Wednesday, January 10, 2007

NYC Day #1

Landed in Manhattan just in time to check in, sign in to the IAJE conference, grab some latkes at the Carnegie Deli (the recipe I picked up from a Yiddish folklorist I used to know is better!) and head downtown for the first Winter Jazzfest at the Knitting Factory.

Just like old times (circa the What Is Jazz?/Texaco Jazz Festival) with three floors of simultaneous music.

Caught an interesting solo set by percussionist Mino Cinelu, hard-grooving stuff from pianist Antoine HervĂ© with the Moutin brothers on bass and drums, and then a real flashback—all the way back to the No Wave Era—with a punky quartet called Gutbucket. Best thing of the night was a pickup quartet fronted by alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, with Craig Taborn subbing for Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey on drums and François Moutin on bass.

No comments: