Monday, May 30, 2011

Blood Drum Spirit @ The Stone 5/19/11

I still can't believe it's been 6 months since I've been to The Stone.  There were some things I would have gone to, but it didn't work out.  I think it's been heavy on the electronics lately or something.  Well, the 2nd half of May is a good time to come back.

I was attracted to the name of the band.  I looked them up, and like what I've heard on-line.

It was great.  Jazz meets world.  The explanations of the pieces were fascinating, even though I couldn't follow the technical details.  They started with a piece influenced by Indian music.  Then they did something inspired by Ghana.  I can't remember the details around some of the other pieces.  The last one was a reinterpretation if Duke Ellington's "Caravan".

With the exception of a portion of one piece where the talking drum was played, and the drum head during a portion of another, they used regular modern jazz instruments;  drumkit, contrabass, sax and piano.  Is this concept awesome or what?

Their piano player recently lost his father, so they had a pianist/teacher from The New School step up and step in.

I'm interested to see this ensemble again.

blood drum spirit David Bindman (saxes) Wes Brown (contrabass) Art Hirahara (piano) Royal Hartigan (drumset, african percussion) blood drum spirit brings a new global vision to music, exploring deep into the world’s great traditions through the prism of live jazz performance. Ensemble members have lived, played and toured all over the planet, including four tours of China. We incorporate elements (such as asymmetrical time cycles and polyrhythms) from Asian, African, Native American, and other musical cultures into our compositions, interactions, and improvisations. http://www.blooddrumspirit.com/

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