Monday, June 2, 2008

Notes from the couch...

One of the benefits of laying on the couch all day is it allows for catching up on listening/videos. Here are a couple that have made my day much brighter...

I picked up the Chick Corea DVD of the Three Quartets reunion and finally got around to watching it today.  Three Quartets was a touchstone in my development, this was to me what modern small group jazz was about; an aesthetic grounded in communication and improvisation but the perfect balance of compositional elements, transitions, sectional writing etc.  The music of Ben Allison, Michael Blake and Ted Nash appeals to me for the same reason, but Three Quartets will always hold a special place in my heart.  To see Brecker, Gadd, Corea and Gomez tearing this music up was a wonderful experience.  If any of you were lucky enough to hear this performance live, I'd love to hear about it.

Secondly is this.  I have heard about Brecker's solo concerts and I had the great experience of hearing him do a solo version of Namia in Chicago several years ago but this video is nothing short of amazing.  Never mind the technical display, but dig the motivic development Brecker displays in the first several minutes.  I miss Michael...

No comments: