Sunday, February 19, 2012

Improvisations IV: New Music at Real Art Ways


Improvisations IV
January 12, 2012
Real Art Ways
Hartford, CT

At times it is hard to believe the way that each new event in our series seems to get better.  The work together at Real Art Ways has proved to be such an unfolding, such a gift. 

So it was last month when Joe Morris and I gathered together with Sara Schonbeck and Michael Evans.  I had played once, years ago, at Firehouse 12 with Michael, in an ensemble of Joe's.  Sara and I sit together in Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra.  This was the first time we had worked together in this configuration, and the first time for me hearing Sara really stretch out.  And stretch out she did!  We so rarely get to hear the bassoon in an improvising context, playing in the same manner and with the same authority that one expects from the saxophone.  Sara wove long, hard-swinging lines and played with deep lyricism across the full range of her instrument.  

And then there was Micheal.  The best way for me to describe what he brought would be to say that he proved to be an authentic trickster, a shaman of sound.  Our improvisation took on a real air of ritual as the evening progressed. At a point, Micheal moved away from the drum kit and began to dance, striking a long rope laden with small cymbals.  The spirits most surely were in the room!


Images of Improvisations IV by Maurice Robertson

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