Charlie Ballantine Trio 3/29/25 Firehouse 12

 Guitarist, composer, educator Ballantine  is a young guitarist from Indianapolis. Listed in the top 200 of living guitarists chronicled by All About Jazz magazine, Charlie makes a stop for the Firehouse spring series. Accompanied by standup bass and drums, the trio plow through a groove-based workout for a sparse second set crowd. A departure from the usual improv fare usually on display, this trio cooked. Ballantine’s agile runs seemed frenetic and effortless, the setlist pulled from his modest but tasteful catalog. Original works Love Letters and Graffiti, Falling Grace, and Cold Coffee are balanced by reverential releases Life Is Brief (Dylan), Vonnegut, and a tour of  Thelonious Monk chestnuts. Tunes like Love Letters, and Blues for Baltimorrow were expertly delivered. Excellent version of Monk’s Off Minor was a highlight. The reverence toward the Firehouse was also notable, Charlie did some homework as to the many greats that have graced this space over time. To quote the late great Captain Beefheart describing Yale graduate Gary Lucas playing “Flavor Bud Living”, …… “ man can play guitar.”

Light Upon Blight Ensemble W/ Dr. Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps 3/5/25 Cafe 9

 Got off the couch early for local noiseniks Doc C. Helmed by renaissance man Adam Matlock on accordion, keytar and vocals with Brian Slattery on fiddle and Cajun field holler, they are joined by standup bass and drums. I enter the club to a straight up Zydeco number, accordion and field holler were so expertly delivered, it sounded like I was in Baton Rouge. Matlock and company are such musical omnivores that the Zydeco number seemed effortless. Next up Adam switched to the unusual keytar, a portable keyboard with a guitar neck allows for bent notes and a funky jazz number. Adam then sings a soul/ blues number about music “that will make you shake”. Final tune seemed like opera, with Adam on booming vocals, because, why not?  Matlock has sung in Anthony Braxton large groups, plays avant garde, metal, and everything in between.  These guys have other lives and have limited live dates but I urge any local music fans to seek them out. Each show is like a box of chocolates.

Light Upon Blight Ensemble is the brainchild of local guitarists Bob Gorry and Jeff Cedrone. Bob is leader of NHIC ( New Haven Improvisers Collective) a loose group of likeminded music weirdos that was home to some of the Doc C players. LUBE has just had a cd release Century which is on Spotify and bandcamp. On this evening they play one long form piece It’s Dark Now an homage to the late great David Lynch. The guitarists are joined by sax, electric bass, and two drummers. The music goes in many directions, with Cedrone’s guitar giving him trouble at one point. The beauty of improv was that it moves to the “next man up” while Jeff fiddled with his rig. Gorry had a stabbing section that sounded like he was channeling Sonny Sharrock. This music is challenging but worthwhile when viewed live. Nice to see a good group of appreciators on this rainy evening.

Echo 3/2/25 AFAM Center at Yale

 The Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective teamed up with a local group of poets known as Word to present an afternoon mashup of the two art forms. First piece was a young black woman talking about her complicated relationship with the South. Georgia, to be exact, she alluded to her birth and viewing the state as a parent. She was joined by a sax and trumpeter that gave a NewOrleans feel to the piece. Next up was a bleached blonde Asian woman whose piece was erotic. Imagery of hands on her throat toggled between sensual and strangling. She was joined by piano and flugelhorn. The musicians played snippets of My Funny Valentine during her piece. A young man took the mic and had a two part recitation. The first part was a rant about the state of our society for a person of color. He played with the words hopeless and hope less. The second part seemed to be about a relative, a younger brother maybe. He spoke of the future and what lies ahead for the youngster. He was joined by guitar, sax, and a young woman on wordless vocals. The final poet was a young man whose piece was about love and the cosmos. Common tropes for the poet, he was joined by guitar and piano. His delivery was not as assertive as the others which detracted from the musical backing. It sounded like he was mumbling his piece while walking by a Tower Records that had Windham Hill bumping out the door. I give credit to both groups of artists, they seemed to genuinely revel in the mashup. The trick was the sound, you needed to hear the words and the music which was tricky. Enjoyable afternoon show.

Yale Percussion Group 2/28/25 Sprague Hall

 February is a down month. Sure, it only has 28 days and Valentines Day, but when you realize it’s only 6% shorter than most months and Valentines Day is the New Years Eve of romance, you’re left with the misery known as shoveling and scraping. Thankfully, Robert van Sice, director of the heralded Yale Percussion Group, has chosen February for the annual recital. The program starts with “Threads”, a 2005 composition by Paul Lansky. Four musicians each with a marimba or vibraphone and some sort of drum set. As with the annual bassoon recital, I will describe the students. Lanky white guy, could be a great great great grandson of the revolution, starts by bowing his vibes perpendicular to a drone effect. His drum set is a collection of snares and toms as well as a shelf of junkyard objects that gives off a cartoonish vibe. A young asian woman played marimba and large kettle drums, when struck forcefully, they sounded like traditional Taiko. Another young Caucasian man played vibes and congas, the latter sounding like a blaxploitation film alley chase. The final player was a young Asian man with toms and kick drum to add to the marimba. They played in a close circle, watching each other through the piece. Threads was a collection of mini pieces that returned to a soothing almost Mike Post theme vibe. The second piece, Ouroboros was a marimba duet written by the lanky player, a 22year old composer, overachiever. He notes that the piece was designed with palindromic runs, like an Escher snake eating its tail. The final piece of the first set was a marimba duo with the young Asian woman and a new to the stage white guy. The intermission is a chance for the players to clear the stage and set up for the finale. The second set was the 30 minute piece Dressur by the Argentinian composer Mauricio Kagel. Introduced byVan Sice as the intersection of Fellini and Cage, the piece was as much performance art as it was music. Three players, two guys and a girl, took their places at wooden desks and tables flanking a circular wooden platform. Turns out that all the “instruments” were wooden and handcrafted by the crew. Van Sice urged the crowd to laugh when things got funny and appreciate the theater involved. Like an opera in a foreign tongue, you had to discern, what was happening by tone, timbre, and facial gesture. Seems that one male was the aggressor, loudly stomping his chair at the cowering others. The oppressed signaled confidence by joining forces and clapping back with the guy lifting his shirt over his head and clomping his bare torso with coconut shells. At one point, the female put a bamboo wind chime on her head and mounted the round platform. The aggressor played 2x4s, 1x3s, and crown molding slapping and scraping as he went. Torso guy took the circle and donned some wooden clogs which he played and clomped. The piece is available on YouTube, and I urge readers to check it out. I likened the experience to Waiting for Godot with drums. February may be boring, but leave it to the Yale Percussion Group to lift you out of the drolldrums.