Frank Kimbrough Trio at the Kitano

[LWayne]

On a business trip to New York in late January, I was able to treat myself and my colleagues to dinner and a show at the Kitano. Needless to say that we were all quite impressed with the ambiance and service of this quaint Japanese hotel on Park Avenue. The dinner selection at the authentic Hakubai restaurant was outstanding and certainly set the bar high for the evening's concert.

The dreadfully cold weather on that Friday night (January 26th) certainly kept the crowd down, but the trio of Frank Kimbrough on piano, Jay Anderson on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums played an outstanding set nevertheless. It was certainly evident that these three musicians, all at the top of their game, meshed well together and quickly developed the cohesion of a smoothly running machine.

Even the crowd was small, it was certainly enthusiastic and warmly applauded two set of diverse music drawing from the recent Frank Kimbrough album "Play" ("Beginning", "Waiting in Santander", and the quirky "The Spins") as well as some familiar standards ("Sunset and the Mockingbird"-Ellington, "Giant Steps" and "Bye Bye Blackbird") as well as some surprises thrown in as well.

In particular, I enjoyed the trio's version of "Lullabluebye" and "You Only Live Twice", both from Frank's earlier "Lullabluebye" album as well as the unexpected "Indian Summer" and Paul Motian's "Byabalue".

Certainly the opprtunity to catch a world class trio in a small, intimate, venue on a cold winter's night combined for the perfect circumstances to make for an enjoyable evening. This was the perfect concert to start 2007 with and will it make it tough to top throughout the year.

LWayne

Edited February 13, 2007 by LWayne

[marcello]

Frank Kimbrough is one of the great ones.

Always interesting; always deep and soulful.

[LWayne]

Marcello;

Agreed-thanks for the picture. Was it taken at the Kitano?

LWayne

[marcello]

I think it was taken at Dewey Redman's memorial service.

John Rogers shot it. You can see more here:John Rogers Flickr Photos

Edited February 15, 2007 by marcello