Vision Fest + New Languages Festival 6/12/08

I took a little catnap before heading out last night. There were a lot of people, but not as many as the night before. It was still hot, and it seemed like the fans weren’t working as well as the night before. I was reminded of Wetlands, but it wasn’t nearly as hot as that place could get in the summer.

I got there around 7:50 or so and got to see about ½ hour or so of the Oliver Lake New Quintet Project. I enjoyed it. It was basically modern jazz with maybe a little more edge. He had a turntablist. It was grooving towards the end.

7:30pm Oliver Lake New Quintet ProjectOliver Lake (as) / Peck Allmond (tp) / Jared Gold (organ) /Jonathan Blake (dr) / Jahi Sundance (DJ)

Then, I decided I might as well take advantage of The New Languages Festival going on at The Living Theatre Thurs-Sat. It’s only $25 for a 3 night pass, or $10 a night. AND, they have awesome AC. I’m told it works really well as soon as you turn it on. Now I get continuous music and an AC break and I love the thought of going back and forth.

I got there around 8:30 or so, and got about 40 minutes of the music, which was great. Daniel Carter had his flute, clarinet, alto, tenor, and trumpet. I saw him play everything except the flute. The drum solo was awesome. I loved the bass. The guitar was pretty good jazz guitar. It was all improvised and awesome.

The Color NowThursday, June 12th 8pm Ty Cumbie • GuitarDaniel Carter • WindsAdam Lane • BassLukas Ligeti • Drums

Then I headed back over to Vision Fest for a little of James Spaulding Swing Expressions. They had me dancing for a bit, then they did something slow. Since I’m not a vocals person, that was kind of slow for me. I loved the congas throughout. I left a little early because I was very interested in the 2nd band at New Languages and I absolutely had to be back in time for the 3rd Vision fest band.

8:30pm James Spaulding Swing ExpressionsJames Spaulding (as, fl) / Richard Clements (p) / Eric Lemon (b) / Reggie Nicholson (dr) / Sabor (perc) / Gregory Porter (v)

Very good strategy on my part. I thoroughly enjoyed Miles Okazaki and his ensemble. The acoustic bass was hooked up to a pedal and there were some very interesting sounds. I liked Miles guitar style a little more than the earlier band. In the ½ hour or so that I saw, the big sax moves were all coming from Knoche, and Binney was more playing support. The sax was filling me with all kinds of great feelings. The vocals melded in nicely to the music. She was really using voice as an instrument, there weren’t any lyrics unless they were in a different language.

Miles OkazakiThursday, June 12th 9pm Miles Okazaki • GuitarDavid Binney • Alto SaxophoneChristof Knoche • SaxophoneJen Shyu • VoiceHans Glawischnig • BassDan Weiss • Drums

The Bluiett’s Bio set at Vision Fest was off the hook amazing. There was this one song that was kind of slow but awesome and I had goosebumps from the baritone sax. I mean I can't begin to describe how I felt during that song. It was definitely the highlight of my week.

Talk about not wanting to get off the stage. They were supposed to be done and then they went into an avant garde cover. I thought it sounded very Sun Ra Arkestra-ish. At the end they said it was Coltrane. At the end of the playing, that is. They didn’t want to leave, so then they went into an awesome Duke Ellington tune. Then, they were supposed to be done, but a few of them started in on another awesome tune. Bluiett knew they were pushing it, so he had them do that one pretty short. It was amazing and I left at 10:40 feeling euphoric. I also finally got my amazing Hamid Drake drum solo I had been craving the night before.

In addition to those listed, they had a trumpet player the entire set and JD Jackson sat in on piano for the last few.

9:30pm Bluiett 's Bio - ElectricHamiet Bluiett (bs) / Billy Bang (vi) /Harrison Bankhead (b) / Hamid Drake (dr)

I had to miss Ensemble of Possibilities at Vision Fest and Tyshawn Sorey at New Languages Fest. That was a good choice because I’m especially excited about the last 2 tonight at Vision Fest and I want to be awake for it.

10:30pm Ensemble of PossibilitiesWhit Dickey (dr) / Rob Brown (as) / Eri Yamamoto (p)Daniel Carter (reeds, tp) / Jason Kao Hwang (vi) / Joe Morris (b)

Tyshawn SoreyWu-Wei (Chapter Three)Thursday, June 12th 10pm * Personnel TBA