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Also this issue: Smart Bombs Atmosphere Salif Keita Sleater-Kinney/Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Parks & Wilson The Anniversary/ Burning Brides Skeleton Key |
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October 17-23, 2002
the gig
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In a recent conversation about creative inspiration, pianist Fred Hersch recounted the advice of his longtime instructor, the venerable Sophia Rosoff. “Your job,” she says, “is to stay out of the way.” I’m reminded of this credo this week, as Philadelphia faces a cornucopia of notably diverse jazz events -- and I face deadlines and a word count. So without further preamble or ado, may I present the gigs.
Fans of the ivories won’t want to miss Steinway’s 150th Anniversary solo piano smorgasbord on Thursday, featuring Hersch, Eric Reed and Philly Pops conductor Peter Nero; this is the jazz portion of an evening that begins with Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Olga Kern, among others. Proceeds will go to the Kimmel Center’s Merck Arts Education Center. Thu., Oct. 17, 9:30 p.m., $40, Perelman Theater, 260 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.Also on Thursday, the Ars Nova Workshop debuts its Slought series with tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, in his longstanding trio with accordionist/keyboardist Andrea Parkins and percussionist Jim Black. Their latest effort, 12 (+1) Imaginary Views (Hat Hut), is an evocative suite developed during the band’s last European tour. Plaintive folk melodies collide with skittering breakbeats; ambient electronic textures whoosh overhead like wind on the plains. “Sometimes I worry that jazz and improvisational music seems destined to exist within a small and insular world,” Eskelin muses in his notes. “I like to think that this music can communicate to anyone who wants to open up to it. No prerequisites, no secret knowledge for ‘getting it.’ Just an openness and a desire to experience something different.” Amen. Thu., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., $10, Slought Networks, 4017 Walnut St., 215-746-4239.
Friday sees three examples of a much more conventional but no less inspirational order. At the Art Museum, the Bill Charlap Trio mines a standard repertoire with sophistication and finesse. Charlap is a standard-bearing pianist with great taste and a crystalline touch; his trio-mates Peter and Kenny Washington are unrelated by blood but share an uncommon kinship of tone and time. Fri., Oct. 18, 5 p.m., free with museum admission, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Parkway, 215-763-8100. Meanwhile, Zanzibar Blue welcomes the Caribbean Jazz Project, brainchild of vibraphonist Dave Samuels (of Spyro Gyra fame). While I usually prefer my Latin jazz a bit rougher around the edges, the Afro-Cuban experience of CJP’s personnel runs wide and deep. Fri., Oct. 18 and Sat., Oct. 19, 9 and 11 p.m., $25, Zanzibar Blue, Broad and Walnut sts., 215-732-4500. And at Chris’ Jazz Café, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander plays a swinging quintet stand with trumpeter John Swana; on Saturday he’ll match wits with guitarist Jimmy Bruno, in a quartet. Fri., Oct. 18 and Sat., Oct. 19, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., $10, $12, Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131.
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On Monday, Ars Nova presents what will probably stand as the event of the season for free-improvised music. The Full-Blown Trio consists of pianist Dave Burrell, bassist William Parker and drummer Rashied Ali. Their performance will comprise more than an all-star summit (although that would not be an inaccurate estimation). When Burrell and Parker played here together in March, their rapport was intense; the concert, comprised of two long pieces with an intermission, was less a conversational dialogue than a rolling narration in two voices. And Ali, in the years since his work with John Coltrane, has long been one of the most prominent advocates of textural exploration and fluid, pulsating time. Mon., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., free, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St., 215-898-4636.
Next Thursday the TLA hosts Al DiMeola -- guitar hero, fusion king and patron saint of insistently heterosexual album-cover art. His latest Telarc disc, Flesh on Flesh, is actually a tasteful sampling of multicultural intrigue, with bright contributions from flutist Alejandro Santos and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. If only he could resist the overdone barebacked-lady-in-silhouette motif. Thu., Oct. 24, 9 p.m., $25, Theater of the Living Arts, 334 South St., 215-922-1011.
Had enough? This is to say nothing, or very little anyway, about the many gigs, some recurring, by noteworthy local artists. Eliot Levin and Ed Watkins backing New York poet Bob Holman. Thu., Oct. 17, 7 p.m., Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475. Harold Smith with Byard Lancaster, Bert Harris and Elio Villafranca. Fri., Oct. 18, 8 and 9 p.m., Tritone. Villafranca with his band in Germantown. Sat., Oct. 19, 9 p.m., North by Northwest, 7165 Germantown Ave., 215-248-1000. The ever-ready Lars Halle Big Band. Mon., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Café. And though it sounds trite: much, much more.
To report a gig -- or any other jazz-related news -- e-mail Nate Chinen at n_chinen@citypaper.net.
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