Improvising The Vancouver Jazz Festival

This being the 8th straight year of attending the festival, I decided this year to follow the credo outlined in the program of that first year, 1991: "This is a festival that does not rely on the obvious - in fact we thrive on taking calculated risks." Like a good improvisor, I decided to take calculated risks this year and not rely on the obvious. Therefore I avoided buying any advance tickets for any of the shows. Making no commitments, flying by the seat of my pants, I was able to go with whatever interests and yearnings I felt as I went along - improvising my way through the 10 days of the festival. To keep myself from relying on the obvious, I also tried for the most part to stay away from headlining acts. Therefore I did not attend performances by Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Toots Thielemans, Terence Blanchard, John Scofield, Jane Bunnett, David Sanchez, Kenny Werner, Steve Lacy, Gerry Hemmingway, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Murphy, Alan Broadbent, Brad Mehldau, Butch Morris, or Jack DeJohnette.

This narrowed the field only slightly. After all, this festival boasts about 200 performances by over 1400 musicians (with many musicians playing in different groups and contexts throughout the 10 days). So many times in past years I've passed up performances by local musicians that I've wanted to see for performances by better known musicians from around the globe. This was the year that I finally did the opposite, and tended to focus on local Vancouver area musicians. They more than held their own on the world-class stage of this festival. Many of my favorite performances were by the local groups. The reason many of these men and women are not as well known as their counterparts from other parts of the world has more to do with geography (and big label recording contracts) rather than ability. That also applies to players from other parts of the world as opposed to those from, say, New York. Ken Pickering and the festival staff are to be congratulated for bringing many players from other parts of the globe to the attention of North American audiences and critics.

I attended 27 performances in all. I'll rate them in descending order of how much they moved me. Local Vancouver area players and groups will have an asterisk in front of their name.

*Swing Theory - a dance/music collaboration. Choreography by Joe Laughlin, Music composed by John Korsrud. This was the most profound, moving experience of the festival for me. Dancers danced on 30 foot high scaffolding, ladders, and poles, working their way down to the ground, and back up. The music seemed to have a larger sound than the five musicians performing it. Intense music that combined many stylistic influences, reminding me of some of the better music that has come out of the Knitting Factory scene.

*Talking Pictures - this creative music group features a number of Vancouver's most creative musicians: Ron Samworth on guitar, Bill Clark on trumpet, Peggy Lee on cello, and Dylan van der Schyff on drums. They draw on many influences - free music, avant-rock, Kurt Weill, etc. They have two cds on the Red Toucan label - highly recommended. Josephine Ochej put it best in her irreverent Terminal City review: "Talking Pictures came on all quiet with The Last Monkey with scratches, blip blip blaps, ting tangs building into this huge monster of a rock 'n' roll slam-out for In Motion - all within the first two songs. Blew the headlining wanky, self-indulgent Frith, looking-bored Ochs and skilled Masaoka to hell in my not-so-humble opinion."

Wayne Horvitz and Zony Mash - Having seen this Seattle based group several times, this was one of their better performances - and they're always hot! Funky grooves with Horvitz on B-3, with avant sensibilities. Often compared to Medeski Martin & Wood, but with more interesting tunes. This was the debut performance with new bass player Keith Lowe, who apparently just came off tour with Fiona Apple. He grooves hard. Also featured as a special guest, the great Kazutoki Umezu on sax and clarinet.

*Peggy Lee and Dylan van der Schyff - A wonderful performance in an authentic Chinese Garden (the only one in North America?). Free improvised music by this husband and wife team. Coming from a classical background, Lee's passionate improvisations sound like nothing I've heard before, and she's become one of my very favorite musicians. van der Schyff is the most versatile drummer in Vancouver, from great grooves to amazingly creative improvisations. They recently released a cd on the new Spool label. Alexander Varty says about the cd, "Even in their moments of discord you can tell how much they care for each other - there's an openness and an emotional transparency here that are rare even in improvised music." Check out the Spool website, or see my review. But back to the performance - I loved how they brought it to a conclusion. Brought back for an encore, they played for a while, and at a certain point, Peggy felt the piece coming to a close, and put down her bow as Dylan continued with a steady beat on a cymbal. We all waited for Dylan to play the last note but he just kept up that beat on the cymbal. Finally, Peggy decided she had better play something, so she picked up her bow, and with closed eyes began to play, only to have Dylan cut the whole thing off on her first note. She opened her eyes and looked at him with a big smile.

