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paul motian quintet
REMEMBER THIS: I saw three of the six acts performing at the 12th Annual Eddie Moore Jazz Festival (produced by local concert organizer Jazz In Flight), and this one stood out from the rest. Partly it was that the noted quintet reunited to play for the first time in 20 years. Sometimes such events fail to live up to expections, but the two sets I saw did not disappoint in the least. Even though each of the players has since become a band leader in his own right, they worked together as a cohesive ensemble. (A close runner-up for this spot was the Gary Burton All-Stars, who I also saw at Yoshi's, on November 29.)
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They Might Be Giants
REMEMBER THIS:
Sometimes you have to travel to see the band in the
correct setting. Fugazi in Castroville comes to mind (and I saw them
in San Francisco instead and regretted it). Faced with the choice of
The Warfield or an apallingly hotel-like ballroom on a sacatormento
campus, I figured there would be more true believers at the latter.
The first of which was Matt O, who I should have taken to a TMBG
show two years earlier, when the Oka Family traditionally performs
its beat mitzvahs. The rest of us followed closely, thinking our
obscurist favorite TMBG song would never be performed while still
hoping maybe I won't press it but wouldn't it be nice if it was
on that sheet of paper taped to the stage?
One by one our dreams came true, so I joined
the conga line to give a little back to the Johns, who exhorted us to
shed our shyness and participate. They seem to know why we would
never conga, addressed the fact openly and honestly at least three
times because we are, as a fan group, profoundly self-conscious, so...
I relented. ABOUT 450 PEOPLE WERE WITH ME. |