ben goldberg’s glamorous escapades at the jazz gallery, nyc, mar 23, 2023
photography by ©Clara Pereira; text by Filipe Freitas
The Jazz Gallery opened its doors for a performance by clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg, who presented his divinely offbeat project Glamorous Escapades. This extravaganza, as he called it, consisted of a sextet performing his Porch Concert Material written during the pandemic for a pandemic occasion. The lineup includes inventive musicians, with Goldberg sharing frontline duties with saxophonist John Ellis, and a dynamic rhythm section featuring Will Bernard on electric guitar, Michael Coleman on keyboards, Ben Allison on bass, and Allan Mednard on drums.
The group opted for a restraint entrance with several suspensions that slowly evolved into an invigorating motion topped with counterpoint and acute guitar pointillism. In the blink of an eye, the mood veered again to a mourning ballad with mallet drumming, soft chords, and melodic assertiveness. Because surprise and texture shifting are assets in this group, we had a broken funk next, spiced up by an angular tenor solo and cluster chords. Immersed in responsive communication, Goldberg and Bernard, who have been playing together for three decades now, took this first piece to an end.
The next number caused a certain sensation at the outset by embracing traditional swing. It lasted less than a minute, though, as less obvious routines were followed; cacophonous but to the point. Mednard and Allison kept the music lively with elasticity, and a ghostly synth solo over a syncopated 6/8 rhythm got lodged in my mind. The following numbers were informed by jagged conversational interplay (often stirred by astonishing motivic development), hallucinatory reverie, refracted rambunctiousness, and occasional sweet melodic gifts.
Goldberg’s writing is always something to look out for, and his recordings over the years show how masterfully he can layer sounds and textures. Simply mesmerizing!