CD Review: Roscoe Mitchell - Bells for the South Side

Roscoe Mitchell
Bells for the South Side
(ECM) www.ecmrecords.com

Roscoe Mitchell's new album begins with "Spatial Aspects of the Sound," a 12-minute piece full of open spaces between sustained piano chords and rings of tubular bells. Sometimes the notes hang in the air, decaying organically. Sometimes they're muffled and dissipate as soon as they're struck. Craig Taborn and Tyshawn Sorey play the pianos and William Winant handles the bells. Around 8:30 into it, Kikanju Baku dances, literally, into the piece, wearing ankle bells and sleigh bells, though the visual aspect is only clear because Mitchell mentioned it in a New York Times interview last week. These bells add a flowing sound to the still spare pianos, which pick up in intensity but for a few fleeting moments. It all feels unsettling and suspenseful. In the final minute a tempo is settled and Mitchell plays a simple melody of long notes on the piccolo. With that, the piece is complete.

This track alone proves why Mitchell can't be contained or epitomized as "an experimental jazz music" or "radical composer." Those words only begin to scrape the surface of his work. Bells for the South Side provides an even deeper look into Mitchell's mind, spread out over two CDs that can be challenging but will also be extremely rewarding listens.

The music on the album was written to presented as part of "The Freedom Principle," the 2015 exhibition at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Chicago that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, the group of musicians that included the multi-reedist and his fellow Art Ensemble of Chicago members. The Art Ensemble's percussion cage, on display at the exhibition, was played during the performance, providing the wide-ranging sounds that bring both clatter and melody to the set.

For the performance, Mitchell (on five different saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder and percussion) works with four different trios, who often co-mingle on different tracks, bringing together unusual instrumentation. The trio with percussionist Winant also includes James Fei (sopranino and alto saxophones, contra-alto clarinet, electronics), both fellow teachers at Mills College with their leader. Sorey (who also plays trombone and percussion) plays in a trio with Mitchell and Hugh Ragin (trumpet). Taborn and Baku join Mitchell in the third trio. Jaribu Shahid (bass) and Tani Tabbal (drums) make up the final one, representing the longest grouping of all.

To describe the rest of the album succinctly makes a formidable task, but the scope of the work almost requires it. "Panoply" (named for a painting that graces the CD's booklet) features the horns in fits and starts, blowing wildly, sustaining notes and darting over drums and percussion (which come from at least three percussionists). This mood continues into "Prelude to a Rose" an oddly beautiful work by Sorey (this time on trombone) with Mitchell (who includes a few blows on the bass saxophone) and Ragin. "Dancing in the Canyon" is the album's one purely improvised piece, with Taborn's spare electronics and Mitchell's reeds testing the waters with Baku. Taborn eventually switches to piano and all three finally dive in for some free blowing. "EP 7849" features Shahid on bass guitar, making some drop-tuned noise that might be expected from a free metal group. The title track features what it says: chiming bells, with Ragin playing off them.

Disc two continues to blend jazz and chamber music, all filtered through Mitchell's unique perspective. After a lengthy duet between his raw, emotional alto and Shahid's bowed bass in "Prelude to the Card Game," Tabbal gets room for an extended solo in "Card for Drums" that provides a new dissertation on how to create a compelling drum solo. This disc's final 25-minute track begins with "Red Moon in the Sky" a blend of wild electronics, bells and piano that practically begs for visuals from the "Freedom Principle" exhibition, as it too evolves into a collective blowing session. One gets the impression that Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors are looking down on the music with approval.

To bring things full circle, "Red Moon" segues into "Odwalla," Mitchell's closing theme from the Art Ensemble days. While the music was all recorded either in the museum's theater or in the exhibition space itself, this performance puts the whole ensemble in front of a hither to unheard audience, to whom Mitchell introduces each member, who gets a chance to blow over the song's vamp.

Hearing the leader's voice warmly announcing everyone, and the reaction of the audience, serves as reminder of the human quality behind this music. While it forces the listener to leave their preconceptions at the door - indeed from the opening seconds of disc one - the final moments prove that this is music build on emotion and communication. Like all great music, it leaves you anticipating what will be discovered the next time you hit the play button.

Mitchell's vast discography under his name and the Art Ensemble's banner all feature many bold and significant works. Time will tell for sure, but it's likely that Bells for the South Side ranks with the strongest due its depth and subject matter.

