PERSONNEL: Michael Formanek (bass), Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Ches Smith (drums, percussion)

SET LIST: A Fine Mess, Wobble and Spill, The Soul Goodbye (all by Formanek)

HIGHLIGHTS: The loud “THWACK” from Smith that marked the end of “A Fine Mess” was followed by such an efficient and seamless transition to “Wobble and Spill” that the first half of the concert felt like a long, multi-movement suite.

—

Closing his residency at The Stone, Michael Formanek assembled a new quartet lineup to present three compositions. Various subsets of the band have previously played together in working groups such as Berne’s Bloodcount and Snakeoil, the Drew Gress Quintet, and the Anthony Pirog Trio. This existing familiarity enabled the musicians to prioritize interaction and conversation over a more conventional soloist/accompanist dynamic, resulting in an open, evolving soundscape that highlighted the musicians near-telepathic improvising abilities.

Formanek began “A Fine Mess” with the only unaccompanied statement of the night. His kinetic playing set the stage for the next 30 minutes of music, which found the group improvising their way through two of his compositions. For the most part, these improvisations were trios featuring Formanek, Smith, and either Alessi or Berne, which were connected with full quartet moments. Smith used a range of devices to delineate sections and create movement, such as switching between sticks, mallets, and brushes, zeroing in on small subsets of his drum set, and playing a contrasting pulse in relation to Formanek. Following the seamless transition into “Wobble and Spill,” Alessi and Berne improvised as a duo, matching each others changes in register and density. Throughout the set, motivic development was a key factor in shaping the group sound.

“The Soul Goodbye” was focused on drone, space, and duo improvisations. Beginning with Formanek and Berne, a long crossfade gave way to a duet between Alessi and Smith on short, high percussive sounds. Formanek’s re-entry led to a rhythm section feature, with Smith switching to cymbals. The theme emerged following a droning crescendo, a short, noir-ish earworm that had members of the audience humming to themselves after the performance.

— by Noah Berman

MONDAY MAY 28

Arthur’s Tavern Grove Street Stompers feat. Joe Licari ▲ Amadou Gaye, A Royal Crime
Bar Next Door Elijah Shiffer Trio w. Alec Goldfarb, Nick Jozwiak ▲ Rose Ellis Trio w. Alex Goodman, George DeLancey
Birdland The Donny Nova Band ▲ Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Blue Note Wlodek Pawlik Trio feat. Randy Brecker
Caffe Vivaldi Open Mic Night
Cornelia St. Cafe New York Nightingales: Lena Dabrusin, Jen Delac, Jennifer Mergele, Yoonmi Choi, Leo Smith
The Cotton Club The Cotton Club All-Stars Big Band
Dizzy’s Will Calhoun with Buster Williams, Donald Vega, Troy Roberts, Eric Person
Fat Cat Harold O’Neal Piano Cinema Raw ▲ Alexi David’s Three or Four Shades of Mingus ▲ Afterhours w. Billy Kaye
The Iguana Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
Jazz Standard Mingus Big Band
The Kitano Jam Session w. Iris Ornig
The Kola House Glenn Crytzer Orchestra
Local 802 AFM Jam Session
Mezzrow Ed Howard & David Kikoski ▲ Afterhours w. Pasquale Grasso
Rockwood Music Hall Jim Campilongo Trio w. Chris Morrissey, Josh Dion
Rue B Mara Rosenblum Solo Piano “Monday Blues Series”  ▲Soul & Jazz Singers Jam Session feat Darnell Thomas
Smalls Ari Hoenig Trio ▲ Joe Farnsworth Quartet ▲ Afterhours Jam Session
Smoke Vincent Herring Quartet & The New Jam Session w. Benito Gonzalez, Yasushi Nakamura, Carl Allen
Swing 46 Swingadelic
Village Vanguard Vanguard Orchestra
Zinc Bar Strings Attached: Jack Wilkins, Vic Juris, Ron Affif, Mark Whitfield, Essiet Essiet, David F. Gibson and guest Chico Pinheiro
11th Street Bar Richard Clements/Murray Wall Band

