Jon Irabagon Trio
June 11, 2011
Moers Festival Festivaltent, Moers, Germany
Jon Irabagon - saxophone
Peter Brendler - bass
Barry Altschul - drums
This is a take on the standard "Three Little Words", covered by Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and others. This is a 33-minute exercise in invention, energy and incredible stamina, most of it given to a continuous solo by Jon. An even more extreme variation of the same can be found on his recent "Foxy" where Sonny Rollins' "Doxy" is literally given a full cd treatment.
A riveting performance, to say the least. This one is posted here with Jon's approval, so here we go:
Three Little Words by kinabalu
Jon has just launched his own label, Irabbagast Records with two brand new releases, so readers are advised to seek them out. In my own language, rabbagast means something like wild man which may be true of his playing at times, but not true of his own personality. A very pleasant guy and a fan of my home town, so what more can you wish?
Cool offer, but personally I don't like his tone on the horn. And what is that thing with the bass sound? It almost sounds like an electric bass in places. I appreciate when folks put a little more effort into cultivating their instrumental sound. The drums sound shitty to my ears as well, but that's maybe because of close miking? I don't like the sounding results either way.
ReplyDeleteStill everybody will love this of course :)
Personally, I'm not sure that I like the tone of this comment.
ReplyDeleteSorry. But it's basically a completely subjective report about what my ears hear on this recording. I expected it's meaningless to everybody else while I still appreciate being able to spontaneously give voice to my opinion, even if it's not an entirely positive one in this case.
ReplyDeleteI can only additionally stress that I love I.S. and also appreciate you presenting a young voice here at the start of a hopefully long musical journey.
Kinabalu thanks. I’ve never seriously listened to JI before, so this was/is a revelation. What an interesting and singular tenor voice. You can hear lots of influences, but he's definitely his own man. And to sustain a 30-minute improvisation like that, bursting with ideas and excitement, is no mean feat. Plus, always wonderful to hear more Altschul, and at the top of his game. Thanks heaps for this.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Always a special pleasure to hear Barry Altschul. His snare sound is unique.
ReplyDeleteThe snare sound. Yes, one can immediately make a connection here to how his snare sounded back in the 70s Braxton Quartet. I guess he carries around that same instrument all those years? And I heard the real cracks even have their own specific snare microphone so the sound stays true to their vision even if amplified. A true master!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for this and all your nice uploads. You provide a lot of great sounding music, especially for those of us who don't live in larger cities. Please keep on doing this!
ReplyDeleteMr Anonymous, I'd like to chime in, as a fellow musician, and also someone that has played with Mr Irabagon extensively. Regardless of how you feel with Jon's tone or playing, the fact is that all of us and Mr Brendler spend a lot of time cultivating our tone. the PROBLEM is when we travel, thanks to airlines not allowing us to take our instruments, plus the extensive damage that can occur to a $20,000 doublebass in the cargo hold when unpressurized, cold, and thrown around by baggage handlers, it's typically not feasible for us to bring our instruments on tour when travelling overseas. This is a horrific situation as I spend my entire life cultivating a sound only to travel to another country with often no choice but to play some horrendous bass in whatever city I am in, with a horrific tune, an awful pickup and a crappy setup. Not my choice at all. What options do you I have? If you play with Pat Metheny or Wayne Shorter, the management has the clout, money and resources and knows the baggage handlers personally to tip them well and have their instruments personally escorted into the cargo. For "lesser" artists? Risk your 150 year old instrument getting cracked or broken or else have a crappy travel bass for the road so you have some semblance of your sound. Meanwhile, most gigs overseas dont want to include an extra $300 to cover bass travel expenses. Finally, when I arrive at a festival gig, very often to get house sound, I am at the mercy of whatever microphones the venue has and no control over the sound in the board...I am typically asked to plug into a direct box, meaning whatever sound gets in the house is entirely pickup with no acoustic microphone in there. Which is probably what we are hearing on this recording. I do carry my own pickup and a microphone to try to make the best of situations that have subpar equipment, and I always try to avoid a DI box, but sometimes there are no other options. So if you're not down with the music and general playing/overall tone of the musicians hear, no prob, but dont be fooled that this is what the sound/tone is live. I know Peter Brendler personally (and am not offended), and I know he has a very nice acoustic sound and spends a lot of time cultivating it. But like myself, when he shows up at a concert in Czechoslavakia or wherever, he may have to use an amp which is suited for an electric guitar or electric bass. I've literally showed up to gigs overseas and given a Marshall bass cabinet better suited for a Slayer show.
ReplyDeleteI like Mr Irabagon's style, and I like this a lot. Of course, Mr. Anonymous is entitled for his opinion. And Mr. Unknown, thank you for the insight, quite an eye opener for a non-musician as myself. Kinbalu, thank you very much for the share!
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