Both the Dave Holland Quintet and the Branford Marsalis Quartet could have easily sold out the MainStage space at the Toronto Jazz Festival had they each been the headliner act of their own show, so it’s a little strange that they should be shoved together in a double bill on Friday, July 3rd. Nevertheless, it’s hard to complain when you get to see that much talent and good music on display for the affordable price of $40 at the Toronto Jazz Festival, all in one night, even if the acoustics leave something to be desired.

The Dave Holland Quintet – Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibraphone, Chris Potter on alto/soprano sax, Nate Smith on drums, and Dave Holland on bass – opened the evening with a wonderful, energetic 75-minute set of original compositions from Holland’s albums. The set list included: “Step to It”, “Last Minute Man”, “Full Circle”, and “Lucky Seven”. The Dave Holland Quintet has a very eclectic sound, and at times, dissonant. Generally, this means there’s a lot going on at once, with Potter and Eubanks each carrying a bit of the melody – at the same time – and Nelson, Smith, and Holland sharing the rhythm sections. This tends to lead to a lot of complexity, and because of all the different instruments, each with what could be a standalone part, all together, gives you a rich variety of things to listen to. You can tune in and tune out of various different instruments, take your pick, and never be bored. Sometimes all this action leads to really rewarding and interesting dissonance and other times it ends up as just too busy. Sometimes I had trouble differentiating between the parts that Potter and Eubanks were playing, sometimes they blended together, and it felt like a bit too much mushiness. But the band really shone when its three stars took the stage with their solos: drummer Nate Smith, saxophonist Chris Potter, and bassist Dave Holland.

Drummer Nate Smith also played with Chris Potter in his “Underground” group at the Pilot on Monday, but it was in this concert with Holland where he really impressed me. Generally, when drummers take solos, they are so excited to finally be allowed to stray from just beat-keeping that they try to hit and bang as many drums and cymbals as possible in the smallest amount of time: this is their chance to make a lot of noise. But this approach lacks musicality; it’s just an unpleasant racket, the kind I usually can’t wait to stop. But Nate Smith, much like drumming greats Jack DeJohnette and Tony Williams, understands that less is more with drum solos. He hits a beat, he finds a rhythm to play with, and he lets the audience in on what he is doing. We can keep up, we can enjoy, and while it’s not “simple” it’s not overdone either: there’s music and clarity here. He also finds different pitches and tones to play with so that when his drum solo comes to an end, we can’t help but want more, or look forward to his next one. Smith is a great drummer and these are very, very few and far between.
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Last week, BlogUT caught up with Canadian bassist and composer, Brandi Disterheft, for a telephone interview, before her appearance at the Toronto Jazz Festival, as the opening act for the Dave Brubeck Quartet on Canada Day. Her debut album, “Debut”, won the 2008 Juno award for Traditional Jazz Album of the Year, and it’s an impressive debut, with all original compositions, for this very young, late-twenties, up-and-coming artist. Disterheft has studied under Oscar Peterson, who said of her “She has the same lope or rhythmical pulse as my late bass player Ray Brown. She is what we call serious”, and she is currently studying under the great bassist Ron Carter in New York City. Though she is known in the Toronto music scene – her first album was made with all Toronto musicians – she has decided to take on the big apple, where she now lives, and enjoys the new anonymity and late-night jam sessions at various clubs. She has been doing a lot of touring across Canada in the last week from Calgary to BC to Toronto, playing shows with her newly assembled sextet.

BlogUT: How did you decide to play the bass?
Brandi Disterheft: I grew up playing the piano and was playing the flute at one point. But then I wanted to play an instrument that was more versatile, an instrument I could play classical, jazz, and funky lines on. It was actually my dad’s idea to pick up the bass. But I have always been around music and instruments because my mom was a jazz player in Vancouver (where she grew up).

BlogUT: Did you start out playing classical music or jazz? How does that affect your playing?
Brandi: I did a combination of the two, actually. I started playing classical piano and then I got into jazz. I went to Humber College for the jazz program and took some private classical studies after. I’ve been studying under a classical teacher in New York City. Playing classical music is really important because it develops your technique and develops your sound. You get to really know your instrument and play with a bow. I don’t consider myself a classical musician, but I’m studying classical music mainly so that I can grow on the instrument. (more…)

Although the great jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins (78), master pianist Dave Brubeck (88), and virtuoso double bassist Charlie Haden (71) may be senior citizens, they play as if they’re still young, and what a show they each put on in the last week during the Toronto Jazz Festival. Their sets may have been short, but every minute counted, and every minute was top notch.

Sonny Rollins, the epitome of cool, who made his name as a “saxophone colossus” on the album of the same name, opened the TO Jazz festival on Friday, June 26th, with his very tight band. He walked onto the stage with his ultra cool white jacket and sunglasses, ready to give the audience a run for its money. He opened his show with a whirlwind solo in “Sonny, Please” with so much energy, a little game of “name that tune” in his solo, and a whole lot of bop, that the concert probably could have ended after just the one song, and the audience still could have gone home happy.

