A really great show last night at the Uptown in Oakland. It's part of their "Avant-Garde" Tuesday series, one show a month with no cover charge, but with donations asked for inside the main room. It's really a good space - super high ceilings, dark and almost cavernous. This month the lineup was three sets, the first being the duo of Tom Rainey and Ingrid Laubrock - yes, Tom is very well known for his work with Tim Berne, and it was great to see him play here with Ingrid, who is a great saxophone player - I really liked her tenor playing which had a very interesting edge and total control of the instrument. They set up on the floor (which is the best place for an acoustic group to set up in that room), and played very well as a duo. The addition of the half filled wine glass as percussion worked too.....
The second set was a trio of music with Philip Greenleaf, Tim Perkis, and GE Stinson up from Los Angeles with video by Brenda Bynum. Very good - the music and film worked quite well together - the sounds had a strong sonic-texture orientation, the images are moving stream of related and changing images that had been reduced to simpler color schemes - it fit perfectly in the space of the Uptown.
The third set I played in with Perkis, Damon Smith and Jordan Glenn. The first time I think that Jordan played with Damon & Tim. A little over a month ago I played at 21 Grand with Tim, Damon and Josh Berman, who was visiting from Chicago. It was a good improvising group with lots of activity and possibilities. Adding Jordan's percussion style into the group worked well and balanced group with almost a traditional "jazz" lineup - saxophone, bass, drums with laptop. Tim is very good with his electronics - very flexible, able to play and change at a moment's notice. I asked him afterward if he has perfect pitch, because the two of us matched many times throughout the set - he told me that he doesn't, but he's definitely on top of it.
So, all in all a good night at the Uptown - until the next time....
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