Paul Motian Trio at The Village Vanguard

Hi Folks! I'm back from New York and thought I'd tell you about some exciting stuff going on there. First, let me warn you that this blog is not going to be about older jazz, but rather modern jazz. I hope you all can handle that. Now, this weekend I saw the Paul Motian Trio in New York at the Village Vanguard. To give some context, let me just say that the Village Vanguard is one of the most famous, historic, and important jazz clubs in the world. Just about all the jazz greats have played there at some point. It is a small, crowded underground venue in the middle of the West Village. In essence, it is the definition of a jazz club.

As for the Paul Motian trio, they consist of three members, all of them huge. On drums is Paul Motian himself. Paul Motian is the oldest of the three, dating back to the early sixties in the legendary Bill Evans Trio. (Get their album Sunday at the Village Vanguard. It is the Bill Evans trio with Paul Motian playing at the same venue more than forty years ago.) On piano is Jason Moran, whose name I had heard before this concert, but whose music I heard for the first time. On saxophone is the well established, modern hero for many saxophonists, Chris Potter.

The three know how to play. However, this was no straightforward music. The way it was set up was, generally, the sax and piano played in sync, setting up somewhat of a groove, while the drums came in and threw every chance at settling into that groove. There was so much that surprised me in this show. First of all, the fact that everyone was able to keep time throughout was amazing. However, on a larger scale, the simplicity of the music was astonishing. They played the music in standard jazz format, playing the melody first, then soloing, then playing the melody out again. The only thing was, it sounded so complex. The drums were all over the place, making it hard for the listener to keep time. However, the chord changes continued in time, for the most part. And the solos were wild. Even without the groove of the drums, the soloists were able to make the music seem like it grooved. I even heard some of that trademark Chris Potter funk amidst the amorphous cloud of music produced. Jason Moran blew me away with countless mind-boggling, lightning-speed lines in his solos. I play a little piano myself, but what he was doing literally seemed impossible. As for the drums, they seemed to play energy. As the energy of the song grew the hits became more frequent and louder, and vise versa. Paul Motian might just be a musical genius.

With experimental music like this there is a fine line to be drawn between aimless, grooveless, and uncontrolled free playing, in which it seems that someone is trying to make it sound discordant, and cohesive, controlled playing, in which you feels that the music is in sync and that it is advancing music itself in general. Although both can sound similar, when you listen to them you'll know whether it is the good kind or the bad kind. In this show I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I recommend that if you can, go see this group play, especially if you want to know what avant-garde music is about. It will not only captivate you and give you a time you'll remember, but also teach you a lot about how music is played in general.