It was listed as Kenny Wollesen Special Project. Really, all Kenny projects are special. It was awesome and I loved every minute. It wasn't too crowded, but it wasn't dead, either. I was intrigued by this big steel tub of water Kenny put out so I had to sit up front. He was using it to dip gongs into as he played. It was quite interesting.
There were 2 drummer/percussionists and 1 other percussionist, in addition to Kenny. There was also an upright bass, an electric guitar, and a trombone and tenor sax.
Kenny played so many different things it's hard to list them all, or even remember them all. I don't know what some of that stuff was to begin with. He was amazing on the balloons. Lots of unique things including his special marching band bass drum we see him with often.
The first set was about 1.5 hours and it was awesome. Occasionally, Kenny was telling us a story of a mouse who was trying to find a sound and finally found it on the river. He would just occasionally tell us about the mouse throughout the set. It was grooving at times. There was also a lot of that beautiful, melancholy music I hear on the Zebulon cds. He's got a piece on each cd and they are amazing.
When the mouse got to the river the music reminded of NOLA. It was really great.
The 2nd set was about an hour, and a bunch of us were up dancing in the front. It was really awesome. A guy in a Mule shirt and his date got us started with a dance floor. Before that, a few of us were dancing off to the side. It was so much fun!
It was also very influenced by Sun Ra. They even did a little "Space is the Place" chanting at times. I have a feeling a lot of it will be similar to what's coming up at The Stone on 1/1. They didn't read much poetry, but it will still probably be similar.
It was fabulous and I'm so glad I'm on vacation and could make it for the whole thing. It ended around 1:45. I started vacation last Fri, was starting to get on the late schedule, but ended up back on the early schedule when I went to FL for Christmas. I'm glad I seem to be back on the late sched again.
Here's the listing for The Stone for tomorrow:
http://www.thestonenyc.com/calendar.php?month=1
1/1 Tuesday (CW)
8 pm
Kenny Wollesen's Himalayas Marching Band
Kenny Wollesen and a host of anarchistic zanies
An experience of unbridled madness. Bring in the new year with this outrageous and impossible ensemble party!
10 pm
The Wollesens with poetry and prose by Sun Ra
Kenny Wollesen (drums) and his new unit
An evening of Wollesen music and readings from another planet channeling the galactic traveller Sun Ra.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
George Porter, JR Birthday Bash, NYC
That was a great time! So nice to have a late night funkdown and I'm so glad George was able to do a birthday thing up here. He mentioned this was his 2nd celebration this week, with the 1st being in NOLA. I again feel blessed to be here.
There were a lot of people shut out last night, but that was just due to not thinking about it early enough. I bought my ticket shortly after they went on sale at the box office without giving it a 2nd thought. Most people who wanted in badly enough were able to get in, though. It was a lot of fun and good to see everyone.
I like the venue. I hadn't been there yet. I was afraid of the word "theatre". It was actually pretty good, with a large floor area and then some movie-theatre style seats which I think helped a lot. Some people really like seats. That was a sold out show and it didn't feel over-crowded. Even in spite of the cordoned off VIP area up front to the right of the stage. That area was just a little too large for the amount of people in it, which just seemed wrong. I think that brought more people who were allowed to be in there out into the rest of the area, making it more crowded. I hope they re-think that in the future.
The show was awesome. 1st set was just PBS. That was pretty good, although I've been to some better PBS shows. Still, it was enjoyable and there were some extra good moments. Russell was in check for the most part, which makes all the difference.
They brought out the guests for the 2nd set, starting with Warren and Danny Louis and Andy Hess. This set was kind of a blur for me, so I'm not quite sure what exactly went on. I think Matt Abts didn't make it and at first George was on the 2nd kit. I think before Warren left the stage, he was on that kit and there was another non-drummer up there for a bit. That made it pretty fun.
