David Adler
May 2002

New York @ Night
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By David R. Adler

Bop and Anti-Bop at the Blue Note

Phil Woods and Lee Konitz are two of the most influential alto players in jazz, but one doesn’t readily imagine them playing on the same bill. The Blue Note brought them together, however, and the contrast couldn’t have been more striking. Woods’s venerable quintet went first, setting an upbeat tone with "End of a Beautiful Friendship" and "Godchild." Trumpeter Brian Lynch was featured on an excellent "Easy Livin’" and his fiery original "Woody Shaw" served as the wrap-up. (These Blue Note double features always entail quickie sets.) After a short break, Konitz emerged with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Marc Johnson. Right away the lineup brought to mind Konitz’s two recent recordings with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden. The music that followed was similarly restrained, and similarly focused on standards — "Sweet and Lovely," "Lover Man," and a blues were the set’s centerpieces. (How often do we get to hear Bley play stuff like this?) The trio floated loosely on top of the tempos; their creative interplay was easier to appreciate at close range. Put another way: sitting at the bar isn’t such a great option at the Blue Note. Someone leaned over to a friend during the set and joked, "I think they’re gonna hire these guys for New Year’s Eve."

Mingus Big Band

It’s amazing how many young people come out to hear the Mingus Big Band. At least three of Fez’s long tables were packed solidly with lads and lasses under 25. It was so crowded that one could barely turn around to order a drink. But somehow the heat and the tight space contributed to the excitement. The band nonchalantly took to the stand and leader/alto saxophonist Alex Foster greeted the public. Then they were off with a blistering "Boogie Stop Shuffle," featuring tremendous solos by altoist David Lee Jones and pianist Dave Kikoski. "Love’s Fury," a track from the new Tonight at Noon disc, featured baritone saxophonist Mike Sim. And "Jump Monk" again featured Kikoski, whose first astounding solo was apparently just a warm-up. Excellent playing was also heard from trumpeters Randy Brecker and Greg Gisbert, tenor saxophonists Abraham Burton and Eli Degibri, and bass trombonist David Taylor. "Alice’s Wonderland" and "So Long, Eric" rounded out the set. The band by now is a New York institution, and its reputation is richly deserved.

Your Midwest Representation

The April 9 double bill at Tonic featured two irreverent avant-garde groups — power trios, really — from the Midwest, both with identical instrumentation. Birth, from Cleveland, is Joshua Smith on tenor sax, Jeremy Bleich on electric fretless bass, and Joe Tomino on drums. Happy Apple, from Minneapolis, is Dave King on drums, Eric Fratzke on Fender bass, and Michael Lewis on tenor, alto, and soprano saxes. You may know Dave King as the drummer for The Bad Plus, a similarly profane trio featuring pianist Ethan Iverson and bassist Reid Anderson. King writes most of Happy Apple’s music, and it is bracing stuff, marked by intense dynamic contrasts — atmospheric crescendos, sustained and beautifully voiced melodies, thrashing garage-rock grooves, free-improv cacophony. Every band member is a monster. Lewis appears to be in need of sedation, flailing about onstage whether he’s playing or not, but he’s alert and on top of the music, sounding like a young, unhinged Joe Lovano. ("That’s a manly instrument when you play it," said King when Lewis picked up the soprano sax.) Fratzke has mastered an elastic, orchestral approach to electric bass that suits the music perfectly. And King’s kit work is powerful, his rapport with the audience easygoing and often hilarious. To give you some idea: the tunes have titles like "And Now for the Syncopated Styles of Chick Webb" and "That Isn’t Even Worth Selling"; the band’s 2001 release is titled "Please Refrain from Fronting." A new record is on the way.

Birth brings a similar approach to the table, although the horn and bass components aren’t as strong as Happy Apple’s. Smith and Bleich are often overshadowed by the incredible drumming of the young Joe Tomino, now a New Yorker and a talent to watch for. Birth’s music is a bit more free and aggressive, full of stark rhythmic transitions and cohesive compositional moves, including some very tightly executed endings. There’s also a glimmer of live drum-n-bass in their sound. With their youthful, hard-edged avant-jazz aesthetic and their Midwestern origins, these guys remind us that cultural innovation is indeed happening outside of New York.

