As Sting so immortally put it, when describing the difference between rock and jazz (insert Geordie accent here): In rohck and rohll, youve got to buhn from the fuhst bah. Ridiculous, obviously, for anyone whos ever listened to, I dont know, John Coltrane. I dont recall him spending a whole lot of time noodling around before getting warmed up. Still, there is a certain kind of energy that some creative-music groups bring to the stand thats instantaneous and intense and that sets them apart from jazzs sleepier side. Deals Number is one such improvising unit; they take off fast and maintain a pace thats furious but musically controlled. The foundation of the band is bassist John Seman and drummer Mark Ostrowski, founders (almost 20 years ago) of Seattles fertile Monktail Creative Music Concern who are joined in trio form by aggressive, shape-shifting saxophonist Bill Monto. Theyll be celebrating the release on CD of a 2006 Sonarchy recording session thats now been given the (oddly smooth-jazz-like) title, Show Me What Ya Workin With. Later theyll be joined by two more Monktailers for a quintet. The evenings first sets will be from the multi-city drum-alto-guitar trio Future Ex, whove got some of the Paul Motian-Bill Frisell thing going on: airy, intense, moody, and very much worth hearing.
Thu., Dec. 13, 2007