Live review

George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, and Douglas Ewart convened to discuss the AACM and its history, and to play a brief concert. While the backdrop of George Lewis' imminent book release loomed large (and in fact loomed in the lobby, as the University of Chicago Press arrived to hock them post show), it wasn't the explicit topic or focus of the discussion.

The panel was lightly moderated by a student from the Art Institute of Chicago, who worked to put the event together under the auspices of their Masters of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy program. As a result, the ostensible topic was the organizational aspects of the AACM, although the conversation didn't follow very specific topics. Having recently finished George Lewis' book, there wasn't anything particularly revelatory in the panel, although there were several good laughs and moments of clarity from each panel member.

The panel lasted about an hour, and it was followed by a trio performance of about a half an hour. Nicole Mitchell brought the two extreme ends of her flute arsenal, her piccolo and her bass flute, Douglas Ewart played bass clarinet, didgeridoo, and piccolo, and George Lewis played trombone and laptop.

It struck me while listening to George Lewis process both his own instrument and the outputs of the other two musicians on stage that what he is not content with just creating the musical input, he also wants to create the room and acoustic space the music happens in. That is to say that when we play acoustic instruments, the walls and room provide basic acoustic treatments of reverb and space. George Lewis has the ability to augment those basic properties, but also take the acoustic space any other number of places.

It was basically one long improvisation, and to show that the AACM has still got it, there were a number of people who got up and left during the proceedings. Going on 45 years later, they still make many people visibly uncomfortable with their musical explorations.

A very nice event put on at the Cultural Center here in Chicago. I encourage any New Yorkers to check out the New York event happening May 9th that also features a great panel and a fantastic trio.

Yesterday was a great day of music here in Chicago, starting out at the Hyde Park Arts Center where I led a panel discussion about the realities of local musician run record labels. The panelists included Asian Improv Records co-founder Francis Wong (the other co-founder, Jon Jang didn't come out to Chicago for the festival this year), Tatsu Aoki, and co-owner/proprietors of Southport records, Bradley Parker-Sparrow and Joannie Palatto. There was a great crowd of around 75-100 people there, and it took place in a gallery enveloping us in visual art.

After talking about the history of their labels and how they came to be and interact, some interesting points came up in the ensuing conversation. One point made by Francis Wong was that they are not in the record business in the same way Columbia or Blue Note is. This might seem obvious, but his assertion tied into a recurring theme in the conversation, which was that these labels existed more to give these artists a voice than to make a lot of money. That point was hammered home by Tatsu Aoki, when asked about the role of the internet and technology in the label business, he noted that before they peddled records on the internet he sold about 10 copies a year of his solo bass album. Now that his records are all on the internet, he still sells about 10 copies a year.

Once we were done with our yapping, the first music of the day began. Billed as the Jeff Chan Trio Plus One Plus Two, it ended up being a reeds quintet featuring Jimmy Ellis on alto, Ed Wilkerson on tenor and clarinet, Jeff Chan on tenor and bass clarinet, Francis Wong on tenor and flute, and Lewis Jordan on alto and poetics.

Obvious comparisons to the WSQ aside, this was a great lineup that really took the music to a variety of interesting places. There were some very interesting compositions by Jeff Chan that added some structure while maintaining an improvisatory edge, and each member was featured at one point or another in the proceedings. One highlight was a solo montage by Jimmy Ellis who said he was going to paint a picture for the audience of a Sunday in his neighborhood growing up, where everyone would go to church in the morning and then the community would gather to spin jazz records in the afternoon, a trip to a different kind of church. Starting out slow with the sunrise and working through the church service, complete with a Come Sunday quote, once he got to the jazz portion he quoted a variety of standards in a fluid, unforced manner.

The evening festivities brought a reprise of a quartet that first got together last year for the Asian American Jazz Festival, playing two nights last year but only one this year. With Fred Anderson and Francis Wong on tenors, Tatsu Aoki on bass, and Chad Taylor in from New York on drums, I was anticipating the show since last year's music proved to be incendiary. While this year's set might not have reached the otherworldly highs that I recall from last year, it was still a superlative evening of music.