Chamber Jazz at Joe’s & Tonic

Following an early evening set by vocalist Lenora Zenzalai Helm, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet took the stage at Joe’s Pub to mark the release of its debut CD on the Blueshift label. Hollenbeck’s projects always feature unusual instrumentation, and Claudia is no exception — picture the sound of Chris Speed on tenor and clarinet, Matt Moran on vibes, Ted Reichman on accordion. Hollenbeck mostly stuck to drum kit and Chris Dahlgren subbed for Drew Gress on double bass. This is a groovy little chamber group, drawing upon modern classical music, West African rhythms, even some hyperkinetic drum-n-bass on "Meinetwegen." Compositional depth and intricate, well-rehearsed interplay is the group’s specialty. There’s a tongue-in-cheek aspect to Hollenbeck’s music — not to mention his on-stage banter — but his pen can summon sober moods just as effectively. "The Coping Song," written in response to the 9/11 disaster, is a case in point. This and other non-recorded selections, like "Paterna" and "Misty Hyman" (the latter a nod to the colorfully named Olympic swimmer), suggest that the band’s book has grown since the January 2000 recording session. (Check out Hollenbeck’s explanation of the band name at johnhollenbeck.com.)

Mark Feldman’s brilliant quartet showcase at Tonic featured mostly new music, as did the previous week’s duo gig with Mat Maneri. Joined by Neal Kirkwood on piano, Ed Schuller on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums, Feldman kicked off the quartet set with an epic titled "Arcade." Right away, one was struck by his compositional seriousness (balanced by his semi-sarcastic grin and laconic sense of humor). The players were fixated on the paper, staying on top of the written parts that framed the extended improvisations. There were some shaky moments, but somehow these lent excitement, giving the impression that the ink was still wet on the page, that anything could happen. Feldman’s instrument was close-miked and had no pickup. It sounded fabulous, and Feldman took advantage of the sonic clarity to create some remarkable bowing effects (one had him sounding like an Andean flute). Other highlights included "What Exit?" (dedicated to New Jersey), "Father Demo Square" (with a stunning Ed Schuller intro), and the wild "Concepts und Vektors" (if I heard correctly).

Worldly Vocalists

Celebrating the official release of Brazilian Duos (Sunnyside), Luciana Souza came to Joe’s Pub and gave a great duo performance with Brazilian guitar virtuoso Romero Lubambo. She sang exquisite melodies and lyrics by Djavan, Jobim, Gonzaga, and more, bringing out the percussive quality of the Portuguese language and often playing percussion while doing so — no easy feat while singing some of these rapid, rhythmically complex songs. Lubambo played a breathtaking solo piece, and Souza also took a moment in the solo spotlight, with a voice/percussion treatment of a Pablo Neruda poem (this’ll be the follow-up to her Elizabeth Bishop project).

On the following night, the Jazz Gallery, in a typically eclectic and genre-defying move, presented Imani Uzuri’s Church of the Universe, featuring Vijay Iyer on piano, Graham Haynes on flugelhorn and cornet, Tarus Mateen on bass, Okkyung Lee on cello, and Daniel Moreno on percussion. Uzuri, a powerful vocalist, has collaborated with everyone from Herbie Hancock and David Gilmore to rapper Talib Kweli and London drum-n-bass pioneers 4Hero. The Church, one of her several ongoing projects, deals with multicultural sacred music. It’s a loose, experimental live concept; the assembled musicians begin with something small — a chant, a hymn, a lyrical topic — and go from there to create a rich sonic world. Everything, from "Om Shanti" to Capoeira to Southern gospel, is fair game. It may sound deadly serious, but Uzuri has a blast with the stuff, encouraging audience participation, cracking jokes, shaking off any vestige of self-consciousness as she tries to give shape to this highly original and creative idea. Well worth checking out, and it’ll only get better the more she does it.

Finally, The Bass Lesson — that’s what bassist/vocalist Jay Leonhart calls his one-man show, which he performed upstairs at Studio 54 to a full house and a squadron of meticulously placed video cameras (a DVD release is in the works). Leonhart delivers his lyrics in a rambling, free-association style, but there’s always a clear narrative, usually a witty, self-effacing look at the musician’s (bassist’s) life. In one story, he’s running perilously late to a gig with Mel Torme; in another, he’s being snubbed by Dizzy Gillespie at a social occasion. One song directly addresses the sheer difficulty of singing while playing the bass, but Leonhart does it quite well, in fact, sometimes inserting little harmonized bass/voice breaks that perfectly outline a series of changes. His best lyric is about life in the Middle Ages, when musicians were dealing with a very different set of problems: "The Middle Ages/plague’s so contagious/Where did I get this lasting cough?/Why is my right foot falling off?"