Guitar gods Pat Metheny, a master maker of melody and texture, and the thunderous, Thor-like, lightning-tossing duo of Eric Johnson andMike Stern rule supreme in the next few days in the Jazz Corridor with individual appearances ranging from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Hartford and Norfolk.
The Pat Metheny Unity Group conquers Worcester on Sunday, November 16, with its strategic mix of composed and improvised music, always artful, always accessible. Johnson and Stern, the dueling duo, storm into Connecticut with their simmering string summit blitzkrieg, vanquishing Hartford with their incendiary blend of freewheeling rock, blues and jazz on Thursday, November 13, and Norfolk on Sunday, November 16.
As part of its 2014 World Tour celebrating the release of its CD, Kin, Metheny’s Unity Group performs in concert at 7:00 pm on Sunday, November 16, at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge Street, Worcester. The latest project for Metheny, the still expansively evolving, 20-time Grammy Award-winner and Downbeat Hall of Famer, features the guitarist/composer/arranger with saxophonist Chris Potter, longtime collaborator Antonio Sanchez on drums; Ben Williams on bass and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi.
Although there are only five musicians participating in the Unity Group, Metheny’s pieces sound richly orchestral and resonate with cinematic impact and subtle colorations. Sometimes they soar with gravitas, or float with just plain, accessible pleasure, accented with improvised solo work balanced with calibrated compositions. Always engagingly, even lyrically melodic, they flow with harmonic and rhythmic energies and nuances streaming simultaneously at virtually all times.
Unity Group, on its new release on Nonesuch Records, comes armed with a well-tempered and wide array of instruments that bring diverse, expressive shadings and sonic layers to Metheny’s palette, which invests sounds, whether acoustic or electronic, with a human vocal quality.
By himself alone, Metheny comes fully equipped with an arsenal of electric and acoustic guitars, guitar synth, electronics, synths and his mini, portable orchestrion, packing more than enough heat and tonal diversity to fill the biggest, coldest concert hall with plenty of sonic, human warmth.
Potter, a woodwind wonder whose solos are well-wrought, complementary foils for Metheny’s strings, fills the house with his tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet, alto flute and bass flute.
Sanchez, a smart, inventive powerhouse percussionist, is a life-force, playing drums and cajon (a box-like drum that you sit on while playing it). Williams plays acoustic bass, including both pizzicato and arco, as well as electric bass. Carmassi, an Italian musical maven, is literally a one-man band who plays piano, trumpet, trombone, French horn, cello, vibes, clarinet, flute, recorder, alto saxophone and Wurlitzer. He also sings and even whistles. On the CD, his versatility is primarily focused on an accompanying role. But who knows what might spontaneously develop at live performances where, night after night, change might well be sparked by the interactive touring band’s numerous concerts? Tickets: $55.00, $45.00, and $35.00 at thehanovertheatre.orgor by calling (508) 831-0800.
Slamming String Summit
Heavyweight rocker Eric Johnson and jazz and rock fusion virtuoso Mike Stern bring their duo guitar madness to Infinity Music Hall’s urban and pastoral venues, rocking the house at 8:00 pm on Thursday, November 13, at Infinity Hall in Hartford at 32 Front Street, and again at 7:30 pm on Sunday, November 16, at Infinity Hall in Norfolk on Route 4.
The peerless pair of propulsive pickers is celebrating the release of its new, fiery disc, Eclectic (Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group), which features a dozen toe-to-toe, super chops collaboration/confrontations covering rock, blues, unfettered fusion, jazz and beyond.
Although the CD marks their first major collaboration together, the two freewheeling players found plenty of common ground with their shared love for such iconic guitar heroes as Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Albert King, plus other legendary figures, including John Coltrane and Miles Davis. While the two astronaut/guitarists are soaring on supersonic licks at the studio session, the ground crew operation is manned by drummer Anton Fig(long-time member of Paul Shaffer’s house band on "Late Night with David Letterman") and Johnson’s regular bassist, Chris Maresh.
The duo’s high-octane flights range over Johnson’s Tidal, his tribute to Wes Montgomery, and a cover of the Hendrix blues, “Red House,” to Stern’s mad modal musing, “Remember,” which tips its cap to Coltrane’s “Impressions” and Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun.”
Look for even more thunder and lightning in a live concert setting than these two guitar dynamos unleashed even on their explosive new disc.
Tickets for the shows at both Infinity Hall in Hartford as well as in Norfolk are $45.00 to $65.00, available at infinityhall.comor (866) 666-6306.
Myra Melford’s Duo Dialogues
Myra Melford, an adventurous pianist/composer who invents potent brews with her original views, returns for an encore appearance at New Haven’s Firehouse 12 at 8:30 and 10:00 pm on Friday, November 14, in a musical dialogue with San Francisco Bay Area clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg. The tight-knit duo, which has been collaborating since 2008 and is currently on tour, will record a new album at Firehouse 12’s recording studio the day after its performances on Friday night.
Melford is a recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artists Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, both in 2013, as well as a two-year residency with the prestigious San Francisco cultural center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her album, Life Carries Me This Way, was released last year on Firehouse 12 Records.
Goldberg has been listed in Downbeat critics’ polls in 2011 and 2013. Also in 2013, he released two records on his own label, BAG Productions, Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues and Unfold Ordinary Mind.
Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Scott Amendola & John Shifflet from Israel Perez on Vimeo.
