So Happy Together: NU Band in Easthampton

Communion. That’s the word that kept coming to me as the NU Band delivered a masterful performance on January 12 at the 121 Club in Easthampton. The deep connection between the band members, between the musicians and the 70 of us in attendance, and between audience members, was palpable and profound.

The concert, number six in Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares sixth season, featured Mark Whitecage, alto saxophone, clarinet, flute; Thomas Heberer, trumpet; Joe Fonda, bass, and Lou Grassi, drums. The quartet, with Heberer replacing the late Roy Campbell in 2014, has been intact since 2003. On the bandstand and off, the group seemed to revel in concentrated and consecrated affinity.

Often the musicians would face each other while playing; there were times when the bells of trumpet and saxophone were a mere two or three feet apart. Although there were jaw-dropping solos throughout, it was the interaction amongst the members that was most inspiring. From Fonda singing background riffs that Whitecage then used to support a trumpet solo to their seamless joint navigation of tricky tempo changes, the NU Band is an ensemble in sync.

And not only simpatico, but a band of equals. Over two, well-paced sets of original material, all four musicians contributed compositions, with each author introducing his own pieces. The band – in their 80’s (Whitecage), 70’s (Grassi), 60’s (Fonda) and 50’s (Heberer) – share an extroverted, post-bop expressiveness that elevated all present.

The band connected with the audience, as well. Afterwards, they expressed what almost all visiting improvisers report: that Valley jazz audiences are attentive, knowledgeable and invested, and considerably larger in number than they’re used to. Feeding off the crowd’s energy, the band delivered streams of heart-felt, life-affirming sounds.

The person-to-person loop was also manifest among audience. Thanks to the set break and our usual after-concert reception, there was ample opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new ones. Musicians also often comment on the community we’ve built.

Back to the solos. Late in the evening, Thomas Heberer began a piece unaccompanied, with a boggling display of extended technique. Is it just my imagination, or is it true that no instrument has undergone such a substantial expansion of its recent vocabulary, as the trumpet. Nate Wooley, Peter Evans, Jaimie Branch (next in the Jazz Shares queue), Taylor Ho Bynum and Axel Dörner all come to mind. Heberer’s use of voice, circular breathing, bee-like buzzing, all made for a riveting solo, continuing after his lips left the horn. Yelps and applause ensued.

Our old friend Joe Fonda, who has been to the Valley each of the last six years (with Conference Call, Barry Altschul, Karl Berger, Michael Mussilami and OGJB Quartet), also elicited excitement with his solo of slaps, double-strumming and other never before seen techniques, all while building a coherent musical statement. There’s a funny Mutt and Jeff juxtaposition of towering bass and diminutive bassist. But his spirit is so large and infectious, we are no longer surprised by Fonda’s joyful lifting of the bandstand.

What a thrill to hear Mark Whitecage play. The evening’s opening number, Five O’Clock Follies, established his deep be-bop lineage. He sailed through the up-tempo romp with an effortlessness that belied respiratory challenges. The final piece of the night, Grassi’s The Last of the Beboppers (Clean Feed’s Pedro Costa’s description of Whitecage,) also featured the alto saxophonist swinging his 80-year old ass off. In between, he played dark chocolate clarinet and, on his original, Prayer for the Water Protectors, a Native American flute. He’s waiting to get his hands on a fujara flute made from PVC pipe. Reason enough to have him back.

NU Band is a cooperative ensemble, but Fonda and Lou Grassi chase down gigs and firm up details. Grassi is a journeyman in the best, most noble sense of the word. Generating work by germinating relationships with producers, label chiefs and many fabulous musicians (he was a good friend and long-time collaborator with the Valley’s David Wertman), Grassi has carved a productive career out of unforgiving material. His crisp drumming gave the evening its backbone, its architecture.

Coming together in community to share a sublime moment or two. That’s what Jazz Shares means to me. Thanks to musical warriors like NU Band for helping us transcend the ugliness around us and inspire us for the fight ahead.

‘Tis the Season: Mars Williams Ayler Xmas Visits Holyoke

Context matters. What we understand, and how we feel about it, is shaped by what surrounds it. Take, for instance, the venerable Christmas carols that Mars Williams and his all-star sextet delivered to about 90 revelers at Gateway City Arts on Friday, December 1.

We all know the songs: “O Tannenbaum”, “Noël”, “12 Days of Christmas”, “Good King Wenceslas”. We’ve heard them our whole lives, in banks, churches, super markets and on sidewalks. But it seems safe to say that none of us has heard them through the filter of the distinctive lightening rod that was Albert Ayler. A 1960s titan of the New Thing in jazz, Ayler had a blues drenched attitude on the tenor saxophone that writer Larry Kart called, “the largest human sound I ever heard.”

Most Christmas jazz music has little spiritual power. Mars Williams’ Ayler Xmas was quite the opposite. I heard these beautiful themes as if for the first time, imbued with a potency missing from Perry Como’s work. This was a cleansing, an antidote to the cheapening of this music by corporate and consumer interests.

The Chicago tenor saxophonist Mars Williams has been channeling Ayler for eight years with his band, Witches & Devils. “A lot of Ayler themes sound like spirituals,” Williams recently told the Hampshire Gazette’s Ken Mauiri, “and a lot of his melodies are based on gospel and Scandinavian folk songs, and a lot of Christmas music came out of that area. To me, it’s a perfect marriage.”