I was pretty impressed with Karl Densen, something I rarely say. It was because those earlier horns at Mule were so lacking and he is a real player and he was pretty good last night. After that, those very same horns showed up and I supressed a groan. Actually, I think I did groan. Disappointing again. We did not need them in the room at all. Worse, they did Pass the Peas and it just felt so lacking when the horns started playing. Thank God Karl was there to at least save it a little. Again, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better. I still can't believe I wanted horns to leave the stage. This is really a first for me.
Krasno was up there for a while and the whole thing was a lot of fun. John Gros was up there for a while as well.
They announced last call at 3:45 and said they would play unti 4:30. George didn't realize the venue had other ideas about how long they would play. Still, it was good and funky with some room to dance for the last few songs 4:00-4:20. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun with that.
Overall a great time and I'm glad I got to be there.
There were a lot of people shut out last night, but that was just due to not thinking about it early enough. I bought my ticket shortly after they went on sale at the box office without giving it a 2nd thought. Most people who wanted in badly enough were able to get in, though. It was a lot of fun and good to see everyone.
I like the venue. I hadn't been there yet. I was afraid of the word "theatre". It was actually pretty good, with a large floor area and then some movie-theatre style seats which I think helped a lot. Some people really like seats. That was a sold out show and it didn't feel over-crowded. Even in spite of the cordoned off VIP area up front to the right of the stage. That area was just a little too large for the amount of people in it, which just seemed wrong. I think that brought more people who were allowed to be in there out into the rest of the area, making it more crowded. I hope they re-think that in the future.
The show was awesome. 1st set was just PBS. That was pretty good, although I've been to some better PBS shows. Still, it was enjoyable and there were some extra good moments. Russell was in check for the most part, which makes all the difference.
They brought out the guests for the 2nd set, starting with Warren and Danny Louis and Andy Hess. This set was kind of a blur for me, so I'm not quite sure what exactly went on. I think Matt Abts didn't make it and at first George was on the 2nd kit. I think before Warren left the stage, he was on that kit and there was another non-drummer up there for a bit. That made it pretty fun.
I was pretty impressed with Karl Densen, something I rarely say. It was because those earlier horns at Mule were so lacking and he is a real player and he was pretty good last night. After that, those very same horns showed up and I supressed a groan. Actually, I think I did groan. Disappointing again. We did not need them in the room at all. Worse, they did Pass the Peas and it just felt so lacking when the horns started playing. Thank God Karl was there to at least save it a little. Again, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better. I still can't believe I wanted horns to leave the stage. This is really a first for me.
Krasno was up there for a while and the whole thing was a lot of fun. John Gros was up there for a while as well.
They announced last call at 3:45 and said they would play unti 4:30. George didn't realize the venue had other ideas about how long they would play. Still, it was good and funky with some room to dance for the last few songs 4:00-4:20. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun with that.
Overall a great time and I'm glad I got to be there.
Gov't Mule @ The Beacon 12/28 & 29
The 1st 2 nights of Government Mule have been amazing. Both nights, the 2nd set seemed to come up a notch.
I actually made it early on Fri, so I decided to check out Keller Williams. He's a 1 man band with some sampling and recorded stuff to make it all work. I could get into the music and it was kind of fun for a while. It did start getting old after a while and I thought an hour was a bit long. I think he would do well if he expanded himself a bit by doing projects with different people now and then. Kind of like Papa Mali. I couldn't help but wonder how someone could go to such effort to be able to just play on his own. He did sit in with Mule later and that was enjoyable. I'm being more critical because I remember meeting someone at a festival who kept raving about him and thought he was one of the best acts ever. I had that kind of question in my head when I was watching him.
Mule was awesome with the 2nd set even surpassing the 1st. They did some good covers, including Led Zep. The drum solo was off the hook amazing. I could have listened to those drums forever. It was really great.
It was awesome and I decided to skip Kinninger at Blue Note since I can overdo that if I go to much. I didn't want to ruin how good I felt from that show.
I caught the whole Tea Leaf Green set on Sat. That was great. I'm not super crazy about the singers, but they aren't bad, either. My favorite was the funky instrumental song they did about 1/2 way through the set. They also sat in with Mule during the 1st set and that was great.
