Venue: the Village Vanguard (NY)
Date: Thursday, July 28th, 2011.
Concert review by Audrey Fort
Personnel: Chris Cheek and Bill McHenry (saxophones), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Mat Maneri (viola), Jacob Sacks (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Paul Motian (drums)
Witnessing Paul Motian perform should be a rite of passage for all drummers. This octogenarian is especially known for his innovative role in pianist Bill Evan’s trio in the 1950’s and 60’s. Along with bassist Scott LaFaro, Motian helped liberate the rhythm section from its role as mere timekeeper. Motian still plays regularly with various groups that he leads in New York City, primarily at the Village Vanguard.
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Motian is a small, yet vigorous man. Completely bald and wearing dark glasses, his posture and physical energy belie his age; apparently he runs a couple of miles nearly every day. When seeing an aging musician of his stature play, there is concern the performance will not reach the technical level that it may have 20 years before. This is irrelevant in Motian’s case. His unique vision, borne from years of experience, calls for the highest level of musicianship. As if slowly shedding his possessions one-by-one over time, he doesn’t play a note unless it needs to be played, which led overall to a perfect sparseness.
Motian’s touch on the instrument shocked me; he approached the drums physically like a stern taskmaster. With pursed lips and a focus that almost did not allow concern for the audience watching him, he played like he was trying to wrangle with his drums for the first time. It didn’t look smooth, and at times his cymbals sounded shrill and harsh, not unlike his physical expression. He played only his kick, snare, and cymbals for the first several songs.
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Because he had such a dominating presence, it wasn’t easy to watch him without losing perspective of the entire band, so I closed my eyes. It began to make much more sense this way. It was easier to hear how his part fit in with the whole, and it was perfect. Motian’s well-considered playing complimented the various soloing voices of the ensemble while challenging them.
The entire band was awesome. Often one or more musicians would drop out entirely, yet there was very little traditional soloing. The compositions (which were not introduced, but I’m guessing were a mix of Motian’s and other’s works) and their arrangements flowed in such a way that often the transitions did not invite applause. The overall mood of the set was moody, challenging, and immediate.
As a drum student, Motian’s septet is a lesson on the drummer’s role as a contributing musician to an ensemble effort.
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