Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette @ Symphony Hall 10/27/08

Walking into Symphony Hall, I was wondering what I could write about this concert. I've seen the Standards Trio multiple times, and they've always put on a brilliant, beautiful, and fairly predictable show. Lots of standards, at least one ten minute vamp at the end of a tune The inevitable tension of "Will Keith freak out at the audience?" Basically, every trio record ever recorded, plus a little drama. This has been the knock on Keith for years, especially among musicians. For his part, Keith insists, as he restated in concert notes distributed at the doors, that the point of the trio, even after 25 years, is that the vessel of the presentation is so much less important than the content.

He proved it tonight. Whether planned or not, the first set was mostly movie themes: "Green Dolphin Street" (people forget it was a movie, after all) "Someday My Prince Will Come", a beautiful dark ballad I didn't recognize, before moving to a blues. Keith opened the concert with a big, billowy piano introduction, almost Chopin-ish, before moving into a beautifully swung performance. The band took "Prince" at a really hard, medium-slow tempo, and for most of Keith's solo, Jack kept a 2-beat brush pattern going, and was dropping little bombs through his pattern, turning a cute waltz into a pretzel of a tune. The ballad (can anyone who was there help me with the name) was gorgeous, with the band using a much more elastic time sense than I'm used to. Keith would lead into the bridge with almost a pregnant pause, with everyone landing in the bridge literally seconds behind where you'd expect it. At times it reminded me of how the Motion trio plays ballads.

The second set started with another ballad I didn't recognize, before moving into "Innocence", a Keith original from the European quartet days, which really surprised me. Keith proceeded to tear it up, taking on of the most virtuosic solos I've ever heard from him or possibly anyone else, rolling in, around and through the changes at lightspeed. He further surprised with his first encore, taking "When I Fall in Love", the warhorse of warhorses for this group, from the usual reverence the trio shows it and swinging it really hard, with Keith almost not stopping his solo for Gary to come in, then coming back after the bass solo swinging even harder.

Keith himself even seemed surprised with how the night went, saying after Innocence- "I can't say anything about this group that matches what you just heard." I can say that to their usual brilliance, they added the element of surprise, something I hope they'll keep in the book.

Daily musings

Wow, it's been awhile since I did this...

- A last minute concert announcement: Judy Silvano performs tonight at Lily Pad with Joe Lovano and the Fringe. I reviewed a similar gig last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anytime you can see Garzone and Lovano on the same bill, and for only $10, how can you miss?

- I did get to most of the okayokay set last Thursday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The trio of Khabu, vocalist Kyoko Kitamura and woodwind freak Mike McGinnis rolled through a whimsical set of songs and improvisations, riffs on the Weekly World News, e.e. cummings, and original loops. Khabu is playing a lot more mandolin, in addition to his burning otherworldly electrics, which in a strange way grounds the proceedings. A lot of fun.

- Congratulations to Miguel Zinon on the announcement of his MacArthur fellowship, a truly remarkable event. Darcy opines about it. I'm still listening to some of Miguel's solo stuff- I'm not that farmiliar with them- thinking hard about this one and what it could mean. More soon.

Ok, OK, Okay!

A last minute heads up- OkayOkay, featuring old friends and bandmates Mike McGinnis and Khabu, are making their only local appearance tonight at 10pm at the Lily Pad. Should be fantastic, so come out already...

More blogging tomorrow, finally, I promise!

Four Across tonight at Berklee

Last minute update- good friend and infrequent stagemate Carmen Staaf is part of a concert tonight at Berklee (the old Boylston street building) with Four Across, a great unit of former Seattlites. 7pm. Here's the myspace, go hit the gig.

Paul Motion Trio at the Vanguard 9/2/08

A trip to the Vanguard can feel a little like a pilgrimage- the place basically looks the same as it has for many years- only a few pictures on the wall seem to change. Everywhere there are references to all the amazing albums made there. It seems doubly so when the Motion/Frisell/Lovano trio play there. At this point, their two week run at the end of every summer is often their only one in the states, and over thirty years they have built a reputation as on of, if not the, best small group in jazz.

