Dave Burrell Trio: New York, NY, September 10, 2011

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Garrison Fewell

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Published: December 10, 2011

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Dave Burrell Trio
Crosscurrent 3 Festival
Poisson Rouge
New York, NY
September 10, 2011

For its third annual edition, Crosscurrent moved the festival from its home in Botticino, Italy to New York City. Following the sonic delights of the Vision Festival in June, Crosscurrent 3 offered an additional array of creative music ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith Wadada Leo Smith
b.1941
trumpet , Dave Burrell Dave Burrell
b.1940
piano , Wayne Horvitz Wayne Horvitz
b.1955
piano , Taylor Ho Bynum Taylor Ho Bynum

cornet and Joe McPhee Joe McPhee
b.1939
reeds .

Dave Burrell has long been a favorite pianist for his remarkable ability to play across stylistic boundaries in jazz. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1965 with a degree in composition, arranging and performance, Burrell dedicated himself to the pursuit of creative music that combines his dual talents as composer and free jazz improviser, performing alongside artists such as Marion Brown Marion Brown
1931 - 2010
sax, alto , Archie Shepp Archie Shepp
b.1937
saxophone , Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders
b.1940
saxophone and David Murray David Murray
b.1955
sax, tenor . Few pianists have so successfully and consistently performed improvised music containing influences ranging from Jelly Roll Morton Jelly Roll Morton
1890 - 1941
piano , Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk
1917 - 1982
piano and Duke Ellington Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
piano to classical composers such as Puccini—see Burrell's LP, La Vie de Boheme (BYG/Get Back Records, 1969) and a Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein
1918 - 1990
composer/conductor trio LP, High Won-High Two (Douglas/Black Lion, 1968) with Sirone Sirone
1940 - 2009
bass, acoustic and Sunny Murray Sunny Murray
b.1937
drums . His predecessor, pianist Jaki Byard Jaki Byard
1922 - 1999
piano was similarly able to seamlessly employ the entire history of jazz in a single solo with Charles Mingus Charles Mingus
1922 - 1979
bass, acoustic ' 1964 sextet.

The trio performed five of Burrell's compositions in a seventy-five minute set. They played so well together and the arrangements were so intuitive, displaying an air of casual familiarity and relaxed interplay, that there was no clue this was a premier performance organized exclusively for the festival.

Burrell announced the first tune, "Black Robert," dedicated to a street hustler from Harlem in the '60's. Sounding somewhat like a Kurt Weill show tune, Steve Swell Steve Swell
b.1954
trombone played the subtly stated theme on muted trombone over a march-like tempo, then moved into an extended, swinging blues-inflected solo sustained by an acute ear for melodic invention. The trombone and bass dropped out to allow the pianist a short, incisive solo. Swell and bassist Michael Formanek Michael Formanek
b.1958
bass re-entered as Burrell subtly restated the theme which led to a bass solo. Formanek's sound was woody, supple and well balanced throughout the range of his instrument, while his melodic and rhythmic inventions morphed without pause into collective trio improvisation. Burrell, a master of consonant dissonance (or dissonant consonance?) played in the upper register, quickly switching to low-keyed rumblings—then turned to his trademark syncopated stabbing, left hand leaping over right-handed, rolling knuckle clusters, followed by both hands playing independently at extreme registers, and concluded with a beautifully stated rhythmic motif extracted from the main theme, re-harmonized with dashing, non-tonal chord structures.

For the second tune, "Downfall," Burrell explained to the audience, "We're giving this one up to Steve's mastery because in rehearsal, Steve started playing and our jaws just dropped—we couldn't even get in on the tune!" "Downfall" opened with long glissando bass notes, Formanek's tone articulated and clear. Swell's playing lived up to Burrell's gracious introduction as he used a variety of dynamics and layered rhythmic intensities, adding perfectly executed high notes and "altered techniques." Burrell jumped in with a quote from the Neopolitan song, "Funicoli, Funicola"—a nod perhaps to the Italian Crosscurrent festival?— and delivered a solo that was both free and motivic, atonal yet with completely coherent, organized ideas. Restating the single-tone theme, Burrell then dropped out for a bone/bass duet. Formanek picked up Burrell's rhythmic motif and developed it with double-stops through multiple transpositions, the time shifting easily, becoming pensive and minimalist. Another collective improv, and Burrell played the theme again over long bass glissandos. This is free jazz that doesn't eschew melody, rhythm or harmony. Afterwards Dave commented to the audience, " 'Downfall' started off as a tribute to the World Trade Towers, but then Leena Conquest Leena Conquest

vocal sang it and it suddenly had sex appeal!"