Tatsu Aoki and Chad Taylor are an incredible rhythm section, prone to locking into trance-like yet surprisingly malleable grooves that had many heads in the audience bobbing to the beat. There was one groove in the second set that any hip hop artist would have been proud to sample. It should be noted that Tatsu played incredibly well in spite of the fact that he has badly injured his back and had a full torso body cast on underneath his shirt, causing him considerable discomfort. Here's hoping he heals quickly and fully. Francis Wong and Fred Anderson both did their part, but there wasn't as much meshing of their musical sensibilities as I remember last year.

All in all, a fantastic day of music from all involved. I'm already looking forward to next year's fest.

I was back in Millennium Park a mere twelve hours later to take in local alt-country-rock-call-em-what-you-will heroes, Wilco.

It was certainly a different crowd, and the contrasts were particularly interesting since I took the show in from almost the exact same spot on the lawn.

I can't claim intimate knowledge of Wilco's music, but my peripheral listening has endeared me to their sound even if it hasn't made me a huge fan. I'd always heard rave reviews of their live shows though, and with the recent addition of Nels Cline to their lineup and the chance to see them at the idyllic Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park I snagged some lawn tickets and hit up the show.

I've been to many rock shows in the past but I hadn't attended a big one in years. It was interesting to note how much I love the sound of a cranked electric guitar and the ease with which I slipped into my bent knee, headbobbing, rock show stance.

One immediate contrast that stood out to me in seeing Wilco was the way they pace their set. They started out on a decidedly mellow note and built up the energy over the course of the whole show. If seeing Wilco live was cooking a meal, it would be like making a big pot of stew or sauce; starting off with a few ingredients, simmering, sauteing, adding spices, and eventually bringing the whole thing up to a boil, the sum of its parts creating a greater whole.

I'm more accustomed to rock shows that are more akin to cooking lobster: you start off with a pot of boiling water, throw in live creatures that squirm and submit, leading to a decadent feast of meat dipped in butter. A meal that requires a bib.

Even if Wilco doesn't require a bib, and probably goes better with a bottle of wine than with a shot of whiskey, they put on a great show.

Taking the cooking analogy one step too far, my biggest beef with the show was that Nels wasn't given enough room to stretch out. Just when he was giving me something meaty to sink my teeth into, we were swept back into the song without a proper rock and roll peak or enough space for Nels to really say something more developed musically.

As an aside: what's up with people and their cell phone cameras these days? It seems like people are more concerned with proving that they were at a show than actually enjoying the music. In addition, people who spend an entire musical event talking test the limits of my sanity and understanding.

They played a long set and then came out for two extended encores, the second one longer than the first. I apologize for any Wilco fans reading this (I wonder how much overlap there is in my usual reading audience) that I'm not more familiar with song titles, but I know they played a wide variety of music from their catalog, and that Jeff Tweedy said the songs were all requested by fans through their website. I'll try and dredge up a setlist from the depths of the internet later.

The show was a benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Kudos to Wilco for putting on a great show for a great cause.

EDIT: Setlist found!

Wilco
9/12/2007
Millennium Park
You Are My Face
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Pot Kettle Black
War on War
Handshake Drugs
Side With The Seeds
A Shot in the Arm
Impossible Germany
Via Chicago
Jesus, etc.
Too Far Apart
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird
On and On and On
Encore 1:
Misunderstood
Cars Can't Escape>
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Encore 2:
Hate It Here
Box Full of Letters
California Stars
Heavy Metal Drummer
Red-Eyed and Blue>
I Got You (At The End of the Century)
Casino Queen
Outtasite (Outtamind)

Dee Alexander had tried to put on this concert once before.

On August 23rd a storm rolled through Chicago that flooded streets, split trees, and smashed cars. There were reports of funnel clouds, and the sky was electric with lightning. Dee made it through two tunes in front of an incredibly brave crowd of about 50-100 people before the venue pulled the plug on the show. It's future was uncertain since the shows are presented rain or shine, but word came that the park wanted to do the show again, and it was rescheduled for September 11th.

Take two was a much more successful event. Clear skies on a beautiful fall night, and the one and only Ms. Dee Alexander paying tribute to two incredible musicians: Dinah Washington and Nina Simone.

There isn't a singer in the world I'd rather hear do a tribute to Dinah and Nina. I had no doubt that Dee's expressive range would easily span the careers of these two women with ease and grace, and I was not disappointed.

Joined by a band that in addition to the rhythm section included a three piece horn section, a string section, and then to top it off, Walt Whitman & The Soul Children of Chicago gospel choir came out for a show stopping finale.

