Big Ears Festival 2023 Drum Report

This year, for me, Big Ears was all about the drummers…

Best of show: Tyshawn Sorey, in his trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, being way more aggressive and powerful than he is on his more subtle recent standards records… at several points, he and Frisell were simply balls-out wailing, and Joe Lovano couldn't keep up… at other times, Sorey proved himself a master of dramatic timing and dynamics; he is an amazing drummer. (I missed him with the Vijay Iyer Trio but heard it was fantastic.)

Master of the simmer: Gerald Cleaver: saw him three times, first with Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, where he kept a solid yet continually morphing groove (along with drummer Chad Taylor, who didn't seem as comfortable in that setting); with William Parker's In Order to Survive (more rock-solid grooves); and with William Parker's Mayan Space Station (where he got a bit looser while backing Ava Mendoza's outstanding guitar playing)

Nasheet Waits with Tarbaby, featuring David Murray: my god, he was powerful (and I do mean Waits….Murray was great too but Waits took my breath away)

Best brush work: Ches Smith (with the Brian Marsella Trio) --also saw him with Zorn's Cobra (which featured four drummers!). With the trio, he was on fire and played the best I've ever heard him

Tomas Fujiwara: cooking with Mary Halvorson's Amaryllis (although I preferred Belladonna, her string quartet set) and in a quieter vein with Ben Goldberg (again with Halvorson and also with the sublime pianist Sylvie Courvoisier)

Pheeroan akLaff: amazing performance with Wadada Leo Smith Quartet. Had an interesting double bass drum setup, with a second floor tom to the left of his hi hat.

Kenny Wollensen: with Cobra (also saw him on vibes with Zorn's Gnostic Trio)

Chris Corsano: absolutely on fire with Zoh Amba

Carmen Castaldi: drummer for Joe Lovano's Trio Tapestry: amazing, subtle, inventive, especially when Marilyn Crispell was soloing

Dave Lombardo: fire and brimstone in a trio with Zorn and Trevor Dunn (too bad Bill Laswell wasn't there for the planned Painkiller fest, but this was just fine), and then again in Cobra

Chad Taylor: in a power trio with James Brandon Lewis and also with Exploding Star Orchestra

Wayne Anthony Smith, Jr.: I -think- this was who played drums with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Whoever it was was cooking, driving the band with a solid and slightly skewed swing.

Best drummer I didn't see: Andrew Cyrille (but I saw him last year, and I was lucky enough to see him years ago in Boston in a band with Reggie Workman, Geri Allen, and Joseph Jarman)

I mean, damn, any one of these shows was enough to send me back to the woodshed. Seeing this much great drumming over a period of 3 ½ days was overwhelming!

Big Ears Festival Report, Days 3 and 4

 

Saturday started off with a bang with Myra Melord's Snowy Egret. With the authority of the master she is, she guided the band through a myriad of fascinating compositions, all the while punctuating the music with her brilliant playing. I enjoyed it most when she took it out, and there were occasionally Cecil Taylor-level flights of energy, but they didn't last as long as I would have liked. She's clearly capable of sustaining that comparison. 

Most of the rest of the festival was taken up for me with the various programs associated with John Zorn. "Songs for Petra" featured vocalist Petra Haden (Charlie Haden's daughter) with a quartet featuring Julian Lage on guitar, performing torch songs composed by Zorn and Jesse Harris. Her voice was appealing enough, and Lage's guitar solo always had interest, but after a while it felt like... I don't know, a background group on Prairie Home Companion? Not to my taste. 

The next show was more up my alley: Simulacrum, featuring the powerhouse trio of John Medeski on organ, Matt Hollenberg on guitar, and the amazing Kenny Grohowski on drums. Medeski has never played better than when he's performing Zorn's compositions in this context, and I gotta say: he sounded great. Grohowski was a revelation: easily one of the most dynamic, inventive drummers I've ever seen. He sailed through the hairpin twists and turns of the avant-death metal/organ trio jazz/Carl Stalling-style zaniness with expertise, inventiveness, and flair. The whole band was extremely powerful and unrelentingly tight. A true highlight of the festival.

