Despite All Odds: Christoph Irniger Quartet Begins Jazz Shares Season 10

The jazz life is not an easy life. Precarious financials, dwindling performance opportunities, record industry collapse, and a jazz-illiterate American public all mean that today’s jazz musician must have steel–reinforced resolve. And that’s before COVID-19 was added to the list of obstacles.

Despite these long odds, Christoph Irniger made the trek from Europe to perform five gigs in the U.S., concluding in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, as Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares began its 10th season of concerts. The Swiss tenor saxophonist was joined by fellow countryman Raffaele Bossard on bass, along with alto saxophonist Michaël Attias, and drummer Ziv Ravitz, two well-travelled, Israeli-born musicians, who have lived all over the world.

Iringer’s compositions, which filled the 75-minute set, were full of memorable lines. Melody matters to Irniger and his pieces were full of compelling shapes that moved in multiple directions. “First time I heard Christoph Irniger’s ‘Air’ I thought, ah, that’s a nice tune,” wrote Kevin Whitehead. “The second time, it was like I’d been hearing it all my life – his best melodies have that sort of insinuating quality.” The band performed twice in Zürich, where he lives and teaches, before embarking to the States, giving the Quartet ample time to live inside the music. The results were fantastic.

Irniger, Bossard and Ravitz have been working together as a trio for over a decade.Their two recordings: Gowanus Canal (2012, Intakt Records) and Octopus (2014, Intakt Records) demonstrates their deep rapport. The concert pulled from these recordings as well as a 2020 Intakt release, Open City, where the trio was joined by alto saxophonist Loren Stillman. When Stillman could not make the tour, Irniger asked the veteran alto saxophonist Michaël Attias to join the band.

The 45 masked, fully–vaccinated patrons who spread out comfortably at the Shea Theater were treated to a well-paced program of music that wasboth soothing and provocative. The music existed mostly in mid-tempo, with the horns operating largely in the middle registers. But there was nothing middle of the road about it. The colors and tonal range were distinctive and its emotional relevance was ever present.

Irniger brought his quintet, Pilgrim, for a 2019 Jazz Shares concert in Springfield, with Bossard the only holdover. Although the instrumentation was different (the earlier band included piano and guitar), Irniger’s tone, with its smooth, Getz-like quality was the same, as was his compositional playbook, which remained full of hummable lines and inviting harmonies.

Attias, the elder statesman at 53, was a joy to hear. His last trip to the Valley was a 2018 visit with Angelica Sanchez’ Nonet, and he has lost none of his commanding fluency and bite. His solos closely explored each composition, probing nooks and crannies for new insights. When the two horns locked, their embroidered counterpoint had a sense of inevitability. When bass and drums dropped out, the sound of the two saxophones sung purely and reached the rafters.

Ravitz was a revelation. It’s always a thrill to see a player for the first time, and his pattered fills and his use of a small, crash cymbal full of holes gave the ensemble a kinetic energy that added drama throughout the evening. His familiarity with the material let him anticipate every twist and turn, allowing him to sail along, animating and accenting.

Bossard possesses a fat, rounded tone that just felt good. His bond with his rhythm mate was palpable and his multiple solos were short, to the point and provided palate–cleansing respite. He deftly handled all the administrative details for the tour, and that skill translated to the bandstand, where he kept things on time and in line.

Over a post-concert drink (alas, the pandemic has put the kibosh on our usual Jazz Shares reception), Ravitz told us of approaching the mayor of the small city south of Paris where he now lives. New to town, he had a vision of a three-day jazz festival. His cold-call was met with great enthusiasm. What did Ravitz need from the city? They would write grants, provide resources, and support the idea however they could. As someone who had lived in the U.S. for a long time, the drummer was dumbfounded. For artists and presenters in the States, such a scenario is pure fantasy. In this land, the marketplace rules, and artists and presenters are left to their own devices. No wonder folks always ask if jazz is dead. Traveling uphill makes you weary. That musicians still cross oceans to make the effort to scratch out a creative life is inspiring, indeed.

