After many missed opportunities, I finally had the esteemed pleasure
of checking out a quintet led by probably one of the most intense, exciting and
colourful drummers to ever grace the contemporary jazz scene, Ari Hoenig.
Listening to Ari Hoenig is something you got to experience. The raw emotions, energy, rhythms and drive
that comes out of him and his band members is nothing short of remarkable and
invigorating at the same time. It was
like being in New York City for a magical night, with all of the excitement,
adventure, and risk taking produced by such high caliber musicians.
Ari Hoenig’s percussive style is an extension of Elvin jones, Jack
DeJohnette, Tony Williams and Brian Blade, with some humorous touches of the
“Animal” character from the Muppets and the hard rock edge of a Lars Ulrich
from Metallica. In the first set that
I caught, he displays such techniques effectively through his own compositions,
showing his strengths and creativity as a solid writer of contemporary, forward
thinking jazz.
The first piece, called Lyric, showed strong lyrical melodies, raw
emotion, and gut wrenching passion from all of the band members involved. There is even a soaring guitar solo passage
by guitarist Gilad Hekselman which egged Ari on to play intense polyrhythms
behind the solo, driving the music into stratospheric regions unknown to
mankind and to the delight of the audience.
My favourite piece would have to be the straight ahead free bop of
“I’ll Think About It”, with soaring solos by saxophonist Tivon Pennicott (he
even breaks into Avant garde screams on the saxophone during the passage), and
a killer drum solo by Ari himself.
Things cool off with an untitled ballad that showed off the relaxed
side of Ari and his band, while allowing some time to breathe after all of the
action displayed in the first two songs.
My second favourite piece that closed the first set was simply
called “The Other”, which featured a driving, klezmer/Middle Eastern influenced
solo by Israeli pianist Shai Maestro and effective shifts from acoustic to
electric bass by bassist Orlando LeFleming.
This is by far hands down one of the best jazz concerts that I have
been to in 2014, and I am glad that I was able to make it out to see Ari Hoenig
in action and finally connect with him as a fellow jazz confrere. It is through artists such as Ari and his
band members that jazz has a very solid and secure future, evident by the
scores of young people that were there to witness such an amazing
tour-de-force.
OFFICIAL ARI HOENIG WEB SITE
(with Ari Hoenig and Shai Maestro)
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