Just like yesterday, here’s a roadmap of possible hits during tonight’s amble around Billyburg to catch as many WJF shows as possible. First off is Laraaji’s prayer to the sunset on the rooftop of Superior Ingredients. Maybe he’ll share gleeful cackle to correct the world’s woe, as he did last night during that Pharoah hat-tip at LPR. As old Sol fades into the Manhattan landscape you can consider the transition a “Segue To Infinity.”
Then stay put to check Steve Lehman and Mark Turner turn to the music of the mighty Anthony Braxton. Lehman has said that his studies with the maestro contained one key thought: “Be honest with yourself about what it is you’re most you excited about in music, and little by little separate that from historical dogma and the weight of historical lineage. Take a hard look at who you are, and if you think you’re into polkas but it seems weird, you just gotta go with it and do polkas. And then hold yourself to a high standard doing so.” Hope they take a crack the bop puzzle of “MDD-3/66D (Opus 23C).” Then it’s off to Loove Labs for a taste of Anna Webber’s Shimmer Wince. The saxophonist-composer’s quintet puts Adam O’Farrill upfront, and their Intakt debut makes jarring shifts of tempo and texture seem deeply inviting.
Be agile and you might be able to zip back to SI’s downstairs room for the Mary Halvorson/Tomas Fujiwara duet. The steady work together makes for a rich rapport, and maybe Winter JazzFest heads can get a jump on the duo’s approach to their Solid Sound gig this June. But play it smart and check the time. Might be best to stay put and absorb all the nooks and crannies of Kate Gentile’s Find Letter X (Pi Recordings) music. The drummer-composer’s quartet addresses idiosyncratic rhythms the same way they do their slippery melodies: with an authoritative attack that makes the interplay give off mucho heat.
At 9 pm the Music Hall of Williamsburg is the place to be. Shabaka, Jason Moran, Carlos Niño and Saul Williams should provide the most potent dreamscape around, with flutes and keybs mixing wisely. At 9:45 Matana Roberts takes the Superior stage, perhaps to reshare the fierce poetry of her Coin Coin Chapter 5: In The Garden… one of 2023’s most engaging statements.
Here’s where it gets tough, because you could also break towards the BQE and set up shop at Union Pool where Dada Strains’ evening of improv is rolling already. The duo between the drummer Ryan Sawyer and guitarist Wendy Eisenberg (who often play in a trio with cellist Lester St Louis) should be a provocative essay of joy and imagination. And if you do commit to the Pool, best to stay put. Harriet Tubman’s tsunami of guitar/bass/drums radiates with an orchestral impact – they shake the emotions out of you and wring you dry.
Maybe an expresso martini is needed next. A stop at the MHOW for Irreversible Entanglements’ spin on the Harvest Time project will be very seductive, and you’ll need the energy to split towards Superior Ingredients for the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble show and the 1:30 am benediction of Damon Locks and Rob Mazurek’s New Future City Radio.”
Lament For A Straight Line 