So when tenor saxophonist and longtime Motion collaborator Bill McHenry walked on the stage with his horn, it felt like going to a high Mass and seeing someone with a yamulkah on the altar. No explanation was ever given, and the band went through an hour of its typical music- several Motion originals recognizable from their albums, as well as "Good Morning Heartache", Body and Soul", and "Misterioso". But my concert companion and I were more than a little jarred by it. (I don't know if this was a one night thing; the Vanguard website still lists Lovano for the whole run)

The music, was needless to say, different. Both Motion and Frisell are angluar, even sometimes jagged players, and Lovano's big gruff sound and long, full twisty lines have always been a great counterbalance, connecting thread. McHenry has a slightly smaller, darker sound, and plays in short, jerky bursts more than lines, which gave the music a feeling of a lot of the same thing. Early in the set was very effective- it was obvious that everyone was listening tremendously hard, and the interplay and ideas kicking around were remarkable. And of course, Frisell and Motian are old hands, and can toss off brilliant music together in their sleep. But as the set went on Motion and Frisell seemed to move more towards how they would play if Lovano were there, and it left big holes in the music, all rough and no smooth. McHenry is a very, very good player, and to his credit I never once felt like I was listening to someone play like Lovano. And perhaps further into the run, they'll establish more common ground.

I'd be interested to hear who knows what, and if Lovano will be back for any of the run.
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Upcoming yoga events in Boston

The yoga community in Boston, in my experience, is a wonderful group of people who have a tough time coordinating anything. As a result, there is a tremendous burst of yoga-related benefits and events in Boston these coming weeks. Many are worth checking, most haven't been well publicized. Here are highlights:

Wednesday YogaMonth, a national campaign, rolls into Boston. (An all day event on a Wednesday? Right as school starts? Who planned this puppy?) That said, there are several great teachers leading workshops, including the nationally renowned Timothy McCall M.D., and a concert with Donna de Lorey, who seems to have successfully translated some of Madonna's forays into yoga music into something a little more coherent and reverent.

Saturday Sept. 13- a fashion and photography show at the Intercontinental Hotel to benefit YogaHope. I will be playing with my trio at the reception. Despite rave reviews from all of our service partners and a lot of great recent press, YogaHope recently had to cut its Seattle programs due to lack of funding, so any help they can get is critical.

Sunday Sept. 21- Global Mala, a project Shiva Rea has been leading nationally, rolls into Boston. I am especially looking forward to the AcroJam in the afternoon.

October, date TBA- one of my first yoga teachers, Rebecca Pacheco, leads a benefit class for a charter school she works with in Boston. Details TBA.

November 16? (will confirm)- The annual 108 Sun Salutations to benefit YogaHope and Pathways to Wellness at SportsClub LA. Details and a link when I have it.

On a personal note, I will no longer be teaching on Thursday evenings in Brookline, and new classes and workshops will hopefully be added soon!

And like a Bolt I'm off

With the school year fast approaching, and the realization that I haven't left the state of Massachusetts all summer, I'm on the Boltbus down to NYC for a couple of days. The itinerary, beyond the usual seeacouplepeopleIain'tgottoinaminute (subject, of course, to radical change at any time) :

Music: Moition/Frisell/Lovano at the Vanguard tonight. (If you haven't seen them, drop what you're doing and go NOW. They're there for two weeks- no excuses.)

Tomorrow I'm going to try to hit the new LPR to see Nasheet Waits and the two trios he's involved in. Everything I see and here about the venue is so positive. (I thought about trying for the Zorn/Reed hit, but I dont' think I can handle that scene.)

Yoga: I hope to hit Yoga for the People and Big Apple Power Yoga, the new Baptiste affiliate in NYC.

On a totally unrelated note, it's the time of year where like so many other grunts, I put together my fantasy football team. I think I'm going to use the Facebook app this year, so if you're on facebook and want to form a league, let me know.

If you see me, please say hi. Suggestions are always welcome.

