home again....from horrordays....sima masters room
back at the lounge sound in the basement of the seymour centre
absolute best musical snob's venue around town
i wonder if it will get a prize one day
you see we take our music very seriously here
we're hear for the music, the total music and nothing but the music
we even politely agree when asked by the compere to desist from lewd conversation
i saw the mike nock trio in action here mid to late july
with my 2 friends who were a bit startled by the almost total improvisation
me not so much as my ear is turning to that style
they were hugely inventive that night
tonight they are either the backing band for jacam manricks
or maybe he is their guest musician
but most likely as is the case with many of these musicians and their peers
they just decided to get together and make some noise
my immediate impression was of a 4 piece outfit beautifully balanced
it took all of about 10 seconds before i could detect a change with the trio
this time obviously now taking on the dynamic of a quartet
with each of the 4 players equidistant from each other musically
they went from stop to up and running in top gear immediately
it wasn't anywhere near a full house tonight so i was down the front
with a view very much favouring james waples on drums and percussion
he deservedly sits almost centre stage - to the right and fully side-on
i'm finding these days i can spend a lot of time watching drummers
and in this case forget that one of the best upright bass players around is also here
it is always a pleasure to see mike majkowski at work and play
tonight very much assuming the role of the driving force
mike nock is over there in the far-left behind electric and grand pianos
it says a lot about the skills of the aforementioned
when you forget that this world-class pianist is on stage also
then when jacam manricks has his alto sax to his mouth
there's a very rich, full and rewarding noise coming from the stage
one sublime minute or 2 was when mike m used his bow to work the strings
in such a high octave and at such speed as to sound like rapidly flapping wings
i noticed jacam m had taken up his sax and was blowing
though i thought i couldn't hear him
but then noticed his instrument in perfect unison with the bowed bass
so as almost to be drowned out but in fact singing the same song
mike nock did similar aural tricks on the piano
sounding at times like a piano duet all in one
then when he occassionally sang along to himself
you couldn't help but think of his contemporary keith jarrett
with my eyes closed and visualising that performer
i became very aware of the high standard of the music i was hearing
and being up close at a show like this you can very quickly assess
the mood of the musicians during and after a tune has been played
there was lots of smiles and nods and then at the end of each set
a warm embrace or handshake was exchanged
seems they were as entranced by the night
as we were
sublime
