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Matt Wilson Quartet
Last night as part of the Cuyahoga County Community College Jazz Festival, the Matt Wilson Quartet played at the Beachland Ballroom's tavern. Like most Tri-C Jazz events, other than the smooth jazz events at pricey venues, this was not promoted very well and was attended by only about 20 people. Fortunately for those 20 people the show was outstanding. I was totally unaware of this group and primarily went because of the high praise given for Humidity on the reviews site. What a pleasant surprise!
The group was the quartet on Humidity: Andrew Diangelo on alto sax, bass clarinet & handbells; Jeff Lederer on tenor & soprano saxes & handbells; Yosuke Inoue on acoustic bass & handbells; and Matt on drums & handbells. Fortunately the tavern is small enough that only some small amplification for the bass was necessary; everybody else played off mike. The first set was an eye-opening marvel with excellent musicianship by all. Both horn players are very accomplished in constructing solos and providing interesting counterpoint for each other. Inoue's performance on bass was rock solid; providing a firm foundation as well as an interesting foil when performing duets with Wilson. Wilson's performance was amazing. The guy looks like a slightly more athletic version of Al Franken but his command of his drum kit (which was a borrowed one) was complete. The rhythmic variety along with the masterful use of tones from the cymbals was stunning. And all the time everybody looked as though this was totally effortless and was just four guys goofing off and having fun. But it was, as Lester Bowie and Sisco would say, serious fun.
Not being familiar with the groups music (which is about to change) I can't give a definitive description of the songs. I know that at least three songs in the first set were from Humidity (Swimming in the Trees, Wall Shadows & a killer version of Tadd Dameron's Our Delight which has been stuck in my head all day; intro'd by Wilson asking "Wasn't he from Cleveland?) but everything was effective; including a song that had all members singing in a Breukeresque vein something about preferring a clenched fist to an open hand. His banter between songs was very entertaining; and it was pretty much all spontaneous.
Because of the time change and it being a Sunday night, I was only able to make it through two songs in the second set. It was very difficult to leave because this might be the best set of music I see all year. Many thanks to Mike Schwartz for emphasizing the quality of Humidity (which I picked up and will delve into soon) so emphatically; if it weren't for that, this was one of those shows I might have blown off. Which would've been a very bad move indeed. If this group appears in your town, CHECK THEM OUT!
Last edited by Captain Hate; April-7th-2003 at 06:35 PM.
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