Monday, October 30, 2006
To Tomasz Stanko last night, the first event in what is now the Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz series. Stanko has been getting a push-- we got him after a week-long stand at Birdland, on his last night in the US, on the evening after he was featured on Sunday's NPR Weekend Edition. He's got a very distinctive sound-- breathy and buzzing on the soft parts, fast and nearly percussive when he wants to be. There is very much an Ornette Coleman sensibility in what he is doing, which is interesting. I think of Coleman as one of the most European of jazz artists, in the sense that his avant-garde-ism is more art school than blues-based (unlike, say, Monk). There were several moments during Stanko's set when he sounded like an Eastern European imagining America, picturing himself crossing the plains, maybe. Then there were stretches where he was distinctly free jazz, and it was interesting to think about what it must have been like to have been a jazz artist in Poland in the 60's. There is no question that it would have been a political act to play this music. I am inclined to do a little further research.// posted by Bill @ 9:17 AM 
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