Sorry to post something likely of interest only to a limited subset of readers — jazz fans who live in the Washington DC area — but I recently learned that there are still tickets available for a truly marvelous concert at the Kennedy Center October 10: The Overtone Quartet, a group comprised of Chris Potter (sax), Jason Moran (piano), Dave Holland (bass), and Eric Harland (drums).
Each of the four musicians of the group is among my top 2 or 3 favorite live musicians on their respective instruments who are playing today, so the combination of all four together promises to be a real treat. I recently purchased a CD of a live concert of three of the four playing together at the 2007 Monterey Jazz festival, and it’s terrific stuff. Anyway, it’s a sad statement about the DC jazz scene that tickets are still available, but it’s also an opportunity for those who want to hear a truly top-shelf jazz quartet live.
BT says:
I saw Dave Holland in the late 70s in Chicago at a small club and he is a wonderful player and a nice guy. I got to bs with him alittle at the bar. Enjoy the show.
September 30, 2009, 2:14 pmSk says:
“Sorry to post something likely of interest only to a limited subset of readers”
Don’t feel bad. At least you’re not posting about soccer.
Sk
September 30, 2009, 2:16 pmR Gould-Saltman says:
I’m truly envious; I just wish I had some expectation that they’d tour this group westward again. Holland’s still a MONSTER on the instrument, and in light of the health scare he had a few years ago, for me he now falls into the category of “See him whenever he’s in town, because you might not get another chance if you miss it” that, a couple of decades ago, I put Elvin, and Art B., and Max Roach and Miles in. . .
September 30, 2009, 2:23 pmBT says:
R Gould Saltman, I hope I make you jealous.(:
I saw Elvin, Max Roach and Miles. The other guy I would add to your list is Horace Silver. I saw him too. As I am kind of out of touch with the jazz scene these days I don’t know if he is still active. If he is go see him.
September 30, 2009, 2:32 pmOrin Kerr says:
I saw Max Roach and Miles, but missed Blakey and Horace Silver (the latter of whom is still alive, but reported to be suffering from Alzheimer’s).
September 30, 2009, 2:48 pmBT says:
You guys may not find this amusing but what the heck. In my one brush with greatness the night I saw Horace Silver, I actually sat next to Oprah Winfrey and did not know it. It was at a place called George’s in Chicago which naturally is no longer there. This was about 1984 or so and she had just come to town and was doing a local daytime show. I was with a buddy and he said, hey do you know who that is next to you? I said no and he told me. I had never seen the show and it didn’t mean a whole lot to me at the time. She was with a couple of other women and that was that. Two years later she’s the biggest thing on TV, despite her relationship with me!!! Now I wouldn’t be able to get through the security.
September 30, 2009, 3:00 pmDilan Esper says:
I like both the soccer posts and the jazz posts, even though I have only limited knowledge on both subjects.
September 30, 2009, 3:24 pmjohnshade says:
Plus October 10 is Monk’s birthday.
September 30, 2009, 3:26 pmBT says:
There is another guy who I would add to that list: Ahmad Jamal. I saw him a bunch in the 70s and early 80s. He was unbelievable. I never saw Bird, Monk, Coltrane (or even Chi Coltrane-a little joke there) Count Basie or Duke. Oh well.
September 30, 2009, 3:43 pmZedward says:
I saw this group play in Vancouver, except, at the time, instead of Jason Moran, Gonzalo Rubalcaba was the piano player (Rubalcaba is a big step down from Moran). I adore the music of Holland, Potter, and Harland (like Orin, they’re each in my top 2-3 on their respective instruments), but the quartet was underwhelming when I saw them in Vancouver; they just didn’t have an awful lot of chemistry. Maybe that lackluster-ness was just due to Rubalcaba’s presence, but I thought I’d give that warning.
September 30, 2009, 5:09 pmOrin Kerr says:
Interesting, Zedward, thanks for the comment. The group you saw is the same group that plays on the Montereey CD from 2007; they were excellent on that one. But thanks for the (blue) note of caution.
September 30, 2009, 5:26 pmr gould-saltman says:
Well, I came to my “see’em now” maxim after catching, among others Art B several times (pre-and post-Marsalises), Miles a couple times (but only post-’74 retirement; the one show pre-74 I had tix for was cancelled) , Tony Williams, Elvin, and two sets by the under-rated George Adams/Pullen/Richmond/Brown quartet, (of which only one member survives) but missing on my chance to see Dizzy or Max R., and kicking myself for it. Plus a WHOLE big list of blues players.
. . . . but hey, I was watching Ed Sullivan the surreal night that Rahsaan Roland Kirk put on a five minute “Haitian Fight Song” free-for-all with Mingus, Roy Haynes, Archie Shepp, and a bunch of others. Nobody in cyberspace seems yet able to find video of that moment, but I know other people who saw it, so I know I didn’t imagine it.