Next up was a completely improvised duo with master drummer Andrew Cyrille and guitarist Marc Ribot. I respect, but am not enthralled with, Ribot's playing, and here I felt he didn't give Cyrille much space or direction to respond. He just started in on a very rhythmic drone thing that overly dictated the direction, and it felt like he was just going through the motions. Only when Cyrille was able to open the sound up rhythmically did the music take on interest. Cyrille, of course, played excellently throughout.

I was prepared for the onslaught of Simulacrum, but I was totally unprepared for how viscerally exciting Annette Peacock was. (No pictures were allowed, so I just got a shot of her setup.) She came out almost wraith-like, appearing as if from the mist, and played in almost total darkness, just her voice and piano, and occasionally pre-programmed drum machine beats. I was not familiar with any of the songs she sang, but they were mostly in the vain of her earlier compositions as featured on the Marilyn Crispell trio record of her compositions... sparse, evocative, contemplative, utterly and deeply beautiful and moving. And her voice was, amazingly, stronger and purer than I've ever heard it. I was utterly flabbergasted by the time she finished, as she floated away in the dark to a sample of her voice crooning into nothingness.... really amazing.

So that was Saturday! Sunday was all Zorn all day, beginning with pianist Stephen Gosling playing Zorn compositions for solo piano. Gosling deftly executed these pieces (which as you'd expect were all over the place from manic abstract darting lines to Romantic etudes) with flair and artfulness. 

Then, just in case Simulacrum wasn't intense enough, they upped the ante by adding keyboardist Brian Marsella to the trio to become Chaos Magick. The material was very similar to the trio book, and the music was extremely exciting, gut-wrenching, and mind-blowing, often reaching Mahavishnu-like levels of intensity (with Marsella taking the Jan Hammer role with his intense, over-the-top electric piano work). I've never seen anything like it (except for Simulacrum the day before, heh heh). One of the highlights was Zorn himself coming out on stage to do a bit of conducting and hand magic, as if the sheet music weren't enough.

Next up: Heaven and Earth Magick, with Gosling returning on piano, joined by bassist Jorge Roeder, drummer Ches Smith, and vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto. More remarkable Zorn compositions played by brilliant musicians. It was great to see Smith in so many different contexts over the course of the festival. 

The evening, and the whole festival, built up to an amazing climax, first with the New Masada Quartet: Roeder on bass, Julian Lage on guitar, Kenny Wollesen on drums (it really was drummer heaven!) and Zorn himself on alto sax. Hyperactive Ornette territory with fantastic playing from everyone. Zorn's alto work continues to pack a powerful punch. It was clearly his show; he dictated everything that happened, but at least he did so tastefully, with exciting material and brilliant musicians to execute his every whim.

Finally, a big blowout from New Electric Masada: all of Chaos Magick, all of New Masada, plus Bill Frisell on guitar. With both Wollesen and Smith on hands for drums, Grohowski was relegated to percussion. I enjoyed his work regardless but would have welcomed the opportunity to see him on drums one last amazing time...oh well. Smith and Wollsesen did not disappoint. The band was tight, Zorn conducted and controlled it all, and the music was energetic and appropriately climactic. An outstanding way to close out a truly amazing four days of innovative and life-affirming music.

Playlist, Week of 2021-04-03

Still absorbing all the music I saw at Big Ears, so I spent a lot of time this week listening to many of the folks I saw, like the amazing, cerebral Kris Davis, as well as Myra Melford, Brian Marsella, the astonishing drummer Kenny Grohowski, Sparks, and Annette Peacock (represented here by her music as played by the Marilyn Crispell trio)... 

Playlist 2022-04-04:

