Thursday, November 18, 2010

Matana Roberts/Ches Smith @ The Stone 11/7/10

Two great improvisers playing together at The Stone. Of course it was stellar and phenomenal and any other great adjective you can come up with.

Most of the time I was watching Ches because he is so interesting. He had a couple of really cool tribal looking "Liberty Bells". They didn't look anything like Liberty bells they were just similar, bell-shaped and about the size of the bells all of us kids from the Philly burbs had. Ches' bells sounded much better, also. He had this little box that I forgot to see if I could investigate later. It was a little wider than a deck of cards and I wasn't sure if it was some kind of thumb piano or what.

Matana lately asks after each piece "Questions? Comments? Criticisms?". We were silent, but I admit that I wanted to ask about some of Ches' instruments. She said she's been prompting lately instead of talking about whatever might come up. She reverted back to her old way after the 3rd piece and told she is going to Paris soon to get a new horn that won't make that percussive sound when she hits the keys. Interesting. I never thought about that before. I'm interested to hear the difference.

Overall I enjoyed the entire set. I love The Stone.

Matana Roberts


Matana Roberts (alto saxophone) Ches Smith (drums)

Matana Roberts and Ches Smith are two of New York's finest improvisers. Tonight they will be experimenting on spontaneous city soundscapes. http://www.matanaroberts.com/. http://www.chessmith.com/

No comments: