NYC September 2013

I'm slowly catching up on things. I spent the first week of September in New York City - it had been awhile since I was last in town (Easter I think). It's well after the fact and a bit light on details but here's a run down on the weeks happenings.

Grakowski & Heberer 

First stop was the  Downtown Music Gallery. I try and make it there each time I'm in town, though this was my first time at one of the in-store concerts they host on Sunday evenings - nice vibe and plenty of CD browsing (and some buying) before the show. Performing in store was the duo of Frank Gratkowski (alto sax) & Thomas Heberer (cornet/trumpet). I really enjoyed this yet. Great to be up close to the music in a (very) small space. The pair played a set of improvised duos. I found out that these two have a playing history going back to their teens - and it showed with plenty of common ground shared. I must remember to check if they have recorded together (I forgot to ask them!). Picked up a copy of Frank's latest album "All At Once" - just released on Relative Pitch Records. I've only had time to give it one spin - a saxophone trio disc with Phillip Greenlief & Jon Raskin - but I've liked what I've heard so far. I joined the duo and some friends for dinner in Chinatown.

After dinner we walked up to Nublu for Frank's second gig of the night. Got to have a good chat with him about projects he has under way including the few weeks he had just spent at CNMAT (Center for New Music & Audio Technologies). He's been working on his project "Artikulationen E" solo alto sax with live electronics and 8-point surround sound. In fact Frank has built his own wireless electronics controller that attaches to his alto (see pic). For the 2nd gig Frank was part of percussionist Joe Hertenstein's "Future Drone"with Anthony Coleman (fender rhodes) Ken Filiano (b). This is a gig that I would have dug a lot more had it not been so loud. The main culprit was the rhodes - and it brought the rest of the group with it. When the volume was lower I could hear everyone and there was plenty of interesting music happening. But too often the volume took away the enjoyment.

Tender Trap Jam Session

Monday night I joined friends at the Tender Trap jam session in Brooklyn. They're had a regular set followed by a jam session there for some time now. It's a sweet scene - friendly and welcoming. Last time I was in town I wasn't able to play due the problems with my hand/arm so it was nice to get a few tunes in. The only jam session I've attended with four violinists! Take your horn down if you are in the neighborhood or just take your ears and have a beer.

Tuesday morning I joined Will and Carol at B&H to check out some microphones. What a crazy place - I still can't get over that I'd never heard of them. Following that it was off to Carol's for a duo session of standards and free improvisations. It seemed an age since we and played together but things came into place nicely. The free stretches seemed to move into some new places. I must remember to bring my recorder next time I'm in town.
After the session we headed downtown to hear our friend Nick playing a pre-show duo gig at the Signature Theatre. The acoustic was very live (a large space with plenty of concert and wood). Nick's alto sound filled the space and he was barley breathing into the horn. Very relaxed, melodic playing.

Zach Brock Quartet - 55 Bar

I spent Wednesday afternoon out in Newark meeting some of my classmates and sat in on the first of the Duke Ellington classes. I'm sure I'll blog a bit about school in the future.
That evening it was off to Greenwich Village and the 55 Bar for the Zach Brock (violin) Matt Penman (b) John Beasley (fender rhodes) and Obed Calvaire (d). Two sets of mostly Brock originals - plus one from Beasley, Herbie Hancock's "Eye of the Hurricane" and a ballad "You've Changed" (I think). The quartet was tight and bass & drum combo were particularly locked in. Nice catching up with Matt - hadn't seen him since he played in Chicago with the SFJAZZ Collective.

Kept things fairly mellow on Thursday. In the morning I caught up with Richard, a sax playing friend from New Zealand who has just moved to NYC to study towards his Masters Degree. Then it was off out to Brooklyn for a hang, session and lunch with Nick. Hanging and playing with Nick always provide plenty of surprises and laughs. Spent the night with my wonderful hosts - Will & Jennie - dinner and drinks. All in all a fun week - plenty of music and friends - and that's a good thing indeed.