Thumbscrew, Lindsey Horner/Jeff Berman, Ouds and more

Last Monday, I received an email from a friend asking if I was planning to see Thumbscrew at City of Asylum two days later. I replied that I didn't know they were coming but, now that I was informed, yes I would be there. About an hour later I received an email from Alphabet City/City of Asylum about it. Stop last-minuting me, people! 

The last time Thumbscrew (left to right above: Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek, Tomas Fujiwara) came here, they were part of a three-night residency that featured Halvorson in three different settings - solo, as part of Fujiwara's the Hook Up band and with Thumbscrew. The trio's set started an hour earlier than originally planned and an email was sent out that afternoon about three hours before start time. Not having checked that email (the one I use for writing), I didn't know, so I missed all but about 20 minutes of the show. (There was a silver lining though, because I met a fellow jazz enthusiast from Erie who knows my family up there.)

I'm mentioning all this because it meant I was really looking forward to Wednesday's show. The trio had already been in town for about a week, once again working on new material and preparing to record it at Mr. Small's. (Their sophomore album, Convallaria, was recorded here under the same circumstances). The set consisted of brand new material they had been workshopping, three songs by each member of the group.)

Thumbscrew is an captivating group because each member of the group has a distinct musical personality that comes through, even if the compositions sound a little more conventional that what they've done elsewhere. Sometimes it's hard to figure out where to focus your attention. That doesn't mean things sound busy. There is just a lot of activity happening.

One piece later in the set (which didn't get announced) sounded like a ballad, yet there were still spots where Halvorson used her pedal to bend the notes. It was easy to identify her as the composer of "Thumbprint" due to the characteristic bright lines that guided it. Fujiwara worked all over his kit, incorporating woodblocks, switching cymbals between tunes to get a particular tone - always managing to create a groove, even if he played a little more abstractly, or followed the melody on his kit. And Formanek slayed, as always, running up and down the neck with ease, stopping to create a double (or was it triple) stop that sounded rich and mighty. At the end of the night, I picked up his solo bass disc, Am I Bothering You?, and I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Another strong quality about this trio is the comfort level they exude. They were having a good time and felt familiar with us. I regret not writing down the entire title of the final track of the set but I thought Formanek was kidding at first. It begins with "Nine Words that Rhyme with Spangle..." and he rattled them all off. Look for it on the sleeve when the disc finally comes out.

They encored with a piece by a Brazilian composer because, in addition to writing new works, they're also doing an album of other people's music. The blend of that style of writing and this group showed them in a different light, really digging into the rhythm and harmony of that work. Great encore.

Speaking of solo basses, I never got to post about the return of bassist Lindsey Horner to Pittsburgh for a show that happened two weeks ago today.

Horner set up with drummer Jeff Berman at the Point Breeze, an intimate little eatery which is in the 'hood of its name. He recently released an album One More Forever, which is half solo and half of the duo of him and Berman and they played a number of the tunes on that disc.

In the early 2000s, Horner lived in Pittsburgh playing with a number of different groups. One I recall was Always Know, with Ben Opie, Dave Throckmorton and Jay Willis, where they played compositions from the later periods of Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. But prior to coming to town, he played in New York doing a variety of musics, from jazz to traditional Irish/Celtic music. He appeared on the title track of one of my favorite albums, Bobby Previte's Pushing the Envelope.

His set, and the new album, casts a wide net that touches on people he's played with (there are dedications) or inspired him, and some representative covers. "What Might Have Been" was really lyrical, with a melodic fragment that reminded me of the descending opening line of "La Vie en Rose," though Horner said that was coincidental. "Long Time Comin'/Long Time Gone" paid tribute to the great Milt Hinton with a deep groove. For Monk's "Let's Cool One," they took it in 7/4, which kept me guessing thanks to the way Berman was spreading the groove over the bar line. Throughout both sets, Berman was a skilled partner in crime. In one tune, he played just a shaker and a brush and it sounded awesome.

One More Forever was released by Upshot Records. Go to lindseyhorner.com to check it out. Solo bass albums, bad jokes aside, might not be something people don't regard that seriously but Formanek and Horner know how to keep you riveted to the music. I recently purchased the four-disc version of John Coltrane's Concert in Japan which has more Jimmy Garrison solos on it and it has helped me appreciate when the instrument stands alone.