brooklyn

Bar Lunatico Jeff Lederer’s Shakers ’n Bakers w. Mary LaRose, Miles Griffith, Jamie Saft, Chris Lightcap, Allison Miller
Roulette Vision Festival—Jaimie Branch Fly or Die w. Anton Hatwich, Lester St. Louis, Chad Taylor ▲ Cooper-Moore solo ▲ Julie Ezelle Patton w. Ken Filiano, Nasheet Waits, Paul Van Curen ▲ Jemeel Moondoc New World Pygmies w. William Parker, Hamid Drake ▲ Oliver Lake Big Band w. Bruce Williams, James Stewart, Alex Harding, Darius Jones, Mike Lee, Adam O’Farrill, Freddie Hendrix, Nabate Isles, Greg Glassman, Aaron Johnson, Al Patterson, Terry Greene II, Robert Stringer, Yoichi Uzeki, Robert Sabin, Chris Beck
Sir D’s Lounge Alec Castro Octet

see rest of the week…

PERSONNEL: David Chamberlain (tenor trombone, flute, vocals), Mark Miller, Alex Jeun, Mark Patterson, Matt McDonald, Charley Gordon, Robert Edwards (tenor trombone, auxiliary percussion), Dale Turk, Max Seigel (bass trombone), Kenny Ascher (piano), Dick Sarpola (bass), Mike Campenni (drums), Chembo Corniel (percussion), Antoinette Montague (vocals), Mercedes Ellington (poetry)

SETLIST: “Band of Bones Blues” (Chamberlain), “Recado” (Djaima Ferrera/Luiz Antonio), “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” (Billy Strayhorn), “All Too Soon” (Duke Ellington) “The Purple People and the Green People” (Duke Ellington/Chris Rinaman), “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” (Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton), “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” (traditional)

HIGHLIGHTS: Mercedes Ellington (Duke’s granddaughter) read her grandfather’s “The Purple People and the Green People,” a parabolic poem that was an excerpt from “My People,” in tandem with a florid, storytelling musical accompaniment that ebbed and flowed with the moods of the piece.

———

There’s a type of bandleader – defined not by genre but by general intuition – that knows how to use the trombone to its fullest extent. For Dave Chamberlain, there are two disparate but equally indispensable groups of people who belong in that category – the mambo and Latin jazz impresarios like Tito Puente and Eddie Palmeri and the big band royalty of composers like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Absent the heterogeneous textures of trumpets and saxophones, Band of Bones carries on the legacy of groups like Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones where warm backgrounds and soaring melodies melt into each other, and BoB’s set at Zinc Bar (in celebration of their CD release) chose these two groups as catalysts to further carve out their role in that lineage.

BoB kept the Latin and straight-ahead sounds in a refreshing shuffle. The pithy “Band of Bones Blues,” a plunger-driven mission statement sung by Chamberlain, gave way to a spry rendition of “Recado,” featuring a brightly manic but dexterous solo by Alex Jeun and a rhythmically bouncy one from Dale Turk. Their version of Strayhorn’s “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” managed to encompass both idioms, the delicate, forest-like dispersion of the melody giving way to a mambo deconstruction. Ellington’s slightly obscure “All Too Soon” was given a gorgeous arrangement by Max Seigel, marked by lush chords and a stereophonic volley between the flanking bass trombones.

The set’s centerpieces both painted the impression of an unseen genius working magic from beyond. Mercedes Ellington brought a theatrical flair to the proceedings by reciting her grandfather’s poem “The Green People and the Purple People,” a parabolic piece where Duke’s warnings of war and jealousy were set to an original, musically responsive score. On their rendition of Tito Puente’s classic “Picadillo,” Robert Edwards and Matt McDonald gave harmonically unpredictable solos full of original character, but everyone eventually bowed to the master Barry Rogers by playing a harmonized rendition of his iconic solo, a joyous but stern reminder of what the platonic ideal of Latin trombone playing is like.

Not to be too austere, Band of Bones brought out vocalist Antoinette Montague to close the set in a bluesy and vivacious way. Montague’s swoops and bends on The Color Purple’s “Miss Celie’s Blues” recalled the amicable soul of Dinah Washington, giving similar vocal treatment to “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” Not to waste the obvious opportunity, the band stood up on the latter to give a hell of a second line, elevating the group energy to bring the set to a charming close.