The week in NYC

I’m back in Chicago after a week in New York City - great view of the city and its surrounds on the way home yesterday afternoon. In fact it was quite clear all the back to Chicago with wonderful views of the great lakes. Anyway.... Here’s a quick run down of the last week.

Got straight into things on my first night in town. The New York Jazz Workshop held an interview with saxophonist John O’Gallagher. The two hours served as an introduction to O’Gallagher’s workings with twelve tone techniques in jazz composition and improvisation and coincided with Advance Music’s publication of O’Gallagher’s book on the subject - available this month... It’s a thick volume accompanied with two CDs. An interesting talk but don’t expect this method to be a quick fix - it is very involved and I imagine would take many years to absorb and use these ideas spontaneously.

A number of my friends have been playing at the Friday evening jam session hosted by pianist Galen Pittman at Tender Trap in Williamsburg. It’s nice and low key without the ego you associate with some jam sessions around NYC. It was great hearing them play again but the evening was somewhat frustrating as the soreness in my arm (I had been playing a little in the afternoon and it didn’t agree with me) was stopping me joining in. The guys really enjoy playing there so hopefully it continues to develop.

Richard Tabnik Trio

A few of us left the session early to head out to ibeam for the Richard Tabnik Trio - RT (as) Ken Filiano (b) Roger Mancuso (d). I was stoked to be in town when Richard had a gig. The trio improvised on standards and played a couple tunes from Richard’s later album. These three are full of surprises - Mancuso & Filiano are great pairing and there is something about Richard’s tone that needs to be experienced in the flesh for its full spectrum to be revealed.

Tagged along with some friends to another Williamsburg jam session on Sunday night. This one is hosted by saxophonist Matt La Von at Ba-sik. There’s a little attitude on show here (mostly from just 1 or 2 players) but for the most part it’s pretty good. We arrived in time to hear Nick Lyons tearing it up. Nice to hear some flute too (hi David). Afterwards there was a fun hang over falafel sandwiches.

Ba-sik Jam Session

About nine of us got together for a session at Carol’s on Monday night. Over the span of the evening I played four pieces - three free improvisations (duo & trio) and “Out Of Nowhere” with a larger group. I was careful to pace myself leaving time between tunes to rest my arm - there was some aching towards the end of the night .... I would have loved to played more but I'm glad I didn’t over do it. Lorenzo was quick to sense the tiger balm. Considering the lack of playing of late I was pleasantly surprised - sure, my execution wasn’t always top shelf but I feel I contributed to the music. Great company too.

I was glad to be in town for Connie’s opening class at Jazz at Lincoln Center. This week the focus was on Billie Holiday (Lester Young got a bit of attention too). Many of my favourite tracks were played including.... "All of Me", "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", "Them There Eyes", "God Bless The Child", "Body & Soul", "Foolin' Myself", "Laughing At Life", "A Sailboat In The Moonlight" among others.

The message from the night - "Sing with these recordings!" - Tristano said that singing with records was his greatest teaching discovery and the key to transmitting jazz feeling to the student.

If you are a student of the music and want your playing to open up invest some time into singing with the great jazz soloists - it's a blast!

Played a duo session with Pianist/Vocalist Carol Liebowitz - a mix of standards and free improvising. Again, I took things pretty easy so as not to aggravate anything. Similar feeling to Monday night - while I wasn't at 100% we still made some nice music.

Roulette was the venue for my last night in NYC and then scene of a spellbinding set of solo piano improvisations from Connie Crothers. The next morning I made a few notes in the gig book - Mesmeric, Relaxed Intensity, Nuance, Sound Transformation, Clarity, Surprise, Dynamic. It really was a thrilling experience... I could go on and on.
This was my visit time at the new location - very nice space. Thankfully the roadworks out front didn’t bleed into the concert hall.

Lots on this weekend too. The ICP Orchestra is in town - they have gigs on Saturday & Sunday night and Ab Baars is playing a solo set on Sunday afternoon.