Susie Ibarra Trio - American U., D.C. 10/25/03

[Fleurette Africaine]

Two shows, 10/24 and 10/25, with Jenny Choi and Craig Taborn. Sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Film Festival. I went down for the Saturday show....It seems that the whole thing wasn’t publicized enough, because after the organizers made a big deal about reserving advance tickets, there was almost no one there. Nice work nonetheless, the first set was a lovely new suite called Lakbay(?) It was an exploration of everyday Filipino life and tradition, featuring a background of found sounds from a crowded marketplace. They’re going to record this next month, I believe. The second set was songs from the last trio album, but all acoustic. The whole performance was just beautiful, alternately meditative and fiery and humorous, but somehow kind of rigid. There was a lot of signaling and paper shuffling going on, which got a little distracting. I’ve only heard Susie live once before, in a positively brilliant performance with Cooper-Moore and Charlie Burnham. To be honest, I liked the old trio better, they seemed more intuitive, somehow.