— by Dan Lehner

MONDAY MAY 21

Arthur’s Tavern Grove Street Stompers feat. Joe Licari ▲ Amadou Gaye, A Royal Crime
Bar Next Door Ryan Hernandez Trio w. Liany Mateo, Zach Adelman ▲ Elisabeth Lohninger Trio w. Michael Kanan, Pat O’Leary
Birdland KT Sullivan ▲ Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Blue Note Brian Charette Quartet feat. George Coleman
Caffe Vivaldi Open Mic Night
Cornelia St. Cafe Chloe Perrier & Friends w. Sharik Hassan, Rodrigo Recabarren
The Cotton Club The Cotton Club All-Stars Big Band
Dizzy’s WBGO: Kenny Rampton’s Paradise Blue Suite feat. members of JLCO
Fat Cat Osso String Quartet ▲ George Braith Group ▲ Afterhours w. Billy Kaye
The Iguana Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
Jazz Standard Mingus Big Band
The Kitano Jam Session w. Iris Ornig
The Kola House Glenn Crytzer Orchestra
Local 802 AFM Jam Session
Mezzrow Jon Cowherd ▲ Afterhours w. Pasquale Grasso
Rockwood Music Hall Jim Campilongo/Luca Benedetti
Rue B Mara Rosenblum Solo Piano “Monday Blues Series”  ▲Soul & Jazz Singers Jam Session feat Darnell Thomas
Smalls Ari Hoenig Trio ▲ Jonathan Barber Quintet ▲ Afterhours Jam Session
Smoke Vincent Herring Quartet & The New Jam Session w. Dave Kikoski, Yasushi Nakamura, Carl Allen
Swing 46 Swingadelic
Tomi Jazz Wishing on Stars ▲ Kazuya Araki Duo
Village Vanguard Vanguard Orchestra
Zinc Bar Strings Attached: Jack Wilkins, Vic Juris, Ron Affif, Mark Whitfield, Essiet Essiet, David F. Gibson and guest Randy Johnston
11th Street Bar Richard Clements/Murray Wall Band

brooklyn

Boudoir Tom & Lee (Tom Csatari + Levon Henry)
Bushwick Public House Xander Nayler, Elijah Shiffer, Nicholas Jozwiak, Raphael Pannier ▲ Stephen Gauci, Sandy Ewen, Adam Lane ▲ Aron Namenwirth, Welf Dorr, Charlie Sabatino, Joe Hertenstein ▲ Brian Groder, Mike Bisio, Jay Rosen; Billy Mintz Quartet ▲ Sam Day Harmet/Sana Nagano
Sir D’s Lounge Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra

concerts

Harlem Stage  Annual Gala w. Terri Lyne Carrington Honoring Tamara Tunie, S. Epatha Merkeson, Matthew Whitaker

see rest of the week…

MONDAY MAY 14

Arthur’s Tavern Grove Street Stompers feat. Joe Licari ▲ Amadou Gaye, A Royal Crime
Bar Next Door Luke Schwartz Trio w. Kells Nollenberger, Kyle McCarter ▲ Tammy Scheffer Trio w. Glenn Zaleski, Daniel Foose
Birdland Natalie Douglas Tributes: Ella ▲ Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Blue Note Ron Carter Birthday Celebration
Caffe Vivaldi Open Mic Night
Cornelia St. Cafe Quartetto Tomassinni w. Patrisa Tomassini, Lorenza Ponce, Ina Paris, Nelly Rocha
The Cotton Club The Cotton Club All-Stars Big Band
Dizzy’s Javon Jackson’s Berklee Sextet
Fat Cat Jarod Kashkin ▲ Ned Goold Quartet ▲ Afterhours w. Billy Kaye
The Iguana Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
Jazz Standard Mingus Big Band
The Kitano Jam Session w. Iris Ornig
The Kola House Glenn Crytzer Orchestra
Local 802 AFM Jam Session
Mezzrow Russ Lossing & Cameron Brown ▲ Afterhours w. Pasquale Grasso
Rockwood Music Hall Ben Winkelman Trio w. Matt Clohesy, Pablo Bencid
Rue B Mara Rosenblum Solo Piano “Monday Blues Series”  ▲Soul & Jazz Singers Jam Session feat Darnell Thomas
Smalls Lucas Pino Nonet w. Philip Dizack, Alex LoRe, Nick Finzer, Andrew Gutauskas, Rafal Sarnecki, Miki Yamanaka, Desmond White, Jimmy Macbride ▲ Jonathan Michel Quintet w. Anthony Hervey, Zoe Obadia, Keith Brown, Anwar Marshall ▲ Afterhours Jam Session
Smoke Vincent Herring Quartet & The New Jam Session
Swing 46 Swingadelic
Tomi Jazz Andrew Licata ▲ Tomoko Yanagita
Village Vanguard Vanguard Orchestra
11th Street Bar Richard Clements/Murray Wall Band

