Sunday Night Jazz @ the Globe: John Garner & John Pope - Jan. 16

John Garner (violin/perc.); John Pope (double bass/perc.)

It has to be said that the Jazz Coop are never complacent when it comes to programming their Sunday night jazz at the Globe sessions and last night was no exception.

An improv/free jazz event by two master practitioners of the genre. Drawing from the work of such legendary performers as Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Garrison, Jeanne Lee, and Misha Mengelberg and, of course, adding their own input made for some compelling moments.

Using their incredible techniques which have, over the years, encompassed both classical music and straight ahead jazz they utilised those elements to create unique improvisations enabling them to bounce ideas off each other in a less than orthodox fashion. Garner incorporated an assortment of bells and whistles to complement his virtuosity with or without the bow. He also used what seemed to be some kind of medieval or possibly ethnic bow that enabled him to play all four strings at once.

Pope displayed equal virtuosity albeit perhaps more conservatively although he too had a few bells of his own and nor was he content to merely bow north of the bridge and south of the fingerboard as is the norm. There were moments when any part of the bass was fair game for the bow - and it worked well.

A duo to make a note of for future appearances - Lance