AprilCadence2013

Short Takes USA: Philadelphia
The big buzz in town was over Chris' Jazz Café's announcement of broadening
bookings to include some comedy nights, blues, funk and singer-songwriter
acts. The six-night-a-week venue presented over 500 jazz gigs last year
and plans to continue to do so as per their booking agent, Alan McMahon, who
also assured that a Jazz-only weekend booking policy will continue. It was
interesting to hear outrage from various local Jazz fans about the decision,
many of whom have rarely supported the club by attending shows. It's a tough
economy and jazz remains a tough commodity to sell so whatever it takes for
Philly's only jazz club to stay solvent should be supported. There's nowhere
else in town that's gonna' get you sitting inches away from a Chris Potter,
Wallace Roney, Frank Wess, Joe Lovano, or even Cadence's own David Haney
(check out the hot CadenceFest coming to Chris' on 4/12)…Drummer/composer
John Hollenbeck has performed numerous times at the Painted Bride Art
Center and this time he brought plenty of support - his large ensemble - on
12/7/12. Opening with the evening's highlight - “Wichita Lineman,” his collection
of New York ringers were augmented by vocalists Theo Bleckmann and
Kate McGarry. Hollenbeck's old favorite tunes were covered including goodies
by Ornette Coleman, Imogen Heap, and the traditional Appalachian ballad
“Man of Constant Sorrow.” They also did “Blessing,” a tune often played by
Hollenbeck's bands, which feature words from an old Irish blessing and
Bleckmann's haunting vocals to open and close the piece. Most surprisingly,
the 20-member ensemble, led by conductor JC Sanford, featured few solos -
Tony Malaby (ts, ss) and Dan Willis (reeds) each took a couple but even the
leader went without a showcase. Hollenbeck announced the two last songs of
the night and that, “We're going to be a little rude and then leave because we
have to bus it to Duke tonight.” A tune by Germany's kraftwerk followed but
Hollenbeck had converted it to a marching band version without vocals. “Not a
completely smart idea,” he said, “for a band that features two vocalists, but
Theo recommended it and the vocalists have a plan B, so watch them.” Hilarity
followed as Bleckmann and McGarry proceeded to prance and pose like characters
from the old Saturday Night Live Sprockets sketch…Cactus Truck certainly
is an odd name for a Dutch trio but considering their initial name was Brand
New Vagina, it'll do just fine. Saxophonist John Dikeman said, “We're terrible
with names.” Ex-pat Dikeman, joined by Jasper Stadhouders (g, el b) and
Onno Govaert (d) hit Highwire Gallery (Fire Museum) on 12/9 as part of their
7-week US tour. Beginning with a savage roar of sound, the trio quickly took it
up a notch with Dikeman thrashing about in such a way that nobody would
have been surprised to see a few teeth fly from his mouth. Stadhouders lined
up an array of “tools” to butcher shop his axe but never really got to use many
of them during the short set of punk jazz that was equivalent to a thrilling leap
onto a bulbous, thorny cactus…Later that night, Cactus Truck was found at
nearby Johnny Brenda's, drinking heavily and catching Ben Goldberg's Unfold
Ordinary Mind (Ars Nova Workshop) that included Nels Cline (g), Ellery
45 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013