Posts Tagged ‘wright’

Went up to Sacramento on Memorial Day 2010 to play up at the Luna Cafe as part of the Nebraska Mondays series.  Good friend Brent Bagwell from Charlotte was meeting up there as well with his group the Eastern Seaboard with Seth Nanaa and Jordon Schranz. First Marches show in a bit – my schedule has been quite full – I think the last time we played was all the way back in January when Anton Hatwich was visiting from Chicago and we played at Blue Six. That was a nice show.

Since then I’ve added Doug Stuart to the group on bass – but unfortunately (for Marches), Gene Baker is moving to New York at the end of the week, so this lineup of Marches with his signature sound on the Hohner suitcase organ will be missing for the foreseeable future.  It was an early show at Luna and I thought we played real well – I had a great time playing with this lineup with Doug, Gene, Cory Wright on tenor & baritone and Jordan Glenn on drums.  Everyone put in a lot of good energy. Satisfying.

The Eastern Seaboard played the second set – focused free jazz explosions – I like hearing how Brent approaches the freedom – thoughtful, patient. The room at Luna is a good size for this kind of music.

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Played last night at the Uptown in Oakland. it was a busy night down there because of a Pixies concert happening across the street at the Fox Theatre. Hard to park! Thought I’d get a parking ticket, but was lucky….

Marches and the Oakland Active Orchestra played – Marches was up first, our line-up for the night was the organ version with Gene, Cory and Jordan. Good playing – we’re making some progress – I’m really into the way the organ fits in with the saxophones. We tried a new piece – maybe should’ve rehearsed it a bit more – but it’s been a busy time out here and it’s been tough fitting in enough rehearsals. The plan is to get some solid rehearsing in and then get into the studio so that we can have a release sometime early next year. We played on the floor of the Uptown – which is good for sound quality, but a little tricky for light. Gotta work on that…..

The Oakland Active Orchestra played our second show. This one was very good with new pieces by Cory Wright, Phillip Greenlief and Rob Ewing, plus an arrangement of Echoes of Harlem by Tom Djll. A wide range of music – particularly in Tom’s piece – one section the entire group explores the smallest range of dynamics with a quick transition to a section with two drummers going for it with a strong solo by Ewing. Had a few subs on the night – Erik Jekabsons on trumpet and Sam Ospovat on drums – they both sounded great and fit well aesthetically. Sam and Jordan playing drums together worked well – they had a good sense of playing at the same time without dominating the group.
We ended the night with Rob’s piece, one that is very patient and uses the entire ensemble simply – to create a slowly shifting re-harmonization of a chord -a fitting use of the group.

The full lineup for the group this night was:
Aaron Bennett: alto & tenor saxophones
Phillip Greenlief: clarinet, tenor saxophone
Aram Shelton: clarinet, soprano & alto saxophones
Cory Wright: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Tom Djll: trumpet
Erik Jekabson: trumpet
Rob Ewing: trombone
Kristian Aspelin: guitar
Marielle Jakobsons: violin
Lisa Mezzacappa: bass
Damon Smith: bass
Jordan Glenn: drums
Sam Ospovat: drums

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There’s a monthly series happening at the Makeout Room in SF – first mondays of the month – the bay area is all about mondays – or so it seems sometimes….
So, Marches played our 3rd show – so far Cory, Jordan and I have been at all three – our bass / organ position has been moving around a bit, thankfully there’s good players out here that fit well into the music we’re playing. This night we had Eric Perney join us on bass, and he did a great job of interpreting the music. He’s a strong player, particularly when playing arco. We played a five song set, starting with the through composed ballad “the Walk”. On “Turning”, a kind of slow moving power waltz that disintegrates in an Aylerian way, my mouth completely dried out. It’s very hard to blow alot of air through a horn when you’ve got no more moisture…..Cory played some great tenor & baritone solos. Jordan took a drum solo that really changed the mood of the set ….KFJC came and documented the night with video and audio.
The first set was played by Nathan Clevengers sextet. In it I played tenor, alto and clarinet; Kasey Knudsen played alto & tenor; Sylvan Carton baritone & tenor; Sam Bevan bass; Eric Garland, drums; and Clevenger on the guitar. Nice tunes – interesting writing with independent parts for the different voices. We didn’t have a rehearsal – so I was pretty green on some of the arrangements… I also played mostly free solos, as specified by Nathan’s arrangements – these were good sections, Garland said it was the most interactive he’s felt while playing free. But, I did ask Nathan for some solos on changes the next time around.
Lords of the Outland played the middle set – alot of energy by that quartet of Rent Romus, CJ “Reaven” Borosque, Ray Scheaffer & Philip Everett. The crowd at Makeout was pretty talkative. The effect of having shows in bars that have happy hour until 10. Though, when you’re playing you don’t notice it quite as much as when you’re trying to listen.

