Tyshawn Sorey Quartet - 10/6/13 NYC

[Steve Reynolds]

At Cornelia Street Cafe:

with:

Ben Gerstein: trombone (and recorder)
Jeremy Viner: alto saxophone and clarinet
Angelica Sanchez: piano

after seeing Sorey with Evan Parker, my wife and I decided to attend this show this past Sunday night. Both of us have loved hearing and seeing Ben Gerstein as he is a very unique and expressive musician who has never failed to impress when seeing him live.

I don't believe the quartet has ever played together and as expected they came to the little stage without sheet music which seems to be a regular goings on for some of these ad hoc Sunday night groups @ Cornelia Street Cafe.

The drummer had his own kit with only a snare and bass drum (just like with Evan Parker) and with Gerstein in front of the drummer and Viner starting quietly on clarinet in front of the baby grand piano (with keys unseen as they often set it up with quartets or larger), the first 10 to 15 minutes or maybe even more was tentative or "searching" to put it nicely. At some point it became apprarent that something was working out. Gerstein almost mad-cap switching of various mutes became organically interwoven in the music (think of Herb Robertson), and Sanchez really began to define and focus the band's sound and approach. She is one of many great pianists who play in this in/out free mode and she blends spikey intense playing with a solid melodic approach. She is able to intersperse the insides of the piano with some mild preparations and also scorch the earth with some extreme post/free bop passages. And by the end of the first 30 minute pieces, the crowd was pretty stoked.

an aside is that even in a club environment, when a band is playing like this in a free improvisational mode, we are spared the rote applause after solo - and for the most part, there were few distinct solos from this band.

so the second piece of the first set starts and within 15 minutes they get to places that music of this sort can never plan on going - and although for about 5 - 7 minutes more it evolves into some very aggressive more standard wailing, ripping, escastic free jazz screaming and interplay, it wasn't just that - and after some blasts on the bass and snare, I thought it was over at about 20 - 22 minutes - and I thought continuing from those heights would be a let-down - but they finished stronger and the piece ended to a strrming response from the good crowd.

second set was a continuous 50 minute performance without the extreme heights of the last 15 monutes of the first set - but highlights included Sorey's brilliant use of cymbal scrapes, crashes and small sounds - he is a grand master in this area - fascinating and very effective - maybe moreso when eyes are closed, Gerstein's foray's on the recorder, a great loud duet section with an open trombone and the drummer with sticks playing quite loud - and also Viner playing all the notes on alto saxophone coming out of Braxton/Ehrlich. Viner is a very techinally adept player who had a few moments of true surprise throughout the two sets. I was less impressed with his clarinet playing which while fine, was often used to compliment the band and I didn't hear much that made my ears perk up.

Overall - and excellent night I like that I am hearing bands that have influences as varied as SME to the more tradional free jazz and bop/post bop linage. Very nice to hear a wide ranging band that is not stuck in any one camp

[Coda]

Nice write up Steve. I feel like I was right there with you.

I'll never see this in Boston. Sigh.