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Short Takes USA: Philadelphia<br />
Swiss Leica…Russian émigré pianist Misha Piatigorsky and L.A. based drummer<br />
Chris Wabich returned to Chris' but this time with their pet project<br />
Sketchy Black Dog featuring Danton Boller on bass, a female string quartet<br />
and a broad reaching inventiveness mashing up rock ditties such as “Eleanor<br />
Rigby” with “Hey Joe” and outstanding takes on “Space Oddity” and<br />
“Roxanne.” Original tunes were also equally spellbinding. Piatigorsky and<br />
Wabich are perfectly paired in mindset and virtuosic chops and Piatigorsky<br />
can't help himself from winning over listeners with his humorous banter -<br />
“This next tune is called 'Land of Confusion,' if you come to my house, it will<br />
all make sense,” and “There's nothing better in the world then when people<br />
send alcohol up to me or underwear. Not yours sir!” Although rendering popular<br />
music in a jazz style is not uncommon these days, Sketchy Black Dog<br />
shares no resemblance to other groups, such as The Bad Plus or Brad<br />
Mehldau…Sonny Fortune hadn't played his hometown for a couple years so it<br />
was big fun to have him back at Chris' on 2/2, especially with his own band -<br />
Michael Cochrane (p), Lee Smith (b) and Steve Johns (d). It was a little hard<br />
to recognize Fortune as he had a sweater on instead of his ubiquitous trademark<br />
vest but there he was kickin' it on flute and sax. The first set included a<br />
Wayne Shorter tune, an original song written in tribute to Shorter, a Freddie<br />
Hubbard standard, and then “Caravan.” The big news was that Cochrane survived<br />
the night unscathed, unlike his last visit to the club where he scraped<br />
the antique barn wood wall next to the piano and ended up with a painful<br />
plank under his fingernail leading to a makeshift attempt to remove it by a<br />
physician in the audience. Perhaps the biggest moment of the night came from<br />
the least known bandmember - Smith (Christian McBride's father). His bass<br />
solo on “Little Sunflower” was a stunner and at its conclusion, Fortune cupped<br />
his own head with his own palm - mind blowing indeed… Capricorn Climber,<br />
pianist Kris Davis' group with Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Mat Maneri (vla),<br />
Michael Formanek (b) and Tom Rainey (d), at the PAA (Ars Nova) on 2/9<br />
demonstrated great restraint and a complete merger of composition and<br />
imbedded improvisation. Davis' music never ended at the same spot it started<br />
out at. A tune at the half-way point, took on the quality of a chamber ensemble<br />
that was balanced out with Rainey's tumbling percussion and then it all ended<br />
with a rattling united buzz. Special props out to Maneri who put on quite a<br />
display, made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was struck by a car a<br />
few hours earlier as he crossed the street (jaywalking?)…Chris' had a special<br />
treat on 2/11, a Monday night with guitarist Ed Cherry making his debut there<br />
with bassist Mike Boone and Byron “Wookie” Landham. A packed house<br />
means he'll be back - hopefully with a case of CDs to sell (he left them in New<br />
York this visit). The set featured well-tempered tunes, ending with a lively version<br />
of Monk's “Epistrophy.” Cherry announced the tune but mistakenly<br />
declared the title's meaning to be the study of birds (that would be<br />
“Ornithology”)…Wallace Roney made a rare hit in his home town on 2/15 at<br />
50 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
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