Passing Ships and Cheesesteaks

by Anthony Medici in Concert Reviews, Opinion Posts, Reviews

This past Friday, your intrepid blogger set forth to face the challenges of I-95 from DC to Philly in order to attend the Ars Nova Workshop presentation of the Ron Horton Sextet performance of Andrew Hill’s Passing Ships. Since I love the music of Andrew Hill, I was more than willing to face the three hour drive each way (it’s the return trip late at night that’s tough). On my last trip up the same route, I ran over a large metal object in the road, destroying two tires (newly installed) on the driver side of my car as well as the front left wheel. So it was with some trepidation that I set forth. Fortunately, the storm that had deluged the DC area for several days lifted on the very monring that I left, leaving cold, grey but dry weather for the trip. I was looking for great music and great cheesesteaks. I found great music….

Passing Ships is one of the great Andrew Hill albums. Recorded in November 1969, the album was not released until 2003. The musicians on the original date formed an impressive lineup: Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece on trumpets; Julian Priester, trombone; Bob Northern, French horn; Howard Johnson, tuba, bass clarinet; Joe Farrell, soprano and tenor sax, bass clarinet, and English horn; Ron Carter, bass (I hope Dan Ouellette, in his in-progress bio of Carter, gives this session as much space as he does Carter’s marginal involvement in A Tribe Called Quest recording session, doucmented in the current DB); and, Lenny White, drums.

The musicians at Friday’s concert were something of an all-star group on the current scene: Ron Horton, trumpet/flugelhorn, Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone, Ben Allison, double-bass, Frank Kimbrough, piano, and, Tim Horner, drums. Tony Malaby on sax was originally scheduled to perform, but the audience was told that he had a “medicial emergency” and could not appear. That was disappointing news; I had wanted to check out Malaby in performance for a while. He was replaced by Dutch, New York based musician, Mark Mommaas, who turned in a fine perfrormance, especially when you consider he had only been notified at noon of the day of the concert, and had not seen the music until 5:00P, a mere three hours before the show.

The set began (I believe) with “The Brown Queen” from Passing Ships, followed by “Sideways” and “Plantation Bag.” The group then performed, “ML,” a recent Hill composition. According to Horton and Kimbrough, Hill’s recent compositions were often titled with initials, often in reference to a person. “ML” was thought to refer to “My Life;” it was a superb piece. Like much of Hill’s music, it was lyrical, exploratory, reflective and passionate, by turns or simultaneously. The group then played “Passing Ships,” “Noon Tide” and “Cascade,” all from Passing Ships.

While faithful to the album, the groups also took room to solo and improvise, in the spirt of Hill’s compositions. Horton’s trumpet playing reminds me of Lee Morgan’s, a comment I don’t make lightly. Horton has tremendous facility. Kimbrough played well, although somewhat overshadowed by Horton and the saxes. Again, I need to single out Mommaas, who was strong on sax, but even stonger on soprano. Unlike many soprano players, who get only a thin, constipated tone on their instrument, Mommaas played the soprano with passion and achieved a strong tone. I ended up not missing Malaby all that much (I hope he’s well though).

Horton offered some interesting insights into Hill as composer. He noted that Kimbrough had maintained a 20+ year relationship with Hill, including the time Hill was virtually off the jazz scene. Horton noted that Hill did not keep the scores of his composition. Horton had been making transcriptions of Hill’s music. When he actually met Hill, through Kimbrough, Hill asked to see the transcriptions. Horton found out that Hill had kept nothing from his previous compositions. Hill went through Horton’s transcriptions, noting and editing. Horton indicated the group was contemplating an album of Hill’s music. I hope compositions like “ML” are on it. The word from Ars Nova is that they will offer another evening devoted to Hill, this time featuring the Nels Cline Group (New Monastery). I hope so. I’m ready for I-95 again.

Oh yeah, cheesteaks. On recent trips to and through Philly, I’ve been sampling the noted cheese steak joints that Philly is famous for. I love that type of food. I’ve hit the two most well-known, perhaps even notorious joints, Pat’s and Geno’s, a couple of times recently. On this trip, I checked out Jiim’s Steaks on South Street. Pat’s has been around forever. Geno’s has been around a while too. They face each other on opposite sides of passyunk Street. Garish has nothing on these guys. The stores are monuments to ego and bad taste. Geno slices its steak meat, Pat’s chops and shreds. Onions, cheese (I’m a provolone guy; I suppose I should try whiz sometime); slap it in an Italian sub roll, and there you have it. Jim’s steaks are a lot like Pat’s. Geno’s and Pat’s do share one thing: an overbearing attitude toward their customers. I suppose it’s part of their “charm,” but it doesn’t work for me. I think it’s Pat’s that posts a sign that if you don’t speak English, they won’t serve you. Obnoxious. So, who makes the best cheese steaks? None of these guys. My vote goes to Rick’s, formerly located in the Reading Terminal for 25 years. Unfortunately, Rick closed (I heard the terminal forced the closure) in October. I sure hope he comes back. I had some memorable cheese steaks there–and he was a really nice guy too.