The whole first set was great, with the 2nd set being even greater. I thought Sat was even better than Fri. It cinched for me that there is no way I'm not going up there NYE. I will start there, and I still think there's a slight chance I will leave and head over to The Join for a bit. I kind of doubt it, though. It it's anything like the past 2 nights, I probably won't be able to pull myself away.
Andy Hess is amazing. I had a bad moment with the sound at ACL one year and wrote how I kept trying to get away from the bass. I've been trying to make up for that since then. The guy blows me away every time since then, so I'm not sure what was going on that time.
George Porter Jr. sat in for a couple of songs 2nd set, confirming that he is the funkiest one around. No question. They did some super funky Little Feat cover and then Hey Pocky Way. I love Matt Abts and I'm not that big a fan of Russel Batiste these days. Still, I was missing him a little on Hey Pocky Way, although I think it was the old him, the one who used to play at Tramps and had me with my mouth wide open, jaw-dropped awe of his playing. It was still awesome and I will take Matt any day, I was just missing something familiar with that song and the drums that I didn't get at that show.
The one really disappointing thing, which didn't ruin it, but was super disappointing was this horn section they brought out 2nd set. They had no business being up there and I keep wondering where they even got them. I am very spoiled with horns, but those 3 just weren't up to par to play with a band of that calibar for an audience that is used to so much better. It was even more disappointing when they showed up later at the Porter birthday bash. I never thought I'd be sad about horns showing up. I mean, they could have done better by picking up some kids from the school Dirty Dozen was always bringing them out from. Or, off the street in NOLA or down in the subway. It wasn't awful, it was just they weren't powerful enough and didn't really add anything to the show. And, their playing kind of subtracted from the rest of the band's playing. We didn't need them at all.
Anyway, that was only a minor disappointment as the show was THAT good. The highlight was when George and Brian came out to play, but the whole thing was phenomenal.
I actually made it early on Fri, so I decided to check out Keller Williams. He's a 1 man band with some sampling and recorded stuff to make it all work. I could get into the music and it was kind of fun for a while. It did start getting old after a while and I thought an hour was a bit long. I think he would do well if he expanded himself a bit by doing projects with different people now and then. Kind of like Papa Mali. I couldn't help but wonder how someone could go to such effort to be able to just play on his own. He did sit in with Mule later and that was enjoyable. I'm being more critical because I remember meeting someone at a festival who kept raving about him and thought he was one of the best acts ever. I had that kind of question in my head when I was watching him.
Mule was awesome with the 2nd set even surpassing the 1st. They did some good covers, including Led Zep. The drum solo was off the hook amazing. I could have listened to those drums forever. It was really great.
It was awesome and I decided to skip Kinninger at Blue Note since I can overdo that if I go to much. I didn't want to ruin how good I felt from that show.
I caught the whole Tea Leaf Green set on Sat. That was great. I'm not super crazy about the singers, but they aren't bad, either. My favorite was the funky instrumental song they did about 1/2 way through the set. They also sat in with Mule during the 1st set and that was great.
The whole first set was great, with the 2nd set being even greater. I thought Sat was even better than Fri. It cinched for me that there is no way I'm not going up there NYE. I will start there, and I still think there's a slight chance I will leave and head over to The Join for a bit. I kind of doubt it, though. It it's anything like the past 2 nights, I probably won't be able to pull myself away.
Andy Hess is amazing. I had a bad moment with the sound at ACL one year and wrote how I kept trying to get away from the bass. I've been trying to make up for that since then. The guy blows me away every time since then, so I'm not sure what was going on that time.
George Porter Jr. sat in for a couple of songs 2nd set, confirming that he is the funkiest one around. No question. They did some super funky Little Feat cover and then Hey Pocky Way. I love Matt Abts and I'm not that big a fan of Russel Batiste these days. Still, I was missing him a little on Hey Pocky Way, although I think it was the old him, the one who used to play at Tramps and had me with my mouth wide open, jaw-dropped awe of his playing. It was still awesome and I will take Matt any day, I was just missing something familiar with that song and the drums that I didn't get at that show.
