Quest Reunion @ Birdland

[LWayne]

I had the rare treat of pulling a "double" a couple of weeks back when in New York on business. The first night of my trip, I went to the Village Vanguard and caught an excellent set by Motian/Lovano/Frisell Trio. (see seperate review)

The next night, due to a late cancellation of a business commitment, I was free again to catch a show at Birdland. That night also happened to be what was billed as the first night of the reunion tour of the band Quest.

While I was not so familiar with the band's output during their heyday in the 1980's, I was nonetheless intrigued by the music that I heard from the group on the recently released Dave Liebman/ Richie Beirach Mosaic Select.

I was very fortunate to have made such a good (if uninformed) choice as the set proved to be very diverse. The group consisted of the original lineup of Dave Liebman (soprano, tenor sax), Richie Beirach (piano), Ron McClure (bass) and Billy Hart (drums). At times their music was very dense, with a wide array of clustered rhythms, ans other times they played very sparse, acoustic, numbers.

Mostly they performed songs from their own repertoire; with Dave Liebman announcing some new tumes that were being tried out on the first night of their reunion in preparation for an upcoing European tour.

I would be interested in a set list being posted if anyone else caught the show.

Two nights of great jazz in the Big Apple! Doesen't get better than this.

LWayne

Edited September 28, 2005 by LWayne

[Trumpet Guy]

I would have loved to seen/heard this!

I always think of the original Quest as Liebs, Beirach, Mraz and Al Foster though...

Their 1st record on Palo Alto Jazz from 81'(?) was always a fave of mine as a youngster

[7/4]

I wish I would have caught this, I saw Quest at the Village Gate as part of the Village Jazz Festival in the late '80s or early '90s.