In other weekend music news -- I've been out several nights this week -- there was something of an Oud Fest at Hambone's on Friday night. Tomchess, from New York, came with his trio, playing the 11-string instrument in a setting that incorporated jazz improvisation and Middle Eastern vamps. He was bookended by Tom Moran, playing solo in a manner that evoked spaghetti westerns and meditation,frequently letting notes hang in the air and slowly decay. King Fez closed the evening out, with a show that combined hand percussion, electric guitars and bass and a bellydancer. Their oud was electrified (like Moran's) and had some qualities of surf guitar.

Moran told me later in the evening that it isn't a remote comparison. Dick Dale grew up playing this type of music and it was a key part in his brand of surf rock. As time goes on, I keep finding proof that different types of music, and the people who play, have closer connections that we might initially think.

Last night, I was over at the offices of Get Hip Records, in their performance space to check out the release part of Zack Heim. Normally found fronting the Nox Boys, Heim has a solo acoustic album out now on Get Hip's new folk series. His story is going to be in City Paper in a few weeks so more about him later.

CD Review: Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die

Jaimie Branch
Fly or Die
(International Anthem) www.intlanthem.com

If there's one album to buy this year on impulse, or based on a review, this is the one.

Trumpeter Jaimie Branch has played with William Parker and Matana Roberts as well as TV on the Radio and Spoon. Fly or Die is her first release as a leader and she wastes no time ingratiating herself to listeners. After some brief, low blasts from Branch's horn, Tomeka Reid (cello) and Jason Ajemian (bass) set up the vamp of "Theme 001," grooving and playing off each other and Chad Taylor (drums). Branch enters with a bright tone that quickly engages, playing a theme and embellishing with some flutters and bent notes.

The tune could have gone on for another five minutes, with the strings dancing off each other and Taylor straddling a groove and incisive fills. But after less than four minutes, the tempo slips away and they segue into  "Meanwhile," an interlude of string scrapes and free drums. "Theme 002" builds out of this (don't look at the disc as it's playing and it all feels like one multi-themed piece), like a hopped up reggae groove, with Branch playing long high tones and pensive mid-range lines as well. In some ways, she recalls Wadada Leo Smith's ability to put across a great deal within a batch of crisply executed notes.

In "Leaves of Glass" Branch is joined by cornetists Josh Berman and  Ben Lamar Gay, who echo and embellish her melody, which build in dynamics and reverb like some ghost of Gil Evans got captured by the tape in the studio. The echo remains for "The Storm" a spacey tone poem with cello glissandos and tympani.

The music keeps moving forward throughout, climaxing with the stop-start "Theme Nothing," where Taylor breaks into an explosive solo over the song's one-chord groove. "...Back at the Ranch" closes the album with a non-sequitur: a solo acoustic guitar rendering, not quite classical, not quite spaghetti western, but with echoes of both.

Branch has a lot going for her: the strong tone of a classical trumpeter, the imagination that can be expected from a Chicago player, writing skills that bring life to simple grooves and great choices for band members. Hopefully more people are listening to this album right now and feeling the same way.

Reports on the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2017

A few days ago, Facebook sent me a memory post, one of those "On this day, X years ago," where I suggested that anyone reading the post should go down to the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival and check out the trio of Geri Allen, David Murray & Terri Lynn Carrington. I read it and thought, "Why the hell didn't I go to that show?!" The answer was probably related to my retail job of that time, where Saturday was one of the busiest days of the week and getting off was not done without the residual guilt and suspicion. These days, being underemployed has its advantages.

I was pretty stoked about this year's JazzLive Fest (which ran last weekend, Friday-Sunday) because in addition to ticketed shows by David Sanborn and Angelique Kidjo, there were plenty of free shows. Plus, the schedule included both straightahead acts like vocalist Jazzmeia Horn and bold groups like Odean Pope's Saxophone Choir, as well as tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman and bassist Linda May Han Oh.

A brief preview of the event ran in CP, where I interviewed Linda May Han Oh and wrote a little about Odean Pope. I would have liked to interview David Sanborn, and ask about his wide-ranging work (he's worked with Tim Berne, grew up with the Black Artists Group and covered the Velvet Underground, in addition to the more accessible stuff for which he's known). But my night began at the closing party for the Non Punk Pittsburgh show at SPACE Gallery, just down the street from where Sanborn was playing. Steve Sciulli of Carsickness just released a solo CD, so he was playing, along with a few other acts on the Get Hip label.

