For the last few years, I have aspired to write about every show I see. In reality, I have not even come close to doing so, I have barely written anything, which is a shame… for me, at least. So, I’ve tried to recalibrate my expectations of myself and am going to try and summarize each month of livemusic’n, hit some of the high points and try to wrap it up in a single theme that captures both the music and my thoughts on music and whatever. We’ll see how it goes!
ICYMI: October 2023: Nostalgia Acts
ICYMI: December 2023: Holiday’d
It’s been kind of fun watching my livemusic months sort of take shape around a theme in real time. January was definitely about “jazz” with the annual Winter Jazzfest sitting right about midway through, the Village Vanguard featuring a rather impressive first-month line-up, and the usual smattering of mindfuck happening on a regular basis. But what struck me as somewhat noteworthy in January 2024, particularly the front half of the month, was that the jazz shows I was catching, including and particularly the ones I saw as part of the WJF, were dominated/led by/characterized by women players and bandleaders. And maybe it was noteworthy only because if I hadn’t been keeping an eye out for a “theme” of my showgoing month, it wouldn’t have been noteworthy at all. Sure, 5, 10, 15 years ago, it might have been something to remark upon — women playing a dominant role at the forefront of the forefront genre, but in 2024 it’s sort of par for the course, which is, in a word, pretty awesome.
My WJF was mostly centered on the Saturday Brooklyn Marathon, which, unlike the Friday Manhattan Marathon, features a bunch of venues that are within relatively easy walking distance in Williamsburg. Even the longest walk is a manageable stroll if you keep your focus on the music that awaits you at the end. I ended up catching 8 sets/partial sets in 5 different venues for a single ticket and almost everything I saw was pretty fucking great. Of those 8, 6(!!!!) were led by women, from the opening why-is-this-running-so-late 80's-fusion vibe of Terri Lynn Carrington at Baby’s All Right to the soul-crushing/affirming band led by Zoh Amba at, uh, well, back at Baby’s All Right. It wasn’t like I was trying to do that, I was just going to the sets I most wanted to catch and only in retrospect did I realize what that meant. Again, I almost don’t want to point it out and yet it’s very pointoutable.
Carrington’s set was easily the weakest, partly because they just flat out paid not a mind to the published set time. With sets happening at multiple venues across the neighborhood, you’d think that some semblance of set-time-rigor would at least be feigned. If there was one big complaint about WJF, it was the lack of care about starting/ending on time which made for some frustrating hurry-up-and-wait or hurry-up-and-miss-it situations. That being said, the music itself was so damn good, it almost makes up for it. Almost.
From Baby’s All Right I trekked to Union Pool for not-at-all female Samir Langus and his gibri-fueled gnawa dance party. That was fun. Next up it was over to a club called Superior Ingredients which is, I believe, a dance club normally (it is somewhat hidden in plain sight directly across the street from the Brooklyn Bowl), but really would do well as a regular live music club. It’s got the right size/shape/vibe for catching a show, even if the security searches like the jazzfest crowd is there to fuck shit up at a dance club. The venue has a very cool enclosed rooftop space with wonderful Manhattan skyline views and while I was hoping to catch Caroline Davis, the timing was off enough that I ended up catching an unexpected healthy dose of saxophonist Tineke Postma, backed by a killer band of Matt Brewer on bass, Ben Monder on guitar, and Dan Weiss on drums. I guess this is where the set-time apologist steps in to tell me that I never would have checked this out otherwise and now have another need-to-check-out-again on my list. Postma was powerful and she guided the band expertly, well past their slotted end time.
Was bummed to miss Davis, but ah well! Walked downstairs to the main space and caught the dynamic duo of Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara. Zow! These two were clearly meant to play together and collectively transported the music through a wormhole or two, playing original and others’ compositions, they tied one journey to the next to the next, A+ Halvorson. Next I made a half-hearted attempt to get into the Shabaka Hutchings set at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but I secretly hoped the line was too long so I could sneak into the little room next door called Loove Labs. Again, things worked out and we ended up walking past the way-too-long line to be the last two let into the cool Loove Labs before they declared it “at capacity” for Kate Gentile’s “Find Letter X.” Drummer Gentile fronted yet another powerhouse band with do-no-wrong Matt Mitchell on piano, Jeremy Viner on sax, and Kim Cass on bass. Drummer-led bands always seem to find creative melodic structures for the band, and Mitchell seemed particularly inventive in this quartet. I really enjoyed the hell out of this one.
At this point getting into MHOW seemed unlikely and so I took a chance thinking maybe there was still a chance to catch Caroline Davis after all — back to the sweet Superior Ingredients rooftop! And… score! The set was just getting going and this might of been the set of my night, Davis backed by Chris Tordini on electric bass (I am pretty sure I’ve only seen him on upright), Tyshawn “fucking” Sorey on drums, and Nasim Qadvi on analog electronics. Whoa, this one got out there in a good way, a total rocking, electric set mixed with some political commentary and some of the best drumming I’ve seen from Sorey: focused and powerful. The band is called Caroline Davis’ Alula and they crushed it.
