winter jazzfest 2020 - MANHATTAN marathon 1, nyc, jan  10 

• photography by © Clara Pereira / text by Filipe Freitas

The 16th edition of the acclaimed NYC Winter JazzFest is running from January 8 to 18. This year, the festival has extended the marathons and concerts to Brooklyn, while the talks spread wider on topics such as wellness, addiction, social justice, jazz and gender, mental and physical health, and more. Included in the Saturday’s Manhattan marathon, there was also a celebration of the life of downtown poet and free jazz devotee Steve Dalachinsky, with several performances at the East Village’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

JURE PUKL BROKEN CIRCLES

Our jazz marathon started at The Dance, where the New York-based Slovenian saxophonist Jure Pukl performed with his cohesive new quintet composed of Charles Altura (guitar), Joel Ross (vibraphone), Matt Brewer (acoustic bass) and Kweku Sumbry (drums). The group played a few tunes from the upcoming album, Broken Circles, which will be out February 21 on Whirlwind Records. Written in the last two years and inspired by current social and political events, the music spoke for itself with titles like “Sustained Optimism”, a fluid storytelling marked by a strong motif at the center; “Separation”, a popish meditation on the US-Mexican border issues; “Triumph of Society”, a forward-thrusting effort delivered with tradeoffs between the bandleader and Ross; and “Compassion”, whose softly brushed propulsion and reflective posture inspired Ross’ delightful melodicism for a great solo. People liked what they heard and I look forward to listening to the album in full.

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE QUARTET

Just like The Dance, Webster Hall was a great addition in terms of venues, and we walked in there to enjoy the music of Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet. Boasting his unique style, the trumpeter teamed up with regular bandmates, pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown. Their formidable rapport was on display, with the melodic sculptor validating his impressive pitch accuracy and range facility, whether on impressionistic avant-garde ambiances or balladic post-bop songs. His non-linear melodies found continual stable ground in the creative drive offered by bass and drums, with Harris’ chordal clusters and atonal detours producing startling sensations. The group ended this solid performance with an open meditation filled with urgent drum kicks, gorgeous tom arrangements, and screeching, scraped cymbals.

MAKAYA MCCRAVEN - IN THESE TIMES

If Akinmusire got everybody evenly energized, then Chicago drummer Makaya McCraven, known for his spectacular integration of genres and the coolness of his beatwork, led the audience to ecstasy with the recent sociopolitical-motivated musical suite, In These Times. For this performance, he gathered a three-horn frontline with altoist Greg Ward, tenorist Irvin Pierce, and trumpeter Marquis Hill, and a rhythm section that included harpist Brandee Younger, young vibraphone wizard Joel Ross, guitarist Matt Gold, and bassist Junius Paul. As expected, the band showcased groove-centric hymns suffused with millimetric drum routines and hasty horn fills. Following the suite’s ultra-melodic title cut and an amazing piece from the last album called “Atlantic Black” - here propelled by an Afro-samba push, a pedaling bass figure, ruminative unisons, and raucous passages stimulated by deconstructed rhythms and loud horn screams - there was a beautiful solo harp passage announcing another jazz-meets-soul-meets-hip-hop practice fomented by geometric patterns of snare drum and hi-hat. In one word: gratifying.

TED POOR TRIO

The jam-packed Zurcher Gallery was our next destination for two concerts in a row, the first of which by Seattle-based drummer Ted Poor, who led his pungent trio with fierce determination. In the company of gutsy trumpeter Cuong Vu, a longtime associate, and the no less exciting pianist Kris Davis, a more recent collaborator, Poor exhibited his strikingly expressive drumming throughout an imaginative set of compositions. The concert’s final section was immersed in bluesy tones, featuring the originals “To Roam”, a recently composed piece that welcomed two guest artists (a pianist and a guitarist) and where his drum kit repeatedly sung a tonally catchy phrase, and “High Dark Sea”, an old blues delivered with wit and grit.

TODD SICKAFOOSE’S BEAR PROOF

Minutes after, the gallery hosted bassist/composer/bandleader Todd Sickafoose, who is also a member of Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom and former rhythmic pillar of Scott Amendola Group. He presented his most ambitious work to date, Bear Proof, which was composed for an octet version of his Tiny Resistors band. The suite’s ingenious movements required generous musicians that were able to improvise with intensity. The choices couldn’t have been better: Kirk Knuffke on cornet, Ben Goldberg on clarinet, Jenny Scheinman on violin, Erik Deutch on piano (subbing for Carmen Staaf), Rob Reich on accordion (replacing Liam Robinson), Kyle Sanna on electric guitar, and Mark Ferber on drums (sitting in for Allison Miller). The song titles were all announced by Sickafoose at the beginning and the passages flowed one after another with seamless transitions, meter variations, parallels and counterpoint, and curious atmospheres that ranged from peaceful to turbulent. The assortment of genres included jazz, folk, rock, chamber music, and Americana.

DAVID KIKOSKI TRIO

And because traditional idioms continue to have its place in modern days, we ended our musical tour at Zinc Bar with David Kikoski Trio. The pianist, playing alongside bassist Ed Howard and drummer Joe Farnsworth, appeared in great shape, rendering well-known standards such as “On Green Dolphin Street”, “I Thought About You”, and “All The Things You Are” with dazzling virtuosity.