A rum night... I got to the Cafe Oto and found a really good seat, couple of rows back from the stage, fairly central and sat in pleasant anticipation with a pint of the Oto's worthy but foul lager in front of me and somewhere to put it, for a change – the house was busy but did not get as full as it was the last time Gayle was here in January. I had wondered about the line-up: Bobby Few, legendary piano player, cohort of Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, among others, expatriate musician in Europe for many years, coupled to the king of fire-jazz, the mighty Charles Gayle, my favourite musician of the last couple of years – who does not usually work with a pianist, as far as I know. The bass and drummer, in fact, are members of Bobby Few's current quintet lineup, so Gayle would be the odd man out. Scene set for some interesting accommodations...
First set: some high register trinkle tinkle from Few, then they hit the most conventional jazz groove I have heard for a while, drummer Ichiro Onoe keeping it steady, as Gayle pitched into an abrupt, blocky melody. Few's piano started to rise up, a water image appropriate as burly cycling ripples ebbed and flowed, broken by the occasional smashing chord – which seemed to nark Gayle, who visibly winced a couple of times. In fact, the first set was almost a Bobby Few extravaganza – as Gayle seemed to give up trying to find a way in after a while and left the stage area. Bassist Harry Swift, positioned next to Few, followed him gamely and they fell into freer rhythms when Gayle returned – briefly, as he still seemed unhappy and after a smashing, rattling drum solo from Onoe who was as adept at slipping into freer time as he was in more conventional four four, left again, this time not to return as they took it out as a trio. Maybe some of this had been preplanned to give the headliners adequate exposure? Who knows... Few is obviously a major pianist – yet I didn't quite engage with him on the night. Perhaps I am too much of a Gayle partisan and was influenced by what appeared to be his discomfort...
Second set: If they had started off originally back in the tradition, here, they were firmly on contemporary ground. More abstract sonically, Gayle using his breath to lightly brush at the back of the notes, foregrounding their production, as Few used the inside of his piano to good effect, laying some keyboard sonorities to match Gayle's excursions. Bass and drums equally at home in this world of sound texture – but I haven't seen Gayle go so far in this mode before, which was fascinating. They were playing as a band now, it seemed, the sax coming onto the notes more, abrupt phrases being stretched and toyed with as he started to take it onwards in some delirious flows of notes that went from high register – where he has immaculate control – to deep, dark burrowings – again slightly unusual for a man who often plays in the middle and higher registers and frequently doubles on alto. Tonight was all tenor – and a powerful statement, at that. Some of the passages here were amongst the best I have heard him play, heart-wrenching vocalised streams that went way beyond the conception of mere 'notes.' As the set progressed he crouched over his instrument, turning his back to the piano and bass, playing straight at the drummer who held his line smartly. Whether this was to block Few out of his ears – who knows? He left the stage again for the trio to take over, much of it piano backed by bass – Harry Swift, eyes closed with concentration a couple of times as he reached for the notes to support Few. The pianist has expressed his knowledge and love of classical music and his florid rolling rhapsodising displays this, disrupted by suddenly, abruptly lashing a crunching chord/cluster across the flow, like a boulder tossed into a stream. Few used hand signals to bring in the other two in accurate unison for these accents and I enjoyed this trio section more than in the previous set, the music seemed more focused. Gayle returned and they went out on a rocking blues, somewhat surprisingly, although it was fascinating to hear his take on a conventional form, oblique runs that stretched and tugged at the twelve bar structure. But the blues (and spirituals – secular balanced with sacred) are never far from the 'feeling' of his music.
I thought the gig was over so hurried off for a piss before I went in search of the 38 bus back to Travelodgeville and returned to discover Gayle at the piano, doing a solo encore – brilliantly. Fragments of stride piano came through here and there, cross-cut to long rolling runs that almost evoked Art Tatum. Some don't rate him as a pianist – but I like his style and find that I follow his logic well enough – tonight, it was as if something had to be proved. I don't know if there really was needle between the two headliners, but maybe this was some kind of a statement. Another criticism of his keyboard playing is that he doesn't leave a lot of space, which is unfair – you could say the same about Tatum, for example - but I have heard him play very simply and delicately when the material dictated, spirituals and folk material, for example. Tonight it was two-fisted take-no-prisoners time – a tour de force, pretty much, knocking on the door of a couple of standards in passing – 'Willow weep for me' and 'Body and Soul' I caught – which he referred to melodically but freely, not binding himself to the overall chordal structures. Free jazz, I guess they call it, of which there is currently no finer practitioner in my opinion. He was superb...
An odd gig, then – it would have been very interesting if they were booked on for another night, to see how these different approaches played out over another couple of sets. Maybe...
Here's a vid of the Bobby Few Trio from last year...
And one of Charles Gayle, taken at his last Cafe Oto gig in January...
2 comments:
Bobby Few is a bad ass!!
http://www.avramfefer.com/
Seems so...
Post a Comment