Dave Douglas and the Tiny Bell Trio - an excellent performance by Douglas (trumpet), Brad Shepik (guitar), and Jim Black (drums).

*Gilbert/Hammet-Vaughan Quintet - a mixture of local and international artists - Judy Gilbert (The Schismatics) and Kate Hammet-Vaughan - vocals (Vancouver - The Globe and Mail called Hammet-Vaughan "...one of Canada's three most interesting singers."), Cor Fuhler - piano (Holland), Peggy Lee, and Dylan van der Schyff (they both played in many contexts during this festival). This is a tough one to describe - very unique, non traditional uses of the voice, and quite an invigorating performance from this mostly freely improvising quintet.

Michael Moore & Available Jelly - This group performed several times, but I saw them do the last show of the last night of the festival - a fitting conclusion to another great week of jazz and improvised music. Moore is one of the better clarinet and alto sax players playing today, but because he's living in Amsterdam, he's not very well known in his home country - the U.S.A. He's part of the Clusone Trio - a perennial festival favorite featuring Han Bennink on drums and Ernst Reijseger on cello, but this year he brought another project to town - Available Jelly, featuring Wolter Wierbos on t-bone, Eric Boeren on cornet, Michael Vatcher on drums, and Cor Fuhler on keyboards. Mostly "new music" kind of guys playing well written and arranged swinging tunes. Check out my website that features pictures of the wacky Han Bennink, and a bio on Michael Moore. This may eventually turn into the official Michael Moore website, along with a page dedicated to the recordings on Moore's record label, Ramboy.

Other performances I attended, ranked in descending order of preference:
(An asterisk indicates a local Vancouver area group.)

Willam Breuker Kollektief - Wonderful music and wacky shtick
*John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra - more great compositions by Korsrud and others.
Eugene Chadbourne with Thomas and Ward - You gotta see Eugene play the electric rake!
*John Korsrud and Friends - Half Vancouverites/Half Amsterdamians - very enjoyable improv.
Ben Goldberg's Junk Genius - Knitting Factory approach to tunes by Bud Powell, Bird, etc.
DD Jackson Trio - Jackson's playing was amazing, but I don't see how David Murray could call him "the most innovative musician of his generation." For innovative piano, try Cor Fuhler.
Vinny Golia, Ishael Wadada Leo Smith, Bertrand Turetzky - interesting free improv, even better was the workshop, where Smith defined music: "Music is directed motion...[it is] ritualized energy between musicians and audience."
L'Orchestre des Pas Perdus - "Surrealist circus cabaret collides with jazz, funk, swing, and Zappa."
Fred Frith, Larry Ochs, and Mya Masaoka - Masaoka (21 string koto) was great, Frith was occasionally interesting, and Ochs got in the way.
*Michael Blake's Slow Poke - Nice grooves.
Tunes For Horn Guys - Another Michael Moore/Wolter Weirbos, etc. performance.
*Christine Duncan - Diana Krall is not the only talented singer from B.C.
*Molestics - weird, humorous blend of slimey cocktail lounge jazz.
*Velvet - acid jazz and electronica: cool grooves.
Aurealis - Described as new music chamber jazz. It was OK, but didn't really do it for me.
*Soulstream - funk cover tunes. TOP's Soul Vaccination made me get up and dance.
Leon Parker - The most disappointing performance of the festival for me, because I love his recordings. In my opinion, he's not yet able to carry a solo performance on drums - not the way Max Roach did a few months earlier in Bellingham. But the rest of the audience seemed to love it, so what do I know?