Gigs to see- September edition

First, I realized that I've reviewed Bill Frisell more than any other artists here, so I'll spare you a blow-by-blow of his wonderful solo set last weekend. Suffice to say, it was great. I'm in a yoga teacher training all of next week, so here in advance is the good stuff on the schedule for September:

Every Wednesday at 10pm- Kaufman/Bergonzi/Gertz/Guerrero at Lily Pad

9/5 Mitch Marcus Group @ Lily Pad
9/9 Noah Preminger @ Scullers
9/10-11 Chris Potter @ Regattabar
9/11 Oregon @ Scullers
9/12-13 Danielo Perez @ Regattabar
9/12 Michael Bates and Outside Sources at Lily Pad
9/18-20 Dave Holland Sextet @ Regattabar
9/24-26 Saxophone Summitt (Lovano, Liebman, Coltrane) @ Regattabar

More as I find 'em...

Frisell is in Boston tonight!

A last minute add- the inimitable Bill Frisell will be performing tonight (solo, I assume, but I don't know) at the Cambridge Y with Daniel Bennett's band opening. And there are still tickets. I will be there, and will blog, but it's a great chance to see Frisell in a small venue.

Newport Jazz Festival, Saturday 8/9, Fort Adams State Park

I haven’t been to the Newport Jazz Festival in more than fifeen years. I have lots of warm fuzzy memories from that weekend- it was the summer that the living members of Miles’ 60s band reunited to tour, Jack Dejohnette played a set with unannounced guest Bobby McFerrin, and so on. I also remember a small crowd- rain scared a lot of people away. So I was in no way prepared for my trip back today. I hope I don’t sound nostalgic or old fogey, but everything seemed much… bigger. More parking, longer walks from parking, a ginormous main stage, with big lights and video screens, and two side stages to boot, both just off the main entrance.

I got in just in time to see Brian Blade and Fellowship on the larger side stage. Blade was the second busiest man at the festival, leaving his band and immediately moving to the big stage to play with Wayne. (the busiest easily was Chris Potter, playing six sets with four bands this weekend, including a turn with Herbie on Sunday.) Fellowship (Blade, reedmen Myron Waldron and Melvin Butler, pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Chris Thomas on bass, and budding jazz god Kurt Rosenwinkle on guitar) is promoting its new album, seemingly forever after Perceptual, their second. I’ve never heard the band live, and liked but didn’t love that record, and have real reservations about both Waldon and Rosenwinkle, so I was very curious about what I’d hear.

I was floored. Blade writes big, open sweeping tunes for this band. The heads generally have very slow melodic rhythms, and the rhythm section always emphasizes big beats, so that even at very fast tempos it doesn’t feel fast. This gives most of the tunes a big, open, almost epic feeling, suggesting wide open spaces; comparisons to the Pat Metheny Group seem inevitable, and not at all bad, but Blades tunes feel somehow earthier, with more soulful (stylistically, that is). In most of the tunes, the blowing is very contained- one solo, usually less then 100 bars- and for the most part the soloists took the role of actors fleshing out roles in the music rather than showstoppers chewing up the scenery turns. Blade, true to form, set up a beautiful, light cushion for the tunes to glide on, dropping his occasional patented bomb for good measure. Blade’s feel was remarkable for how triplety it was. In a time where to my ears many drummers are playing a straighter, more even “swing” it really stood out, sounding very fresh and not at all anachronistic. (I could spend a week talking about what Blade was doing with the time, and maybe after I absorb the new album I will.) The feel gave the soloists huge room to play with, against, around the time, which all did in different ways.

One major complaint about the festival- while the three stages were a great chance to serve more people's tastes, could we be a little more careful about how you put things together? Is it absolutely necessary to have Wayne's band and the Iverson/Haden/Frisell trio running opposite each other? Likewise, Aretha and Lettuce at once? Why not program for contrast instead of stylistic redundancy? (Okay, that's not fair, but why not spread like acts out instead of concentrating them? Wouldn't that make more people happy? I for was was very pissed at having to choose between the two above, especially since Ethan is a friend and Wayne is, well, my hero. Not fair) Anyhow, I did hear a tune plus of the Iverson/Haden/Frisell trio. They opened with Charlie's gorgeous "First Song", and continued with "Sub-Conscious-Lee", which has been a mainstay of recent Frisell sets. I wasn't there enough to say much, except that I think I get completely why Charlie loves playing with Ethan. Haden is a natural romantic, as evidenced on the gorgeous "Nocturne" and the Quartet West music notably, and Ethan often approaches playing from the big-R Romantic point of view. He wears his deep study of European classical music on his sleeve in every solo, even in the wackiest Bad Plus moments, and that sensibility worked beautifully as a contrast to Charlie's spacious approach.

