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Witty Banter is One for the Books
Recent Articles March 21st. A day that I will always think of amazing album releases. DC-based musician, producer, and singer-songwriter, Rachel Levitin, released Witty Banter
March 23, 2024
by Michael J. West
Monday, November 11
Jazz violin is enough of a thing that in 1963, Duke Ellington could build a whole session around it. While it’s still definitively in the “instruments rare in jazz” category (in Down Beat’s phrasing), it has gained some increasing frequency. Even so, it remains deeply rooted in the “gypsy jazz” tradition that Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli pioneered together in 1930s Paris. Now-22-year-old Daisy Castro discovered that music on a Paris trip with her parents when she was a young child. By her teen years, she was one of the talks of the jazz world with her dyed-in-the-wool “jazz Manouche” violin playing. Castro is no longer the child prodigy of a decade ago, but she has gained a remarkable maturity with remarkable speed, and now leads an exemplary quartet that features the dual guitars of Max O’Rourke and Quinn Bachand, the upright bass of Zach Serleth, and of course the leader herself on violin. They perform at 8 p.m. at Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Avenue. $19-$22
Thursday, November 14
Even Dan Weiss’s vamps on the drums will keep you guessing. “Utica Box,” the opening track of the forthcoming album of the same name, lures you in with the promise of a hypnotic groove—then throws in change-ups all over the place. Is it an odd meter, or is he just shifting accents? What the hell is going on in those breaks? Extend that into a multisectional epic (both the 17-minute song itself and the album) and you have the essence of Dan Weiss. His versatility and proficiency find him also working on tablas, which has brought him into the Indian-jazz ensembles led by Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Weiss’ unpredictable virtuosity is remarkable—not just in its own right but for its ease in yielding to trio partners Thomas Morgan (bass) and Jacob Sacks (piano), who have large supplies of change-ups themselves. Clearly, it’s not your usual piano trio, though it remains an exciting one. The Dan Weiss Trio performs at TBD, 3500 Parkdale Avenue.
Saturday, November 16
Kids, back in a long-ago time they call “the ‘80s,” jazz was still a somewhat commercial music, and hip young musicians were all the rage. Every instrument had a certain cohort of “young lions” that were making a splash, individually and collectively. On drums, you had your Jeff “Tain” Watts, your Ralph Peterson, your Carl Allen and Winard Harper…and then you had one that stood out from the crowd, named Cindy Blackman. Yes, she stood out because she was a woman, it’s true; even as women gain increasing attention in jazz circles, drums remain one of the lesser-occupied chairs for them. But my God, that woman could, and can, play—she’ll make you dizzy, she can play so much. What’s more, she’s not just a technical powerhouse (assured though she is in that aspect); her playing is filled with subtleties, with careful and imaginative choices of color and texture, and, most importantly, keeps the idea of groove at its very center. She’s now known as Cindy Blackman-Santana, and she’ll knock your socks off, especially when she’s joined by such splendid accompanists as pianist Marc Cary, guitarist Aurelian Budynek, and bassist Felix Pastorius. They play at 8 and 10 p.m. at Keystone Korner, 1350 Lancaster Street. $25-$35
Sunday, November 17
Michael Formanek hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, wherein he got his start playing bass as a teenager. He did his time in New York, as jazz musicians are wont to do, but settled down in Baltimore where he taught and continued to develop as a full-time musician, recently making his avant-garde vision known with The Distance, a 2016 recording with his Ensemble Kolossus, and 2018’s haunting Time Like This with his Elusion Quartet. Oh—and somewhere along the line he also had a son. Peter Formanek was born and raised in Charm City, learned at his father’s feet, and established himself in the greater Detroit area. If the elder Formanek was his first teacher, though, it doesn’t follow that the younger is also a bassist. It’s probably fair to call him a “jack of all reeds,” since he works with all varieties of saxophone, clarinet, and flute. The Formaneks close out 2019 with a short US tour: Their first as co-headliners. It kicks off at 6 p.m. at An Die Musik, 409 North Charles Street. $10-$23.
Michael J. West is a freelance writer, editor, and jazz journalist who has been covering the Washington, D.C. jazz scene since 2009. He spends most days either hunkered down in the clubs or in his very big headphones. He lives in Washington with his wife and two children.
Recent Articles March 21st. A day that I will always think of amazing album releases. DC-based musician, producer, and singer-songwriter, Rachel Levitin, released Witty Banter
Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
