From Bacteria to Boys @ Local 269 1/31/11

Any project that Mike Pride or Darius Jones is in is going to be great. Both of them together with an awesome keyboard player is triple exciting. I don't get to enough RUCMA gigs because I usually have the wonderful Monday Night Alive Seminars, so it was also a nice treat to have a rare Monday off to experience such a great band. They were awesome. I loved all the compositions and playing. I need to look around for more shows with that keyboard player.

Mike Prides's From Bacteria To Boys
"a successful balance of the tuneful and the abstract" - Jazztimes
Mike Pride (drums) / Darius Jones (alto sax)
Alexis Marcello (keyboard) / Peter Bitenc (bass)

Edmar Castenada @ Joe's Pub 1/13/11

It was listed as a solo gig, but it turned out to be a trio.  It was awesome.  I'm not sure who the drummer was.  Even worse, I can't quite recollect the 3rd instrument,  I think there is a chance it was Gabriele Mirabassi on clarinet.  Otherwise, it might have been a sax.

I just got back from 2 weeks in Costa Rica with Ariel & Shya Kane.  I'm not the same person who left, but I know whoever I was at that show enjoyed it immensely.

We had 2 special guests, Edmar's wife came out a couple of times.  We also got this great cochon player.  It was awesome!

Sunship @ LPR 1/12/11

This is now a distant memory, but I'll see what I can do.  I got there just after it started.  They bagged the solo set, so Sunship was on the stage.  Most of the seats were taken but I wanted to stand, so no big deal.
I loved it.  I love Mary and Marc together.  Chad Taylor is amazing.  The music is phenomenal.  They play music from Coltrane's album by that title and of course with their own interpretation. 

Jan 12th: Sun Ship w/special guest Henry Grimes (Mary Halvorson-guitar, Chad Taylor-drums)


Here's a NYTimes review from 2009 of the band:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/arts/music/28ribot.html

MTO Plays Sly @ Littlefield 1/6/11

I finally got to see this and it was great. It was so much fun to get down. Nicole Atkins couldn't make it due to bronchitis, but they were able to get Fiona McVeigh from Ollabelle last minute.

I love this band regardless of what they are doing. This night was comprised of Steven Bernstein leading and playing enough slide trumpet to keep me happy, Uri Caine on keys, Ben Allison on bass, Kenny Wollesen on drums, Charlie Burnham on violin, Curtis Fawlkes on trombone, Erik Lawrence on saxaphones, Peter Apfelbaum on reeds, and Doug Weiselman on sax and clarinet. If you are familiar with them, then you know just how amazingly talented the band is. If you aren't familiar you are about to have the opportunity because Adam is about to document the NYC Downtown jazz greatness that I am privileged to get to on a regular basis. I couldn't help fantasizing about some of the possibilities that might come out of this. And, there's so much more possible than I could possibly imagine.


I also need to mention the main vocalist, Dee Morgan. He was good and it was good to get some words to Sly tunes. He also knew how to improvise and would occasionally play his hands or whistle.

The show was awesome and definitely up there in terms of greatness. I had a lot of fun dancing. The music was stellar.

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society @ Littlefield 1/6/11

It was time to see them again. The music was spectacular. Some of the usual suspects, like Ingrid Jensen and Erika Von Kleist were absent. But it was still a phenomenal 18 piece ensemble playing awesome music. I enjoyed it immensely.

Fight The Big Bull @ Littlefield 1/6/11

Some of them were familiar from the last time I saw them. Maybe they were all the same people, but I thought a few may have been different. It is still a fabulous band. I enjoyed it immensely. They were all awesome. I enjoyed each of them at various times. The trumpet, trombone and bass were especially memorable.

Overtone Quartet @ Birdland 1/5/11

The only thing on my list of potentials that I wanted to go to was Marc Ribot @ LPR. But, it wasn't going to start until 10 and I knew I wasn't up for a late night. So I consulted my trusty All About Jazz and saw that Chris Potter was at Birdland. Now, it was after 6 but I figured I'd give Goldstar a shot. There were still some 1/2 price tickets to be had for the next night, but not for me.
I did think Dave Holland was in it, but Chris was the big reason to get me over there. There was no Dave and maybe there wasn't supposed to be.  Dave just brought them all together in a quintet. 

In addition to Chris, I was also psyched about Jason Moran. You know that a great rhythm section was backing them up. It was awesome. There was one song with Chris on soprano that really had me on another plane. The set was awesome.

Overtone Quartet:
Jason Moran,
Chris Potter,
Eric Harland &
Larry Grenadier