The one really disappointing thing, which didn't ruin it, but was super disappointing was this horn section they brought out 2nd set. They had no business being up there and I keep wondering where they even got them. I am very spoiled with horns, but those 3 just weren't up to par to play with a band of that calibar for an audience that is used to so much better. It was even more disappointing when they showed up later at the Porter birthday bash. I never thought I'd be sad about horns showing up. I mean, they could have done better by picking up some kids from the school Dirty Dozen was always bringing them out from. Or, off the street in NOLA or down in the subway. It wasn't awful, it was just they weren't powerful enough and didn't really add anything to the show. And, their playing kind of subtracted from the rest of the band's playing. We didn't need them at all.
Anyway, that was only a minor disappointment as the show was THAT good. The highlight was when George and Brian came out to play, but the whole thing was phenomenal.
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Word @ Terminal 5 12/27/07
I was reminded last night that I just go to stellar jazz shows all the time while I'm waiting for shows like last night to come around. Don't get me wrong, I love jazz. It's just that I had to make a concerted effort to love it, by listening to the greats on cd for a while, before I could appreciate it. I had the goal of being able to go out to live music every night, and being in NYC, I knew I could accomplish that by adding more jazz to the list of potentials. Since then, I've fallen in love with the genre, and it's helped me appreciate everything more.
Still, last night was much more my style. I love that southern influenced, jamming, funky, soulful stuff. I love NMAS period. Adding Medeski just makes it all the better. I even enjoyed Robert Randolph last night. I suspected I would, since I loved it a few years ago when he came out playing regular guitar at a NMAS show at Irving Plaza.
I didn't know about The Word when they played an Iriving Plaza show previously. I stumbled on their cd when I was browing Ropadope's online catelogue a few of years ago. I knew I had to have it immediately, so I purchased it with that order. It's an awesome cd.
I was so glad to get the chance to see them live in person last night. I listened to everyone who had been to Terminal 5 so far making me hesitant I wanted to even be there. I then realized my expectations were so low there was a good chance it would be better than I think. It was. I think the fact that it wasn't sold out helped as well. It was pretty crowded, but not overly crowded. I loved finding room to dance. I also loved that the crowd was into dancing, or at least there were enough dancers to make me happy.
At first, I was on the 1st floor under the overhang. I held my coat and had plenty of room to dance. I had gotten there a few minutes after it started, so I didn't have to wait in a bad line. I lucked out because I was actually late, and they ended up starting late. I would not have wanted to miss much of that. I was enjoying the music, even though the sound wasn't great for a while. Then, I decided to find the coat check, which is on the 2nd floor. It sounded a lot better up there and it wasn't too crowded. I decided to see what the 3rd floor was like. It had more room and I found a place to stash my coat. I stayed up there for a bit, but it was too hot. I went down to the 2nd floor and found a good dancing spot. I couldn't see, but it didn't really matter. I had a great time over there. At set break, I went down to the floor to socialize and ended up staying down there for the first few songs of the 2nd set. The nice, soulful sultry stuff. I had room and could dance, but I did end up going back to the 2nd floor so I could have lots of room.
Overall, the venue wasn't bad. It's a large venue and that's how they are. I enjoyed all the music, every minute of it. I won't be going there that much, but that's mainly due to large venue and location.
I thought about trying to get to Burnt Sugar at Zebulon, but decided I had enough and could go home.
It was a great way to start the rest of the year. I've been off since Fri afternoon, and I feel like things are kicking up a notch after last night. I'm looking forward to the Mule and Porter and I'll probably end up at The Join. I hope to get to Kinninger tonight at Blue Note.
Still, last night was much more my style. I love that southern influenced, jamming, funky, soulful stuff. I love NMAS period. Adding Medeski just makes it all the better. I even enjoyed Robert Randolph last night. I suspected I would, since I loved it a few years ago when he came out playing regular guitar at a NMAS show at Irving Plaza.
