The Amherst Unitarian Meetinghouse was literally packed for the first concert of a seven venue tour, mastered by Michael Ehlers, of the Peter Brötzmann Trio which included, of course, Brötzmann on tenor and taragato and the pinnacle of rhythm sections, William Parker on bass and Hamid Drake on drums. The trio played two sets. The texture was outstandingly similar in both. Rapidity, energy, constancy, measurable devotion pervaded the music. The Brötzmann fire persisted, but the fire at this

The last of the Magic Triangle Series for its 14th year took place at its old home, Bezanson Recital Hall, at UMass Amherst, Massachusetts on Friday, April 11. The performance - David Murray and the Gwo-Ka Masters: a seven man band for this session made up of Hamid Drake on drumset, Klod Kiavue on Ka drum, Philippe Makaia, also on Ka drum, Hugh Ragin on trumpet, Jaribu Shahid on electric & acoustic bass, Herve Samb on guitar and David Murray on tenor & bass clarinet. A charge emanated from on

Tucked away in the very depths of original Kingston, NY, is the Uptown Gathering Place. Not only is it a gathering place, but it is also a performance venue. And on March 15, 2003, Joe Giardullo’s Shadow & Light Band completed its tour of the Northeast. The Shadow & Light Band rose coincidentally out of the tragedy of September 11. Their recording on that date served to demonstrate the buoyancy that art-making can offer---- resilience, although reeling, to events which have ramifications beyo

The initial 2003 concert of the Magic Triangle Concert Series took place on February 27, 2003, at the Helen Hills Chapel at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. And an appropriate site it was for a star-studded performance by Alan Silva’s Celestrial Communication Orchestra in an American continuation of its rebirth in Switzerland in 2001. The orchestra was packed into the fairly large platform area of the choir space of the chapel. The orchestra was arranged symmetrically with the rhyth

At the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro, VT, Myra Melford in her Be Bread quartet performed a well-designed program. The performance mirrored her attention to detail, her adherence to a certain amount of structure and her sources of inspiration. I have known about Myra Melford for years through her recordings and never in my wildest dreams expected to see her play. Her music is wonderfully melodic. The combination of instruments could not have been more appropriate. Cuong Vu played tru