Frank Kimbrough Trio at Birdland

[LWayne]

A couple of weeks ago, while in New York on business, my friend and I attended the early show of the Frank Kimbrough Trio at Birdland. For this show, the trio consisted of Jay Anderson on Bass and Paul Motian on Drums. Given that I had caught an amazing show that this trio put on at the Jazz Standard a couple of years ago in support of Frank’s recently released “Play” album, I was very anxious to catch the return of this superb trio.

The group certainly did not disappoint. From the start, the group was in fine form. The interplay between Kimbrough and Motian was especially captivating as Frank seemed to be able to slow down and suspend the melody of a song while Paul has the uncanny ability to add just the perfect accent on both drums and cymbals to spark any song. The trio started out with a memorable version of “Beginning” from the aforementioned “Play” album. For the next song, Frank reached back to his earlier “Lullabluebye” album for a beautiful version of the title track. On Paul Motian’s standard “It Should Have Happened a Long Time Ago”, Kimbrough again demonstrated his ability to float above the structure of the song while never losing sight of the core essence of the melody.

The trio then focused on a couple of standards “All the Things You Are” and the delightfully unexpected “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” before revisiting the “Play” album once more for the upbeat, even joyous, Monkish influenced “The Spins”. All throughout the set it was evident that the trio was enjoying each other’s company and having fun. That palpable sense of joy was contagious as the audience applauded heartily and was rewarded with an encore version of the often neglected standard “I Wish I Knew”.

Certainly was a great show and a great evening. Here’s hoping that this trio gets the opportunity to record and play live together more frequently as we will be the ones who are truly rewarded. One of the best shows of the year for sure!

LWayne

Edited July 27, 2009 by LWayne