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Ventured down to the most famous jazz club in the world again to see Chick in another setting music-wise. This was with the master Gary Burton on vibes accompanied by the Harlem String Quartet.
Chick and Gary first met in 1971 and have been making music together ever since. They've made a bunch of albums together and have toured as a duo when they've been able over these past 4 decades. I was fortunate to have seen them perform as a duo at Carnegie Hall in support of their album Duet Suite back in the 80's.
To say these gentleman lock in to each other when they play is an understatement. This is musicianship of the highest order.
They opened as a duo with a couple of pieces from their new album Hot House , which will be coming out early in 2012. While they normally compose their own music for the albums they make, this time they decided to cover tunes done by other composers. Hot House was the first piece which is by Dizzy Gillespie. This was followed by compositions by Kurt Weill and Stan Getz .
Then they brought out the Harlem String Qt. who are a local group that looked to be in their late 20's or early 30's . Their playing belied their years and the blend of strings with piano and vibraphone was just exquisite !
The first two pieces were from the Lyric Suite written by Chick and entitled Overture, and Waltz.
They played a number of other piece. One was entitled My Ship and then Chick broke out his arrangement of the Thelonious Monk standard Round Midnight, quite unlike any other version you have heard.
Then Chick brought his wife Gayle Moran to the stage to sing one of the many songs she has written to Chick over their 39 year marriage. At 71 her voice is still clear and pure and the audience really responded to her with a lot of affection !
They did one encore which was another piece from the Lyric Suite entitled Brazilia.
And once again I was blessed to talk for a bit with these great musicians after the performance, and these moments are truly gratifying. To say these are extremely nice, down - to -earth people again would be an understatement but they are !
I was only able to take 2 quick photos at the end of the performance because flash photography is not permitted during the show. And I'll also post the pic of myself and Gary Burton.
I have tickets for the last night of the Elektrik Band , both sets , but there are some other pairings I just might try to make. I will keep you posted.
Peace, TED
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