Two Crypto fans showed up all the way from Louisville Kentucky for the opening night of Cryptogramophone’s 10-year celebration Cryptonights at Jazz Standard (April 23-27). So, what excuse does our erstwhile blogger Matthew Duersten have for not making the scene? It’s certainly not the weather, as Spring has definitely sprung here in New York City, with temperatures in the mid 70s. Even New Yorker’s attitudes seem sunnier this week…or maybe it’s just the afterglow of a great opening night.
As president of the “Hair Club for Creative Music,” I wear many hats. Much of my time over the last few months has been spent preparing for this week in NY, which has included booking shows, making travel arrangements, hotel accommodations, airport pickups, instrument rentals, coordinating promotion and interviews, etc. Considering all the possibilities, it must have been a small miracle that as few things went wrong as they did. However, having to play a show the same night as discovering that two musicians had been bumped from their hotel rooms, and that the instrument rental service had forgotten to deliver 3 cymbal stands and had sent a bum amp, raised the stress level a few notches.
After having dealt with the hotel and instrument issues, the music was easy! My longstanding band, The Jeff Gauthier Goatette (Alex Cline - drums, Nels Cline - guitar, Joel Hamilton - bass, and David Witham – keyboards, piano) all made the trip to play only one set of music. However, I must say that we really took advantage of the situation, and presented one of the most unhinged sets we’ve ever played. It started with “Ephemera,” a piece I wrote for my friend Eric von Essen from our 2002 CD entitled “Mask.” It was a good way to bring the audience (a full house by the way) to full attention, so we could demolish them with a rollicking version of a newer composition called “Friends of the Animals” which will be on our upcoming CD entitled “House of Return” due out June 10th. We followed FOTL with a newer tune by Nels called “Satellites and Sideburns” dedicated to the memory of Joe Zawinul, also from “House of Return.” A last minute change to the set list was the inclusion of “Time Remembered” by Bill Evans. I figured after so much sonic madness, we needed to cool out the room with a ballad. The talented drummer/composer Greg Bendian who was in the audience with his family thought this was a mistake, but I really wanted to play a little Bill Evans in New York at least once, and despite a few butterflies I felt it really did alter the mood in a good way. We closed the set with “Ahfufat” from the 2006 CD “One and the Same,” which had some of the greatest “space jam” moments in our band’s 15-year history.
It was an amazing opportunity, and a great joy to play improvisationally based music in the greatest city for jazz in the world, especially with all the production issues that could have sidetracked the show. I’m proud to report that we acquitted ourselves, and everyone felt good about our performance.
But then the real show began.
I’ve known Alex and Nels Cline for almost 35 years, and have been playing in ensembles with them for almost as long. In all that time I’ve known them to play duo concerts only twice, so their New York dynamic duo debut was, as Nels said in his introduction, “A special treat.”
The set began with a drone, and a quiet version of “Lullaby for Ian” from Nels’ 2000 CD “The Inkling.” This floating melody over changing textures is evocative and moving. It proved an inspired launching pad for the improvisational excursions that followed, before the melody reasserted itself. Nels and Alex then offered three or four duo-improvisations that explored most of the musical vocabulary they have amassed over the years. There were spontaneiously composed angular jazz riffs, and even a “Flamenco inspired Kraftwork” section as Mr. Bendian described it. One of the highlights of the set was a spontaneiously realized repeated sequence of moving chords in 5/4, that built itself up into a kind of “Ode to Joy” frenzy, that sounded like it could be the beginning of a new Nels Cline Singers tune.
The evening ended on a softer note, as they played another floaty/droney piece, this time by the great Paul Motian. I didn’t catch the title, but maybe someone will help me out here (OK, I wasn’t taking notes…I’m a bad blogger).
Wednesday night was an auspiscious beginning to Cryptonights at Jazz Standard 2008. We now move on to two sets with The Nels Cline Singers Thursday night, with the Scott Amendola Band (and special guest Charlie Hunter) opening the show Friday for the Singers final two sets. Saturday night will find the Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg Quartet opening the show for the great Bennie Maupin. Sunday night will be two solo sets for Bennie and his incredible ensemble that includes Michal Tokaj – piano, Darek Oles – bass, Michael Stephans – drums, and special guest Polish folksinger Hania Rybka.
For more information go to www.cryptonight.com
