Harold Carr

Joshi Marshall Project in Sonoma

On April 9, 2010 Flavia and I heard the Joshi Marshall Project at the Plaza Bistro in Sonoma (part of the "Jazz in the Backroom" series sponsored by the Sonoma Jazz Society).

They really dug in - it sure wasn't "nice" dinner music for the wine crowd. I liked it a lot. Here is who played and their set list:

personnel

Joshi Marshall, tenor sax
Eric Vogler, bass
Eric Garland, drums

set list

... (they were already playing when we arrived)
Green Dolphin Street
?
In a Sentimental Mood

Seven Steps To Heaven
Chan Chan (from Buena Vista Social Club)
Oleo

Me We (original)
March of the Red Rhino (original)
Bemsha Swing

The Perpetual Snare

I shared some music Andrew and I recorded recently. A number of people asked for more.

A couple of years ago Andrew and I got together at Studio For with Terry Roleri (guitar) and Debra Craig (drums). Here are some cuts from that session.

Other Minds Festival of New Music

Carla Kihlstedt

On Thursday (3/4) I attended the opening night of the Other Minds Festival of New Music in San Francisco (with Andrew).

The first piece was Jurg Frey's Steichquartett II (1998-2000) performed by the Quatuor Bozzini string quartet. A very minimal, quiet, spacious work with a touch of danger. Basically it's the quartet playing one chord after another for a little over twenty minutes. Here is an excerpt of the first two minutes:

If you like that you can get the CD of that piece and four others from Edition Wandelweiser Records.

The next piece was Chou Wen-chung's Twilight Colors

At intermission Andrew and I talked to members of the ROVA saxophone quartet, Andrew's old band. They will be premiering a piece at Other Minds later in the week.

The next piece was a short solo piano work, also by Wen-chung: The Willow Are New. It was a quasi polytonal minor pentatonic piece.

The final piece of the evening was Lisa Bielawa's Kafka Songs (2001-2003) performed by Carla Kihlstedt on voice and violin. It was composed of about five or six shorter pieces, each based on a sentence or two of Kafka's more introspect Meditation (1912). Sentences such as: "And this time I only recognized these old games after being with them for such a long time. I rubbed my fingertips against each other to erase the shame."

Carla, after saying the sentence, would then proceed to sing the words while simultaneously playing violin. A seemingly simple, sparse, but powerful presentation.

My favorite work of the evening was Frey's string quartet (I purchased the CD), with Bielawa's Kafka Songs a close second.

Cyrus Chestnut Trio at Yoshi's in San Francisco

Cyrus Chestnut

On Wednesday (3/3) I heard the Cyrus Chestnut Trio at Yoshi's (the San Francisco location).

Personnel:

Cyrus Chestnut, piano
Dezron Douglas, bass
Neal Smith, drums

Set list:

some Elvis tune (in G)
N? Blues (in Eb)
New Light (latin)
Goliath (3/4 in F)
Autumn Leaves (in G-, i.e., two flats)
solo piano
ballad (sounded like Little Town of Bethlehem)
pop tune
medium up swing tune
Stripes (latin)
It Is What It Is