Gateway to the Future: Román Díaz Rumba Ensemble

Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares began its 9thseason in September, 2020 with a series of three virtual concerts by violinist and vocalist Terry Jenoure called Portal. The season ended on June 13, 2021 with an in-the-flesh affair featuring the life affirming music of the Román Díaz Rumba Ensemble. To invoke the most prescient and prevalent metaphor of our time, we are sailing through a portal and stand ready to shape a new future.

The tribulations of the past year were laid to rest in a barn atop a hill on the bucolic Valley View Farm in Haydenville. There the percussionist, singer and scholar Román Díaz led his seven-member group in a program of religious Afro-Cuban music that summoned the Orishas that will surely guide us in the months and years ahead. Díaz, who came to the U.S. from Havana in 1999, is widely acknowledged as a living repository of traditional Cuban folkloric music. His ensemble: Sandy Perez, Vanessa Ayaba Irawo, Rafael Monteagudo, Onel Mulet, Abraham Rodriguez and Clemente Medina, have long history together. All have dedicated their lives to the preservation and practice of Afro-Cuban music.

Over 200 people gathered in the open-air barn and on the surrounding grounds, smiling and hugging after 15 long months of isolation. Then from their dressing room, the musicians emerged singing and playing shekere as they slowly made their way to the stage, pausing by an altar honoring our friend Victor “Cuco” Guevara, a music lover in the broadest sense and a charter member of Jazz Shares, who passed in 2017.

The ensuing 90 minutes were transformative. The music, the setting, our rekindled understanding of the importance of community, all came together with a sense of newness, urgency and joy.

I don’t have knowledge of the music and tradition like Brandon Marger, who supplied the congas and timbales, or Miguel Periche, who brought the three, two-headed Batá drums and danced in the aisles, or Dr. Ivor Miller, a friend of the musicians and an expert on Cuban cultural history, whose flight from Cameroon brought him home a day late for the concert. But I know enough to recognize the real deal when I hear it.

There were a few jazz oriented pieces like Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” and “Tin Tin Deo” and W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues”, which gave saxophonist and flutist Onel Mulet a chance shine. But most of the evening was a dive into the deep well of traditional rumba music. The presence of trap drums, played wonderfully by Rafael Monteagudo, gave the music a wrinkle and bite. The youngest member of the group, Monteagudo had a full understanding of the chants and rhythms, while adding the snap crackle of the drum kit to the mix.

All seven members of the ensemble sang. When they sang together, their fullness resonated in our bodies and our souls. Besides Díaz, whose large frame produced a mellifluous low-pitched sound, the principle singers w

ere Abraham Rodriguez and Vanessa Ayaba Irawo.

Rodriguez, whose godfather was the legendary percussionist Orlando “Puntilla” Ríos, has performed with Eugenio “Totico” Arango, Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino and Michelle Rosewoman. His strong voice and infectious spirit lifted the bandstand.

Vanessa Ayaba Irawo is a remarkable singer born and living in Gloucester, Massachusetts with her husband, percussionist Sandy Perez. Known more for its sea faring culture than as a hot bed of Afro-Cuban music, Ayaba Irawo, whose birth name is Lindberg, has nevertheless become a master of the form. On multiple occasions after the performance, the musicians broke into song to share chants, which she often led. In her role out front of some of the Yoruba-based sacred songs, she served as “akpwon,” or lead singer.

I first met Díaz, widely referred to as “el Maestro”, on June 11, 2015 when he performed a Jazz Shares concert with pianist David Virelles. A Facebook memory of him and Virelles along with Pablo Yglesias, Cuco and me around my dinner table popped up on the six-year anniversary. It also appeared on Díaz’ timeline.

The Román Díaz Rumba Ensemble was originally scheduled to perform at the Magic Triangle Jazz Series at UMass on March 26, 2020. Those 15 months have been filled with loss and sadness, but the wait made the celebration of this ancient and evolving tradition all the sweeter. We have entered the portal.

