Don Byron New Gospel Quintet @ Jazz Standard 4/23/09

I loved this. I wasn't expecting much, but I should have known it would be awesome.

Brad Jones played electric basses. He helped lay down a killer groove. He had me captivated many times.

The piano was amazing. He also played organ for some songs. I don't think I knew him before that. His name is Frank Wilkins.

Don Byron and Pheeroen AkLaff were as great as I remember. Don played clarinet and sax. I especially love him on clarinet.

The first song was a great instrumental. It set the tone for the greatness of the show. All the rest had DK Dyson on vocals. She did the kind of vocals I like, deep and soulful.

I can't remember who Don said they were interpreting. I will have to find out because I want to look him up.

I really love these Jazz Standard gigs and how he interprets a different genre each time. I'll never doubt him again going in. Its always been great.

DON BYRON NEW GOSPEL QUINTET
*World Premier*
* Don Bryon – clarinet
* DK Dyson – vocalist
* Frank Wilkins – piano
* Brad Jones – bass
* Pheeroan AkLaff – drums

Toumani Diabaté @ LPR 4/19/09

I loved this. It's interesting the sabar player wasn't there and instead it was a Peruvian drum. It helped me realize the sounds are similar. I guess you can't exactly call it pan-African any more, but as long as you don't want to get to technical, I guess you can.

I saw Toumani Diabate Symmetric Orchestra 2 years ago at Montreal Jazzfest. I've been wanting to see them again, but this was the first time I could make it in NYC. I think I've seen them listed as here once or twice a year.

I enjoyed it. I am very impressed with the musicianship. I was pretty satisfied after the first set, so I left early. I did very much enjoy what I heard. I'm very impressed with the kora playing, but they are all very talented

Burkina Electric @ LPR 4/19/09

I was curious based on the listing, but I honestly wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. I loved it so much I'm giving it its own post, even though it was an opening band.

It was modern African music. The instruments were all modern, drum kit, vibes, guitar, laptop, . But then there were 2 male dancers and all the songs were stories. The dancers really added a lot and they were awesome.

I was thrilled to find out Lucas Ligeti is in it. He just curated The Stone. He was awesome.

While the music had an African flair, it was very much today. It rocked! I hope to see them again.

Here's the listing. What made me skeptical was the part about electronica band. I'm not that familiar with electronica, but it was way better than I thought electronica could be. I stopped reading after the 1st sentence, so I didn't know it is the type of thing I would love.

Burkina Electric is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso, in the deep interior of West Africa. Based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, it is, at the same time, an international band, with members living in New York, U.S.A. and Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as in Ouaga. In Burkina Electric's music, the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso meet and mingle with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. Before starting Burkina Electric in 2004, band members Maï Lingani, Wende K. Blass, Pyrolator, and Lukas Ligeti had become close friends as members of Beta Foly, a group that emerged from a workshop led by Lukas and Pyrolator in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, which, among other experiments, created some of the earliest fusions of techno/trip-hop with African traditional music.

The core band consists of four musicians and two dancers, often augmented by guests. Rupert Huber, of the well-known Austrian electronica duo Tosca, collaborates and performs with the group for selected occasions. All songs are composed and choreographed collaboratively by all group members.

Jazzfest

Just in case you are wondering, I am going down on Thurs. It got a little "same old, same old" to go to the whole thing every single year. If you haven't done the whole thing yet, I highly recommend it. I've been scaling back lately so I can appreciate it more again. I mean, the music is great, the food is great, and it is the best time to go down there. It's just that I used to go to learn, and now I know so much. At the clubs there's not that much new stuff and now there's so much in NYC I don't need jazzfest quite as much. I am very glad I'm going. I have a work seminar right after, so I finally get to stay down there a few extra days. I'm getting psyched. I've also been in a dry spell up here. I do have some more posts for April coming, but I've definitely slowed down a little this month.

Reed's Bass Drum @ Bowery Poetry Club 4/18/09

Now that I know so much, I rarely check out new, relatively unknown bands. I think its important to support the lesser knowns. I like that BPC has these early jazz shows sometimes because then I don't have make sacrifices.

I enjoyed this trio. I like a good baritone trio and thought they were all talented.

I chose to go based solely on the band name and instrumentation.

It was nice, especially since it was the only thing I could make it to that night.

Reed's Bass Drum performs music through the lens of the jazz tradition. Fueled by a genuine interest in innovation, their distinctive sound is created by baritone saxophone, bass and drums. While performing original compositions or jazz standards, Reed's Bass Drum strives to provide a distinct vantage point from which to hear jazz music.
http://www.myspace.com/reedsbassdrum

Ethereal Records

I'm sorry to say it's gone. It was on Ave A and was a little store and now it's empty. I went there every once in a while on a whim and always got something interesting, usually in the used jazz section. Oh well.

Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman Duo @ The Stone 4/15/09

The one word to describe this one is "moving". They did 3 intense Zorn Masada pieces. Then they did one of Mark's and one of Sylvie's. Both of those were moving with a different type of intensity. That 5th piece was more mellow and beautiful. The 6th piece was very intense and filled me up. They then did one last one of Sylvie's, which was pretty intense.

It's quite awesome to be a duo show of theirs. The level of talent is really staggering to comprehend. I feel like I got away with something. I'm sure the quartet they were playing with next will be equally great, I just don't think I could take it after that.