Rubalcaba is still kind of a cipher to me; he clearly has monster technique, and some very interesting ideas (there’s a recording of live date from Cuba from decades ago in which he’s helming a sort of supercharged Afro-Cubanized version of Weather Report) but seems to fizzle almost as often as he inspires… …when he’s on, though, he’s REALLY on…
September 30, 2009, 7:15 pmCrimLawStudent says:
Professor Kerr:
Definitely was planning on going to see that.
There are several good shows coming up in the DC area.
This past Monday, David Binney played a terrific set at the Blues Alley (along with a stellar ensemble consisting of Craig Taborn, Eivind Opsvik and Brian Blade.)
Chick was here a few days ago too.
Kurt Rosenwinkel’s trio (with Eric Revis and either Eric Harland or Ted Poor, both fantastic) will be playing material off his new Standards album at the Blues Alley next week on Tuesday.
Bill Frisell will be playing the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, on October 16th, with Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen (the bassist and drummer of Sex Mob, respectively.) On his website, Frisell wrote, “My trio with Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen is probably the most flexible, spontaneous group I play with. The program can change from night to night depending on what kind of mood we’re all in, the size or sound of the room, the audience, what we have or had not had to eat that day, how much sleep we’ve had recently, how far we’ve traveled, etc. etc. We never plan a set before hand. With Tony and Kenny I have the luxury of playing just about anything that comes into my head at any moment. This could be music from any of my albums, standard songs, folk songs, or whatever. These guys really inspire and challenge me everytime we get together.”
Some other artists coming to DC: Kenny Barron Trio this Friday at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, and also, for more contemporary jazz (not so much for me), there’s Christian Scott, Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride.
Anyways, I’m especially looking forward to seeing Han Bennink in Baltimore in mid October, although I imagine his appeal may be limited to the weird or adventurous.
September 30, 2009, 9:22 pmKen Blanchard says:
Mr. Kerr: This sounds like a great concert. I am an admirer of Chris Potter and Dave Holland. I keep a jazz blog, and recently I posted on Holland. You and the commenters on this thread might like it. http://jazznotesdp.blogspot.com/.
September 30, 2009, 9:33 pmBA says:
Just got myself a ticket. Thanks for the heads-up, Prof. Kerr.
September 30, 2009, 10:43 pmOrin Kerr says:
Great blog, Ken. Our tastes in jazz are very similar. And glad you bought a ticket, BA. If you see me there, please say hello.
September 30, 2009, 11:14 pmNeal Goldfarb says:
As it happens, I bought tickets last night — after Orin posted but before I saw the post. Late show. Orin and BA: which show are you going to?
And Ken: interesting looking blog. I’ll have to check it out more closely. Given your interest in hard bop, have you heard any of what’s been coming out of Scandanavia over the last few years? E.g., Jonas Kullhammar and Jazzmob. If not, you should
October 1, 2009, 2:23 pmCrimLawStudent says:
Neal Goldfarb:
If you’re into Jonas Kullhammar, then I’d definitely recommend that you check out these two projects he’s been involved with: Jupiter and Kullrusk. Not hard bop, though.
The Embassy of Sweden has been having an annual “Nordic Jazz” festival around the middle of June the last past 3 years. Maybe that’s where you became a fan?
This year had a great line-up: Nils Petter Molvær and Arve Henriksen, Søren Kjærgaard, and, of course, Kullhammar’s quartet.
October 1, 2009, 4:12 pmNeal Goldfarb says:
r gould-saltman:
I saw that Sullivan show, too. (You’re dating yourself by talking about it…) Even better to see would be video of when they disrupted the taping of (I think) Mike Douglas, which is what led to Rahsaan getting the spot on Sullivan.
CrimLawStudent:
I’ve got two CDs by Jupiter (are there more?) and I love the 2-cd set. I’ve listened to Kullrusk some online, but so far it hasn’t been that prominent on my radar, and there are already so many things on Moserobie alone that I want to buy, including Dog Out, Stahls Bla, Filip Augustson, Brat, the Kullhammar with the big band, maybe one of the Magnus Broo discs (I think of Broo as Cesar Rosas to Ljungkvist’s David Hidalgo…).
If you don’t have them already, check out the Nacka Forum, Fredrik Nordstrom (start with the quintet stuff; I haven’t warmed up to the big band one yet), the Zetterberg disc with him in drag on the cover, Vita Pratica by Alberto Pinton, and Per Henrik Wallin and his Gang.
No, I didn’t get into this stuff by way of the Swedish Embassy’s festival. (I hadn’t heard about the festival until this year, and then I somehow managed to miss each of Kullhammar’s three gigs here.) My point of entry was Atomic, and if I recall correctly I stumbled onto the Scandanavian cornucopia when I checked out Atomic’s page on MySpace and started clicking on their Friends.
October 1, 2009, 8:22 pm