Fortunately, I made it to this concert, the last in a 13-week series. I had planned on attending at least two others, but 6:00 p.m. in summer in NYC is always iffy weather-wise, and the weather, indeed, put the kibosh on my earlier attempts. This concert, the John Farnsworth Quintet, was a great way to cap off the series.
Many years ago, I penned my first online profile which stated that I like classical music and “not-too-frantic” jazz. When the quintet—John Farnsworth, tenor sax; Freddie Hendrix, trumpet; Harold Mabern, piano; Paul Gill, bass; and Peppe Merolla, drums—began, I was a little bit afraid that it just might be too frantic. The first piece featured really driving rhythms and the volume was up there. So I moved farther away from the speakers (and I think they made some sound system adjustments), and the next piece, “Junior,” was gentler but still powerful, with more of a discernible tune. I was safe from “too frantic.”
The first piece was composed by Mr. Mabern while the second was composed by
Mr. Farnsworth.
The first piece was composed by Mr. Mabern while the second was composed by
Mr. Farnsworth.
This was followed by “Unchain My Heart”(?)—the tunes were announced on the fly, so my notes can be a bit faulty—which had more of a Latin beat. Next we heard a boogie-woogie piano solo, composed by Mr. Mabern. There were two more pieces on the program that were pretty much in the same vein as the others. In general, while the playing was heavy on unison sax/trumpet lines, each player—really all five of them—got a chance to shine (both the sax and trumpet would occasionally step out to let the others be featured), and the overall playing was quite good. And when the sax and trumpet separated and gave us some additional harmony, I liked it even better.
This was really good playing to round out a series that I hope to see more of in the future.
ConcertMeister
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