Man, it was a really good time, I can tell you that. My club hosted three of the four days of music, I only missed the day that Fantomas/Melt-Banana played. Atomic were a revelation to me, a bunch of Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish guys playing like Miles' 60's quintet, but each tune featured a tiny wrinkle that would would pull the rug out from under you entirely. You could never predict where it was coming from. Brotzmann and Nasheet Waits' duo took a few minutes to start but once it did, it held my attention fast for 50 minutes solid. The all-star group improvisation led by Joe Morris was interesting also. Not jazz, but straight non-idiomatic improv. very imteresting, but Joe Morris' decision to not play through an amp and directly mike his hollow body guitar all but drowned him out once the rest of the players got going. That was Night 1. The third day brought Free Fall, Vandermark's Jimmy Giuffre tribute. Nice, sparse, and everything you'd expect from a Giuffre tribute. Triage blazed through a wonderful set seemingly playing everything in triple-time. I hadn't seen them in a couple of years and it was great to see how much they had added to their arsenal in that time. Joe McPhee's solo set was a beautiful gem, a masterpiece of economy and concentration. Anyone looking to be able to play solo concerts should really look into what McPhee is doing these days. Joe Maneri's trio was incredible that evening, I can't say I have ever heard music like that before! Fresh music from the festival's oldest participant! The Vandermark 5 continued in that slightly chamberish mode that they have been developing for the past couple years. They held a crowd of 200 or so mouthy Southerners completely spellbound and silent for about an hour and a half. The Brotzmann Tentet (minus Mars Williams, who had a baby tantrum and went home early), conducted business as usual, concentrating on Brotzmann's tunes for this set. The last day of the festival featured Joe and Mat Maneri doing a ravishing duet. School Days did their thing and the Tentet Minus 1 was heisted by Fred Lonberg-Holm who prompted the band with a light tree that he would control. Fred's some sort of mad scientist, and a hell of a guy to boot. I enjoyed my conversations with him very much. The Tentet's Sunday set was slightly more enjoyable than the Saturday set, but both were incredible. Not a clunker in the bunch, and a pair of exhausted ears at the end of the week. Take care! Craig
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