December 12, 2018 What a monster night last Wednesday with the Mack Avenue Records Takeover of Mr. Musichead Gallery. Featuring two richly textured and completely energized piano trios. The new to me Alfredo Rodriguez was lyrical and joyful, as if the best of mid-career Pat Metheny flowed through the ivories via Cuba and Brazil. Bassist Munir Hossn, he of the cheshire grin and constant motion, would switch to a nylon string cutaway in quieter moments, and both Rodriguez and Hossn picked up the sticks to join drummer Daniel Rodriguez in percussive celebration before closing with a samba take on “Thriller”. (Q, a big influence on pianist Rodriguez). After a break, Cameron Graves took the rest of the night in another direction, mixing material from last year’s stellar “Planetary Prince”with new material for his trio, that includes Maximillion Gerl on bass, and the phenomenal Mike Mitchel on drums. Graves and fellow West Coast Get Downers Kamasi Washington, Miles Mosley, Ryan Porter, Ronald Bruner, Jr. among them, continue to shape and push and challenge and tug at jazz traditions, and hearing this trio do it’s thing in such an intimate space was a thriller of a different sort. Especially, drummer Mitchel, who […]
March 16, 2017 The “world famous” Troubadour is not the first venue that comes to mind for boundary morphing contemporary piano driven ensemble jazz. But then, the L.A. based collective known as the West Coast Get Down, has yet to do anything by the books. It’s been a heady 2017 already for these dudes coming on the heels of bassist Miles Mosley’s headlining date at the El Rey in January, drummer Ronald Bruner Jr.’s album release party at the Teragram a few weekends back and saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s post-Epic musical and visual installation for the Whitney Biennial in NYC. Last week, it was pianist Cameron Graves turn to front this band of one/band of many, for the drop of his stellar CD, “Planetary Prince” on Mack Avenue Records (disclaimer, more astronomical adjectives could follow). Like Mosley before him, Graves got a well deserved shout out as one of 10 new artists you need to know this year by Rolling Stone, and for good reason IMHO. My ears have been pretty stuck on “Planetary Prince” the past few weeks. With eight tracks covering almost 80 minutes and the shortest clocking in at 7:28, there is an emotional arc to each built […]
