Pity – but really it didn’t matter – that stage announcer Jazz FM presenter Nikki Yeoh fluffed the spoken introduction as she began the evening stumbling over Craig Taborn’s name – no, he wasn’t Craig David.
Monday! Not an evening of UK garage at all as it could have turned out counterfactually had the Southampton smoocher actually been present.
Instead this was more full throttle, tough love powerful jazz that harked back to the 1970s, the pianist played to the max immediately at this Keith Jarrett American Quartet homage. A single set: the best bits were certainly within the first hour – it became more reflective after that.
But ferocity was what the Bad Plus, Dave King and Reid Anderson – a mighty drum and double bass team joined by their fellow Americans Taborn and Chris Potter – were about roaring into ‘(If The) Misfits (Wear It’).
King was the dominant personality and is a far feistier player than Paul Motian, his model for the evening.
There was a minimum of stage chat to the audience.
Softly spoken Anderson after a while mentioned some of the tunes.
Potter played brilliantly – some of his hugely long soloing had both power and grace.
Down the years I saw Jarrett, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian live in separate contexts and have seen all the players on stage on this occasion in different contexts.
The Bad Plus when Ethan Iverson was in the band played winningly with Dewey’s son Joshua Redman to great effect.
Potter stood with one monitor out front of his tenor is a different kind of player. His fluency is stunning and as lead soloist made a lot of impact. I heard him on this same stage with McCoy Tyner and most recently over at the Pizza in Soho in 2021 with Taborn and Nasheet Waits in his band in what was the best gig I heard that year.
Taborn is fundamentally an avant player but on this occasion wasn’t as edgy as he can be. He didn’t make the mistake at all of playing Jarrett licks or being in the vein of.
The syntax and sound grammar of the evening owed much to the Jarrett band’s debt to Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden.
Anderson made some key interventions as the music became more tender and personal. I’d love to hear a live recording of this storming set, particularly the first hour – let’s hope somebody was recording the show.
The crowd was soporific apart from a few heckles early on, Potter boyishly grinning as he surveilled the room. Apparently the Bad Plus are calling it a day under that moniker. Say it isn’t so!
Reid said the Jarrett sound was the product of a “group of maniacs” and that it was hard to “corral” them. He told an anecdote that Paul Motian told him about the guys going off to eat lobster instead of playing a show! There was nothing selfish or even shellfish about what these incredible guys do as a group. Anderson and King have left their mark on jazz history that’s obvious. An evening to renew your faith in the misfit, the maverick, the mysteries of jazz, majesty of Keith Jarrett’s gifts to humanity and so much more.
MORE FROM MARLBANK
You must be logged in to post a comment.