*Daniel Barbiero: .​.​.​For Double Bass & Prerecorded Electronics
*Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 (BBC Scottish SO)
*Borderlands Trio: Asteroidea
*Anthony Braxton: GTM (Syntax) 2017 (disc 3) (streaming)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Standards) 2020 (discs 7, 8) (streaming)
*Burial: Antidawn
*Marilyn Crispell/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (disc 1)
*Stephan Crump/Ingrid Laubrock/Cory Smythe: Planktonic Finales
*Kris Davis Trio: Waiting for You to Grow
*Kris Davis/Ingrid Laubrock: 2020-03-08 Toronto (CDR)
*Kris Davis: Duology
*Miles Davis: Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Rare "Live"Recordings 1952-3 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Girl's Suite and The Perfume Suite
*Dexter Gordon: Our Man in Paris
*Herbie Hancock: Takin' Off
*Freddie Hubbard: Here to Stay
*Percy Jones/Alex Skolnick/Kenny Grohowski/Tim Motzer: PAKT (discs 1, 2)
*Ingrid Laubrock: 2009-08-01 The Stone, NYC (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2016-11-12 Wels, Austria (CDR)
*Brian Marsella: Gatos Do Sul
*Myra Melford: 2009-07-07 NYC (CDR)
*Myra Melford: Snowy Egret
*Myra Melford's Snowy Egret: The Other Side of Air
*Lee Morgan: Search for the New Land
*OOIOO: Gamel
*Sparks: Kimono My House (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Propaganda (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Indiscreet (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Rest of Sparks (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: 2006-09-30 London (DVD)
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra: The Night of the Purple Moon
*Sun Beach Ra Boy: Of Mythic Beaches (CDR compilation)
*Cecil Taylor: The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert at the Town Hall NYC November 4, 1973
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: This Brings Us To, Volume I
*Turbine!: Entropy/Enthalpy (discs 1, 2)
*Anna Webber: Idiom (discs 1, 2)
*Mary Lou Williams & Cecil Taylor: Embraced (side 2)
*John Zorn: Chaos Magick 

Big Ears Festival Report, Days 1 and 2

This is a quick rundown of the shows I saw at the 2022 Big Ears Festival this past weekend. A note about the photos here: I am not a photographer. For the most part, photographing (and videoing) were discouraged if not outright prohibited, so I just snapped a shot on my phone of each act I saw.

Thursday started with a wonderful duo of Tomeka Reid on cello and poet Nikki Finney. Reid's sensitive renderings and responses to the poetry made the words come alive in non-semantic ways. 

Next up was Trefoil, the powerhouse trio of Kris Davis on piano, Gerald Cleaver on drums, and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. Davis is an amazing improvisor. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the first half-hour of this show, but they announced at the beginning that the whole set was being recorded, so I am looking forward to that. (They also asked that everyone turn their phones off at the beginning for that reason, so that's why I was unable to grab a shot.)

The highlight of Thursday evening was Sparks. If you follow my playlists, you know that Sparks has been in heavy rotation for the last few months as I've become acquainted with their vast catalog. The show was spectacular....frankly, I was take aback by how truly powerful they were live. Clips on youtube don't do them justice... at all. The band was tight and punchy, and Russell Mael was in fine voice. Hell, he sounded fantastic. Kick-ass drummer, too (Stevie Nistor). This was easily one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

I began Friday by going to the only speaking event I attended, which was Kris Davis and Julian Lage being interviewed by Nate Chinen. Very interesting discussion about the hypothetical tension between tradition and innovation.

Friday's music started off with the Craig Taborn Trio, with Tomeka Reid on cello and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. Another beautiful set that became quite trancy as it went on. It was a blast starting off a day with a show that any other time would have been the highlight of an evening. 

From there I went to Harriet Tubman, and while I enjoy their dark brooding sensibility, for some reason this didn't do it for me. It was too gaddam loud, way past the point where they needed volume to make a statement, where it was more a stance of disdain for the audience. I used to dig Melvin Gibbs with Ronald Shannon Jackson, but the bass this time was so loud it was painful (even with my old-guy earplugs). I split.

That afternoon there were two sets from Kris Davis's Diatom Ribbons, billed as a trio with Terri Lynne Carrington on drums and Val Jeanty on samples and laptop, and joined by bassist Trevor Dunn. Both sets were heavily composition-based with little improvisation. The first set was a bit tentative, but I appreciated Davis's use of synth and electric piano in addition to her regular piano--I felt she was pushing herself and the band to play outside their comfort zones. The second set was more cohesive, helped with a jumpstart by the inclusion of Marc Ribot on two tunes, Ronald Shannon Jackson's "Alice in the Congo" (what a thrill!) and "Golgi Complex" (from the Diatom Ribbons album).

I wrapped up Friday by checking out Animal Collective. Evidently they have a new album out, which I haven't heard, and maybe they played most of it? They started off with a slow groove and then... got slower.. with stretched-out longeurs where not that much was happening except Panda Bear's wailing. When a beat did happen, it perked up a bit, but there were too many long stretches that were pretty boring. I guess you had to be there. No, wait, I was there... oh, well, they didn't click for me.

