Going Dutch in Baltimore

by Anthony Medici in Concert Reviews, Musician Reviews, Opinion Posts

My pal and I traveled to An Die Musik in Baltimore, Maryland Saturday night to hear two groups: Trio Bramm, from Holland, and All Coda, all from the Baltimore area with the exception of New York-based saxophonist Tim Berne. There was exciting music on offer, all in a small (perhaps 80 seats), comfortable (got to love those stuffed armchairs), and in a welcome departure from much current practice, unamplified format (although the bass players and guitarist did use small amp pickups that did not alter the essentially acoustic nature of the set). The performances were excellent, and the in the case of Trio Braam, particularly interesting and inventive. At the end, though, I was left with a question that has vexed me of late.

Trio Braam consists of Michiel Braam on piano, Wilbert DeJoode on double bass, and Michael Vatcher on drums. The program notes comment, “Three of the Dutch jazz scene’s most idiosyncratic musicians.” I will give them that. The most fascinating aspect of their performance was their use of older jazz forms, including stride, swing, bop, and even some boogalo, as jump-off points for often brilliant deconstructions of these forms coupled with inspired flights of improvised fancy, done with a rather rare leavening of wit and humor. Trio Braam consistently embraced Whitney Balliett’s concept of jazz as the “sound of surprise.” Their performance consistently surprised and delighted. De Joode’s work on bass particularly impressed me.

All Coda consisted of Dave Ballou on trumpet, Marc Miller on guitar, John Dierker, reeds, Michael Formanek, double bass, Will Redman, drums, and Tim Berne, alto saxophone. It was exciting to hear this rather large group go at it. The program notes described the ensemble as, “Superb Baltimore improvisers (and a lone New Yorker) bring the honk, squeal, and bash, and the quiet and lovely too,” which turned out to be only somewhat accurate. Although the performances were animated, and occasionally passionate, the “honk” and “squeal” were somewhat muted.

Perhaps that restraint was due to Berne taking a mostly secondary role in the ensemble, which was clearly driven by Ballou, who played strong on trumpet. My pal, who considers Berne to have one of the nicest tones on alto sax in the contemporary improvised field today, had hoped for Berne to take a more leading role in the performance. I enjoyed Berne’s interplay with guitarist Miller during one part of the performance; for much of the rest of the time, Miller could have been playing “Mary had a little lamb” and it would have been hard for the audience to tell, submerged as the guitar was beneath the concerted attack of Ballou, Berne, and Dierker, who spent most of his time on bass clarinet. Formanek was masterful on double bass. I would have loved to see Braam join the group on piano, but, alas, that did not happen.

The audience was given a bonus in the form of an encore performance from Formanek, De Joode and Miller. For those of you who are not fans of the bass solo, a bass duet would seem to be something less than a treat. But these two musicians really made their instruments sing (and De Joode was playing on a double bass provided for the occasion by Formanek, which makes his performance even more noteworthy). Miller provided some interesting support on guitar, but I though he could have done more and taken a more prominent role.

Afterwards, over beers, burgers and wings, my pal and I discussed the performances. The question that has been vexing me is whether or not we can call this music “jazz,” or whether another label is called for (”creative improvised music” would be my alternate choice). I know, I know, let’s not get caught up in categories, and all that. But I do think it is important to try to understand the social, cultural and musicological implications of this music. Obviously, this is too big a topic to cover properly here, and I can only suggest my line of thinking. In my view, Trio Braam played jazz, All Coda did not. Incorporating and playing off and beyond elements of the jazz “tradition,” Trio Braam sought its antecedents in the music that developed in African-American musical traditions. On the other hand, All Coda’s musical antecedents really seemed to me to derive from the European art music tradition, in a lineage from Berg, Scoenberg and Webern. I had the same reaction to the music Anthony Braxton presented in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. I’ll admit I’m still struggling with this issue, and I will have to continue to think it through.