As usual, the annual Earshot Jazz Festival (through Sun Nov
8, various venues, see www.earshot.org for details) boasts too
many temptations for even the most succumbing fan to cover. Fans of the
avant must not miss a double bill of two duos, Matthew Shipp/Joe
Morris and Peggy Lee/Saadet Türköz (Thurs Oct 22,
Seattle Asian Art Museum, 8 pm, $16). By turns poetic, harsh, knotty,
lyrical, and abstruse, Shipp continues the legacy of Cecil Taylor by
fragmenting the various styles of jazz into a kaleidoscopic, sometimes
breathtaking unity. Guitarist/bassist Morris not only boosts Shipp’s
flights into the sonic stratosphere but helps the pianist stay aloft in
an irregular, interesting orbit with explosive modulations,
silence, and unexpected riffs.
Like Morris, Vancouver, BC–based cellist Lee can pivot from
accompanist to soloist in a trice. With Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas
Quartet, she plays poetic lead lines as well as shadows her
bandmates with wry asides. Here, she teams up with Türköz;
the remarkable Turkish singer couples a mastery of melismatic
improvisation with a trumpetlike twist in her voice, as if Miles
Davis occasionally reincarnates as your local muezzin, summoning
you to prayer with a chanting, eerily hieratic half-language.
The following night, pianist Myra Melford helms her group
Be Bread (Fri Oct 23,
Seattle Art Museum, 8 pm, $18).
Lately, I’ve been captivated by her dual piano disc with Satoko
Fujii, Under the Water (Libra), which showcases the pair’s
mutual sensitivity to delicate textures. Melford and her bandmates,
including trumpeter Cuong Vu and Fujii’s bassist Stomu
Takeishi, delve into the interstices of sound on a grander scale;
with electronic processing and modified instruments, a stray breath,
scrape, or a rattling piano note can open up new routes for
improvisation.
On Saturday, Lee and Türköz reprise their collaboration
(Sat Oct 24, Chapel Performance Space, 8 pm, $20), sharing the evening
with Phantom Orchard, the duo of Ikue Mori and Zeena
Parkins. Originally a drummer in the NYC No Wave scene, Mori
subsequently transformed the drum machine into a synthesizer, imparting
orchestral blizzards of cicada chirps, spazzed-out rhythms, and
delicate electronics in groups and recording projects led by John
Zorn, Butch Morris, and Björk. With Parkins on
electric harp, Mori deploys her laptop to generate and process sound
and video.
With an aptly named “Jazz Legends” concert, Earshot honors Seattle
saxophonist Hadley Caliman (Wed Oct 28, Seattle Art Museum, 7:30
pm, $10/$18). A friend and protégé of one of the great
saxophonists of the 20th century, Dexter Gordon, Caliman unfurls
sinewy bop lines with a dash of funk. Legendary trombonist Curtis
Fuller—you’ve heard him on John Coltrane‘s classic
album Blue Train—joins longtime Caliman compadres Larry
Vukovich (piano), Jeff Chambers (bass), and Eddie
Marshall (drums).