Later this month, the duo brings its dynamic dialogue to South America, playing at festivals in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Cordoba. Tickets for Firehouse 12: $20.00 first set; $15.00 second set. Information: firehouse12.com and (203) 785-0468.
Mess Hall Serves Improv Fare
Improvisations, a series devoted to spontaneous creativity and curated by guitarist Joe Morris and cornetist Stephen Haynes, features Morris’s trio, Mess Hall, at 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 13, at Real Art Ways at 56 Arbor Street, Hartford. Mess Hall is the title of Morris’s recent release on the cutting-edge label hatOLOGY.
Mess Hall features Morris on guitar, Steve Lantner, keys; andJerome Deupree, drums and percussion. Haynes, who’s both a curator as well as a contributing improviser in the series, performs with the trio members.
Speaking of his trio’s Mess Hall recording, Morris said, “The music is completely improvised around a couple of ideas I presented. It is a collective creation that absolutely would not be what it is without the incredible creativity of Steve Lantner and Jerome Deupree, who to my ears have altered the expectation of the use of their respective instruments with their playing on this recording. We all share a deep understanding of the ideas at work in this music. In so many ways it is really the most natural way for us to play. For me, it feels like the end of a very complicated musical journey, the completion of a circle, and also a new beginning.”
Similarly, the music in the monthly Improvisations series is totally improvised, created on-the-spot and rehearsal free as the curator/performers Morris and Haynes join with their handpicked guests in extemporaneous expression.
The listening environment in RAW’s relaxed setting, the curators say, encourages intimate and deep contact with the music, the musicians and other audience members. Both curators encourage audience members -- even those who may believe they are hopelessly afflicted with free-jazzphobia -- “to come early and stay late, listen to and speak with the performing artists.” Tickets: $15.00 general admission; $12.00 RAW members. In a bid to reach out to students, the series has instituted a policy of charging students just $5.00 for admission. Tickets available at the door. Information:realartways.org and (860) 232-1006.
Side Door Saxophone Summit
Noted saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Rene McLean hooks up with his exceptionally special guest, the celebrated saxophonist Gary Bartz, in what should be a memorable if not also monumental summit meeting at 8:30 pm on Saturday, November 15, at the Side Door Jazz Club at the Old Lyme Inn. McLean leads his quintet, which just by itself is a guarantee of high quality expression and high-caliber firepower. And that warranty is doubly guaranteed by McLean’s collaboration with the woodwind arts of Gary Bartz.
Quality abounds at the club located at 85 Lyme Street.
Last weekend, for example, the bustling jazz haven featured two consecutive nights of brilliant piano fare individually provided by the Kenny Werner Trioand the Helen Sung Quintet, premier offerings quite typical of the club’s consistently high quality.
In the remainder of this month, the club’s jazz tsunami of talent features the Nicholas Payton Trioon November 21 and November 22, followed on November 28 and November 29 by Wayne Escoffery and his Black Art Jazz Collective, an all-star lineup featuring Jeremy Pelt, Jonathan Blake,James Burton and Xavier Davis, with the club offering plenty more jazz gifts through the holiday season. It’s little wonder that Connecticut Magazine voted Side Door Jazz “2014 Best Live Jazz.” It’s like having a Manhattan club’s distinctive ambience and hip programming magically transported to a cozy Connecticut shoreline jazz spa. Check it out atthesidedoorjazz.com and (860) 434-0886.
More Iyer Fire Ignited
The celebrated pianist/composer Vijay Iyerreturns to Connecticut once again with his superb trio to perform at 8:00 pm on Saturday, November 15, at Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield.
Helping to stoke the Iyer fire are the MacArthur Fellow genius’s empathetic, mentally agile colleagues, bassist Stephan Crumpand drummer Marcus Gilmore. Tickets: $40.00/$35.00/$30.00 and $5.00 Fairfield University students. Information: (203) 254-4010.
Monday Night Rocks
Alto saxophonist Lummie Spann, bassist Dezron Douglasand their New Jazz Workshop bring grace, grit and gravitas to the Jazz Mondays Series at 8:00 pm on Monday, November 17, at Black-eyed Sally’s, 350 Asylum Street, Hartford. Spann’s and Douglas’s formidable workshop colleagues are trumpeter Josh Evans, pianist David Bryant and drummer Curtis Torian.
Noted trombonist Steve Davisand Friends keep the groove standards high for the weekly Monday night bash as they rule the downtown roost on November 24.
Presented by Charter Oak Cultural Center and UMOJA Music, the Monday night series features an opening set from 8 to 9 p.m., followed by a jam session from 9:30 to 11:00 pm. Information: blackeyedsallys.com and (860) 278-7427.
Spyro Gyra Doubles Down
Still spirited and saleable after four decades, Spryo Gyra, an industrious, best-selling fusion band, is doubling down with back-to-back appearances at Connecticut’s two Infinity Halls. It performs at 8:00 pm on Saturday, November 15, at the Hall and Bistro’s bucolic digs in Norfolk, and at 7:30 pm on Sunday, November 16, at its shiny, new urban home in downtown Hartford.
The band celebrates the 35th anniversary of its breakthrough platinum album, Morning Dance, by presenting the recording’s entire contents in sequence in the show’s opening half, with other career highlights to follow after half-time -- a sentimental journey for all Spyrophiles. Tickets at both Infinity venues: $54.00 to $74.00. Information: (866) 666-6306.
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Tess Aaronson contributed to this post.
