Paul Motion Octet @ Village Vanguard 7/29/08

I've really warmed up to the Vanguard. I'm not going to be able to stay away in Sept. Check out that lineup! I also couldn't miss this octet. I decided close to 5 yesterday that last night would be good, so I called and made a res for 9. It was a show you don't have to have a res, but you can get a better seat if you do, and as I learned with Brian Blade, they treat you a little better. I think they treat you pretty well regardless there.

I now know where I want to sit and they're pretty laid back about that. I got a great seat right up front where I could basically see as much as possible. The only one I couldn't see at all was Matt Maneri. The saxes were up front, on the floor in front of the stage. Tony had a soprano and tenor. Chris had an alto, tenor and baritone. They always played different ones. To my left was the piano, out on the extended stage. It's kind of neat how they can add stage. Matt was behind the piano and I couldn't see him because Tony was blocking him for me. Next to Matt on the perimeter was the upright bass and then in the very back center was Jerome Harris on the other kind of acoustic bass. Over to my right was Cardenas and behind him Ben Monder on guitars. They both brought a different sound and I loved it when they played together.

Right in the center of it all was Motion. I could see him better than any other time, but he was still obstructed a little. He would pull me in often to just focus on his playing. I love how he hits the cymbals. There was one tune where whatever he was doing really got me. It was a little repetitive, and somewhat grooving, while the rest of the music was a little lively.

It was so rich. They featured different people at different moments. Everybody got plenty of solos, but there were also awesome moments where we'd get the 2 guitars or the 2 saxes each playing different things that melded really well.

This was an allstar lineup and they were at their usual level of greatness. If I had to choose a favorite moment out of all the great ones, I would say it was Jerome's solo, which I enjoyed immensely.

They were offering the 2nd set for a 1 drink minimum, not even an additional cover. I didn't want to stay up, but I'm sure it was great.

This is well worth it.

July 29 - Aug 03
PAUL MOTIAN OCTET
Chris Cheek-sax, Tony Malaby-sax, Mat Maneri-vla,
Ben Monder-g, Steve Cardenas-g, Jerome Harris-b,
Thomas Morgan-b

When You Wake Up in the Morning ...

I've been wanting to write this story for a while, and I'm pretty sure I haven't done it yet.

It was a previous year at Jazzfest. I think it was 2003 or 2004. I was still Meters-crazy and I ended up going to many many George shows, which were mainly Meters cover-bands. I saw George, Russell, Brian, and so and so. George, Stanton, and 2 others, The Funky Meters, George Russell, and some others, George, June, ... Etc, etc, etc.

I remember loving every show, but realized later I overdid a little. I couldn't help myself. I mean, it was only 1 of what, 3-7 shows in one night after all. I think over the 2 weeks I probably got at least 8 George shows, as a wild guess.

Anyway, what I really remember was every single one of those shows George sang "When you wake up in the morning, before you eat your breakfast, you gotta get down, down, down" I got back from Jazzfest and that song infiltrated my entire being. I found myself with an enormous urge to get down every morning before having my breakfast, which is usually after I get to work. I didn't have that song, but I did have "Papa Was a Rolling Stone".

I remembered how we had a dry spell of The Funky Meters after having them in NYC often enough for me. I saw they were playing at the 930 Club and I took a road trip to visit relatives and hit the show. That show was awesome. The crowd was so into it! I remember when they broke out "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", the crowd started singing the chorus before the band started singing. George was pumped about that. It was a great moment for me. In that same show later, the crowd voluntarily and on their own did the Fiyo on the Bayo thing, something New Yorkers stopped doing after Tramps closed.

Anyway, I ended up putting "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" every morning for 2 weeks and getting down before eating my breakfast until I got it out of my system. It was a fun post-jazzfest time.

Airto @ Dizzy's 7/27/08

I'm glad I made it to the last set of this run. I had to wait in the no reservation line, and I didn't get my exact spot, but I found a better spot. It's the seat right in front of the sound guy. That's where the guests and no cover jazz people sit. I only sit before the show starts and then there's more room to dance a little to the left of the sound guy. It's on the other side of the kitchen door from my old spot. It's good because I don't have to watch so much food go by and I'm not in anyone's way.

We were told in line that Flora wouldn't be there due to an illness in her family. While I always hate to hear any news like that, I was glad to be spared her singing, which is quite different.

It was a great set. Much more straight ahead than what I experienced a few years ago at Telluride Jazzfest. It was funkier and they had more band members at Telluride. I really enjoyed last night. We got a killer drum solo toward the end.

Kenny Werner also got me out. He was his usual greatness. The guitar and bass were pretty good as well.

I found this listing with lots of info when I was looking for the names of the band members this morning.

Airto Moreira with Toninho Horta, Kenny Werner and Mark Egan.

The Stone 7/26/08

I didn't get my proper nap yesterday, so I was too tired to do much. I was curious about the 8pm set at The Stone, so I figured I'd start there and see how much energy I had. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it through that one set. I did like the sound and would have enjoyed it in spite of the exhaustion. The problem was how loud the bagpipes are in such a small space. I stuck it out as long as I could because it was interesting. But, the bagpipes were overpowering everything and I was incessantly complaining in my head about how loud it was. I tried to move to the back for a bit, but it was just too loud.