brooklyn

Bar Lunatico Carl Bartlett Jr. w. James Navan, Steve Wood, Hiroyuki Matsura
Bushwick Public HouseLior Milliger, Welf Dorr, Adam Lane, Jeremy Carlstedt ▲ Stephen Gauci, Sandy Ewen, Adam Lane ▲ Andrea Wolper/Lauren Lee ▲ Shawn Lovato, Todd Neufeld, Colin Hinton ▲ Michael Larocca, Tristan Pollack, Zac Jaffee, Aaron Rubenstein ▲ Rodrigo Recabarron/ Justin Wert
Shapeshifter Lab  B’s Bees: Julien Sandiford, Joe Ferracuti, Alec Safy, Brandon Goodwin
Sir D’s Lou Caputo Not So Big Band

see rest of the week…

PERSONNEL: Dave Pietro, Rob Wilkerson, Sam Sadigursky, John Ellis, Brian Landrus (saxes and reeds); Seneca Black, Sam Hoyt, Matt Holman, Josh Deutsch, David Smith (trumpets); Mike Fahie, Ryan Keberle, Kalia Vandever, Jennifer Wharton (trombones); Sebastian Noelle (guitar); Adam Birnbaum (piano); Matt Clohesy (bass); Jon Wikan (drums)

SET LIST: “Blowout Prevention,” “Chrysalis,” “Tensile Curves” (all by Darcy James Argue)

HIGHLIGHTS: Argue’s epic “Tensile Curves” embodied the spirit of Duke’s “Diminuendo in Blue” with 40 straight minutes of complex, slowly unfolding writing that never felt laborious.

—

Bob Brookmeyer is a landmark modernist whose music is rarely heard outside of Monday nights at the Village Vanguard. However, his influence can be found everywhere in big band sounds from Jim McNeely, John Hollenbeck, Maria Schneider, Ted Nash, and many others, perhaps especially in Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society.  It was nice to hear the Society honor one of its forebearers and unpack some of its own musical DNA at Jazz at Lincoln Center: both sets were stocked with original compositions that Argue explicitly says were, “inspired by my mentor, Bob Brookmeyer.”

The Brookmeyerian tactic Argue used to greatest effect was the equalized, episodic use of solos and solo sections. Liberated of the subservience of long tones, the rhythmic backgrounds of “Blowout Prevention” bobbed and reacted in an arresting volley against Mike Fahie’s sharp and contemplative solo. “Chrysalis,” a pretty and pained ballad, contained some of Brookmeyer’s lush and complex extrapolations of melody; dovetailing harmonies dispersed like droplets of water, swelling into grandiosity before being stripped of all accoutrements at the last minute.

All of that seemed like a warm-up for “Tensile Curves,” a 40-minute tribute to “Diminuendo in Blue” that decreased not in volume but in metric time. Once again background-as-foreground was used to usher in new sections and solos (featuring nimble rhythms from Kalia Vandever, acerbic Wheelerian melodies from David Smith and harmonically rich clusters from John Ellis), but the sheer range and scope of the piece was staggering – bright rollicking swing, doom metal open intervals, irregular clave rhythms and classical arpeggios all unraveling in a slow-motion math equation.

In an interview with Ben Ratliff in 2006, Brookmeyer said part of his modus operandi was to see how long he extend his musicals thoughts without breaking the relationship to the listener. In this regard, Argue’s works are undoubtedly a success.

— by Dan Lehner