I didn't know about The Word when they played an Iriving Plaza show previously. I stumbled on their cd when I was browing Ropadope's online catelogue a few of years ago. I knew I had to have it immediately, so I purchased it with that order. It's an awesome cd.
I was so glad to get the chance to see them live in person last night. I listened to everyone who had been to Terminal 5 so far making me hesitant I wanted to even be there. I then realized my expectations were so low there was a good chance it would be better than I think. It was. I think the fact that it wasn't sold out helped as well. It was pretty crowded, but not overly crowded. I loved finding room to dance. I also loved that the crowd was into dancing, or at least there were enough dancers to make me happy.
At first, I was on the 1st floor under the overhang. I held my coat and had plenty of room to dance. I had gotten there a few minutes after it started, so I didn't have to wait in a bad line. I lucked out because I was actually late, and they ended up starting late. I would not have wanted to miss much of that. I was enjoying the music, even though the sound wasn't great for a while. Then, I decided to find the coat check, which is on the 2nd floor. It sounded a lot better up there and it wasn't too crowded. I decided to see what the 3rd floor was like. It had more room and I found a place to stash my coat. I stayed up there for a bit, but it was too hot. I went down to the 2nd floor and found a good dancing spot. I couldn't see, but it didn't really matter. I had a great time over there. At set break, I went down to the floor to socialize and ended up staying down there for the first few songs of the 2nd set. The nice, soulful sultry stuff. I had room and could dance, but I did end up going back to the 2nd floor so I could have lots of room.
Overall, the venue wasn't bad. It's a large venue and that's how they are. I enjoyed all the music, every minute of it. I won't be going there that much, but that's mainly due to large venue and location.
I thought about trying to get to Burnt Sugar at Zebulon, but decided I had enough and could go home.
It was a great way to start the rest of the year. I've been off since Fri afternoon, and I feel like things are kicking up a notch after last night. I'm looking forward to the Mule and Porter and I'll probably end up at The Join. I hope to get to Kinninger tonight at Blue Note.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Paquito D'Rivera & Funk Tango @ Dizzy's 12/26/07
I only make it to Dizzy's 2-4 times a year, but I really like it there. It's the expense and the distance that keeps me away. I think it's the fanciest of the jazz clubs and still has a nice vibe. I've only eaten a few things there over the years, but the food is pretty good. Again, the only horrible jazz club with horrible food is Blue Note.
Anyway, since I missed the tango music at Jazz Standard at the beginning of the month I really wanted to get to this. I know all music at Dizzy's is stellar and this was no exception. I got my favorite seat, the bar stool closest to the kitchen, where I'm allowed to stand and dance a little. It's also a great vantage point. I don't like the stools in the center, because it's tight when the waiters walk by, which is often since they need to get to the bar.
This is the band from the listing:
Featuring Paquito D'Rivera, alto saxophone & clarinet; Diego Urcola, trumpet & valve trombone; Alex Brown, piano; Hector Del Curto, bandoneon; Pernell Saturnino, percussion; Oscar Stagnaro, bass; Mark Walker, drums.
Amazing! They were pushing the cd and said all of the songs are from that cd. I don't really need anymore jazz cds, I prefer to hear that kind of stuff live.
They had a drummer and 2 percussionists, which was great. I must admit I didn't really need the trumpet/trombone since Paquito was so amazing. The bandoneon is apparantly a big part of tango music and looks kind of like an accordion without the keyboard part. It sounded similar to an accordian or a melodica. Here is an interesting wikipedia article about tango with a picture of the bandoneon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_music
I thought the electric bass was a nice touch. I especially enjoyed Paquito, the drummer, and the piano.
Anyway, since I missed the tango music at Jazz Standard at the beginning of the month I really wanted to get to this. I know all music at Dizzy's is stellar and this was no exception. I got my favorite seat, the bar stool closest to the kitchen, where I'm allowed to stand and dance a little. It's also a great vantage point. I don't like the stools in the center, because it's tight when the waiters walk by, which is often since they need to get to the bar.
