Left off mid-month, and plenty has happened on Philly stages since. January 21-24, World Cafe hosted their first Israeli Jazz Festival. Missed the first night's Roni Ben-Hur show, but caught the remaining three nights. First up was saxophonist Eli Degibri, who led a fine quartet featuring bassist Barak Mori, pianist Omer Klein, and drummer Obed Calvaire; they got off to a slow start, piling on a few too many ballads and crawl-paced numbers at the outset, but eventually got into a steady groove and put on a solid performance. The next night, pianist Alon Yavnai brought his group with bassist Chris Lightcap, flutist Amir Milstein, and drummer Dan Aran. There was a bit too much pretty virtuosity for my tastes, but Yavnai's tunes, inspired by Israeli traditional songs and a blend of other influences, were enticing. The highlight of the fest was the final night's performance by a stellar quintet led by sibs Anat and Avishai Cohen. With Barak Mori back in the bass position, plus pianist Jason Lindner and drummer Daniel Freedman, the group smoked on a set of really inspired originals taken mainly from the 3 Cohens and Avishai's latest disc. Anat actually had me wishing she'd play more tenor rather than clarinet; she really sounded fantastic that night.
On 1/25, caught a matinee Philadelphia Orchestra performance, featuring a spirited rendition of Leonard Bernstein's "Jeremiah" Symphony and the premiere of the Bernstein Fest's second Higdon commission, The Singing Rooms, with the Philadelphia Singers providing the choral parts. While more successful than her Concert 4-3, the piece still dissipated into near-incoherence in some sections. Not in the avant, dissonant way, but in the aimless, directionless way. There was a thrilling moment when soloist Jennifer Koh broke a string and swapped violins with the first chair, while her instrument was fixed with the speed and precision of a NASCAR pitstop.
That same night, caught Phila Theatre Co's production of M. Butterfly in their new Suzanne Roberts Theatre. Was a great way to check out the new home, as the design was spectacular, even if the production itself was too noisy and obvious.
The next day, a double-feature of Chris Potter's untouchable electric band Underground at the Annenberg Center, and TBP drummer David King's other trio, Happy Apple, at I-House. Nobody puts on a better show than Potter right now, and the band was tight and firing on all cylinders; HA put on a typically raw, ragged-as-garage-rock show, engaging with a small crowd (splitting audience with Potter and Bill Frisell's show in Camden) with stories and patter.
On 1/27, saw a preview of PIMA Group's "Look!", a dance performance choreographed by Melisa Putz at Society Hill's Powel House. An intriguing piece, allowing small audiences to roam freely about the house as dancers dart in and out of rooms, occasionally creating uncomfortable atmospheres via eye contact or whispers to the onlookers.
1/30: Caught the premier of InterAct Theatre's new play Black Gold, written and directed by Seth Rozin. It moves at a dizzying pace, throwing ideas and jokes out faster than any crowd could catch them, but a good bit of it does stick. It definitely will have a short shelf life, but actually earns a few dramatic moments among all the broad comedy.
1/31: Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph at Tritone. Matt's got a monthly gig at Tritone, and he's using the dates this year to try out new material based around interviews with different groups of Philadelphians, the first using soundbites from a pair of octogenarians who've lived in the city their whole lives. Matt writes and plays beautifully and is truly one of the standouts in the city right now. And that night, Jason Fraticelli tore the roof off the place with a mind-crushing bass solo that had the whole place hooting and shouting like some old-school Jazz at the Philharmonic crowd.
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