The duo is my favorite format in improvised music. A solo
performance might seem obviously more challenging, yet the presence of
another person onstage confers a special obligation. As a performer,
you not only expose yourself before an audience but make a fellow
musician, your implied twin, vulnerable. You can’t, as the old jazz saw
goes, “blame it on the rhythm section.” And while the interplay among a
trio or quartet can quickly blur, most anyone can detect when a two-way
musical conversation goes awry. A duo lays everything bare.
While talking on the phone to reedman Ken Vandermark, I asked him
about his current duo partner, percussionist Paal (pronounced “Paul”)
Nilssen-Love. “He definitely pushes me,” exclaims Vandermark. When I
ask how he manages to stay as timbrally resourceful as Nilssen-Love,
who scrapes, pings, and thwacks his drum kit, Vandermark tells me it’s
one of his favorite things about the duo. “I try and deal with the
level of complexity that Paal presents,” says Vandermark, “His density
of rhythm and density of sound: It’s a tremendous and fascinating
challenge to push myself in those ways.”
On albums such as Dual Pleasure 2 (Smalltown Supersound) and
earlier collaborations in the Vandermark 5, Vandermark and
Nilssen-Love invert the hierarchy of soloist and accompanist. Near
the end of “Look Left” it’s hard to tell who is making the drone. Is it
Vandermark on clarinet or Love delicately rubbing a cymbal?
As a duo, the pair’s encyclopedic sonic vocabulary enables them to
fashion marvelous surprises; submerged sounds can twitter, chirp, and
then surface unexpectedly into the blues testifyin’ saxophone sound of
Albert Ayler or a straight-ahead backbeat. “Our music is open,”
Vandermark affirms. “We explore.”
Vandermark and Nilssen-Love duet on Fri June 13, Seattle Asian
Art Museum, 1400 E Prospect St, 547-6763, 8 pm, $15. 
Thurs 6/12
ZIGGURAT
Saxophonist Eric Barber and pianist Bill Anschell front a
straight-ahead quartet inspired by the stuttering effect of
odd-numbered Balkan beat patterns, bouncy polkas, and South Indian
classical music. Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, 547-6763,
5:30—7 pm, free with museum admission.
STANLEY JORDAN
This jazz guitarist’s eloquent fret-tapping technique wowed ’em back
in the ’80s and remains a persuasive pleasure. Through Sun June 15.
Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, sets at 7:30 and 9:30
pm, $21.50—$23.50.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Xian Zhang, the excellent associate conductor of the New York
Philharmonic, and the band accompany Alexander Nevsky by legendary
director Sergei Eisenstein. Scored by Prokofiev, the epic Nevsky
contains some of the composer’s best and worst music. Veering from
hackneyed marches and thudding sub—Carmina Burana trash to
utterly inspired scoring within just a few measures, Nevsky epitomizes
the cohabitation of genius and schlock within Prokofiev. Also Fri June
13 at 7 pm, Sat June 14 at 8 pm, and Sun June 15 at 2 pm. Benaroya
Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $17—$105.
AFFINITY
Local chamber groups generally ignore hometown composers, but
Affinity is an exception. On the docket: works by Brad Sherman, Sarah
Bassingthwaighte, Jay Hamilton, and More Zero’s Chris Stover. Fourth
floor Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside
Ave N, 7:30 pm, $5—$15 sliding scale donation.
PATRICIA BARBER
Like another master of modern sprechstimme, David Sylvian, this
Chicago-based chanteuse sings, speaks, whispers, and purrs lonely
lyrics for lost souls. The Triple Door, 216 Union St, 838-4333, 7:30
pm, $25/$28.
WOLF EYES
Wolf Eyes conjoin the fist-shaking antics of stadium rock to
unabashed noise and freeform sonic experimentation. With almost every
listen, they sound like a different group, live and on disc. I’ve heard
them drench venerable free-jazz recordings with distortion, disgorge
inhuman amounts of feedback, and dub-out tapping on guitar pickups so
they echo-echo-echo like Group Ongaku or Sun Ra’s electronic music.
Wolf Eyes’ uncountable number of obscure CD-R releases, one-off dub
plates, and short-run cassettes have helped recast the physical,
nondownloadable release as art object. Oh and live, they put on a great
show. The Rita, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, and the scabrous electronics
of Rubber O Cement round out the bill. High Dive, 513 N 36th St,
632-0212, 9 pm, $8.
Sat 6/14
SEATTLE REPERTORY JAZZ ORCHESTRA
In jazz, the request is a sliver-sized performance by the listener.
Call out a smart tune (e.g., “Impressions” by John Coltrane) and the
band will love you. But suggest a stupid cliché—I actually
heard a drunk bellow for “Melancholy Baby” 15 years ago—or
something obscure (who knows “Oboe Mambo” anymore?), inappropriate
(“Louie Louie”), or obstreperously difficult (“Things to Come” or
Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”), and you’ll get heckled. Here, the SRJO
fulfills listener requests tallied from KPLU, including “Sing, Sing,
Sing,” Duke Ellington’s Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, and the one
tune few know was written by Tito Puente, “Oye Como Va.” Also Sun June
15 at the Kirkland Performance Center at 3 pm. Recital Hall at
Benaroya, Third Ave and Union St, 523-6159, 7:30 pm, $15—$36.
Sun 6/15
SOUNDS OUTSIDE BENEFIT
Stephen Fandrich and Sean Owen team up to help Sounds Outside, which
organizes free summer concerts at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.
Fandrich plays piano pieces by Chopin, Scriabin, and Frank Zappa; Owen
presents vihuela music of the Spanish Renaissance and assorted
études for guitar by stalwart Monktail percussionist Mark
Ostrowski. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave at Seneca St, 800-838-3006, 2 pm,
$20/$25.
Wed 6/18
HERBIE HANCOCK
Like his mentor Miles Davis, Hancock fluidly spans multiple styles,
from the jazz-funk of the classic album Head Hunters (and the
underrated Sextant) to straight-ahead stuff like Speak Like a Child,
the 1978 Japan-only LP The Piano, and his work with V.S.O.P. Hancock
cut some passable disco tracks (“You Bet Your Love” from the
embarrassingly titled Feets, Don’t Fail Me Now) too. His latest disc,
River: The Joni Letters (Verve) honors Joni Mitchell. Hancock has an
all-star band in tow: drum deity Vinnie Colaiuta, the amazing
saxophonist Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke on guitar, and a fellow Miles
alum, bassist Dave Holland. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747,
7:30 pm, $20—$95.