The endgame was now in sight, it was off to Union Pool for a taste of Wendy Eisenberg in duo with Ryan Sawyer bringing a little indierock to their freeform jazz. The set ended up being a bit short, but the music was worthwhile, and the tacos procured from the truck in the Union Pool backyard one of the best-timed mid-fest snack I’ve ever had. Fueled for the rest of the night, it was, as alluded to previously, back to Baby’s All Right for the last ass-kicking winter jazzqueen of the night.
Zoh Amba is a fountain of creative playing and ferocious bandleading, dabbling in as many projects as notes she gets out of her saxophone in a single breath. She is, in a word, a powerhouse. The forward edge. Perhaps her most exciting project is the one featured at WJF late night at Baby’s, featuring Steve Gunn on guitar, Shahzad Ismaily on bass, and Jim White on drums. The band is a band with songs and a burgeoning chemistry and in their 3rd or 4th or whatever time playing, pretty much crushed it. Rock and roll meets avant garde jazz meets NYC experimental in the best way possible. A great set deep into the night.
But the night wasn’t even close to being finished. A delightful set from Yonatan Gat (w/ Greg Fox, Jason Lindner, and Jassan BanJaafar) ended the night at Baby’s and then a hop over the bridge to Manhattan found us at the second set of the non-marathon WJF show at Nublu with Dave Harrington’s Merry Pranksters. Holy shit, this one was a wee-hours masterpiece of latenight grooves and mindmeld improvisation with Nels Cline bouncing ideas off of Harrington and an ensemble of all-stars fitting together perfectly. An amazing end to an amazing night.
Of course, my month of music, and female jazz greatness, wasn’t confined to just Winter Jazzfest, even though I see I’ve rambled for many a paragraph about just one night. How about the ensuing Monday at the ridiculously strong also-WJF Impulse! records showcase at LPR with four mind-expansive sets of music. The highlight was, undoubtedly, a set of magic from harpist Brandee Younger paying tribute to Alice Coltrane with her mix of history-tinged banter and dreamlike playing, this was as good as I’ve seen Younger, just totally awe-inspiring. Younger as well as Esperanza Spalding also dominated the final set, an ambient flute thing from Shabaka and the Irreversible Entanglements set from Moor Mother and the Messthetics set featuring James Brandon Lewis, were both extremely powerful in their own different ways. A serious WOW! night of music from Impulse!
At the other end of the spectrum were trips to my old standby in Park Slope: Barbes. I go almost every Friday happy hour to catch Oscar Noriega’s Crooked Quartet, which is always, always wonderful. But the number one reason I go is to see Marta Sanchez play piano. Sanchez has a mesmerizing touch on the keyboard, a hypnotic way of playing that never fails to blow me away. I caught her at Barbes twice in January, once backing Noriega and once leading a band on her own when Noriega was away. While it’s special to see this generation of amazing women play in the festival stages, to me it’s even more so to see shows like these at Barbes. That’s the real magic for me.
My amazing month of amazing jazz ended at the Village Vanguard for the opening night of Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey. I’ve seen this trio several times, a true threesome of equals, and, to me, the best thing going in jazz right now. Whenever it seems like the piano/bass/drum motif has been reinvented for the last time, along comes a trio like this and elevates the format once again. The blend of composition, improvisation, and chemisty on display on the last Tuesday of January was nothing short of three-player wizardry. And while Iyer gets a lot of deserved credit for his gorgeous sensibilities and uncanny improvisational skills, and Sorey is already legendary for his brilliance, in trios like these it is often the bassist that makes it more than an assembly of three great personalities. As she showed at this set, as she showed every time I’ve seen them and her, the Australian Oh is the one who elevantes this trio to legendary, can’t-miss magic.
Iyer opened by introducing the band and announcing that they probably wouldn’t stop playing and then the three proceeded to lead each other and follow each other and maybe follow some unseen divine intervention as well, for 60 minutes of pure three-man mastery. They all led and none of them led, their music had no boundaries and also the strictest of unwritten-but-there boundaries, they played lovely compositions and composed in real time, sometimes at the same time. Linda, Tyshawn, Vijay. Vijay, Tyshawn, Linda. Forwards and backwards. What a set. What a month.
EDIT:
I somehow got a rambling so much I forgot to mention Kris Davis at the Vanguard, which was a show I saw on my 50th birthday, which was also Kris Davis’ birthday. Kris is another special talent, one that is comfortable getting into deep improv with the likes of Julian Lage or leading a wild-eyed electric jammer with Trevor Dunn or making weird inside her piano. On this night in the middle of a headlining run at the Village Vanguard, she was leading a straight-up piano trio with Robert Hurst on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums, to hypnotic, dreamy effect. Just wanted to make sure I mentioned this wonderful set that was a big part of this month’s “theme.” Cheers
January roundup:
28 shows = $56 donated as part of the #livemusicchallenge to Her Justice.
Five Star Shows Seen in January (a lot!)
! Scott Metzger, Dave Dreiwitz, Josh Dion + Summerfeet play #neddy50 @ Littlefield
! Punch Brothers, Norah Jones, yMusic @ Minetta Lane Tavern
! Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn Marathon
! Dave Harrington’s Merry Pranksters @ Nublu late night
! Impulse! Showcase @ LPR
! Matt Pavolka Band @ Barbes
! Joe Russo, Mike Gordon, Nick Bockrath, Robert Walter @ Sultan Room (late set)
! Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey @ Village Vanguard
! William Tyler & Impossible Truth @ LPR
