Most Welcome Sounds: Tom Rainey Trio Kicks Off Season 6 of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares

No music stands were needed on Thursday, September 14 as the Tom Rainey Trio launched Season Six of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. The cluttered, but homey barn at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen was full of extra amps and instruments, but full-blown improvisers travel light, with no written notes in sight.

The veteran drummer Tom Rainey, along with his fearless collaborators, guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, gave a spirited, telepathic, 75-minute lesson in creative tightrope walking. No net needed.

The band, which has recorded three albums to date, was in the midst of an 11-city U.S. tour when they touched down at June Millington and Ann Hackler’s magical space, far from everywhere. They had completed seven concerts, with three to go.

We talked over dinner about some of the other gigs on their itinerary, presented by plucky, cash-strapped, die-hards like Paul Lichter in Portland, Maine, Mark Christman in Philadelphia and Bernard Lyons in Baltimore. It was inspiring, yet a little disconcerting to think that this brilliant, constantly evolving American music, revered everywhere on the planet, survives in the States on the backs of a few, grass-roots organizations.

I wished I had the opportunity to hear the Trio a second night, wondering how different the band sounds concert to concert. At IMA, the group would settle on a motif, only to have it pass away. Sitting eyes closed in a stuffed chair in the back without sightlines, it felt like a dream where images and the feelings they evoked scroll by with little time to analyze or reflect. The meaning that emerged from three deeply listening musicians was coherent and revelatory.

There was a moment towards the end of the evening that did have me craning my neck to try to decipher the sound. A meditative, yet curious Buddhist-like chant emerged from the mix. Was it a voice, a voice through a horn, an effect through the guitar, or coming from on high? No matter, it was transcendent.

Halvorson’s role in the threesome was the most varied. At times, she provided ambient drones, elsewhere walking bass lines, at other points a skronked rock vibe. Her sound, utterly her own and devoid of clichés, continues to impress. Even those who have yet to warm to her unique approach, have to give it up; she is doing exactly what is required of all artists: synthesizing the past in service to a present of her own making.

Laubrock has been through Jazz Shares with her own stellar Quintet (Tim Berne, Ben Gerstein, Dan Peck and Tom Rainey) and Andrew Drury’s Content Provider (with Briggan Krauss.) On Thursday she played soprano and tenor saxophone in equal measure, equally well. Like Halvorson, Laubrock has managed to not sound like any of her contemporaries, showing no interest in becoming the next Joe Lovano.

Tom Rainey (not to be confused with NEPR’s Tom Reney) is simply one of the most accomplished living jazz drummers. As we were preparing for the concert I started to pull recordings featuring Rainey. The pile was large and important, and included some of Tim Berne, Tom Varner, Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Kris Davis, and Tony Malaby’s best work. The perennial sideman, in the last seven years Rainey has started to lead bands. His light touch as a leader, and his sensitivity on his instrument, allows ideas to flow and be heard.

“Authentic acts tend to get noticed amid the fakery and correctness on which postmodern culture thrives.” This statement from Adbusters’ Field Guide to a New World Order rings true for those of us who live outside the mass consumption of popular culture. The 60 people lucky enough to find themselves inside the IMA barn, even those unprepared for the Trio’s free expression, reveled in the impulse to create genuine, personal, authentic musical statements.

Mark Dresser Seven begins 29th Season of the Magic Triangle Jazz Series

The Magic Triangle Jazz Series began its 29th season with a surfeit of virtuosity on Sunday, September 10 when the Mark Dresser Seven filled Bezanson Recital Hall with a mind-bending evening of music. The veterans in the band: trombonist Michael Dessen, clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, flutist Nicole Mitchell, drummer Jim Black, and bassist Mark Dresser are known entities, acknowledged masters who have voluminous discographies and multiple performance credits in the Pioneer Valley. They all met our high expectations. The revelations were provided by pianist Joshua White and violinist David Morales Boroff, two young men who blew away this listener, and judging from audience reaction, others, with their outsized talent.

Our friend Jason Robinson, who first encountered White as a teenager at a San Diego jazz camp, has been singing his praises for years. But I was unprepared for the musical vision and blazing technique that the 32-year old White unleashed. Rapid torrents of block chords juxtaposed with delicate, heartbreaking passages of beauty left our jaws agape. When I asked him about his studies, he smiled and said he had bounced around a bit. Michael Dessen, part of the southern California contingent (Dessen and Mitchell teach at UC Irvine; Dresser at UC San Diego), remarked that most university jazz programs are not designed for musicians like White, not only because of his advanced skills, but because his vision is so much wider than most programs. White, who finished second at the 2011 Thelonious Monk piano competition, was riveting even when he wasn’t playing, slouched, folded in half, listening intently.

Boroff is a 23-year old undergraduate on full scholarship at Berklee School of Music, where he is studying with Simon Shaheen. Already fully formed, Boroff “hears everything,” says Dresser, who first encountered him in his native San Diego. Equally proficient producing rich tones and otherworldly creaks and screeches, the violinist seemed completely at ease playing with accomplished musicians some almost three times his age.

