Joe Lovano (saxes); Esperanza Spalding (bs/vcl); Leo Genovese (pno); Jack DeJohnette (dms).
(Review by Lance).
(Review by Lance).
On paper this was it! The session to end all sessions - the Jazz Cup Final. Four superstars on the one stage what could possibly go wrong?
Lovano a great tenor player, DeJohnette a living legend, Genovese an outstanding pianist and Spalding possibly the worlds best known double bassist, the ingredients were all there and yet...
For me it didn't click. Solowise they all excelled from time to time - Genovese in particular had an outing that brought back memories of a gig he did with Michael Janisch at the Lit and Phil a couple of years back. Lovano is undoubtedly a tenor titan but Toussaint left a longer lasting impression with me. DeJohnnette also had a tremendous solo and Spalding proved worthy of her reputation as a class act both bass-wise and in her vocalese excursions so what went wrong?
The material didn't grab me. Sure there was variety a-plenty but somehow it didn't hold me the way it should have done. I'm in the minority here I know but one can only write from a personal point of view. Perhaps if I hadn't heard Jean Touissaint earlier, or the Spring Quartet had been playing in the more intimate confines of Hall Two or I'd backed Balthazar King each way it would have different.
With Touissaint I felt as though I was a part of what was happening, here It was as if I had my nose rubbed up against the windowpane.
Still I have to confess that several hundred others disagreed with me so what do I know?!
Lance.
5 comments :
Agree with you Lance, as did a number of people who left the gig before the end....
I liked them.
Good review by Lance - it didn't do it for me either. Expectations were high - delivery erratic. How come ?
I agree about the Spring Quartet but have always found Neset a more original, exciting and expressive tenorist than Toussaint.
We wanted to leave after the first two songs, but we were stuck in the middle of Row C and didn't want to inconvenience people. We actually endured an hour of it in the end - and endured is the right word. The people in the row were massively pissed off when we asked them to stand to let us out and we got some filthy, horrible looks. I don't doubt their individual musicianship but the compositions were poor, overpowering and you're right, it just didn't work.
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