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| Mountain King - Brian Courage, Jeremy Boettcher and Graydon Peterson |
© Andrea Canter
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| Brian Courage, borrowed bass |
Last night (August 15th) was a bonanza evening
for lovers of jazz bass. The only drawback – two much-anticipated gigs, some 12
miles apart, at about the same time: At Jazz Central--that little studio with a
growing fan base and ever-expanding schedule of innovative projects on the
Southeast/Northeast boundary of Minneapolis, two generations of bass veterans
were scheduled for pas a deux, avant garde style. Every second Wednesday for
the past six months, Chris Bates has hosted an improv evening, inviting
like-minded pals to interact along an unplanned path to jazz Nirvana. Last
night, his guest was former mentor and internationally renowned bass man
Anthony Cox. What glorious havoc would these two create?
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| Jeremy Boettcher |
At the Artists Quarter, three still-young bassists dubbed
themselves Mountain King, arguably the first jazz bass trio to perform publicly
in the Twin Cities. (So far, no one has claimed otherwise.) The only other bass trio I had seen was at the
2009 Detroit Jazz Festival, when John Clayton, Christian McBride and Rodney
Whitaker turned the Pyramid Stage into a playground. Here at the AQ, Graydon Peterson
and Jeremy Boettcher, both products of the fine jazz program at the University
of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, joined forces with relative newcomer Brian Courage, a
2012 graduate of the Lawrence Conservatory. All are very busy as sidemen, and
Peterson with his Quartet, and Courage with his Courageous Endeavors, are making
waves as bandleaders as well.
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| Graydon Peterson |
How to decide? I opted for the ultimate cop-out—geography.
At 9 pm I was only a few blocks from the Artists Quarter. As it turned out, the
set had a later-than-usual start when Brian broke a peg. Within 30 minutes, he
managed to find a “loaner” and helped launch the debut of Mountain King with
the too-rarely-played Horace Silver gem, “Strollin.’” My familiarity with the
tune solely comes from the delightful duet by Karrin Allyson and Jon Hendricks
on Karrin’s Footprints. The bass trio
was nearly as songful, equally swinging, and thoroughly engaging. It was an
auspicious beginning, and all promises were fulfilled over the next 45 minutes.
The back and forth among the musicians on Monk’s “Mysterioso” fit so well with
the up and down of the tune’s famed theme that it is hard to imagine this was
not Monk’s original intent. However, theme aside, much of the arrangement was
more suggestive of Copland, or Frisell, than Monk, taking on a decidedly
westernized country banter. And the set closer, a surprising arrangement of “Mack
the Knife,” brought out the best in each soloist as well as their collaboration--charming, humorous, playful all the way.
I’ve long felt that there is nothing more engaging in jazz
than a solo bass performance. Well, maybe there is nothing more engaging than
three bassists en masse. I’m sure those
at Jazz Central listening to Bates and Cox found similar satisfaction. So what
if there was a Bass Summit—maybe a quintet? Consider this my reservation.
Regardless of geography.
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| "Strollin'" at the AQ |