The Wayne Shorter Quartet (Wayne, Danielo Perez, John Patattuchi, Blade) is perhaps the most heralded band of the 21st century, and the most inscrutable. The play a mix of Wayne’s great old and new compositions, sort of; good luck finding more than four bars of a time of “Footprints” or “Mascalero”, or anything. (And new tunes, you're guess is as good as mine.) I saw this band six years ago in Boston, and was left frustrated- you could hear the potential, and obviously the talent, but it never seemed to quite gel. So several years and hundreds of gigs later, I was very curious to hear what was happening.

The answer was, a lot. I hit the set a little late, and it felt just like the '03 gig did- bursts of tremendous energy individually, but no coherence. As the set went on, though, the band connected in a series of patters, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic or all of the above, and the results were magical. Everything connected on a level that I've honestly never heard before. There was a spot where the band would play 4 bars, then lay out as Wayne carried forward whatever they just did, then they did it again. The compositions themselves were vintage Wayne- beautiful and singable and angular and thorny all at the same time.

I can safely say that that set was the first time in my life I've heard something that felt unbelievably new, and five years ahead of what anyone else is doing. Even when I could tell you exactly what was happening- Danielo was playing this, Wayne was here, Blade's beat was like so, etc., I still don't feel like I got what I was hearing. (And I can only imagine the bulk of the crowd, coming of a singer's smooth jazz set) I was talking to my dad, a jazz fan from the mid-fifties on today, about how jealous in a way I was of him- he heard Miles in the 60s and Ornette and Brookmeyer and Getz and whoever when they were still new and fresh and sometimes outlaw, being confused and amazed and threatened all at once. That set was the first time in my adult life that I've felt like that. I almost feel like no critical judgement of this band is fair, since we need five years to catch up with them. I'm excited to try. (I'm friendly with Danilo from my NEC days, and hope one of these days to pin him for ten minutes to talk about Wayne's music and band. If I do, I'll post it here.)

After Wayne's set I felt full, like I'd just eaten a huge gourmet meal. But in the interests of you dear readers (and justifying the $90 I'd paid to come) I popped across the lawn to see the quartet of Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Eric Harland, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The set was all band originals, some of which I recognized from albums, some I didn't. This set was jazz-nerd heaven; the tunes were generally twisty, clever and complicated, the playing fierce and athletic. I wrote about Dave and Chris in a duo awhile back, and there's little I can add except they both still play at that level. Harland, who I loved in the SFJazz Collective earlier this year, is a fantastic, ferocious drummer (and a good writer), and everything he played seemed to crackle.

Rubalcaba, however, was the highlight of the show for me. When he hit the scene as a Cuban wonderkind fifteen-plus years ago, he was a firestorm of virtuosity, and no one knew quite what else. (If you can find it, see Marcus Roberts' skewering of GR in a blindfold test at that time. I thought the critique was as usual over the top, but not entirely unfounded) Hearing him this weekend, the virtuosity is still obvious, but there was a warmth and grace to everything he played that softened and humanized even the most obtuse blowing. One hopes we see more of him in these parts in the near future.

Other notes from bits I caught:

- I heard a little of Chris Botti on my way to get food. The less I say about it, the better. But... Chris gave an effusive intro to his drummer Billy Kilson, comparing his musical personality to- Yo-Yo Ma! Chris, I like Billy a lot, and am glad he has that gig, but back off the hyperbole a little, please?

