Monday, February 16, 2009

Improv Night @ The Stone 2/14/00

I got there early, at about 9:40. I was told John Zorn just left and wouldn't be performing for the 2nd set. That was no problem for me. I was told some people actually left when they heard that.

It started off with the pianist (her name is something like Jia), Laura Ortman on violin, and Shanya Dulberger on bass, I was very happy to see her. It was Excellent.

Next came the drummer, Ned Rothenberg on alto, John Natchez on baritone, and Matt Lavelle on bass clarinet. Now, he had 2 bass clarinets of different sizes. A quick wikipedia skim tells me that one may have been in another key. I'll have to read the whole entry later, as I really dig the bass clarinet. I think Ned may have just come in for the 2nd set, either that or he had stepped out in between sets. He's definitely an adequate substitue for Zorn.

For the next piece, the pianist and violinist were back with Lance Grabmiller on electronics and Shannon Fields on guitar. Shannon is this month's curator, and he was the unnamed guitarist from the last Improv Night I was at, a little over 2 weeks ago.

Then came Shanya, Matt and the drummer, who also played xylophone. I've seen him before, but don't know his name yet.

This was followed by an awesome duo with the piano and Ned on alto.

Then the violin, guitar, and John Natchez switching between that piccolo or alto horn and baritone sax, and Lance did the final piece before the grand finale.

I like the last piece with everyone. It was maybe 15 minutes long and got quiet and loud at different points. I could hear at of them at different times.

It was another good one. I think it's always well worth the price and important to come out and support The Stone. I also love how I usually learn about someone new, that I didn't know about before.

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