My early days of jazz had no women other than singers but times are turning and it's good. I saw Olivia Uebergang and her trio last night at Molly and it was a student turnout and a Real book read and a great little outing even with some amusing reconsiderations of the playlist. That's common enough for all. With Olivia were Sean Kirk and Harrison Whalan, drums and bass. There were some comfy rhythms, mid- and up-tempo swings and latins and the like from the fake books. Mostly heads from Olivia but a few from Harrison; several nice intros from Sean; swapped fours (sometimes spilling to 2s and 1s). All the standard takes. I really liked Olivia's mix of chordal plays and single notes, in both melodies and solos, and mixing in and out. Guitar is great for that, the sudden richness of chordal colours amongst the determined single notes. Nice extensive solos, too, interesting and varied, crisp or coloured. Harrison, too, took some lengthy solos, often up the neck, more quick and sustained rather than phrased. His volume was a touch low, but the tone was full with a tingling top end; nice. Sean was busy and creative on his drums, with lovely fitting syncopations over a satisfyingly rounded kick tone that punched through complex snare and tom improvs. This was serious business - it showed in his closed eyes and expressive face - and busily effective. And that discussion on the play list, over the shared music stand, well that was just an amusing performance from a good natured trio. A nice outing from some fresh players.
Olivia Uebergang (guitar) led her trio with Sean Kirk (drums) and Harrison Whalan (bass) at Molly.
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