Midway though a monthlong residency at the esteemed Oakland jazz club Yoshi's promoting his eclectic new album, Me Not Me, Benevento rolled into town leading an adventurous supergroup of sorts from a Bonnaroo- friendly branch of experimental jazz.
Joined by eccentric saxophone gadfly Skerik and a percussion duo of G. Calvin Weston from John Lurie's Lounge Lizards and Medeski Martin and Wood's Billy Martin, Benevento set aside much of his new album's engagingly crafted, atmospheric piano compositions and instead led his ensemble through nearly an hour of unfettered improvisation.
But as can often be the case when working without a net, the evening's results were wildly uneven. Although Weston and Martin have performed as a duo a number of times in New York's downtown circuit, their rhythmic interplay often struggled to gel at Largo, leaving the entire ensemble on unsteady ground.
Whether a result of overenthusiastic exploring or just a rough mix (there was a lot of gesturing at the sound guy going on from the stage), Weston in particular was prone to overwhelm the music with wide-open funk beats that flirted with bombast.
