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Music, music, music.

The world is full of it, and most goes un-heard, un-discoverd, and un-appreciated. Our ability to choose and appreciate is often eclipsed by the sheer number of options available and the heaps of marketing money behind promoting a select few artists or genres.

You have to take some chances, cultivate in-the-know resources, and invest some time to find the gems. I discovered my musical road less travelled through music school. Some unearth their favourites while traveling, while others have the luxury of an eccentric relatives record collection to pry them from top 40 purgatory.

The Internet Archive is an incredible resource for a lot of things, including music. I have taken it upon myself to recycle the tunes on my ipod from their live concert archives at least once a month. It started out looking for specific artists, and evolved into checking out tunes from any band that started with the letter ‘S’, or whose name rhymed….pretty much random criteria. What do I have to lose? If you’ve got the bandwidth, use it for something interesting. The quality of recordings can vary, so I would advise listening to a tune or two on the streaming player before downloading.

This time around, I found The Alex Skolnick Trio. I recognized the name from my heavy metal years
(15 to the present), so did some snooping. Yes, it is the same Alex Skolnick from Testament and Savatage - and he’s playing jazz! Playing it well, I might add.

THE TUNES: Originals, and some well chosen arrangements of rock and metal tunes. I love the fact that I can listen to something like Detroit Rock City and feel sophisticated and gleefully immature all at once. The original compositions show a solid understanding of the jazz idiom, and it’s contemporary harmonic practices. They sound quite…New York. A little bit of spit and polish, but not too pretentious; adventurous without being reckless, and hint of attitude.

THE PLAYERS: Before this, I had only heard of Alex. Just goes to show ya, you don’t have to be famous to be good. Bassist Nathan Peck hails from a musical family, and has played with Maynard Ferguson, Maria Muldaur, and a host of others. On drums, Matt Zebroski is solid, creative, and complementary. He knows when to lay it down and drive it home, and when to sit back and let his cohorts stretch out on their improv sections.

THE RECORDING: Well done, and clear through out. Some live recordings tend to favour a certain frequency range, but this recording, from 08/31/2006 is great. I suspect it was a mix from the soundboard, although that isn’t indicated on the download page.

RECOMMENDATION: Download this one and throw it on the stereo when your Great Aunt Martha comes over for dinner. She’ll relate to the swinging ride cymbal and pretty chords, and you can secretly have the lyrics to the Scorpions “Still Loving You” going through your head, and feel 17 again. I’d book them for my jazz festival, If I had a jazz festival.

Between busy and lazy, this is a week late. Actually, I had wanted to blog my thoughts on each show as it happened. Turns out this was optimistic.
Something about working full time and staying out late at gigs just doesn’t leave a lot of time. All whining aside, here is a summary of the gigs I managed to catch, in brief yet hopefully informative detail.

Tierney Sutton: Impressive vocalist, and that’s coming from someone who is not that big a fan of vocal jazz. Imaginative arrangements, a sensitive, yet powerful band, and Tierney’s impeccable rhythmic accuracy and pitch made for a good show.

CuongVu /Sten Sendell Trio w/ John Butcher: I already went on about his one. Now that all is said and done, I stand by my decision in a previous post declaring Cuong Vu my Festival Fave.

Derek Trucks Band: The guy can play. Undoubtedly a masterful slide blues player, Derek and the band really soared on the south Indian inspired tunes. Derek has proven himself as player with a musical vocabulary well beyond the blues, and I think this is where his strength lies. There were many in the audience who were there due to his relationship with The Allman Brothers, but I look forward to Derek and his band developing a distinct voice beyond the Blues diaspora.

Dhafer Youssef: Ya can’t go wrong with a string quartet (this is part of that ‘highly subjective’ qualifier above). Where Cuong Vu was exciting and energetic, this performance was beautiful and mesmerizing. Dhafer played Oud with some processing and looping along with the string quartet and a tabla player. Once again, I play the subjectivity card - love the tablas.

Lubo Alexandrov & Kaba Horo Ensemble: I’m a bit of a music geek and spend a fair chunk of time off the beaten path. When a band comes along that is completely off my radar, I am pleasantly surprised. Such is the case with this crew. Comprised of Bulgarians based out of Montreal, these guys packed the dance floor with their infectious Eastern European/ Gypsy/ Up tempo Balkan hoe down sets. The obligatory twirling hippies, dignified old ladies, belly dancers, bankers, and even those that, to all outward appearances looked too cool to even smile, got up and shook their groove thang - sometimes in 11/8 (at least I think thats what it was…). Definitely a festival highlight.

ICP Orchestra: These folks have been together more or less as long as I’ve been alive, and it shows. Ellingtonian grace, the bombast of Charles Ives, and the hyper kinetic lunacy of Hans Bennink all at once. And who holds it all together? The quiet, unassuming man at the piano who walks on stage in a fishing hat.If I was the curator of Vonnegut’s Tralfamadorian zoo, these guys would be the house band. Best big band ever - so there!!

Matheson/Roper/Mollerup: Full Disclosure - 2 out of the 3 performers here were instructors of mine at music school. With that out of the way,let us discuss a very important aspect of performance - enjoying it. These three guys looked ridiculously happy playing their tunes. They made it look fun and effortless, and made me want to dust off my bass and re-fresh my ailing musical chops.

The only real bummer was a set I caught at David Lam park on the final Sunday of the festival. Lets just say if you can’t even cary a tune in a bucket, getting a bigger bucket is not the answer.

Technorati Tags: Concerts, Festivals, Jazz, Vancouver Jazz Festival

Sten Sandell w/ John Butcher
Two of the key components of a good improv group are listening, and knowing when to lay out. Sten, drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, bassist Johan Berthling, and brit saxophonist John Butcher committed themselves to a fine balancing act. Sharing the sonic spectrum, and leaving each other space to strut their respective stuff, they never lost sight of the the fact they were were there to play as a group and support each other.

I wouldn’t mind hearing these guys sonically molest some traditional jazz or pop material. I’ve always enjoyed the tension created when an artist takes the listener expectations inherent in a well known tune and treats them to an aural taffy pull. Monk Re-Thunk, perhaps? Prince De-Throned?

This show featured great players doing great things, yet somehow left me feeling a little flat. I see two main reasons for this: 1) Coastal Jazz and Blues has an enviable knack for presenting impressive and daring acts, and 2) I keep going to see these acts. I think I have simply been spoiled by the Vancouver Jazz Festival to the point that music that was once remarkable and exciting has become joyously common place.

Cuong Vu Trio
With no shortage of technically innovative players these days, the trick seems to be creating a group that balances skills, aesthetics, and egos in pursuit of a common sound. This group succeeds, and in doing so brings the jazz trio into the 21st century. The subtle and well groomed electronic processing of Coung and his super-hero electric bass player Stomu Takeishi, hung admirably from the various and sundry rhythmic gestures of drummer Ted Poor.

Sans piano or guitar, the trio fleshes out it’s aural palette with looped phrases, delay, and a host of other appropriate and beautiful sonic manipulations. While some eschew melody for impact, this trio blends the two admirably. While not exactly hummable, there was ample form and melodic material to hang onto while careening through the arrangements.

I’ve always had a fondness for trios. It seems to me they work a little harder on arrangements, phrasing, and dynamics in lieu of the bombast and timbral palette of a larger group. The bar has been set for this years festival, and I am declaring this my fave festival gig. Granted, it’s only day three as I write this, and there is plenty more to come. Tune in again in a week and see if they have been bested….

Technorati Tags: music, Jazz, Festivals, Vancouver restaurant reveiw