I realized there didn't look like any way to quiet them down and they are extremely loud. Louder than anything I've ever heard. Except maybe that bass Bill Laswell was playing at the Highline Scotty Hard benefit. I had to duck out for that as well.

On my way home I bought earplugs. I considered going to Jazz Gallery or Jazz Standard, but I was too tired and was a little afraid of music after that.

The cimbalon was pretty neat looking. It looked like Burr just brought his pedal steel as I didn't see a clarinet in sight. That probably made sense due to the bagpipes.

It was interesting to take note of the bagpipe sound and watch how Matt played them. He had the thing you blow through, but he would take a breath while there was still music coming out, so there was air left. Whenever he started them up for a new song, there was a quieter, lower sound before they got going. I would like to try it again with earplugs sitting in the back and see if it still bothers me then.

Cristhian Rodriguez @ The Stone 7/24/08

This was the perfect aftershow Thurs night. I was debating about Jason Hao Kwang at The Living Theatre and this solo clarinet/bass clarinet gig with someone I never heard of. I think I was in the mood for more clarinet.

We did get some awesome solo numbers, but this was quite a 1.5 hour show at The Stone.

I walked in and there was a guy sitting in a seat with a trombone and the setup was very elaborate. There were 2 setups with about 2 dozen wine glasses of various sizes and filled with various amounts of water. There was vibes with 2 triangles of different sizes hanging above and in front, a cymbal, and some blocks off to the side. There were also various percussion things behind the wine glasses. And a mic.

Cristhian went all out and invited many people to give us a little mini bang-on-a-can type show. He told us about each piece before we heard it and a lot was influenced by the bang-on-a-can marathon he went to 2 years ago.

The opener with all those instruments was a guy who did a score for a film using all natural sounds. He invited the vibe/percussion guy, a soprano sax, and another percussionist to try to recreate the music live with instruments. He also played and I wish I could remember the name of the piece, but I can't right now.

That was awesome and about 25 minutes. Heavy on the percussion with the soprano adding a lot. It was also black, which was great because it helped me notice the differences between that and the clarinet.

Then Cristhian came up and told us how he started as a classical guy and then he heard a record by Evan Ziporyn entitled "This is Not a Clarinet", which has music for clarinets. It changed his life. He played 2 pieces from that. I just discovered that one of the few Bang-On-A-Can CDs I have is Evan Ziporyn's "Frog's Eye". I asked the seller at the marathon to suggest a few that could be considered on the funky side and that was one of them. I can't remember it right now, but I know I liked the 3 that I got. Cristhian played the 1st one with the bass clarinet and the 2nd with the regular clarinet.

Next he had another bass clarinet come up and they did this great duo of his composition that was inspired when he saw 2 marimbas playing at the marathon. It was really awesome.

Then, he had a trombone quartet come up and play his composition he wrote for a saxophone quartet. It was great.

He did one more bass clarinet duo piece and a couple more solo pieces.

Every single moment was awesome. It ended at 11:30, which is the curfew for that place.

Wollesonics @ Roulette 7/24/08

I highly recommend you go tonight since it’s your last chance. They spent 3 days setting up for a 2 night phenomenal performance. Just to see the setup is worth the whopping $15 admission. There’s tons of percussion instruments all over the place and quite a few contraptions that look like they took some time to build. There are about 10 performers or so and it’s mainly awesome percussion. There’s a little bit of trombone at the end. We follow the story of the mouse who heard a sound and was compelled to investigate. I’ve seen earlier versions of this story develop over the past year as Kenny has been using it in his projects. The first time I heard it was around the beginning of the year at Zebulon. He may have started it before that. Now, it’s a pretty elaborate and cool story.

Just go, you won’t be sorry.

National Underground 7/23/08

I was looking for at least a little music and had decided on the Balkan thing at Drom. But, that was postponed until 12am due to the band having traveling weather problems. I do hope they made it because a lot of people were there waiting.

I just wanted a little music, so I tried to think of what I could do. I was thinking The Zinc Bar is usually a good bet, but I didn't feel like going that far. Then I remembered that I've been curious about The National Underground, and it's relatively close. Actually, it's very close unless I'm walking home in a torrential downpour, which is what happened last night. In that case, those 12 blocks feel very far.

I didn't realize there is a downstairs until I left, so I didn't get to check that out yet. I was sucked in immediately due to the Dixieland band playing upstairs. There's no cover upstairs. Downstairs has a cover and they said a band every hour.

I enjoyed the band so I stayed til the end of the set and got about 1/2 hour. I looked hard for a tip jar and didn't see one, so I'm assuming there is none.

The place looks kind of like a honky tonk (not that I really know what that is, it's just what it felt like to me). The piano is a cool looking white wooden thing. This band also had a banjo, clarinet, sax, trumpet, trombone, and drummer. I especially liked the clarinet and the banjo.

It's got a nice vibe. I saw the menu when I was walking out, the choices are hamburger or cheeseburger.

The upstairs is small and there's some comfy places to sit a little farther back from the band.

It looks worthwhile to stop by on the way to other places in the area.