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Last night I played at the Ivy Room with Marches, it was our first show with the lineup of myself on alto & tenor, Cory Wright on tenor and baritone, Nate Brenner on bass and Jordan Glenn on drums. This was the original lineup I had in mind when getting the gorup together, but I’m glad that the group has a shifting lineup – it makes each show that much different.

This night was part of the Active Music Series, which is new, and is starting with concerts at the Ivy Room and Blue Six in the Mission. Marches was joined by two groups on this night: Telepathy, with Patrick Cress & Aaron Novik; and ACMD, a quartet of Alan Anzalone, Curtis Hollenbeck, Moe Staiano and Damon Smith.

Telepathy’s music is written by both Patrick Cress and Aaron Novik. The instrumentation of alto & baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, upright bass and drums. The pieces have alot of composed parts, with grooves and a strong rock influence. Tim Bulkley has been back in town for a few weeks from New York – and sounded great on drums. My favorite part was late in the set when there was a baritone, bass and drum trio with alot of space and good textures.

ACMD’s set was a stark contrast – fully improvised, it was a really good quartet. Alan Anzalone brought his soprano sax and bass clarinet, Curtis Hollenbeck played trumpets and typewriter, Damon Smith played bass and Moe Staiano had a drumkit with interesting unusual percussion objects and a large but shallow bass drum. Really strong improvising from everyone in the group, Curtis gravitated towards mainly muted trumpet playing, and interspersed typewriter at the right moments. Alan sounded good on both soprano and bc. The dynamic between Damon and Moe was interesting – Damon was really watching Moe at times and waiting for the right moment to interject ideas.

The Marches set was third, and like I said before, the first show with this lineup. We played some material that wasn’t on the last show with Gene. Nate is a strong bassist, and having him and Jordan play together is a great foundation for playing. Most of the material we have right now is in time, with plenty of room for blowing by the horns. We started with the Walk, which is a ballad we play without improvising. It’s based on a melody the sound of tenor, baritone, bass and drums created a fullness that was a good start to the set. We played the set with a controlled energy, saving the most freedom for Turning, a piece that is in a very loose three with a strong debt to Ayler in both melody and style. Right now my favorite songs in Marches all use tenor and bari! Such a full sound – I’m very into it. Here’s a track:

A good night at the Ivy Room – thanks to ken for hosting! The next show on September 28th will feature Cory Wright’s Group and Cylinder.

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My new group is called Marches. I’m thinking of it as a compartmentalized group where the music can be played as a trio, quartet, quintet or larger. The music has been on my mind for a bit now – I played some of it back in April with Bauder, Ajemian and Eisestadt when I was in New York; played some of it in June with Keefe Jackson, Anton Hatwich and Marc Riordan in Chicago. But now I’ve brought it back to the West Coast where I wrote it and am starting to get some dates with Jordan Glenn on drums, Cory Wright on tenor & baritone saxes, Gene Baker on organ and Nate Brenner on bass. Like I said, the lineup can change. A few weeks ago I played some of the music with Gene and Jordan – and it was alot of fun.

Tonight was the debut of quartet style: played with Cory, Gene and Jordan at Blue Six in the Mission. Last month, when I was up in Oregon with Jordan and Cory, we played a show with Reed Wallsmith and Sly Pig, the saxophonists in the band Blue Cranes. They’re good fellows who play good music, and they were coming down for a California weekend. So, we shared the bill this night. They played the first set, and their music is very well written, with pop sensibilities and a full sound for a band. I had learned the secret code for “you’re getting too loud” and got concerned when I heard it used during their set, because in practice Marches has been pretty full. The music is active and energetic with strong melodies that need to be played with some volume. Also, I’m playing tenor in the group and my tenor setup – a Buescher Aristocrat – is not shy.

well, we played and as the set went on, we never got the cue to tone it down – either we weren’t that loud or Joe really liked it (I think the latter, after talking to him after the show). Again, playing the music was FUN – lots of energy – this band is a strong combination of players – Cory sounds especially great on tenor. We’ve got some work to tighten up the music, but from where we’re starting, I feel this will go somewhere good. Here’s a track called Pacheco. I wrote it with Ton Trio in mind, but it works very well with this group. I’m playing tenor, Cory’s on baritone.

In other news: looks like the Fast Citizens album we made in January will be coming out this fall on Delmark Records! It will be released in October – it’s very good news…..

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