After that, it was up to La Lyonnais, a restaurant down and around the corner where a jam session was in progress, hosted by drummer Roger Humphries. Events like this can be a crapshoot - sometimes it's a bunch of musicians blowing the roof off the place, sometimes there are up-and-comers playing the tried-and-true blowing session classics who sound.... promising. 

There were a couple of young bucks onstage (i.e. in the corner where the band could fit) when I arrived. And by young, I mean these fellows looked like they still had a few years of high school left. I should have been ambitious and got the name of the young tenor player who only played on one tune while I was there. But he tore things up - good ideas, good execution. Dr. Nelson Harrison got out his trombetto and - as the picture below shows, Sean Jones also joined in, with saxophonist Lou Stellute and keyboardist Howie Alexander. Things were still going strong past 1:00, but I decided I'd reached my limit by that point.

For the rest of the weekend, the majority of the performances took place outdoors, on two stages set up at either end of  Penn Avenue (The UPMC stage and the Spirit Airlines stage) with the 9th Street Stage in between them. For the most part the weather behaved itself. There was some rain, but not when I was there.

Saturday afternoon, Odean Pope's Saxophone Choir sounded amazing - a mix of Ellingtonian lyricism and World Saxophone Quartet aggression. Or maybe that thrust could be attributed to Philadelphia, his stomping ground for most of his life. There was a moment during the ballad "Cis," a tune dedicated to Pope's late wife, where the voices of all six saxophones were all easily distinguishable, each bringing a personal tone to the music. Later, Pope warned the audience, "This one is on the edge," before launching into a tune where he pushed to the upper register of his horn, the rest of the group occasionally riffing behind him.

The rest of the saxophonists got plenty of solo space too. Julian Pressley (the alto player with the great hair below) had a tart tone that contrasted with the rest of the players, while fellow alto man Louis Taylor was also on fire.

Jazzmeia Horn won the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition, and as she was performing on Saturday, her album A Social Call was #1 on the Billboard jazz charts. It was clear to see why. As her piano trio vamped behind her on the UPMC stage, she unleashed a strong scat solo in "East of the Sun (West of the Moon)." 

Like many jazz musicians in the wake of the new administration, Horn added some politically charged moments to the set. Marking Juneteenth, she sang "Lift Every Voice" ("the Black National Anthem," she called it) and segued that into "Moanin'," the Bobby Timmons classic that got lyrics from Jon Hendricks. It was easy to miss but it sounded like she substituted "life" in the line "Life's a losing gamble to me," with the name of the current president. 

What took away from the performance was Horn's habit of oversinging the words, as if squeezing the life out of "Moanin'" was going to get it more depth. In the intro to another song, she squealed and caterwauled in the upper register, which also felt a bit excessive. What was strange was hearing her contrast the heavy stuff (which seemed to evoke Abbey Lincoln's intense performances on We Insist! Freedom Now Suite) with lighter, overdone fare like "I Remember You" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." She definitely has talent and needs to be followed because she could head in a number of different directions.

At the jam session the night before, a woman sat in on drums and awed everyone who was listening. "Who was that," we kept asking. The drummer in question was Shirazette Tinnin, who played with her band Sonic Wallpaper followed Horn's set. Tinnin's c.v. includes everyone from WuTang Klan to DIVA and Hugh Masakela. The group had an intriguing instrumentation, with alto saxophone, cello, trombone, keyboards (Rhodes and acoustic piano), guitar, bass and her drums. 

A lineup like that could confuse the sound engineer and that seemed to happen. The keyboards moved in and out of the mix, the trombone (which had a wah-wah effect on it during a solo) dropped out during a dramatic moment. But Tinnin had some strong grooves going, in what might be considered fusiony funk. It had the chops and electronics of the former style and the grease of the latter.

I've written enough about Sean Jones that most people know that he is an astounding trumpet player. One difference in his playing at the jam session at on the Spirit stage was that he seems to have moved away from his approach from a few years ago, where a solo would start low and build in intensity, like a preacher's sermon (his words). He did a little bit of that but it was great to hear him continuing to evolve as a player.

But what might not be obvious to those what haven't seen Jones live all that often is what an engaging performer he is. He sounded so happy to be back in Pittsburgh again, playing for people that he treated like friends. He was so casual, like he was hanging out in someone's living room. His song introductions remind me of the easygoing talks that were a big part of Cannonball Adderley's live albums.