That's it for the first two days! More to come...

Brief Report: 2018 Big Ears Festival

I was lucky enough to be able to attend two days of the 2018 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, and it was a deeply overwhelming experience, full of positivity, good vibes, and unbelievably challenging and inspiring music. Here's a brief report on what I saw. I took all these pictures; yes, they suck but there are plenty of places where you can see better ones.

Friday started of with a major implosion of space and time in my mind, with Roscoe Mitchell Trio Five: Vincent Davis on drums and Junius Paul on bass. I could quibble a little with the standard inclusion of bass and drum solos--they seemed to be there mainly to give Roscoe a chance to rest--but when he was playing, all three were on fire: high, high free energy in the finest, classic sense of that music. I was not familiar with Junius Paul, but Vincent Davis I knew from the excellent trio album No Side Effects. Much of this set was similar to that record: fiery, out, intense explosions of energy from one of the masters.

Well, that set alone would have been enough to last me a year, but there was much more to come. After catching most of a solo set from Ikue Mori (loud and intriguing), we had to split to catch Rocket Science.

A quartet organized by trumpeter Peter Allen, the main draw for me was sax giant Evan Parker. They played a brilliant hour-long improvisation, and I loved how Parker and Allen played off each other. Rarely subtle, the electronics punctuation and sound manipulation of Sam Pluta added a layer of noise to the proceedings that worked most of the time, but I felt he ran out of ideas halfway through. Not true for Craig Taborn, whose brilliant command of the piano varied between quiet, subtle ruminations to aggressive counter-attentions to the electronics. This was my first time seeing all these folks, and they just blew me away, Taborn especially.

From one giant to another: the majestic Milford Graves doing a solo set in a big theatre setting at the Bijou. Anything I say about this set will sound hokey, but it was truly transcendent and life-affirming. Graves expostulated about life, his approach to the drums, his approach to life, in a thoroughly engaging and sometime hilarious manner. He talked about applying martial arts movements and actions to his drumming, and he demonstrated on the drums. He vocalized in... Japanese? American Indian? gibberish? ( I heard "big ears" in there somewhere.) And he did things on and with the drums that I've never seen or imagined before. It was truly amazing.

The evening ended with an Evan Parker solo performance in a church with gorgeous acoustics. Another mind-blowing stunner of a set! This was my favorite of the three contexts I saw Parker participate in--amazing dexterity, breath control, multiphonics, throat singing, interstellar space-out virtuosity. Check out this sample.

The next day got jump started with a high-energy duo from skronk-samba guitarist Arto Lindsay and powerhouse Thing drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (this was to make up for my wimping out and missing The Thing's show late Friday night!). Wake up!

After that, it was back over to another church with great acoustics for a stellar set from the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. Hard to see, since all the band member were on the same level as the audience (here you can just see Craig Taborn at the piano and Ikue Mori on laptop), but wonderful to listen to. This was a beautiful, wide-ranging improvisation, with excellent contributions from all involved, especially Taborn on piano and Ned Rothenberg on bass clarinet and flute.

I didn't get in line in time to see the duet performance of Milford Graves with pianist Jason Moran, dammit. I did manage to get in for most of the encore, and what I heard was a fiery Cecil Taylor-ish maelstrom of energy. Here's a short video clip. I loved Moran's playing when I saw with Anthony Braxton at the Kennedy Center; he should take it out more often, he fits right in!

The final show I saw, and the absolute highlight of the entire festival was Roscoe Mitchell Trios back at the Bijou. Oh my gawd. Similar to the structure of Bells for the South Side, Mitchell conducted and played through a series of sub-set trios with the large band he had assembled, in differnt configurations, before finishing with a heart-stopping crescendo climax with the entire group--and what a group. Craig Taborn again--on piano and electronics--was simply outstanding, and in his short statement on electronics said more than any other single electronic artist I saw the whole festival. The Sound Ensemble rhythm section of Tani Tabbal and Jaribu Shahid, plus percussionist Ches Smith and Chicago drummer Mike Reed, plus Tyshawn Sorey on drums, percussion, piano, and toy piano, plus James Fei on reeds and electronics and Hugh Ragin on trumpet! Damn! I am not doing this music justice--I hope it was recorded. Here are a couple of video snippets to whet your appetite.