This is the band from the listing:
Featuring Paquito D'Rivera, alto saxophone & clarinet; Diego Urcola, trumpet & valve trombone; Alex Brown, piano; Hector Del Curto, bandoneon; Pernell Saturnino, percussion; Oscar Stagnaro, bass; Mark Walker, drums.
Amazing! They were pushing the cd and said all of the songs are from that cd. I don't really need anymore jazz cds, I prefer to hear that kind of stuff live.
They had a drummer and 2 percussionists, which was great. I must admit I didn't really need the trumpet/trombone since Paquito was so amazing. The bandoneon is apparantly a big part of tango music and looks kind of like an accordion without the keyboard part. It sounded similar to an accordian or a melodica. Here is an interesting wikipedia article about tango with a picture of the bandoneon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_music
I thought the electric bass was a nice touch. I especially enjoyed Paquito, the drummer, and the piano.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
John Ellis + Tony Malaby + Steve Nelson 12/22
I started out at Jazz Gallery for John Ellis' commissioned project Dreamscapes. Here is the info about the project in John's own words:
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The Jazz Gallery is just an amazing place and the people who run it are quite amazing. They spend a lot of time writing people asking for grants and always book the finest acts. I'm very proud to be a member, which has an additional perk that I only pay $10 whenever I go. I chose to sit up front last night, but I often dance in the back and no one ever makes me stop.
After that, it was on to Cornelia Street Cafe for Tony Malaby's apparitions. I love a band with 2 drummers, especially those 2.
Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone;Drew Gress, bass;Tom Rainey, drums;John Hollenbeck, drums
It was excellent. Only about 45 minutes, but I only paid $10 and no one made me pay the $6 min.
After that, I went over to Cachaca for Steve Nelson. I got the last couple of songs of the 2nd set and the whole 3rd set. That was my first time seeing him. I remember when he was playing Birdland, but it was expensive and I still had my Birdland block back then. When a vibe player is the leader things tend to be very lively. The last tune was a blues tune, and even that was pretty lively. Jonathan Baptiste was on piano. I was kind of tired when I got there, but the band woke me up real quick. Steve said he was rather tired and acted like the 3rd set was too much for him. Well, it certainly didn't show up in the music. It was great and very upbeat.
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Marcus Rojas - tuba
Daniel Sadownick - percussion
Tim Collins - vibes and marimba
Olivier Manchon - violin and saw
Hiroko Taguchi - violin
Corrina Albright - viola
Christopher Hoffman - cello
I'll be playing a bunch of wacky woodwinds + a few surprsises.
This is a totally new and risk taking venture for me. Here's a few words about what I'm up to:
"Dreamscapes" attempts to portray through sound the strange and wonderful dreams that we all have every night - and remember from time to time.
While I was struggling to find a concept several people told me about dreams they had been having, and I decided it would be a great challenge to try to create mini-soundtracks for dreams. At first I thought they'd be actual dreams, ones that I gathered from friends or perhaps strangers even, but this proved too daunting a challenge, and perhaps more importantly, too time consuming. At that point I enlisted a good friend, Andy Bragen, who's a playwright and asked him if he might compose some dream-like words, poems really, that I could use as inspiration. The end result is the 'Dreamscapes' project.
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It was quite amazing. They gave us a program with the poems, which are about the dreams. Before each song, the poet first read the poem. It made the songs even more enjoyable, to picture the musical intepretation of the dream. The setup was a string quartet in the middle, Marcus Rojas in the back, the percussionist off to the left side and the vibes in the back on the right. John was out front playing amazing music on each of the reeds. It was very well done. The song about the subway made me think more of the streetcar in NOLA. The last song was a lot of fun, with scary, Halloween type songs. The Jazz Gallery guy thought that John pushed the envelop even more than the others that were involed in this project on previous nights.------------------------
The Jazz Gallery is just an amazing place and the people who run it are quite amazing. They spend a lot of time writing people asking for grants and always book the finest acts. I'm very proud to be a member, which has an additional perk that I only pay $10 whenever I go. I chose to sit up front last night, but I often dance in the back and no one ever makes me stop.
