Riotous rio trio

There are gigs that just have you musing for more. I've been listening to some tunes from Trio Grande the morning after and realising they'd played those tunes and recognising the styles and immense chops and interplay and improvisational intent in it all. Live, it could seem like a bit a plaything although with immense capability. Perhaps it was the smiles from Gilad and sometimes from Nate. Will, on the other hand, could look a bit lost in his work. His were the most perfect of inventions, individual notes then scurries, intervallic rather than substitutional, ever reasoned, then perhaps also one hand on the Nord keys for piano, sometimes second hand on the Korg synth for bass, then searching for a pedal to sustain when he returns to the alto for those fascinating solos. Devastating is more the word for Gilad, fast, then deliriously faster, chordal fingering, some taps, plenty of hammer ons and the like. I liked it especially with a distorted tone, biting and intrusive, but mostly it was clearer than than, fast but never flighty. Then Nate. I'd noticed the bass next to this stool before the gig and someone insisted he's on drums, but I wondered. I hadn't guessed he'd pick up an Ibanez 5-string to play half the gig or more with it in his lap, tapping notes to frets with his left hand, tonics but also fills, with right hand on snare or cymbals or whatever and feet each on kick and hihat, and working a treat. I just once noticed ra apid-fire 16-th note passage on snare (?) and felt that the timing was not quite perfect, but then realised every other timing had been just perfect so I hadn't noticed the immensity of the skill on this. And how difficult this would be and how servicible the whole two instrument thing was. I had a listen to some tracks from a solo album, I think a one-man solo outing, and it's a corker, with various instruments and those drums and singing too. Similar with Will and those glorious solos, on his album, too, and Melissa Aldana on a few tracks, too, for the tenor, I guess. And this is all with tunes written by all and at breakneck speeds and with the oddest of timings and some crazed heads front and back. Just one pushy, insistent, loud 90 minute set with these NYC masters within a few metres, this being a club with close quarters (if you play a few extra Euros for those seats). Trio Grande? I guess it's an illusion to Rio Grande and that works, although I don't think I'd want the title Grand Trio, but then I wouldn't deserve it. These guys probably do.

Trio Grande performed at King Georg, Koln. TG are Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Will Vinson (alto, keys) and Nate Wood (drums, bass).

Jazz town Cologne

New online guide; new club; new artist. This was a fabulous return to jazz in Koln. I'd been told factoids about Koln before this visit, like 4711 was the first eau di cologne and it's just that, a fragrance from Cologne, and that Koln was the site of the first tertiary jazz education in Germany thus a jazz centre. And the WDR Big Band is here, too, of course. Firstly I found JazzStadt Koln https://jazzstadt.de/. I don't remember that from fours years back. Or King Georg jazz club. I asked at the door and apparently it turned to jazz ~four years back. That fits. It's very close to where I last stayed so I probably would have found it. It's a little club, rectangular with a big bar space and a floor level stage space with some seating. Entry is not too cheap but same as Frankfurt JazzKeller, our $A is very poor, but we were ridiculously close and perfectly comfortable. They also have a €5 live stream option like Smalls and others and looks like a great program. With luck I'll get to Gilad Hekselman on Thurs and a very interesting Kara Linn on Saturday. But this concert was was a French signer and her band. I had a good feeling; in the end it was a stunner. 

Camille Bertault had studied classical piano and composition, opera, theatre and dance, writing, singing and improv over various courses. She'd written the music and lyrics and presented with a connecting presence and dance-like performance, this time in tails. Now there's composition and composition but this was not just 1-4-5; this was interesting, all odd and changing times and written grooves and hits, all structured neatly with effective repetition and space for solos of all manner. And there's lyrics and lyrics and this was not just moon-june-croon love-dove songs, but social and political themes that she introduced, although all in French which slipped by me. Like the best of Paul McCartney, my guess is the melody follows the lyrics. Also there's stage presence and..., you get it, and this was effectively interpretive dance with an obvious smile at the solos and connections and occasional guiding glances and a willing conversation with the audience (in English). She started solo, with just a tap on a xylophone for pitch, then looping three voices and the melody of My favourite things over. Otherwise all original other than an encore from Hermeto Pascoal. About 20 songs over 2 sets with a strong band, tight, driving, regular and insistent, occasionally expansive in solos from trumpet or piano, a hugely un-straight-jazz presence in intriguing tango drummer and general jolly-maker, Minino, and a very effective first concert with this band from new bassist Sylvain. There were trumpet/vox pairings and ecstatic scat-like vocals of the most intriguing type, all intervals and patterns with classical awareness. And always this presence, this joy, this connection, this purpose. Should I say I was blown out? And BTW that she's worked with WDR BB, Chris Potter, Dan Tepfer, Jeff Ballard, Christian McBride, Mat Penman, Eric Harland, Ben Monder and the like and got 5 stars from Downbeat and is lauréate artiste vocale 2023. All impressive but her gigs are better. Loved it immensely.

Camille Bertault (vocals, compositions and lyrics) performed at King Georg, Koln, with her band comprising Fady Farah (piano), Sylvian Romano (bass), Minino Garay (percussion, drums) and Julien Alour (trumpet).