Jeff's Jazz Festival - Day 2

In an utterly unsuprising and satifying course of events, the first night of my Jazz Festival experience was a rousing success. What did come as a bit of a suprise was that after talking to others who'd been out on the Festival circuit last night, it looks like I made all the right decisions regarding who to see and whatnot.

I don't know if you remember and/or care, but I was a bit twisted over whether to see The Thing's assaultive brand of Scandinavian chaos or sit down to a more relaxed evening of listening to Seu Jorge's acoustic bossa nova show. I ended up watching The Thing at The Cultch and couldn't be happier. They were killer. What didn't factor into my decision process, and turned out to be a huge element of the evening, was the fact that two of Seu's bandmates were denied entry to the country because of expired passports or something like that. And you know who one of them was? The bass player. A bossa nova performance sans bass? Not ideal. I mean... I'm sure he was awesome nonetheless, because look at who we're talking about here... but still.

Anywhoooo, the evening started at The Cultch with the instrumental drum/electric guitar/upright bass trio, the Nels Cline Singers, and these guys tore the place up. It's always hard to describe bands, and just using comparisons can be pretty weak, but while watching the Nels Cline SIngers, their sometimes jarring mix of soundscapes, driving rock, jazz improv, and controlled chaos left me with a wide range of impressions that included, among other bands, Brutal Truth, Frank Zappa, Naked City, Painkiller, and Sonic Youth. If you look at Nels Cline's list of favourite guitarists, it all makes sense. I loved it.

Next up was The Thing, who, for better or for worse, spent most of the night getting their avant garde free jazz improv on. Sax player Mats Gustafsson blows his horn in that John Zorn-type of way that can have you wondering whether you're listening to a baby elephant being messily devoured by a pack of rabid hyenas. This is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it type of thing, and the number of people who could be seen heading for the hills was indicative of that. I personally have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the really outside free jazz. I've always gravitated towards the groove-oriented end of things... George Porter Jr. and James Jamerson are two of my heroes... so when a band goes way the hell off into left field and there doesn't seem to be any cohesion, I've been known to get bored/annoyed. But when the musicians' minds align and they start shifting gears from floaty, disjointed, disorienting improv straight into technical unison lines or rock-solid grooves, it can be... how you say... magic? Yes, magic. On friday night, The Thing were packing some magic. And if you're kicking yourself because you like the sound of this and weren't there, you can just stop that right now. The Thing will be performing again on Sunday night at The Ironworks.

From the Cultch, we got a small crew together for a late-night feast at Gastown Guu, and then went over to Ironworks to end the night in a mellow fashion with the Existential Angst Party. Unfortunately, by that time I was pretty tired and was having crippling attacks of the long blinks. My night was over.

But now it's 7:30pm on saturday and I have to get tonight's activities on the go. And this time it really is a no-brainer. Yup, we've got jazz piano legend McCoy Tyner playing at the Centre for the Performing Arts. This is the guy who broke all the ground with John Coltrane all those decades ago. Can't wait.