JENNY SCHEINMAN

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JOHN PATITUCCI
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with an absolute commitment to
the spirit of discovery, it has had
an incalculable infl uence on the
practice of jazz in the 21st century”
— New York Times
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4 March 2013 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
Photo by Monika Sziladi
It can’t be easy to say the words “2013 could be my last
year.” But that’s what the audience heard when Fred
Ho’s Green Monster Big Band performed at Ginny’s
Supper Club (Feb. 9th). Ho seemed in good spirits and
conducted the band with vigor, but he played no
baritone sax (a role given to Ben Barson, the club’s
co-manager). The early set erupted from the start with
Ho’s first big band piece, “Liberation Genesis” (1975),
which took on new meaning in light of the composer’s
cancer fight. Keyboardist Art Hirahara, bassist Ken
Filiano and drummer-percussionist Royal Hartigan
laid the foundation for an edifice of reeds and brass,
including the paired altos of Bobby Zankel and Marty
Ehrlich and the bass trombones of Earl McIntyre and
Dave Taylor. The band was obstreperous yet tightly
coordinated, marrying modernist harmony and raw
groove, breaking away on occasion to free-improvising
duos (one of them led off the Ellington ballad “In a
Sentimental Mood”). Ho took a moment before “Iron
Man Meets the Black Dog Meets Dave Taylor” to
recount how he met the remarkable Taylor during his
days as a sub with the Gil Evans Orchestra. Aspects of
Evans’ approach, Ho explained, have decisively
impacted his own. “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like an
AfroAsian Bumblebee”, a movement from Sweet Science
Suite (Big Red Media), found Ho speaking about future
plans in spite of his illness: the “music and martial arts
extravaganza”, as he described it, will be staged at
BAM in the fall of this year. - David R. Adler
Fred Ho @ Ginny’s Supper Club
By tradition, the winner of the annual Thelonious
Monk Competition is the first to play in the Tribeca
Performing Arts Center’s annual Monk in Motion
series. Jamison Ross, the 2012 victor, obliged with a
strong showcase of his Joy Ride sextet (Feb. 2nd). Ross’
swing feel was spry and deeply interactive; his take on
the postbop language of Harold Mabern, Cedar Walton
and Joe Henderson was without flaw. But this Florida
native and current New Orleanian had a swampier
rhythmic element, a deep affinity for the blues, at the
heart of his sound. He opened the first set with the
funky “It Ain’t My Fault”, by legendary New Orleans
drummer Smokey Johnson, and closed with a stirring
vocal rendition of Muddy Waters’ “Deep Down in
Florida”. The funk surfaced in a different way on
“Sandy Red” (Ross’ variation on “Cantaloupe Island”),
a feature for fired-up percussionist Nate Werth.
Trumpeter Alphonso Horne and tenor saxophonist
Troy Roberts were consistently solid in the frontline,
although the most interesting moment was the slow
trio reading of “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, featuring just
Ross, pianist Chris Pattishall and bassist Corcoran
Holt. One could call it an anti-orchestration, sparse as
can be, with Ross’ delicate breaks on brushes replacing
parts of the main melody. It was clear enough what
wowed the competition judges: Ross knows the jazz
tradition cold and uses what he loves from every time
period, every genre, to bring his own voice into focus.
(DA)
Introducing the Zmiros Project at Symphony Space
(Feb. 6th), World Music Institute Director of Marketing
and Programs Alexa Burneikis referred to the venue’s
Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater as her organization’s
“living room on the Upper West Side”, which proved
to be an apt descriptor for the trio’s recital of songs of
devotion and gratitude. It described the setting, that is,
even if it may have been an opportunity for a living
room the band never had. “I grew up on Long Island in
a very reformed household,” Frank London said to an
audience that was quick to complete the musicians’
thoughts when introducing songs and even came
together to sing when a title was mentioned without
the band’s accompaniment. Through a selection of
Sabbath songs, they held sway, Rob Schwimmer on
piano and London on keyboard and trumpet with
Lorin Sklamberg’s sonorous tenor (and some additional
accordion and guitar) steadying the course. The concert
hit a peak with the impromptu addition of Michael
Winograd on piano and singer Sarah Gordon, but the
real high point came with a lovely, nearly a cappella
piece sung by Sklamberg with London and Schwimmer
chiming in on off-mic harmonies. That piece was
dedicated to the late Symphony Space Founding
Artistic Director Isaiah Sheffer. When the three played
as a piano/accordion/trumpet trio, they were airy and
familiar, the familiarity one might reasonably expect to
find among three friends sitting in a living room on the
Upper West Side. - Kurt Gottschalk
Zmiros @ Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Tyshawn Sorey’s musical course changes direction as
easily as he himself changes instruments. He can be
setting rhythm for a driving jazz group one moment
and guiding another ensemble through glacially paced
chamber compositions the next. Or he might be
drumming in an extended avant jazz improv duet with
vocalist Fay Victor and then four months later (Feb.
5th), leading a driving brass quintet in a late-night set
at Korzo. The group opened with a swell of New
Orleans harmonies before quickly ramping up into a
healthy maelstrom held steady by Dan Peck’s tuba
then slowly - in no rush despite the tempo - descending
into a brass morass. It would be too easy to liken it to a
New Orleans funeral march, but the emotional range
of the brass family - so often overlooked - was on full
display. Especially satisfying was Peter Evans pulling
out his piccolo trumpet and undercutting the trombones
(Sorey and Ben Gerstein), playing well below the
instrument’s usual range. As the set progressed the
group’s sound (completed by second trumpeter Dave
Ballou) was further augmented with horns taken apart
and the trombonists switching to melodicas before
they eventually fell into a wonderful passage of pops
and drones. There were some eardrum-wringing
midrange battles that shook the bar’s backroom and a
certain amount of bluster and blunderbuss was to be
expected, but they found that crucial groupthink that
carried them through the set. With all he does, it’s good
to see Sorey just having fun. (KG)
© 2013 Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos