Hunter (1/12/2017)

What the heck is Hunter? Well, it’s sort of a ‘concept’ jazz group. Philip Yaeger, trombone and composition, put together a sextet with some of his favorite players—Martin Eberle, trumpet; Andreas Broger, saxophone, clarinet; David Cinquegrana, guitar; Nathan Peck, bass; and Yonadav Halevy, drums. If some of those names don't quite seem to go together, there’s a reason for that.

Mr. Yaeger is American but has lived in Vienna for the past ten or so years. Messrs. Eberle and Broger are Austrian, and Messrs. Cinquegrana, Peck, and Halevy are American of varied backgrounds. That said, they all know their jazz. The concert was sponsored by that Austrian Cultural Forum New York and took place in their nifty concert hall on East 52nd Street. On top of that, this concert was their world premiere performance. They spent the five days before the concert getting to know each other, practicing, and recording a CD for release later this year. Busy fellows.

All of the pieces were announced from the stage. The titles, though, didn’t really mean a lot to me—Spindrift, In Three, [unnamed] ballad, and Spindrift II. Oh, and they just happened to have an encore, Kingdom Come, handy. Their playing was fine but I found the compositions themselves to be a little strange. The first was slightly mesmerizing, with layered sounds above an ostinato rhythm loop for the guitar. Also, it was very loud. Really, really loud. In Three featured the bass player and was okay, but I didn’t get a sense of three at all. Some of Mr. Yaeger’s composing techniques were quite good, if a bit transparent and obvious. They just didn’t seem to jell into something that I found very enjoyable.

I liked the ballad better, mostly because it was quieter and a little more structured—at least a structure that I found more enjoyable. It began with a sort of traditional chorale feel, then morphed into a breakout bridge section, and then ended up raucous. In fact, raucous is the word that best describes the entire evening. Spindrift II was a lot like Spindrift.

Good techniques, good musicians, not a great concert experience for me. Once again, I’m glad that I went and expanded my musical horizons a little bit, but I wish I had enjoyed it better. Live and learn.

ConcertMeister
p.s. For those of you wondering, I’ve been ’Meistering now since October 1, 2011.