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.

Complex and Diverse: Harris Eisenstadt’s Old Growth Forest

Gone are the days when drummers were considered musically illiterate timekeepers. Today many bandleaders who play drums also write, and in the span of two weeks, Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares has presented two of the most compelling drummer/composers in jazz. With few others, John Hollenbeck, who performed with his Claudia Quintet in Holyoke on May 27, and Harris Eisenstadt, who brought Old Growth Forest to Northampton’s Parlor Room on June 11, stand among the preeminent composers who play drums.

But Eisenstadt is a case apart. In all of his projects (Canada Day, Golden State, September Trio, Old Growth Forest) and on all his recordings as a leader (20 and counting), he is the sole composer, and a convincing one. His set in Northampton featured 10 new, unrecorded originals that showed the full range of his composing skills.

Old Growth Forest is Tony Malaby, tenor and soprano saxophone, Jeb Bishop, trombone and Jason Roebke, bass. The new book of tunes, honed during a February tour (their Jazz Shares stop was snowed out) and a June 10 hit at the Lilypad in Cambridge, were complex and richly expressive. The Jazz Shares concert was professionally recorded; perhaps we will get to hear it again someday.

Each piece in the set, such as Shade Canopy and Biomass, referenced some aspect of the forested world. The music was as varied as the ecosystem it references. Tempo shifts, and the mood along with it, often occurred within individual compositions. The range of cleanly articulated sound that emanated from Tony Malaby’s saxophones was spellbinding. His front line partner Jeb Bishop delivered a diverse set of complete ideas with the full-throated vocal quality we look for in a trombonist. Whether in lock step or at cross rhythm, Roebke and Eisenstadt were in shared mental space. The swing sections seemed deeper surrounded as they were by periods of suspended time, the ambiguity heightening the experience of certainty that comes with a groove.

During our post concert hang, which for Bishop and Roebke extended to the following day, we got to find out more. Bishop is learning the Boston jazz scene, having relocated from North Carolina a little over a year ago. Although born in the Tar Heel state, he came of musical age in Chicago and is closely identified with the creative music scene in the city. He has deep roots there.

So does Roebke, who has longstanding associations with Mike Reed, Jason Adasiewicz and Jason Stein. The bassist recounted the completely unique experience of playing free jazz in some of the biggest arenas in North America. Roebke, along with drummer Mike Pride are two-thirds of bass clarinetist Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isadore. Opening more than 60 shows for Stein’s sister, Amy Schumer, brought them to Madison Square Garden, Air Canada Centre and Joe Louis Arena, playing for thousands more than the few dozen denizens who usually turn out for avant-garde music. We talked about the AACM and the challenges of keeping organizations vibrant, and we talked about Roscoe Mitchell, who Roebke saw every day for a year and a half as his copyist.

As Jazz Shares prepares for a smooth landing of Season 5 on Saturday, June 17 with the Curtis Brothers, it is a joy to reflect on all the good music that came our way this year. Here’s to more years and more inspiring music.