Parker/Jordon/Drake @ CSV 2/27/09

This was as stellar as it was supposed to be. I would have chosen this gig with William Parker and Hamid Drake and whoever they choose, because they are all guaranteed to be great. I was pretty happy to see this trio included Kidd Jordon, though.

I got there just before they started, at around 7:50. I really like the space. Its a small theatre space on the 2nd floor called SEA. It says capacity is 74 people on the wall. Its kind of colorful, with the stage and backdrop wall painted very colorfully. It felt very nice in there. I'm happy there were no free seats. There was still room to sit on the steps, but I prefer to stand and had a good spot. I could see, hear, and dance.

They charged $15 for 1 set, $25 for 2. It was a no-brainer for me to choose the 2.

My spot was right up front by the stage, but off to the drum side just a bit. I guess you could call the seats stadium seating. There was a wall-type thing separating me from the sitters. There were a few other people standing by me.

I bought the cd, which is also phenomenal. I got a chance to read the liner notes in between sets. That worked out well because the liner notes talked about how the recording was mainly Drake on the frame drum, Parker on the guimbri, and Jordon on the tenor (as always). The 2nd set used that instrumentation for a good portion before Drake went back to the kit and Parker eventually went back to his upright. Parker did play some of his reeds during that first 1/2 hour or so of the 2nd set.

For the 1st set, it was mainly drumkit, upright bass, and tenor. Parker did play some reeds and an interesting woodwind. The woodwind was wood, and looked similar to a recorder, but without a mouthpiece. It was very interesting and I'm sure I'll find out what it was eventually. I don't have time to look it up now.

I did look up the guimbri, because I wanted to see how it is different from the sintur that Mike Rivard plays. On the same web page, I see that people sometimes confuse the 2. The guimbri is also called the ngoni.
http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/africa.htm

I loved being so close to Hamid to watch him play. He really had me so interested I had trouble being with the other 2 at times.

I loved it all. I think I loved the 2nd set even more, once they went back to the more traditional instruments, it got really grooving. I also like how they started off more mellow in that set. It was also a little over an hour.

And, I can't believe I only paid $25 to see all of that!