Music Survives: Jon Irabagon/Anna Webber Livestreams

Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares produced its eighth, Year of the Pandemic livestreamed concert in Holyoke, MA. on Sunday, April 18 featuring the Jon Irabagon Quartet. The seventh such event, which took place in Amherst on December 9, 2020, starred the Anna Webber/Eric Wubbels Duo. These “half-a-loaf” concerts are, I suppose, better than none. While there is no substitute for being in the vibrational presence of living musicians, at least these events are being well presented and well documented by talented folks at Amherst Media and Holyoke Media. The chief benefit of producing during a shutdown, of course, are the real paydays they provide musicians and the chance for them to dust off some performing cobwebs. '

Irabagon’s Quartet: Matt Mitchell, piano, Chris Lightcap, bass and Dan Weiss, drums, performed at a nearly empty Wistariahurst Museum that was livestreamed by Holyoke Media. Irabagon was downright giddy at the opportunity to tour again after 13 months holed up. Irabagon reveled in the pleasures of laughing, bonding and listening to music while travelling with bandmates, as well as seeing his compositions come to life in real time. Fully vaccinated, the Quartet traversed the northeast in a stripped-down version of a tour that originally had 15 dates in 15 days. That routing miracle, of which Irabagon was rightfully proud, was laid waste by the twin scourges of the coronavirus and the Trump response. The only reason the concerts happened at all was the support of a Jazz Road touring grant that was due to expire.

The compositions we heard on Sunday were inspired by Irabagon’s recent 12-hour car ride from his childhood home (Chicago) to his current residence (New York). He spent the trip immersed in the music of Weather Report, the foundational 1970s fusion band co-led by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. Since not all the concert producers had access to an acoustic bass, Irabagon wrote a number of pieces that wove Lightcap’s phenomenal electric bass skills into his fusion vision. While the music we heard on Sunday did not draw direct comparison to Weather Report, much of it was funky in the extreme and full of memorable melody. After the concert – their sixth in six days – the group headed home to New York, where they were to record the next day.

Besides myself and Jazz Shares Vice President Priscilla Page, the only other audience was recent Amherst transplant Davy Lazar, a fantastic trumpet player who sat in on the last number, two friends of Irabagon’s, and Holyoke Media’s Scott MacPherson. Outside on the lawn next to an open screen door were Jazz Shares Board member Motoko Inoue and Peter Dellert. On instructions from the band, we applauded as best we could; it was a poignant reminder of how much musicians have missed interacting with audiences.

Irabagon is ever curious and resourceful. As the pandemic hit New York, he moved to South Dakota to stay with his wife’s family. He soon found a nearby canyon where he could practice for hours a day. Bird with Streams, his canyon recording of Charlie Parker tunes, is due soon. His music bursts in many directions. He gifted me six CDs, all but one on his own Irabbagast Records label. Among them a solo sopranino recording, three small groups in the “jazz tradition”, a new music date with string quartet and piano and a shredding noise group Irabagon calls his “brutal ensemble”.

Saxophonist and flutist Anna Webber and pianist Eric Wubbels moved to Greenfield, MA within the past year and were able to travel to Amherst Media to perform safely in December amidst growing infection rates. The repertoire, written by Webber and Wubbels, included impossibly fast unison lines, angular abstractions, periods of silence, split tones and melody as moody and romantic as one could wish for. The music was equal parts improvised and through composed.

Wubbels is a graduate of Amherst College and since 2004 has been pianist and co-director of the Wet Ink Ensemble, named Best Classical Music Ensemble of 2018 by the New York Times. In 2018, Jazz Shares hosted Webber’s Simple Trio featuring Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck. She also leads a septet and big band. The two are in the vanguard of artists fusing the worlds of new music and jazz, notated and improvised music.

Along with people like Darius Jones and James Brandon Lewis, Anna Webber and Jon Irabagon are among a small throng of dynamic and prolific reed players in their 30s and 40s who are obliterating our neat understanding of what a jazz saxophonist does.