Friday, October 24, 2008

John McNeil/Bill McHenry Quartet @ Iridium 10/23/08

I had this on the list of potentials, but I wasn’t sure I was going t make the trek uptown. There was something in the listing in The New Yorker that made me really want to go. I haven’t seen Bill McHenry in a while, and I really should get to more of his gigs. All I knew was whatever The New Yorker speculated about and that it was a quartet with a sax and trumpet. Sounded good!

I can’t find the name of the bass player and drummer, but they were great. Everyone was great and I definitely enjoyed the set. They said they took old jazz tunes from the 40s and 50s, tunes that might have been considered pushing the envelop (my words, not theirs), and put a fresh coat of paint. It was relatively straight ahead to me, but very enjoyable. I was completely engaged for the 65 minutes. They actually started at 8:25, slightly early. I guess they were looking forward to it. You could tell each of them were enjoying listening to the music played by the others as we were.

It’s also good to get to Iridium now and then. I like the vibe and the setup when it’s not in super busy setup mode. You easily forget where you are in the city.

No comments: