Sunday, March 20, 2011

Ches Smith & These Arches @ Roulette 3/9/11

Can I say how exquisite it was to have Tim Berne subbing for Tony Malaby on sax and the addition of Craig Taborn on keys/electronics?  Of course I can since it's my blog!  Tony Malaby is the usual great sax player in this usual great quartet I've seen a few times before.  This night was again fabulous. They were all fantastic and creative and wonderful.  This is a great. And that feels different each time, even with the usual members.

What is especially cool about this project is how it's really an ensemble playing.  I found myself rarely dissecting the music or focusing on any one of them.  It just gelled so well it was as if there was one very full instrument with a lot of texture and range playing.  The music was wonderful and I could have listened to it all night.  The 1 hour set was fantastic.

The other usual suspects, playing brilliantly were Mary Halvorson and Andrea Parkins.  Each of them blow me away with whatever they do.

No comments: