Marty Ehrlich-Ray Anderson Quartet @ The Stone 11/15

[Steve Reynolds]

More later but alls I can say right now is:

The Great Ray Anderson astounded me with what he played tonight, especially during the second set and the unaccompanied solo he took during the second half of Ehrlich's "Stride" was jaw droppingly fucking genius level brilliance.

Second tune of the second set was "Sugar Water" from one of the earlier wonderful Ehrlich recordings on Enja - Side by Side and as I haven't heard any of those recordings for a while and I forgot how brilliant much of that music is, I welled up a bit when he chose to play my all-time favorite composition of his.

But I forgot how truly gorgeous the melody is and overall what a great composer he is.

Both Brad Jones and Matt Wilson were better than I've ever heard either of them and the high points of the two sets were very high indeed.

Ehrlich really got the alto blazing during the second set. I also forgot how virtuosic he is on his main horn.

First set ended with a klezmer inspired theme into some high energy improv with Wilson playing all kinds of cymbals and the second set ended with Ray's "Alligatory Rhumba" which ended the night groovin like a mother with The great trombonist playing like he wanted to play all night despite the tiny crowd that stayed or came for the second set.

Those who didn't go if didn't stay missed an amazing hour of music.

I sometimes forget how great these guys are as well. I almost didn't go and I'm sure thrilled that I did

[JohnS]

Thanks for posting Steve. I love Ray Anderson and as far as I know he hasn't visited these shores in years so I have to make do with records. Fortunately I was able to see him here years ago. The pair's Hear You Say cd is terrific

[kh1958]

I would have been up for it, as I like all those players, but 1200+ miles away.