I’m glad to be back in the New York mix, as overwhelming as it is, and wanted to mention some shows I’ve seen:
Jason Rigby at Cornelia Street Café, Oct. 17: With Russ Johnson on trumpet, Mike Holober on Rhodes, Cameron Brown on bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums. Rigby has a deep, resonant tenor sax sound and an effortless command of inside-outside vocab. Tremendous band, interesting tunes from a forthcoming CD The Sage, which follows up 2006’s excellent Translucent Space.
Alex Heitlinger at Barbès, Oct. 18: Promising trombonist and leader with Matt Holman on trumpet, Mike McGinnis on alto and clarinet, Art Hirahara on piano, David Phillips on bass and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums. Playing music from the new CD The Daily Life of Uncle Roger. Big and broad sextet sound, probably a few too many overtones for such a small room, but the feel and execution were solid.
John Escreet at 55 Bar, Oct. 20: Scary young pianist, originally from the UK, playing Rhodes with Ben van Gelder on alto, Joe Sanders on bass, Rodney Green on drums. John has a bracing CD called Consequences (four originals, one Andrew Hill tune), on which he plays fluidly in free and form-based environments. At the 55 he focused on mainstream language, broadly speaking: Wayne Shorter’s “Toy Tune,” Sam Rivers’s “Cyclic Episode,” Monk’s “Ask Me Now,” even “Star Eyes.” Burning, and he’ll be even better in time.
On Friday night (Oct. 24) I look forward to this: a celebration of Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio at Symphony Space, featuring Zorn, Braxton, Steven Bernstein’s MTO and Berger himself. Will be great to hear Braxton again so soon after the Philly concerts (and right when I’m digesting this mammoth boxed set)…
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