Cyrille-Dresser-Ehrlich at Tonic, 7/18

[Pete C]

I caught the amazing C/D/E trio for the first time last night, in what Ehrlich described as their annual Tonic appearance. Chris Castelle was there too.

They did 2 stunningly lyrical yet intense sets. It's a cooperative trio, and all players are stellar, but I have to say that Cyrille offered one of the most amazing sustained drum performances I've seen in some time, and I found myself focusing most on him throughout the evening.

They did originals by all 3 members, as well as others by Thomas Chapin & Bobby Bradford. One of Ehrlich's compositions was a dedication to Irving Stone.

The interplay was gripping, and all soloing was state of the art. Ehrlich split his playing pretty evenly between flute, clarinet & alto. He doesn't seem to play tenor much on his own gigs or albums, but I think he has one of the most beautiful tenor tones, so I'm looking forward to the next time Previte's Bump plays.

The last time I had seen one of Ehrlich's own gigs, it was a quartet with Taborn, Formanek & Billy Drummond. While that was an excellent set, this trio is on a whole nother level.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks for the rundown, Pete. I saw this group at the Knitfest in 98 and they just blew me away; it was part of a Dresser playing with a different lineup every night thing down in the Old Office, and this was the most sustainedly impressive gathering. When Cyrille is on, he is awesome. If this is going to be an annual thing I may have to plan a Hatette visit around it.