Sean likes to explain the back story with the tunes so there is something to think about that while the group is playing. When introducing "The Ungentrified Blues" he made light humor about neighborhoods that are losing their character as they're rebuilt. For the closing "BJ's Tune" he offered a song of hope and unity, and a plea to "forget all the things that separate us." The quartet rolled to a climax and when they finally got there, Jones still wasn't done. His obbligato included "Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace." Mark Whitfield, Jr. (drums) and Ben Williams (bass) were a solid rhythm section while Jones' good friend and longtime collaborator Orrin Evans sounded stellar on the piano, especially when he smacked some low notes during "The Ungentrified Blues."

Public Service Announcement to future JazzLive attendees: Don't forget your sunblock or your sunglasses. And if you invest in a portable chair that you can tote easily, you won't regret it. Sitting on the curb, you don't know what you'll kind of view or shelter from the sun you'll get, or who will be sitting next to you. The roped off VIP sections are never that full. A lot of people groused to me about them, saying dollars could be spent better on tents or some kind of shelter from the sun for the regular folks.  SEE ADDENDUM

Linda May Han Oh started off Sunday afternoon on the 9th Street Stage with her quartet. The way she handled her instrument made her tower over it, even if it was a few inches taller than her. "Walk Against Wind" is the title track to her new album and it contains a few different movements, starting minor and snaky, where drummer Eric Doob recalled Paul Motian in his use of space. In my notes I wrote "What's going through her mind," during her out of tempo bass solo. It felt dramatic and really original, and then she shifted into the background so Ben Wendel could play a tenor solo that was gruff around the edges.  For the songs "Speech Impediment" and "Perpuzzle" Oh moved to bass guitar. 

It's kind of hard to imagine tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman as one of the "young lions" of the 1980s, along with Wynton Marsalis. His genes (his father was the astounding-but-under-the-radar tenor man Von Freeman) and his Chicago roots (he taught at the AACM and recorded in the Leaders with Lester Bowie) indicate that he's someone that respects the tradition but insists on pushing it forward. That's exactly what his Plus+tet did on Sunday at the Spirit Airlines Stage.

Freeman plays with a bold, rich tenor sound. "To Hear a Teardrop in the Rain" was a gentle waltz that could sound smooth  if it wasn't for the way he played a solo, tonguing the notes more often than merely slurring them together. Pianist Anthony Wonsey did the same thing during his solo, striking the keys and fragments of a line individually instead of smoothly constructing somthing. The approach gave the tune more edge. For "Soft Pedal Blues," the Plus+tet avoided the shouting blues designed to rile up a crowd. This rendition was slow, a little dirty and really soulful. Freeman's lines were spare but very heavy. "Blues for a Hot Summer Day" was more like it.

Vibraphonist Warren Wolf has become a reputable leader in his own right, but he served as the perfect foil to Freeman on the frontline. In some ways it evoked Freeman's work with the late vibist Bobby Hutcherson, who recorded "Crossing the Sudan," a 7/4 the Plus+tet played early in the set. Some vibes players use the double mallet approach, with two in each hand to help with harmonies. Wolf doesn't need that. He gets plenty of energy with one in each hand, especially when he's wailing over a minor vamp in 6/8.

Father's Day commitments kept me from seeing the Bad Plus, Tia Fuller, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra or Hudson (the new supergroup that's on the cover of the next issue of JazzTimes!!). But this was an extremely stellar set of acts. Hopefully the newfound sponsorship will grow and next year will be even bigger.

Addendum: After posting this, I heard back from Janis Burley Wilson, the director of Jazz Progams and Vice President of Strategic Partnership and Community Engagement at the Cultural Trust. The VIP seats are there for sponsorship, corporate and individuals that support the festival and - here's the thing to remember - keep it free. If that's what will allow us to see Linda May Han Oh, Chico Freeman and the Bad Plus in one afternoon, it's worth it.

CD Review: Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds

Nicole Mitchell
Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
(FPE) www.fperecs.com

There are a few different angles I considered taking when opening up a discussion of Nicole Mitchell's latest album. After pulling myself away from some links on social media about what happened to Senator Kamala Harris yesterday when she was trying to ask Jeff "Shush, little lady" Sessions yesterday, a new opening line hit me:

This album could scare the living hell out of people like Sessions and maybe even our current leader.

