Jazz Trio (6/6/13)

Elias Stemeseder, piano; Thomas Morgan, bass; Jim Black, drums.

Nice jazz. I can’t tell you what was played. There were announcements from the stage, but I couldn’t decipher them. “Tirade,” “The Hoax,” “It Is,” “Ugly Snug,” “Sonatic,” “Derriere”? Maybe. Totally unclear, from what we actually heard from the stage. Now, music we heard from the stage—fantastic!

These guys are strong—musically, emotionally, and physically. Boy, I can’t even break it down into jazz tunes thrown back and forth; solos trotted out; or “bring it back home”. All of that was there, but it was presented so subtly that you were never really sure when you went from “cool, swinging” jazz to “hard-driving, frantic” jazz (not my favorite, but here, it worked).

Mr. Black reminded me of Peter Pan—flitting about his drum set, being mischievous, but still eminently watchable and talented. Mr. Morgan? The tortoise (from tortoise/hare); slow and steady wins the race. Strong playing, both physically and artistically. Mr. (Babyface) Stemeseder played a damn fine piano—knowing when to shine and knowing when to open his strings to let the overtones take over.

There were tunes (though few and far between) and there were build ups (both in volume and intensity), and there was frantic—still, this was a well-thought-out and well-delivered jazz concert. Enough modernity balanced with throwback, old-school jazz.

Kudos to the Austrian Cultural Forum New York. I’ll be back!

ConcertMeister