Marta Sanchez 5/29/26 Firehouse 12

 Solo piano excursions at the Firehouse are always a treat. The artist is the main attraction, but the Firehouse house piano adds to the wonder. I have lovingly described this behemoth many times, and will take this opportunity to try again. Spanning a city block, this monstrous beauty looks like a 1970s Cadillac complete with tasteful spotless whitewalls. On this evening the hood was propped, allowing Sanchez access to install capos or clamps to modify the sound output. “Prepared” piano prompts panic palpitations in some listeners. Messing with the piano’s mallets or strings takes some musicians to the absurdist dark side of the avant garde. I still remember some would-be plinker dropping fruit on the strings for some cacadadaphonous effect. Sanchez stayed closer to the true sound which was refreshing. Soft-spoken, diminutive, Spanish, and about five months pregnant added to the allure. Marta said the evening’s compositions were pulled from her recent recording “For the Space You Left”. Her accent made it difficult to understand, but the gist of the record focused on two periods of isolation. One was the COVID pandemic which evokes a certain level of dread and uncertainty. The other was a retreat of choice where Sanchez traveled to a remote Spanish cabin to unplug and commune with nature. The music was beautiful and careened toward chamber offerings. Before each tune, Marta would climb under the hood and install the preparations. The clamps made a focused metallic wheeze for a few locations among the 88. The songs  beautifully danced around these locations offering percussive glitches in her gorgeous runs. The visual of this tiny pregnant Spaniard under the hood was memorable. One can only imagine the in utero experience of that child.

Mary Halvorson’s Canis Major 5/1/26 Firehouse 12

 Guitarist Halvorson has been wowing the Firehouse crowds for decades. In support of other jazzbos or leading her groups Amaryllis or Thumbscrew, Mary is a restless spirit. Her popularity is also blooming as evidenced by two sold out sets. I was lucky to plan ahead and grab an advance ticket for the second set. This project has Mary on guitar, Henry Fraser on standup bass, Dave Adewumi on trumpet, and longtime collaborator, friend, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. The quartet breezes through their set. Still nerdy and bookish, Mary plays her large hollow body guitar while seated, which makes it hard to see her. Adewumi is new to me and is solid on trumpet. Confident blasts and runs are a good counterpoint to the guitar noodling. Fraser is amazing. Usually plucking, but occasional bowing, Henry is worth following. When soloing, Henry alternated softly plucked passages with loud stabbing runs, as if there were two people playing. Tomas has been positively reviewed in this blog many times. Master time keeper, Fujiwara spent the evening focused on cymbals. His cymbal-centric solo was beautiful. Halvorson is a chameleon on guitar, she even slurred her way through a Hawaiian slack-key passage. The international accolades keep piling up for Mary, I’m happy to say that I have been a fan from the jump.