After that, it was on to Cornelia Street Cafe for Tony Malaby's apparitions. I love a band with 2 drummers, especially those 2.
Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone;Drew Gress, bass;Tom Rainey, drums;John Hollenbeck, drums
It was excellent. Only about 45 minutes, but I only paid $10 and no one made me pay the $6 min.
After that, I went over to Cachaca for Steve Nelson. I got the last couple of songs of the 2nd set and the whole 3rd set. That was my first time seeing him. I remember when he was playing Birdland, but it was expensive and I still had my Birdland block back then. When a vibe player is the leader things tend to be very lively. The last tune was a blues tune, and even that was pretty lively. Jonathan Baptiste was on piano. I was kind of tired when I got there, but the band woke me up real quick. Steve said he was rather tired and acted like the 3rd set was too much for him. Well, it certainly didn't show up in the music. It was great and very upbeat.
The Stone 12/21/07
I went to The Stone Fri night for this:
10 pm
Masaoka/Courvoisier/Lee
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Okkyung Lee (cello) Miya Masaoka (koto)
I was amazing, as to be expected. They were filming it and said it would be available on-line at some point. They all played together and it was fantastic. While they were all awesome, Sylvie Courvoisier really blew me away. I can't believe how many of her shows I've missed. I don't think I've seen her since a Mephisto show at Tonic a while back. She really knows how to make full use of the piano. She makes it into a string instrument as well as a percussion.
I was reminded of this amazing show I saw a couple of years ago there:
8/17 Wednesday
8 and 10 pm
Wu Fei, Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori, Sylvie
Courvosier, Kiku Day
Wu Fei (gu zheng) Carla Kihlstedt (violin) Ikue Mori (electronics) Sylvie
Courvosier (piano) Kiku Day (shakuhachi)
In that 8/17/05 show, curated by Carla Kihstedt, they kept having subsets of the whole group play together and then played all together at the end. Each of these women made incredible music playing their instruments in quite different ways than you normally see.
I think the only other time I've seen Sylvie, aside from maybe one other Mephisto show, was at The Stone with Ben Perowsky. That too was phenomenal.
I definitely need to try to make the 1/3 8pm set. Mark Feldman blew me away at the Masada shows and I always enjoy Ned Rothenberg.
1/3 Thursday (MF)
8 pm
Ned Rothenberg, Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier
Ned Rothenberg (sax) Mark Feldman (violin) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano)
10 pm
Masaoka/Courvoisier/Lee
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Okkyung Lee (cello) Miya Masaoka (koto)
I was amazing, as to be expected. They were filming it and said it would be available on-line at some point. They all played together and it was fantastic. While they were all awesome, Sylvie Courvoisier really blew me away. I can't believe how many of her shows I've missed. I don't think I've seen her since a Mephisto show at Tonic a while back. She really knows how to make full use of the piano. She makes it into a string instrument as well as a percussion.
I was reminded of this amazing show I saw a couple of years ago there:
8/17 Wednesday
8 and 10 pm
Wu Fei, Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori, Sylvie
Courvosier, Kiku Day
Wu Fei (gu zheng) Carla Kihlstedt (violin) Ikue Mori (electronics) Sylvie
Courvosier (piano) Kiku Day (shakuhachi)
In that 8/17/05 show, curated by Carla Kihstedt, they kept having subsets of the whole group play together and then played all together at the end. Each of these women made incredible music playing their instruments in quite different ways than you normally see.
I think the only other time I've seen Sylvie, aside from maybe one other Mephisto show, was at The Stone with Ben Perowsky. That too was phenomenal.
I definitely need to try to make the 1/3 8pm set. Mark Feldman blew me away at the Masada shows and I always enjoy Ned Rothenberg.
1/3 Thursday (MF)
8 pm
Ned Rothenberg, Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier
Ned Rothenberg (sax) Mark Feldman (violin) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano)
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