Ok, ready? Last night’s Undead Jazzfest, or at least the parts that I saw:
Trippy electronica opener with visuals from Graham Haynes and Hardedge, nice way to ease into it at Le Poisson Rouge. Tight modernism from Kneebody tenor saxist Ben Wendel with Gerald Clayton on Rhodes, Nir Felder on guitar, Ben Street on bass, Dan Weiss on drums — choice bassoon solo spot from Wendel, good band sound despite the crappy bass house amp, which would plague every group at Kenny’s Castaways. Matthew Shipp cast an effective spell on solo piano back at LPR, sandwiched in between Graham Haynes and an incendiary band set from Dave Douglas and Keystone, highlight of the night (Marcus Strickland!). At Kenny’s, caught just a bit of Uri Caine with Chris Speed, Jim Black, John Hebert, a violinist I hadn’t seen before. Then Dan Weiss/Miles Okazaki duo spun webs of interlocking cyclical rhythm — this project has reached a new level of power and excitement. Over to Sullivan Hall for just a bit of Ben Perowsky’s darkly funky, vampy Moodswing Orchestra with Adam Rogers, a rail-thin and head-shaven Josh Roseman. But then capped it off with Tony Malaby’s Novela, a remarkable project with eight horns plus drums and Kris Davis, the group’s arranger, on Fender Rhodes. All Malaby compositions, presented in a new light. Dave Douglas and Malaby sets will be my two picks for New York @ Night, July 2010 edition.
Circumstances will probably conspire to make me miss tonight’s blowout, but you shouldn’t.
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