood outside with everyone else and chatted. He told me about what it was like to play with Jimmy Lyons on Cecil's '84 tour. Unbelievable. He played with a drummer and a guitar player that night. He tore that place up. I could not believe how solid his chops still were. I could only thank the guy for devoting his life to creativity, and feel shame for the rest of the city for not being there.

2. Roswell Rudd and Rob Scheps Quartet 1/23/99 Community Music Center, Portland, Or.

This may have been the best show I've ever seen. They did an old Ernie Andrews tune ("Slide Mr. Trombone"), some Herbie Nichols, and a smoking version of Monk's "Green Chimneys" (no pun intended). I was suffering from a fever that night, so my ears were a little screwy, but that was the best music I have ever heard live. I also heard them rehearsing at Portland State University a couple weeks earlier. I was a student/teacher at the time. They rehearsed in the cafeteria, and nobody seemed to know who Rudd was. I quietly tried to restrain my enthusiasm (i.e., "Check it out! I'm breathing the same air in the same room as a trombone player who once played with Cecil Taylor, Steve Lacy, and Albert Ayler!") Some of Roswell's work desperately needs to be reissued, including the lovely Numatik Swing Band and the impossible to find Blown Bone.

3. Peter Brotzmann Tentet +2 6/20/00 McGuire Auditorium, Warner Pacific College, Portland, Or.

We don't get many decent jazz gigs here in Portland. For some reason, on a Wednesday night (I think), we had the Brotzmann Tentet and Buell Neidlinger doing gigs in separate venues on the same night. Oh, the pain. Being a big Brotzmann guy, I went to that gig. They made the paint peel off the walls.

4. Anthony Braxton 8/20/97 Yoshi's, Oakland, Ca.

I drove from Portland to Oakland to catch two nights of Braxton at Yoshi's. If I had the coins, I would have stayed the whole week. I originally had tickets for the 8/19/97 sets, but on the way down I got stuck in Northern California when the transmission gave out, after it was serviced by Jiffy Lube. (Note: never let Jiffy Lube change your transmission fluid; they kill transmissions, because they never drop the pan and dispose of the debris before adding new fluid. Ok, lesson learned. . . ) Yoshi's graciously understood my plight and moved my tickets to 8/20 and 8/21. When I reached Yoshi's in the rental car (my car was still stranded in Northern Cali), I was tired but ready. Holy S--t! All of a sudden I wasn't tired anymore. I'm seeing Anthony Braxton tonight! When he strolled up to the stage and broke into what has now been released as Comp. 209 (on Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997, Vol. 2), I was lost in time and space for the next hour. There are many magic moments in life, and most of them happen when you don't expect it. This was something for which I had hoped, and it happened. I am still thankful.

Honorable mention:

1. Ornette Coleman 3/20/04 Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, Ca.

Ornette. Wow. The pure thrill of having a ticket in your hand that will let you see this amazing master work is an experience itself. When the show started, the music was so engaging and true that I still can't put words to it.

2. Hancock/Shorter/Holland/Blade 6/18/04 Britt Festival, Jacksonville, Or.

It wasn't the best music I had heard from any of them, but it was damn good. It was nice to see them on the stage being creative together, playing completely "unplugged." It was a gift, and I am still thankful for the experience. They really need to come out with a double CD (or more) of this tour.

Edited February 18, 2006 by martini