SOUND WOES IN CARNEGIE HALL, NOT IN CLUBS : JAZZ FESTIVAL ENDS ON HIGH, LOW NOTES : IMPROVISATION SERIES’ FINALE
NEW YORK — The monthlong Improvisations’ series staged by the nonprofit World Music Institute here, and which dovetailed with the JVC Festival, was designed to offer formal concert settings for artists whose use of improvisation in their compositions usually places them in the jazz idiom. Clarinets and violins outnumbered saxophones and trumpets on stage during the last half of the six-concert series as the music ranged from Amina Claudine Myers’ blues-tinged quartet to the chamber-oriented work of pianist Anthony Davis’ Episteme unit.
Myers’ opening set at Merkin Concert Hall on the Upper West Side on Saturday fell closest to the loose blowing most listeners associate with a jazz ensemble performance, but that only revealed how far from the norm her style is. Myers’ music induces and sustains mood through a constant ebb and flow that produces an atmosphere of meditative calm. She was ably supported by a quartet including tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford and the canny, controlled drumming of Reggie Nicholson.
Trombonist Craig Harris jammed so many ideas into his early pieces that they came across as compositional devices for his fiery, high-spirited quintet rather than organic developments. But he hit his stride on a piece melding the growling bass tones of the aborigine instrument, the didgeridoo, into an Arabic-flavored melody played by trumpet and clarinet. For a humorous finale, drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff laid down some hip-hop rhythms while Harris recited a rap poem about trying to flag down a cab on a New York street corner.
Gerry Hemingway’s opening set Friday at Greenwich House in Greenwich Village offered one solo percussion piece and a pointillistic three-part suite for percussion, piano and clarinet. Violinist Leroi Jenkins’ Sting sextet remains an interesting concept that hasn’t fully jelled as a unit. Jenkins’ early compositions failed to provide sufficient space for two amplified violins and acoustic guitar to coexist, save for two effective unison passages, but “Static in the Attic†displayed the kind of integrated structure that would be the most fruitful avenue for him to explore.
Anthony Davis opened the concert Wednesday at Merkin Hall with four meticulously scored pieces--including an excerpt from his opera about Malcolm X and another incorporating computer-generated tape and a poem by Thulani Davis--that bore little resemblance to orthodox jazz.
Los Angeles-based clarinetist John Carter’s Octet injected a jazz flavor during its strong hourlong performance, thanks to the dazzling rhythm section of bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Andrew Cyrille. “Silent Drum†featured excellent solos from the leader, violinist Terry Jenoure and Cyrille over a slow, descending bass line from Hopkins that was brought in deep enough to support all of Manhattan.
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