The concert featured music from Dresser’s new Clean Feed release, Sedimental You, a crowning achievement in a career filled with them. From his three previous Magic Triangle performances: duos with Mark Helias and Roswell Rudd, as well as a monumental solo recital, we knew Dresser was a monster on his instrument. Of course he played brilliantly. During one particularly riveting solo bass statement, Ehrlich looked out at his Hampshire College students, as if to say, “Can you believe what you’re hearing and seeing?” This concert showcased his considerable compositional skills.

Sometimes, like the opening composition, Hobby Lobby Horse, the tempo seemed to change bar to bar. Other times, like during the dark, gorgeous ballad, Will Well, dedicated to the great trombonist Roswell Rudd, Dresser provided a uniform bed upon which to improvise. After the concert, Batya Sobel and I both remarked about the piece’s deep, evocative opening chords. White’s solo, delicate and full of consonance, was all the more remarkable when contrasted to his previous one, a churning deluge of smashed keys.

All of Dresser’s compositions, performed in the order they appear on the record, have a story behind them. I wish he had explained them a bit, like he did the previous evening at Hartford’s Real Art Ways. No worries though, the liner notes on the CD give context for Dresser’s evocative pieces.

Dresser has a residency at The Stone, in New York, September 12-17, beginning with the Septet we heard in Amherst. The week also includes Deep Tones for Peace Bass Ensemble (Rufus Reid, Mark Helias, Linda Oh, Jorge Roeder, Ratzo Harris, Ken Filiano, Lisa Mezzacappa, Trevor Dunn, Dave Phillips, Thomas Helton and Mark Dresser), and appearances by Jane Ira Bloom, Hafez Modirzadeh, Mark Feldman, Craig Taborn, Peter Evans and other beacons of creative music.

I am hard pressed to think of another bass player who combines the instrumental virtuosity, composing chops, teaching skills, and organizational acumen as Mark Dresser. Having spent critical years in Connecticut in the 1980s, and having taught at Hampshire College in the early 2000s, Dresser has roots in southern New England. I am glad he includes regular stops in western Massachusetts so we can witness the continuing evolution of one of our national musical treasures.

Curtis Brothers Quartet Concludes Season 5 of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares

On stage and off, family was front and center on Saturday, June 17 at the Community Music School of Springfield, as the curtain came down on Season 5 of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. We got to meet Curtis family members: pianist Zaccai and bassist Luques led their working quartet; older brother Damien, who sat in quite ably on piano was in the house, as were parents Ted and Abby, Luques’ wife and young daughter, some extended relatives and lots of friends.

The love and familiarity gave the evening a celebratory feel, and despite the marble walls and imposing scale of Robyn Newhouse Hall, a warm vibe permeated the space. The concert marked the recent release of the Curtis brother’s latest recording, Syzygy, on their collectively run label: Truth Revolution Records.

The 80-minute concert featured a number of titles from the recording, and 75 audience members were treated to an evening of Latin jazz of the highest order. Featuring Richie Barshay on drum kit and Reinaldo de Jesus on congas, the Quartet was polished and professional.

Although only in their mid-thirties, the four have decades of experience on the bandstand. Collectively, they have been in the employ of Herbie Hancock, Eddie Palmieri, Lauryn Hill, Donald Harrison, Chick Corea, Bill O’Connell and the Klezmatics. Zaccai, who was an engaging master of ceremonies, told us that he and his brother already have 20 years of experience of playing with Barshay. In 2005, I hired their larger ensemble Insight, to open for Ray Barretto at UMass Amherst.

Originally, Jazz Shares was supposed to present the Ralph Peterson Trio featuring the Curtis brothers, but the great drummer was recovering from recent surgery. Zaccai gave a health update and a beautiful tribute to his mentor. Joe Henderson’s composition, Inner Urge, featured on the Trio’s release, Triangular III, served as the concert’s encore.

At one point Zaccai broke down the effective marriage of African-American swing and Afro-Cuban rhythm by asking de Jesus to lay down a typical Abakuá rhythm in 6/8, then having Barshay swing in 4/4 on his ride cymbal, then Luques joined in, floating between both worlds. The diasporic coming together made perfect sense, resulting in compelling music.

The concert included two soul pop standards, Thom Bell’s Betcha By Golly Wow and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Bud Powell’s bop classic Hallucinations and the Zaccai Curtis original Syzygy, all featured on the new record. Another highlight was their up-tempo rendition of Charlie Palmieri’s Start the World I Want to Get On. The piece is from Palmieri’s landmark release A Giant Step, which served as a critical signpost in Zaccai’s development. The driving son montuno got a handful of audience members out of their seats and moving.

An astronomical term, syzygy is the alignment of three celestial bodies, such as the earth, moon and sun. On Saturday, the music gods were aligned as these young talents brought us together in community to give thanks and revel in musical fellowship.

Gratitude abounds for our family of 90 shareholders and 18 business sponsors who made Season 5 of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares such a success. We are now 50 concerts into our little experiment in collective concert production. We are excited about Season 6 and, with young veterans like Barshay, de Jesus and the Curtis brothers, the future of our music.