But Sonny and his group entertained for seventy minutes, a short concert, but every minute was fine, finer than his last Toronto performance in 2007, which was longer and still great, but not quite this good. He may have run out of breath now and then, but that’s a minor qualm for a 78-year-old that can keep you smiling throughout the whole concert. And Sonny knows how to put on a show. As he takes his solo, ready to heat up the piece and the room, he comes downstage, centre stage, and starts playing away, dancing as close as he possibly can to the audience. Sure, he’s a showoff, but the totally loveable kind. At his last concert, I remember being annoyed that he let his band play too much – we were there for Sonny not for his band – but not so this time. He played his heart out with various hits like “In a Sentimental Mood”, “They Say It’s Wonderful”, “Nice Lady”, and “Strode Rode”. (more…)

What: Chris Potter’s Underground
When: Tuesday, June 30th at 9PM (Today!) (Monday’s show reviewed below)
Where: The Pilot at 22 Cumberland between Bay and Yonge (Map)
Tickets: $28 at the door – arrive early as seating is limited and first come first serve. Doors open at 8PM. Dinner is available at the Pilot.

(See end of Review for more Chris Potter listings for this week on Tuesday and Friday)

Starting at 9PM and finishing up at around midnight, Chris Potter’s Underground wowed the audience from start to finish at the intimate Pilot setting this evening, with two great sets of serious head-bopping, jiving music, that held your attention throughout, accessible to the jazz neophyte and a real delight for the jazz fan. The band played both original music off Potter’s albums and interpretations of other musicians’ work.

Chris Potter is a musician’s musician – about half the audience was music students from York, Humber, and UofT – he takes any piece and turns it on its head in so many different ways that make you listen and watch in anticipation, constantly engaged. His albums are good, but his performance here was stellar. I spent the whole concert bopping my head, swinging my shoulders, tapping my foot, tapping my hands, and at the apex moments, finding myself doing all of the above at once without thinking about it. It was a heck of a lot of fun and a heck of a good show.

Chris Potter’s Underground – with Adam Rogers on guitar, Craig Taborn on Fender Rhodes, Nate Smith on drums, and Potter on alto sax, soprano sax, and bass clarinet -played original tunes like the title song from “Underground” and Potter’s new album “Ultrahang”, new never-before played compositions like “Flight to Oslo”, old standards like Duke Ellington’s “Single Petal of a Rose”, and unexpected oldies with seriously imaginative turns like their melodic, swingy ballad of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe”.

What made the show great was not just the quality of the playing or the selection of the music, but the tightness of the band, the seamless transitions, and the incredible variations on the melody. While most jazz concerts follow the same old pattern of melody, sax solo, guitar solo, drum solo, keyboard solo, back to melody, and then new song and repeat, Underground has a new and exciting way of approaching performance, which is strong and engaging. However, it does get a little repetitive in nature by the nth song. (more…)

The past few days have been absolutely beautiful – the perfect weather, in fact, to explore the city. That is, if you know where to go. We all know about the ROM and Ontario Place, but Toronto’s real beauty lies in its colourful neighbourhoods. There’s nothing quite like picking a street, and wandering around to see what you’ll find. To help you decide where to go, I’ll be posting a series of articles on the best places to wander and explore in Toronto, starting with The Distillery District.

This is absolutely my favourite place to be in Toronto. A set of renovated and refurbished distillery buildings, this pedestrian area is beautiful and charming, and worth seeing if only for its wonderful architecture (think Cannery Row North). The majority of the space is taken up with art galleries, artsy shops, restaurants, and cafes. Its incredible atmosphere, mixing the old, the cultured and the new, makes it a place that can’t be missed, whether you’re new to Toronto or have been here for your entire life. (more…)

When: April 15th, 2009, 9:00-19:00
Where: Bahen Centre, 40 St. George St., University of Toronto
What: Check out the Engineering Science student projects on how to improve the TTC: making the “better way” better.
Contact: For questions about the event: 416-978-8634

From the Event website:

The Division of Engineering Science in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering would like to invite you to the 2009 Praxis II Design Showcase.  The Praxis courses in Engineering Science provide our students with the opportunity to apply their engineering and design skills to challenges ranging in scope from the personal to the global.  Praxis II targets local challenges, and the 2009 version of the course focuses on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) system.

Last year’s showcase produced fascinating designs for solving issues with the accessibility of automated entrances, the safety of passengers boarding and disembarking streetcars, and subway surface access points, among others.  The showcase was well attended by other University of Toronto students and faculty, representatives from Metrolinx, CBC Radio, as well as Councillor Adam Giambrone, pictured at right.  A Praxis student was also interviewed on CBC Radio’s Here and Now.  More pictures of posters, prototypes and the event from last year are available here. (more…)

This is a guest blog by JP, blogUT founder and former editor, who has gone on to do bigger and better things, like uh… open an online store to sell condoms.

So, by now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the general uproar over the pope’s comments regarding condoms during his visit to Africa. Here’s a recap of what he said, according to The Times Online:

In his first public comments on condom use, the pontiff told reporters en route to Cameroon that Aids “is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”

As it turns out, the issue is always more complicated than it appears at surface level. What if I were to tell you that: the pope didn’t exactly say what you thought he said; condoms aren’t exactly “safe”; and I’m writing about all this as a subject matter expert on condoms after having done a whole bunch of research in the process of opening an online condoms store?

Well, I’m about to tell you exactly that. So please read on. (more…)