The month began with an Ars Nova Workshop-presented double feature mismatch (nothing wrong with that), with the ultra-quiet duo of guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama and Dutch lutist Jozef Van Wissem preceding the rollicking Trio M, with Myra Melford, Mark Dresser and Matt Wilson having at least as much fun as their audience.
On 2/2, Elio Villafranca supplemented his quartet with the Osso String Quartet to perform a set of classical/jazz hybrids composed for documentary films. Some of the music was quite gorgeous, with spirited playing by his group - Jacam Menricks on reeds, Carlo DeRosa on bass, and Henry Cole on drums. The interplay between Cole and Villafranca was especially fun to watch, as the two obviously delighted in spurring each other on. The only downside was the dance number, performed by a trio of ballerinas who were perfectly capable but given little to do other than wander the stage throwing out what seemed an endless variety of stock moves with no throughline.
On 2/8, three shows, starting with Mike Holober's powerful Gotham Jazz Orchestra at the Art Museum. Holober premiered a lovely new suite, and sounded almost as fantastic in that environment as Maria Schneider did last month. Seems you need to overpower that space, so the PMA really should maximize the big bands that come through; may I suggest Jason Lindner's in the near future? Next up was an evening of new compositions by Susie Ibarra at Settlement Music School. Somewhat disappointing (I'll have a complete review in Downbeat in a couple of months), Ibarra's solo piece and percussion quartet were the highlights, with her piece for four pianists standing on shaky legs and the second half, consisting of her Electric Kulintang duo with husband Roberto Rodriguez, wholly uninspired - especially Rodriguez' factory-installed laptop beats. Finished the night with a blazing set by Wayne Krantz at Chris', a flat-out rock show with the guitarist virtually arm-wrestling with drummer Ari Hoenig.
2/9: Gene Coleman's Ensemble Noamnesia performing his score for the Soviet silent classic Aelita, Queen of Mars. Always a fun film to see with a crowd, as the turn from sci-fi and melodrama to bold propaganda is hilarious (the hammer and sickle shot always leaves the place in ruins). After the performance, theremin player Anthony Jay Ptak gave a talk and demonstration on the theremin, an unintentionally hilarious stream-of-consciousness ramble that had to be heard to be believed.
The next night, the most anticipated event of my calendar: the reunion of Tim Berne's seminal quartet Bloodcount, absent for a mere decade but sorely missed all the same. The show didn't disappoint; the foursome sounded like they played together every night (granted, most of them have continued to work regularly with one another in some form or another) and Berne's new pieces stood in good stead with the old. One of those shows that gets the blood pumping and reminds you why you slog out to these things night after night in the first place. More, please.
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