- Trumpeter Christian Scott, who closed the smallest stage, was recording his set for a CD/DVD connecting his Newport set to the great Miles set at Newport which happened 50 years ago. Gotta love record labels. Maybe for that reason I was ready to hate it. But I didn't- his sextet channeled Miles not sonically, but in their attempts to explore and stretch the music. The two tunes I heard were dense and crunchy and even noisy- the guitar player played with a tone that I think of as indie-rock, and the second tune would've been at home on a Tortoise album. (At least until the blowing started) I thought initially that Scott was overblowing, but he found a full clean sound by the second tune, and everyone in the band played well. Definitely the pleasant surprise of the day.

- Aretha Franklin put on a Vegas-y set with a union big band backing her. Her rhythm section and singers were tight, the band was not; there were a couple of moments that struck me as near train wrecks due to miscommunication. I stayed for the first four tunes- a Sly Stone medley (?!), "Natural Woman", an old school version of "Cherokee", and something I didn't know. The highlight was Cherokee- she used the long melody against the fast changes to swoop and float and sing her ass off. She still sounds as good as she ever has, but only in spurts; I fear her health is catching up with her. But 75% of Aretha is so much better than 200% of all her progeny.

The Globe's overview, which touches all the stuff I couldn't see, is here.

UPDATE: NPR recorded all of Sunday's concerts, and is streaming them online. Listen here. I haven't checked any of it yet, but soon...

There's grass on my mat...

A brief plug- for the next few weeks I will be teaching yoga outside on Wednesday evenings. The classes will be informal (I know), small (I think), and fun (for sure). The classes are donation based, and net proceeds will benefit YogaHope. Details are on my website. If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!

You may need a new mouthpiece

A late follow-up on the end of the IAJE as we know it- last month's Downbeat (with Return to Forever on the cover- yikes!) has a two page article that summarizes a lot of what kicked around the web, and adds some interesting info and interviews. Only half the article appears online, though the web version adds the details of the organizations financials from '00 to '06- it's worth the read, and then you can find out who won the Critics' Poll, yippee! I came away with two distinct lines of thought:

I have little doubt that the stronger state organizations will thrive (the New Jersey chapter posted its letter to membership online, and I have a feeling the sentiment there is shared by a lot of states.) And in talking to a couple of high school educators I work with, I don't see the collapse impacting work in the classroom in the short term. However, there are long term initiatives and programs that an organization like IAJE can create (think the "Jazz Month" it helped coordinate with the Smithsonian) that are for now abandoned. I see this more as an opportunity for new voices to come forward than as a great loss.

And while financial mismanagement lies at the heart of the IAJE's demise, the intellectual mismanagement of jazz education is an issue as well. (Darcy talks about this in his New Music Box piece, and in the follow up discussion on his blog.) I've already ranted on this enough, but if new music ensembles and new concert approaches can rise from conservatories to play Reich and Carter and student composers, I don't think it's too much to ask for the same from jazz programs...

you'll have to bang your drum somewhere else

The sad thing is, I'm not even surprised at this anymore. If you're around Cambridge tomorrow, this is a worthy cause. And call Kennedy and Kerry as well. This is somehow making us safer? (via Jennifer Kimball)

Wednesday, 7/17, 8pm til...
Ryles, Inman Square

Benefit concert for Vicente Lebron,
a beloved local musician who was detained by Immigration and Naturalization Services (working under the auspices of Homeland Security) on his last trip through Logan airport in with the band he's played with for 10 yrs, the Either/Orchestra. His passport and green card were confiscated and after a hearing June 9 was incarcerated in the S. Bay Correctional center where he remains indefinitely. A native of the Dominican Republic and a great conga/timbales player, he's lived here for more than 30 years, has a wife, children and grandchildren all here in Cambridge. The proceeds will help with legal expenses...

featuring Orchestra Morphine, Club d'Elf, Gabrielle Agachiko, Russ Gershon's Mood Elevator and more....

full stories here in the Phoenix..

Lindsay notes that the terror watch list is now at a million names, with no end in sight... I'm sure there are many Vincente Lopezes who may not have benefit of visible friends...

A festival of...