Not only does it have many unhinged qualities that we can expect from someone affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds is also built on an underlying story line about a couple from the decaying World Union society who discover Mandorla, an island in the Atlantic where, unknown to the rest of the world, people like in an egalitarian society, in peace and harmony. The couple has to decide whether to continue in their "dystopic" world or move to a "utopic" one. The music (and words) tell how the decision is not so easy or clear cut.

Ideas like this seem like just the thing to make our leaders uncomfortable. Cooperative (and peaceful) societies going up against aggressive, hierarchical societies. It seems to shake up the status quo, asking for common sense and cooler heads to prevail. It forces people to reexamine their  perspectives.

Mitchell's music has gone to the dark side before, using Afrofuturist author Octavia E. Butler as an inspiration for albums like Xeogenesis Suite. Musically she takes things even further with a version of her Black Earth Ensemble that features shakuhachi (Kojiro Umezaki), violin (Renee Baker), electric guitar/oud/theremin (Alex Wing), bass/shamisen/talko (Tatsu Aoki) and percussion (Jovia Armstrong). Three tracks include vocals by poet/scholar avery r young.

The players often work in different combinations. "Egoes War" opens with free percussion that betrays the AACM influence on Mitchell, before Wing adds some frenzied guitar. "Dance of Many Hands" starts out sounding like a folk tune, albeit one in 5/4, with guitar plucking out a melody while the flutes float over it, climaxing with a passionate cello solo. It's followed by "Listening Embrace" a multi-tiered track which includes Reid on banjo and a duet between Mitchell's expressive flute and the raw, nasal drone of Aoki's shamisen.

The vocal tracks don't come until more than halfway through the album, making it feel more like an intense set of instrumental music up to that point. They can be a challenge, with young delivering them with heavy enunciation to make sure the points aren't missed. Upon hearing them cold, without any knowledge of the album's concept, they felt a little hard to swallow. But reading Mitchell's program notes, and using the lyric sheet for reference, things make a bit more sense. Music like this is supposed to challenge listeners, even as it leaves them spellbound.

Yes, this is intense music but the times require sounds like this to keep us awake and aware of what's reallly going on around us.

Nick Cave, David Murray & Kahil El'Zabar

Last week, I attempted, in vain, to try and transcribe my November 2016 interview with David Murray. The intention was to post a last-minute preview for his appearance with Kahil El'Zabar, which happened last Sunday, June 4 at the James Street Gastropub. For technical reasons, let's say, it didn't happen. I'm pretty sure this idea popped up last on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the big fundraiser/carnival at my son's school, which I assisted in putting together - and, like everything else, had me all stressed out. My focus wasn't there so it never got done.

Back in early December, bassist Harrison Bankhead came to town with Murray and El'Zabar, but last week, it was just the two of them. If any two guys can make a big show out of a duo, it's these two.

The format of their two sets followed a similar path as most of El'Zabar's appearances with his other groups, like the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. It began with El'Zabar plucking out a slow drone on the kalimba, keeping a pulse on bells attached to his right ankle. Murray played all over it, eventually joining El'Zabar vocally. Then El'Zabar switched to the trap kit, which seemed to be tuned to play a drone underneath the tenor. The third piece moved the percussionist to the hand drum, a cajon, or something like it. Murray also played bass clarinet in both sets. I love the percussive thunk he gets out of the instrument, in addition to the ease with which he peels off some great, emotional lines.

At the beginning of the evening, I was standing out in the stairwell of James Street, talking to local guitarist Colter Harper about Chasing Trane, the John Coltrane documentary that had just finished a run here. Murray was walking downstairs mid-way through our conversation, and chimed in, knowing what the topic was. He said Bill Clinton made one of the most profound statements in the film. "Do you remember what he said," Murray inquired. I had seen the movie twice, but couldn't recall what he was referring to. Clinton, he reminded me, said that Coltrane did, for music, the same thing Pablo Picasso did for art, in 50 less years. "I thought that was really profound," he said. I wished I would've remembered that more than Carlos Santana's ridiculous hippie-metaphor about Trane's music.

*

I wrote a preview for Nick Cave's Pittsburgh show for City Paper, even though the concert was already sold out. Since Cave wasn't doing interviews, and since I only had 500 words to fill, I pulled a few quotes from another interview. It ended up running online only, not in the print issue. For that reason, I didn't feel like pushing for a comp. So I resigned myself to skipping the show.

