Lee Konitz, Dan Tepfer, Bill Frisell, Sam Amidon, Vinny Golia, Lisa Mezzacappa, Wayne Krantz & Cliff Almond

Martin Longley

Concert/Festival Reviewer since 2007

Martin Longley also writes for the BBC Music website, Jazzwise and The Wire magazines, plus the NYC Jazz Record and Coventry Telegraph newspapers.

Recent articles (165 total)

Published: April 27, 2012

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Whilst some folks might have mourned this two-thirds, bass-less situation, it actually presented a forum for appreciating the intricacies of Krantz's style, in more of a relaxed free-form ramble. Not that there was any lack of disciplined tightness between strings and sticks. Almond already possesses a practiced and intuitive melding technique with Krantz, scattering suddenly shifting polyrhythms with a bewildering rapidity that was nevertheless always on the right forward-pushing track. Normally, time-changes and melody shifts happen with a mysterious unity when the Krantz trio is splicing tight. A similar experience was found in this duo dialogue, though with extra space allowed for phrase-wriggling and snicking embellishments. Krantz is continuing to evolve his peculiar vocal-guitar twinning technique, which is part jazz scat, part Indian tabla-talk. His laidback delivery was deceptive. Yes, this was Krantz in relaxed shape, but the music's spontaneous reactions were still right on the edge of scimitar precision. A cerebral gush, or a gutsy rumble?

Photo Credit
Adam Siegel

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