Since the festival scene in Boston isn't anything like what it used to be- no Globe Jazz Fest, no Phoenix produced concerts, and the Beantown fest is in May- I look south, to Newport, the great name in music festivals. And I have to say, this year's Newport Jazz Festival is really, really good. While I have no use for Chris Botti, and I look at Aretha these days with a mixture of anticipation and fear, I'm excited about just about every second act on the bill. As much as I would love to see Herbie and the Gauchos, at best I'll catch the Saturday show- I've seen Wayne's current quartet twice in its first year, and I'm really curious to see what a couple of years together has done.

If I were a folk fan, however, I can't imagine I'd be thrilled. Someone explain to me where the folk is in this year's Newport Folk Festival? In fact, while there are some cool names on the bill, Calexico notably, I'm having trouble figuring out what in the hell the festival is about.

I know that strict genre lines are way too arbitrary, and that marketing overrides all other factors in booking these days, but every time I look at that bill- Jimmy Buffett? Brian Wilson?? I just scratch my head. I'll be curious to hear the reports in August...

It ain't at Lincoln Center, yo

Fresh on the heels of the latest Shaq-Kobe feud, today (via Alex Ross) we find... a new music rap confrontation, courtesy of Hybrid Groove Project in Baltimore. Not quite as catchy as "Umbrella", but not bad either, and certainly funny if you know the in-jokes. Up here, I don't think Levine or Gil Rose are exactly quaking in their boots.

But why take shots at the new music groups, even in jest, and ignore those most ripe for smackdown, the composers? I've been out of the new music scene as a player for a few years now, but I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to smack a composer around a little bit, even (especially) some of the bigger names, for writing really dumb crap. (I still operate under the illusion that this is a family show, which makes it harder to be all gangsta.) What better venue than rap feuds?

"John Harbison/at it agin/ getting five commisions and then mailin' three in."

"And then there's P Glass/ your time has passed/ twenty years you pull the same three notes out your A&%."

(Just in case anyone wonders why I mostly do text settings of other people's poetry) Someone with more skills than me, please, bring it on!

I thought about including the jazz scene, but everyone's hurting right now, so I'm not sure feuds are the best idea. Plus, we all know what happened when Wynton rapped. (click on "Where Y'all At, if you must...)

RIP George Carlin

To be funny means to watch carefully, and be able to articulate what you see. Carlin is one of the great models here, and so many of his skills are so sorely lacking in todays performers. I really think many musicians, especially improvisers, would be well advised to watch comics more carefully, to see how they time, what works, what doesn't. Painful as it was, watching bad comics on Cruise Ship X was a great teacher for me. Watching Carlin was an even better teacher, and a helluva a lot more fun. My favorite Carlin sketch of all time:

Stevie Wonder @ Comcast Center, Sunday 6/22

First of all, how the hell did this not get any press in Boston? (Okay, there was one puff piece in the Globe) It's Stevie Wonder, dammit, who last year, in the eyes of Boston's senior rock critic, "delivered one of the finest evenings of music this writer has had the pleasure to attend." Who's barely toured since I was ten. Who... anyway, had Darcy not blogged about it (great links here, btw), I would've missed it entirely. Thankfully, we braved the perils of Route 140 (Comcast is the old Great Woods, a nice facility with good sound and only one one lane road in and out. Sigh.) Here are the Globe and (crappy) Herald reviews.

There's not a ton I can add to Darcy's review- the show was only (only!) two hours and change, with any possibility for an encore stuffed by the obligatory guest singing radio contest winner. (who, thankfully, did NOT sing "I Just Called", opting for a somewhat frazzled medley of "Living for the City" and "Superstitious".) Stevie came out and chatted for a few minutes, mostly about the Celtics and their recent success. Stevie is a big Lakers fan, so this was very generous, or maybe just wise. The pacing of the show was also still a little ragged- after blowing the doors off at the beginning of the show, the middle sagged with too many ballads in a row- the bathroom lines suddenly got longer. At the end though, he lit the place on fire at the end with a run of "Superstitious", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "Do I Do". (I still can't get past the video for the last one.) And given how tight the band is now, the thought of what they'll sound like on the back end of this tour is pretty mind-blowing. The band, while seemingly bloated at thirteen players, never played like it- the balance, both in volume and density was mostly perfect.