When Dee sang "What A Difference A Day Makes," it worked on many levels: one day rain, the next day shine; many lives were taken, touched, and changed, and our national paradigm shifted in the 24 hours between September 10th,  2001 and the 11th. Dee announced at the top of the show that she would be celebrating the lives of those people that perished on Sept 11th, and she certainly did.

Some personal highlights included This Bitter Earth, Mississippi Goddamn, I Put A Spell On You, and Young Gifted And Black with the gospel choir. There was great playing throughout, although one standout solo came from perennially underrated local saxophonist James Perkins.

It was a great end to the series in Millennium Park this year. Every time I see Dee I'm astounded that the hasn't broke on a national level, and it's still a head scratcher for me. She has incredible talent, charisma, and presence,  and mixes innovative vocal techniques with an accessible traditional understanding of vocal jazz and blues. I still believe it's only a matter of time before she busts out nationally; in the mean time I guess we'll just keep her for ourselves here in Chicago.

Nicole Mitchell convened an expanded version of her Black Earth Ensemble, for this occasion called the Black Earth Orchestra, last night at Millennium Park for a tribute to the late great Alice Coltrane. Featuring a stellar lineup of local musicians, she also brought in Myra Melford on piano and harmonium, Matana Roberts on alto sax, and Maia on harp. The instrumentation of the local musicians included two violinists, two flutes in addition to Ms. Mitchell's, trumpet, tenor sax, bass and cello, a vocalist, a drummer and a percussionist.

Nicole named the concert Many Paths to the Sea, and all of the music was brand new compositions for this one time show. It wasn't a tribute where the artist's music is played repertory style; instead, Nicole drew from the inspiration of Alice Coltrane and also from some of the same areas that inspired Mrs. Coltrane, such as her spiritual practices.

In front of a large crowd at the park (I'd estimate somewhere in the realm of 5,000 in attendance), the band opened up with what I'd call a structured free improvisation. There was definitely free improvising going on, but I could see Nicole leading and there was a sense of arc, entrances and exits by various instruments, and it ended in a very clear manner.

A bunch of people got up and left during this portion. A mini-exodus. Amongst the things I heard uttered:

"Are they just warming up or is this supposed to be music?"

"You've got to be kidding me, this isn't serious music."

"They should be ashamed of themselves for playing like that in front of people."

It should be made clear that lots of tourists come to these Millennium Park shows completely unaware of what they're getting themselves into. I oftentimes wonder what they imagine when they hear about a "jazz concert": did they think Benny Goodman would be there to move them with swing? Were they expecting Bill Evans to caress them with his melodic lyricism? Maybe they were expecting Charlie Parker to rise from the dead and delight them with his bebop virtuosity?

It's a shame that some people have such a low tolerance for risk, and such small reserves of patience in their music listening habits. If they stuck around they would have heard a little bit of something for everyone.

In any case, people left, but many, many more remained.

From there Nicole unleashed a tour de force of music, combining complex composed arrangements with incredible playing from all the members of the band. Myra Melford did some time on harmonium, fitting in a tribute to Alice Coltrane. If I had to identify an element of the music that drew from the well of Mrs. Coltrane's sound it would be the groove and sense of trance and drone. There were some heavy grooves laid down by bassist Josh Abrams and cellist Tomeka Reid, with Marcus Evans on drums and Avreeayl Ra on percussion embellishing and aiding the groove.

There were pieces that featured the two violins and three flutes featured that displayed Nicole's classical influences, and I think it was great for her to have flutes to write for. She so often sounds like more than one flute on her own, so I think it allowed her to flesh out her ideas of the possibilities for the instrument.

Some personal highlights included a fantastic piano solo by Myra Melford about halfway into the show, and some intense sax solos from David Boykin and Matana Roberts, who complimented each other so well in style and presence.

All said and done it was an hour and a half straight of music from the Black Earth Orchestra. I don't know if Nicole has considered doing so, but if she hasn't I'll be the first to say that she should listen to the tapes and release this live recording if it holds up to repeated listens (which I think it will).

Next week in Millennium Park we have Muhal Richard Abrams playing a solo set, opposite ragtime wiz Reginald Robinson playing a set. Should be an interesting juxtaposition.

Until next time....