At 5:00 on Thursday afternoon, Jennie called me saying that the cousin of a friend of ours had an extra ticket, and that I should get in touch with him. (She was okay with me going without her.) So connections were made and - wham - there I was in the first balcony, left center, taking in the show that everyone will probably be talking about for years to come.

I'm sure there are naysayers out there. You know, the ones who never liked Nick Cave in the first place or thought he was overly dramatic or cheesy. But for the rest of us - it was like going to church. If I said that about Patti Smith's concert in the same venue earlier this year, well... this was a different kind of church. This was fire and brimstone. This was Jesus walking on water. There were no bodies of water in the Carnegie Music Hall, but if there were, brothers and sisters, he probably would have walked on them. Instead, Cave just walked across the seats in the first few rows, singing to people, getting lifted up by others (or at least supported by them, as some friends of mine confessed online) and finally inviting a whole slew of folks onstage to sing with him.

Before the show started, it was kind of funny at first to see a chair set up center stage with a microphone in front of it, as if Nick was going to sit casually for the whole set, maybe having a drink and talking to us between songs. But that lasted for just one song, "Anthrocene." Once it was done he could've just chucked the seat but he politely moved it to the side so it was easier for him to pace the stage as he sang. The next few songs, which also came from Skeleton Tree or Push the Sky Away, were all mid-tempo and simple, but this format is Cave's bread and butter. No one can make turn a plodding groove into a masterful story like this guy.

So when he finally kicked up the mood with "From Her to Eternity," we were more than ready. Having listened to this song so many times at home on the album of the same name, I had certain expectations and hopes for what it would sound like live. Warren Ellis started ravaging his violin, creating the same kind of racket as Blixa Bargeld's guitar does in the original version, and it nearly blew my head off. He was plinking it like a guitar and kicking pedals on and off, making it explode with feedback. Behind him, the group pounded away on the monochord beat and vibraphone counterpoint which, I discovered after 32 years, is in 5/4. All this time, I thought they were just hoping for the best, and that if all went well, they'd interlock on instinct.

That's the interesting thing about Cave's music. It's pretty simple on the surface: two chords (give or take) repeated over and over, eventually changing to a third chord. But it takes good ears and skill to make sure you make those changes. A few times they didn't. Or else Cave improvised a little bit and the band got to change before he did. During one song, he called out to the band to back things up to the break, and repeat from there. Another time, he called out bassist Martyn Casey, good-naturedly.

A performer as well-known as Nick Cave probably has some, shall we say, crack-pot fans. (The late, great Pittsburgh scenester Lee Conley was an obsessive, but he was more as an enthusiast, in the best sense.) There were people in the audience who thought Cave was having a one-on-one conversation with them, and couldn't let it go after shouting one or two things. That's more annoying than anything else. But what slayed me was the guy's lack of inhibition when it came stepping off the stage into the audience. He's opening himself up for all sorts of danger, and he has no fear as he does it. (Of course, any nut who would harm a hair on Nick Cave's head would probably get beaten to death immediately by the audience.)

This might burst some people's bubble, but in a recent GQ article, Cave said there "a banal, practical" aspect to his habit of singing to the first 50 people: his eyesight isn't too good, so he can't see much beyond the first two rows. He might not be quite as connected with the audience as it seemed. On the other hand, the article makes it sound like the most Cave does is walk to the edge of the stage. Last week, he was offstage, in the aisle, walking across the seats that were now empty because everyone was in the aisles, hoping to get their hands on him. Maybe he really does love us more, who knows?

Then for the encore, he invited a few people onstage, and then a few more. And a few more. Then a few more followed suit. How many, I can't tell you. I was thinking maybe 75-80. The Post-Gazette estimated closer to 100. (Incidentally, Scott Mervis wrote a fine review that gives more specifics about what they played and how it sounded. Check it out here.) Everyone sang along for "Pushing the Sky Away," a touching song that sent us all home in awe.

While Cave is certainly a dramatic performer, who isn't opposed to raising his hands towards the audience to get a reaction, the gesture wasn't mere showbiz. This wasn't the cliched gesture of a singer acting pointing towards himself during the adulation, arrogantly (or ironically) meaning, "Give me more." Cave seemed to be in a sharing mood, like we were all part of the show, and that's why everyone seemed so blown away by the whole thing. We're with him. During the loud section at the end of the organ solo in "Red Right Hand," he ran into the crowd quickly and ran back onstage to sing the next verse. It felt like he had just run the living room at a party, yelled a wild salutation, and ran right back out.