lucky me snagged a ticket for this show on the day
had been a bit indifferent to going so rolled the dice
if there's a ticket left i'll take it and attend
so sure enough only a few left so in i went
unusually for the sound lounge it was a full house
so 30 minutes before showtime and seats are scarce
but fortunately there are other single white males
inclined to self-indulge in live music alone
so he had taken over a centre table a few rows back
2 empty seats at his table so i took one
closely followed by legendary pianist mike nock
so i'm thinking this promises to be a great night out
there's a brief introduction and the band are under way
aaron goldberg stage left on piano
reuben rogers middle stage on upright bass
greg hutchinson on drums to the right
acclaimed musicians and trio from new york u s of a
their origins and 15 years playing together had me suspicious
so in the first long all-over-the-place tune i was looking for signs
were they the consummate entertainers or the real deal?
absolutely no doubt about their musical skills
aaron goldberg in particular with a beautiful deftness on piano
his drummer showing mastery of beat, subtlety and dominance
the bass player with the longest middle finger i have ever seen
using that and his first finger to calmly lay in the rhythm
lots of smiles on stage and many more changes in style
the musical ball tossed from one member to another with ease
with the complexity of the changes indicating serious structure
this is not an outfit needing to improvise to impress
though greg hutchinson had some fun winding up the first tune
continually re-launching a new flourish as we all went for the applause
and apparantly even fooling his musical peers forced to play along
by the time it was finished i was now sure this was for real
even more so as aaron goldberg stood up and took to the microphone
thanked us for coming down and saying it was good to be black
a definite slip of the tongue that had reuben rogers chuckling away
quietly confirming he likes it that way and me thinking no doubt
the main man then politely praising what australia has to offer
and hoping there will also soon be a regime change in his country
and on with the music - tune after tune of sublime sounds
at one point i closed my eyes in a particularly fine piece
as aaron goldberg's piano playing floated out over the rhythm
the musicians and audience as one in transendence
opened my eyes to look across the table at mike nock
he also with eyes closed and a beaming smile on his face
a moment of absolute confirmation of this empyreal music
throughout the set aaron goldberg took the time to announce the tunes
many were self-compositions and a few from antonio carlos jobim
which gave a lovely bossa nova feel to this new york jazz sound
during the interval i received some schooling on this subject
as a hardcore fan of n y jazz explained to me what that meant
she being from the east coast and quite dismissive of the west coast sound
to her the discipline, skill set, confidence and complexity makes it unique
and confirming that this outfit we were witnessing were masters
another set of outstanding and varied tunes followed
each musician demonstrating supreme skill at every turn
a lot of eye contact and approval taking place on stage
heads thrown back, eyes closed, large smiles at the end of tunes
just the best night of music you could hope for
and a wonderful host ending the set with an encore
a new tune with no title yet but about the abasement of ego
such a simple, almost off-key, mistake-ridden little piece
intentionally i felt played to bring us all back down to earth
they then left the stage to more resounding applause
responding with gracious thanks and one request
....vote for obama
