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John Abercrombie Quartet
About the last thing you'd expect to hear from the usually reserved jazz guitarist John Abercrombie is an impression of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi touting transcendental meditation at Yankee Stadium. Perhaps the sight of a packed house at Blues Alley on Thursday night had something to do with it.
In any case, Abercrombie wasn't merely in a good mood, he was in terrific form, collaborating -- and fluidly improvising -- with violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron. A remarkably tight ensemble, the quartet spent the opening set performing tunes drawn from the three albums it has recorded. The arrangements were often enlivened by flowing improvisations, additional counterpoint, colorful thematic tangents and amusing allusions to pop songs.
Abercrombie, who favors a warm, finger-picked tone, set the uncluttered mood for each piece, often moving from free time into subtly swinging choruses or funk-accented grooves. He didn't create harmonic motion so much as imply it with partial chords or shifting arpeggios, and his single-note soloing was lyrical enough to iron out angular melodies and wide intervals when necessary.
The veteran guitarist's band mates shone as well. Feldman infused "Wishing Well" with a mixture of rhapsody and whimsy. Johnson, playing a slender upright bass, contributed lovely melodic interludes. And Baron, who wielded brushes and sticks in typically nimble fashion, generated an exhilarating pulse during the Ornette Coleman-penned "Round Trip."
Still, the parts were no match for the whole -- the sound of four musicians conversing with great ease, ingenuity and wit.
-- Mike Joyce
TV on the Radio
As TV on the Radio opened its sold-out two-night stand at the 9:30 club Wednesday, all the parts for a great rock-and-roll show were on display at some point. But rarely at the same time.
The harmonies of lead vocalist Tunde Adebimpe and backup singer/lead guitarist Kyp Malone on "Province" and "I Was a Lover," for example, created a wall of sound not unlike that found on Peter Gabriel's early solo works. And for much of "Young Liars," rhythm guitarist David Sitek strummed his Telecaster at the speed of a hummingbird's wings.
The Brooklyn band also occasionally provided the visual thrills that all great live acts must. During "The Wrong Way," Adebimpe hopped around as if on a pogo stick, all the while whirling his left arm in circles fast enough to make one wonder what his elbow ligaments are made of. When the spirit moved him, Malone, sporting a massive beard and even more massive Afro, launched into a total-body shimmy so smooth that he seemed to be gliding across the stage.
All the band's powers were unleashed on "Wolf Like Me," the most straightforward rocker in the TVOTR songbook and far and away the most exciting performance of the night.
