6 posts tagged “concert”
So the missus and I go to see Wayne Shorter for the thrid or fourth time now. We are full-blown Wayniacs at this point, and are pretty shameless about it. And each time we go see him, we continue to not be disappointed. Except for his bassist John Patituci, who is getting to be embarrassing. He can certainly play, but still has that dead, wound up tone, and seems the most prone to losing the plot. At this show even when his basslines were getting inventive, his stage presence is one of perpetual dork, which seems out of place with the serenity exuded by Wayne, the subdued deference of Danilo Perez, or the infectious ballistic energy of Brian Blade.
Please Wayne, replace Patituci. Avishai Cohen or Ben Allison come immediately to mind, but there are plenty of bassists that could do the role some justice and not pull out all the maximum dweeb scoring.
Patituci aside, the band was very coherent, and gets tighter with each passing year. Which brings me to the observation that this is Shorters' first acoustic unit of his own that has lasted for any length. It has put out studio and live recordings and garnered a lot of praise, and that speaks well of Shorter, who is now in his fifth decade of output with no lack of quality in both performance and composition.
A highlight for me came with what appears to be a surprise segue thrown in by Danilo Perez; playing an acoustic vamp based on Children of the Night from his High Life electric release. The visible look of surprise from the rest of the band was obvious, and the only one that jumped into the fire was Wayne, who quickly seemed to recall the snaking theme.
The program was a mix of shifting moods with the music going in and out of phase. Sometimes very free, sometimes locking into unison lines; breaking down and building up in waves. Never was it aimless, which is a real test of bands that play free. There is always with Wayne especially, a sense that no matter how entropic the sound appears to be getting, that he understands where the pulse is (and there is always a pulse). It helps that he has one of the best drummers on the scene these days. Blade is unpredictable, jarring, highly physical even when playing delicate passages, and a highly lyrical player. But he always infers a pulse that is rarely obvious but always feels present. This works with Wayne and his purposeful use of space.
Just a great show.
While this is the Kronos Quartet, the reason I selected this is because it is one of my favorite works by Steve Reich.
A Love Supreme Live
DVD
Anyone who knows me well enough, or reads enough entries here will figure out rather quickly that I have a numerous opinions about various members of the Marsalis clan, usually about Wynton. All of those opinions are bad.
His brother Branford is another story alltogether. The only member of the lot who i think is truly worthy of greatness, and the only daring player in the lot (although Delfayo had some moments n his token solo album back in the 80s). This DVD gives a short but sweet explanation as to why, but I will lay themout for you here:
- He has immense chops, but feels no need to wank for its own sake; he is inherently musical in every avenue he takes. Even the career hiccup of his Buckshot LeFonque project (which I thought was not so much a bad project as badly produced and il timed) showed that there is a place for flash and a place for function.
- He has reverence for the material he plays, but is irreverent as a player. There are no aires in his personality, and this shows in how he plays, and that happens whether he is playing Trane as a leader or as a sideman to someone like his imperial Stinginess.
- He is serious enough about music to not take it too seriously. While Wynton and his sycophantic, corpulent ogre minion Stanley Crouch go around trying to berate the jazz community into submission, Branford displays freedom by example. Freedom to play what you wish to, and including that which truly makes jazz potent from decade to decade...its ability to transform itself into a neverending set of permutations. Branford, unlike the humorless posturing of Wynton, knows how to have a good time for himself, and to pass that feeling to his audience.
This concert takes place in the Netherlands, and is is full recital of Coltrane's A Love Supreme; one of the few works whose larger than life mythology and relevance is warrented in full, without question. Branford puts together a rock-solid trio behind him, with Joey Calderazzo, Eric Revis and Jeff "Tain" Watts. The quartet does what I would find ideal, in that it pays homage and stays true to the material without simply trying to ape Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison and Jones. The melodic figures are there, and the rhythmic pulse that I associate with key sections always shows up, but this quartet puts its own stamp, much the same way Branford did with a truncated rendition of A Love Supreme over a decade ago on the Stolen Moments: Red Hot and Cool deluxe edition. The filming has excellent quality footage and editing.
There is a substantial amount of bonus material, including interview footage with all the members, a day in the life of Branford as he goes about getting things done before the show taping, and an interview with Alice Coltrane by Branford at what looks like her Ashram in Southern California.
Well worth checking out.
1. Wakeman still has a mind-numbing amount of chops at his disposal.
2. He can still be very tastful in his musical arrangements.
3. Can be hilarious in terms of banter.
However:
1. Wakeman can also engage in a marathon of mind-numbing solo runs with dated sound patches and cheesetastic arrangements.
2. His affection for hideous outfits and a mullet do that even someone from Deliverance would find unappealling. In this video it is even hairsprayed asymmetrically.
3. The banter was still great.
Live in Concert & The East Village Studio
2005
Gongzilla first came to my attention when I saw their Suffer cd in the progressive rock section at Rasputin Records right after its release. I knew very little about Gong other than Allan Holdsworth had done a stint and that its leader had the surname of Moerlin. When the credits listed Holdsworth and Moerlin I assumed this was a revived or sideproject of Gong. In that respect I was right, except I had the wrong Moerlin, and where Gong was pretty noodly by all accounts, Gongzilla is a very jazzy but muscular fusion outfit. No aimless soloing and vacuous, humorless concept albums. These are guys who take music seriously enough to have some fun and get really weird.
The lineup on this consists of the core trio of guitarist Bon Lozaga, bassist Hansford Rowe and mallet percussionist Benoit Moerlin. They are joined by Gary Husband on drums as well as an unnammed percussionist and guitarist (band credits are surprisingly absent). The live show is a pretty good run of what to expect from the band on album; big riffing, lots of odd-time shifts, fluid solos, and the only case of fusion where mallet percussion would seem to work (marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones, etc). Some of the blurring/motion effects put on shots gets annoying, but they are rare, and otherwise it is a solid 5 camera affair. The East Village Studio portion of the video, where they go about showing a day in the life of a band in the studio is stretched too long and the sound a bit too unmixed. Definitely worth at least a rent (it is available at Netflix).
