Grachan Moncur April 8 & 9 at the Iridium

[robviti]

I know there are quite a few members that are big Moncur fans. I thought you might like to know he's scheduled to perform at the Iridium in NYC on April 8 & 9 with a great band. Here's the lineup:

GRACHAN MONCUR BAND

Grachan Moncur III (trombone)

Billy Harper (tenor sax)

Michael Blake (alto sax)

John Hicks (piano)

Calvin Hill (bass)

Richard Pearson (drums)

[clifford_thornton]

Wish I could be there to see it!

C

[bertrand]

I'm going to try to be there. Also Joe Chambers the Thursday and Friday. It's intended to be a mini Blue Note-fest.

Jazzshrink,

Did you figure out a good place to stay in NYC? I need recommendations.

Bertrand.

[Chalupa]

Just build yourself an igloo in Central Park

[robviti]

Jazzshrink,

Did you figure out a good place to stay in NYC? I need recommendations.

Bertrand.

i don't know what to tell you. the super 8 in times square was only $109 a night (plus taxes) when i last visited at the end of february. the price is around $159 for the weekend you mentioned. that just doesn't seem fair. the best way to say money might be to stay in queens or new jersey. the super 8 in north bergen has many rooms for only $65-75, and it's only a 10-15 minute ride to the port authority bus terminal at 8th and 41st.

check out the reviews at tripadvisor.com

Edited February 16, 2006 by jazzshrink

[david weiss]

This is the first of what I hope is many weekends with similar themes I have put together for the club. The whole weekend is

April 6 & 7 JOE CHAMBERS QUINTET

Joe Chambers- Drums, Javon Jackson- Tenor Sax, Vincent Herring- Alto Sax, Joanne Brackeen- Piano

Dwayne Burno- Bass

April 8-9 GRACHAN MONCUR SEXTET

Grachan Moncur III – Trombone, Billy Harper - Tenor Sax, Michael Blake- Alto Sax, John Hicks - Piano

Calvin Hill – Bass, Richard Pearson - Drums

Please support these, show that there is still an audience for these great musicians and perhaps I'll get to put together a few more. Thanks.

[david weiss]

Up....This Week!!!

[Rooster_Ties]

Billy Harper!!

Sure wish I could be there.

[Stefan Wood]

Heard from bertrand yesterday. I tried to post a note here but the board was down, at least temporarily. Moncur was supposed to be smoking, I mean freakin fantastic! If he comes to your town, check him out -- he has a working group that is all great. Hopefully we'll get more details about the NYC concert.

[bertrand]

Too bad the board was down. I hope that no one was on the fence about this.

The Saturday gig was FANTASTIC!!! Grachan is back with a vengeance.

It was a septet, but I don't think it was a regular working group. It was his regular trio (Noriko Sako (sp?) on keyboards and Richard Pierson on drums) plus stellar guests: Billy Harper, Michael Blake (on alto), John Hicks and Calvin Hill.

Noriko's keyboard was neither an electric piano nor an organ. It sounded kind of like a marimba, actually, which fit in with the music perfectly.

The first set opened with an absolutely PERFECT tribute to Jackie: an arrangement of 'Blue Rondo' which was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than the record. It was slow and funky, and got the audience grooving from the first note. Jackie would have loved it.

The rest of the evening was a mix of Grachan classics ('Hipnosis', 'When?', 'Frankenstein', 'Back Home' and the lesser-known 'A For Pops') and several jazz classics ('So What', 'Footprints', 'Freddie Freeloader' and a trio version of 'Monk's Dream'). I stayed all three sets, of course.

The audience was digging it, even those who obviously had no idea who Grachan was.

Everyone played great. Michael Blake was a revelation - he did not play at all like Jackie, which would have been a cliche. I will be investigating him more. I believe it was his first gig with Grachan. It was my first time hearing Calvin Hill, and he was excellent. John Hicks was absolutely amazing - I've been told that he's been playing better than ever in the last few months.

I hope this was recorded. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Bertrand.

P.S.: I met a guy there who is sort of managing Grachan. He even got him a web presence. Check out grachanmoncur.com and myspace.com!

Edited April 10, 2006 by bertrand

[bertrand]

A couple of corrections, after checking out Grachan's website:

The keyboardist was Noriko Kamo, and apparently she was on Fender Rhodes.

The site and the club both list the drummer as 'Richard Pearson', but he gave me his card and it's actually 'Pierson'.

Bertrand.

[LWayne]

Bertrand-thanks for the review. Grachan is one of my favorites, and I hope to catch him live in the very near future. I will be checking out his website.

LWayne

[Kreilly]

Moncur will be appearing in a Trio at this year's Vision Festival with Khan Jamal and Byard Lancaster on June 14th sandwiched between performances by Sam Rivers' Big Band and Sam Rivers' Trio. The Warren Smith Ensemble is also playing that night.

Oops! The Moncur line-up at Vision has changed. Grachan Moncur III Quartet: Grachan Moncur III (tmb), Calvin Hill (bs), Noriko Kamo (pno), Richard Pearson (dr); Special Guests: Khan Jamal (vibes) and Byard Lancaster (tnr sax)

Edited April 20, 2006 by Kreilly

[clifford_thornton]

Michael Blake's latest, on Clean Feed, is really good. I strongly advise any who enjoyed his set with Grachan to check this record out. It's a trio with Ben Allison and Jeff Ballard, called Right Before Your Very Ears.

[relyles]

I am glad to hear Moncur sounded good. His playing on Khan Jamal's recent CIMP release, Black Awareness was somewhat disappointing to me. All of his solos sounded very tentative and had me wondering whether there was a drastic reduction in his chops. Glad to hear that may not be the case.