Nitpicking- I could've used even more harmonica, especially after, on "Spain", Stevie blew everyone out of the water with his short harp solo. And I would've loved to see "As" and "Overjoyed" on the menu, but with a catalog as big as his, that's whining. If you can get to it, go now.

Green and white and black all over

If you pay even the least amount of attention to sports this month, you'll know that my beloved Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship for the first time since I was 11. Yesterday I was in the neighborhood, so I walked down to the Public Library to catch the victory parade. And I have to admit, I choked up when the floats with Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett went by. It had nothing to do with the trophy (I think all the sports trophies are pretty gaudy) or the cheering.

This was the most diverse crowd for just about anything I've seen in Boston for a long time. Young, old, black (much more black than I'm used to), brown, yellow, white. I didn't read any reports of problems in the paper this morning, which matched my experience of a boisterous, but well-behaved crowd. For most cities, this may not seem like a big deal, but this is Boston, and the Celtics.

The last time the Celtics won, in '86, they were the whitest team in the NBA, already the blackest in sports, and there wasn't always that much love for the Celts in the black community here. Back then Bill Russell, the greatest Celtic and possibly the best big man ever, was a pariah in these parts for, among other things, his unflinching criticism of Boston for the way it treated him during and after his distinguished career, because he spoke his mind- and was usually right. (J.A. Adande wrote a good piece about the curious issue of the Cs and race earlier this year) Even in '02, the last time they were competitive, there was some ambivalence in the press and fandom- Paul Pierce was too much of a thug, Antione Walker was greedy and shortsighted on the court, etc. Which often were ways of saying "too black".

Not this time. The only peep you heard was about Jemele Hill, a national columnist for ESPN, writing that rooting for the Celtics was akin to rooting for Hitler, and being suspended for that idiocy. (The column, without that comment, is here) Back at home, though little white girls held up signs asking Rondo to marry them. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett grinned like little kids, going back and forth with anyone in the crowd who he could here.

As much of a sports nut as I can be, I know they don't matter that much, and a good year for the Cs doesn't mean somehow Boston has put history behind itself. But for that one afternoon, under a shower of green confetti, it was nice to witness the possibility.

'cause I missed you something fierce...

Blogging has been nonexistent lately, since in the past month I've taught my first to extended yoga workshops, hosted Johnny Carcrash (thanks to the folks who came, sound clips to come) and found a new apartment. Along with the usual nonsense. But, with the school year winding down and the summer music scene heating up (well, relatively), I'm hoping to get a little more blogging done.

I realize a lot of these are old news, but while I was out, here's what captured my attention in blogdonia. If you haven't looked, check it:

- Mike McGinnis wants to know about teaching improvised music. I want to write something substantial about this, since it's a question I ponder a lot teaching.
- Ethan Iverson hearts Lennie Tristano. Okay, it's a lot more complicated than that, and a great piece.
- Darcy examines fanservice. I was a comic book geek too at one point, but trying to read Grant Morrison's current epic Final Crisis I get nothing but pissed off at how clueless I am. I can't imagine what it's like for someone who's never read it. Also probably why I never dug Smalls all that much...
- D-Out on Power Tools. The picture made me think of Sean Bell. Damn...

More to come...

Tales of Johnny Carcrash, Saturday, 5/10, 3pm @ Lily Pad

I'm thrilled to (finally) be performing with Hwaen Ch'uqi this weekend in our duo Johnny Carcrash, in a matinee show. A play on Jeff's (as I know Hwaen) name, Carcrash is an improvised duo that he and I have been doing for several years now. Jeff is a fascinating guy- a classical pianist originally from the Peruvian Amazon, an improviser in a genre where improvising is often a lost are, and a wonderfully nutty human being. We don't get to do this very often, so please come and check it out! One of our pieces is up on my myspace page- sound quality is not ideal, but I like the music. The details:

Tales of Johnny Carcrash
Pat Donaher, reeds, Hwaen Ch'uqi- piano

Saturday, May 10, 3pm
Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge Street, Inman Square
$10 suggested donation

Spread the word- hope to see you there!