The sound produced by Joe McPhee, tenor sax, pocket trumpet, Jeb Bishop, trombone, Joe Morris, guitar, Nate McBride, bass, Chris Corsano, drums and Mars Williams, was inundating. The three horns played sweetly, like some off-kilter Salvation Army Philharmonic. Then the three horns caterwauled with escalating energy, stoked by the fabulous rhythm section. Williams’ wide vibrato and controlled altissimo shrieks bore an uncanny resemblance to Ayler’s distinctive sound.

There was a centrifugal trajectory for much of the evening. A full-throated, “traditional” opening would speed up, then launch to the heavens. In the middle of this unbridled energy, the ensemble took a page from the playbook of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and performed a “sound piece.” Williams played thumb piano, toys and little instruments, while the band colored the proceedings with subdued, abstract gestures. It was a welcome respite to the fun-filled cacophony that preceded it.

Williams had an “aha moment” years ago when he picked up his saxophone while listening to Christmas music and realized the affinity between the worlds of Albert Ayler and the ubiquitous carols. The seasonal melodies, including the Hanukkah song, “Ma’oz Tzur”, were woven, medley-style, with Ayler themes like, “Truth is Marching In,” “Spirits” and “Bells”. The fit was seamless and made perfect sense.

Williams’ Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares concert in Holyoke was the first of ten, each with a different line-up. His December 10th gig at the Hungry Brain in Chicago, where An Ayler Xmas (Soul What Records, 2017) was recorded, will feature his home-boys from the record. His performance in Antwerp will be with four musicians he’s never met.

Joe Morris and Williams have met, but had never played together. The veteran guitarist, who has an extensive discography and a long list of accomplished former students, thrived in this setting, issuing two extraordinary unaccompanied solos and some of the most interesting comping I’ve heard in a long time. After the show Morris told Williams how easy and fun it was. “There was so much for me to do,” he said.

For all the free blowing and loose togetherness within the pieces, the arrangements required precision, some at break-neck tempos. Although Williams had sent the musicians charts in advance, the two-hour rehearsal prior to the concert was essential to the bands’ tight performance.

The virtuosity of the musicians, and their embrace of Williams’ vision, meant that the music was full of passion and good tidings, never trite or sentimental. The music, finally rescued from its drab misuse, transformed into free, spiritual music.

Slavic Soul Party! Brings the Magic

When music inspires both feet and minds, the spirit can soar. The nine-piece band of merry makers, known as Slavic Soul Party! (yes, the exclamation point is part of their name), travelled to Amherst, by way of Brooklyn, by way of Skopje, to revel with 350 appreciative listeners at Bowker Auditorium, on Thursday, November 16, as the 29th season of the UMass Fine Arts Centers’ Magic Triangle Jazz Series marched on.

Led by percussionist Matt Moran, SSP! is a quintessential 21st century band, a hybrid, comfortable in a variety of settings. According to their biography, over 17 years they have performed “from pasha’s palaces to dive bars, Carnegie Hall to Serbian schoolyards, festival stages to prison courtyards.” Their concert on the elegant Bowker Auditorium stage was followed the next evening by a performance at the Williamsburg Grange (Massachusetts, not Brooklyn), playing in the middle of a spongy floor with dancers all around them.

The band’s ease of being was matched by Moran’s informative, easy-going engagement with his Magic Triangle audience. Throughout, he gave thoughtful, concise context for the selections, showing a real grasp and a high regard for the rich world of Balkan music. When he asked if there was anyone from the Balkans in the audience, there was a smattering of applause and shouts. He responded with a “welcome” and a thank you (the same in all Slavic-based languages), then played a traditional Macedonian lesno (a dance in 7/8.)

We know Moran as a fantastic vibraphone player, who in the last couple of years has performed in the Pioneer Valley with Nate Wooley’s Quintet and John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet. With SSP! he plays a bass drum with a small cymbal on top, known variously throughout the region as tapan (Serbia), toba (Romanian), davul (Turkey) or dhol (Armenia). The harnessed drum, produces two very distinct tones: a bass tone made with a mallet and a higher pitched sound made with a thin stick that easily cut through the band’s dense sound. Moran moved inside the slight semi-circle formed by the eight musicians, directing the ensemble with feints and choreographed drum accents.

SSP! began in 2000 and has had a slowly rotating cast of first rate instrumentalists. Four of the nine musicians in Amherst were not on their most recent release, the celebrated 2016 Ropeadope recording of Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite. Their weekly Tuesday gig at Barbès, an intimate night spot in Park Slope, Brooklyn, gives the band ample opportunity to break in new members and new material. The Far East Suite was recorded live at Barbès.

What separates SSP! from other extraverted, good-time brass bands is the sheer virtuosity of its members. John Carlson, Kenny Warren (trumpet), Tim Vaughn, Beserat Tafesse (trombone), Eddie Barbash (saxophone), Kenny Bentley (tuba), Peter Stan (accordion), Jake Shandling (snare drum) and Matt Moran are all accomplished musicians with a wealth of varied playing experience. Their solos on the Ellington material, traditional Balkan tunes and Moran originals brought extra energy to the room.

Special mention must be made of accordionist Peter Stan, a Roma musician from Serbia. His unaccompanied solos were filled with rich, arpeggiated runs and, as the only chordal instrument on stage, his comping added a piquant modernity to the proceedings.

As the satisfied throng was leaving the theater, I heard people reference the heft of Tower of Power, the infectiousness of New Orleans marching bands and the dance-ability of a James Brown revue. This music – of, for and by the people – was distinctly East European, yet accessible to all who love music with a social purpose.