It seems like Wednesday night performances are the new thing to do. Maybe I'll find another one next week.
In any case, last evening I attended a concert in Stanford's Memorial Church. The head organist, if you will, at Stanford has undertaken a project to perform all of the organ works of Bach on the Fisk organ in the church in commemoration of the completion of this organ. For reference, Charles Fisk also built the organ in the Meyerson Symphony Hall.
I'll be honest, I've never been to an organ concert before, and never really gave it much thought. But sitting in the ornate Memorial Church and listening to the rolling counterpoint of Fugues was simply delightful. If ever you see a program of someone performing Bach organworks, go. Likely you won't regret it. The organ in a church like that has a way of completely enveloping you, a sound that has almost visceral qualities. And if it is the 4 (or more) intertwined voices of a fugue, all the better.
Robert Huw Morgan performed both the Prelude and Fugue BWV 550 and BWV 541, both in G minor, the Trio Sonata No. V in C major, and a host of apparently Easter-related settings of hymns. While I don't recognize the melodies, they certainly were a joy to hear.
In contrast, the performance I heard a week before was not as wonderful. Christian McBride set out to do a tribute concert to Herbie Hancock, a concert that has the potential to be quite exciting. Herbie has been through many phases in his career, and I was glad to hear that Mr. McBride wanted to focus on the 1970's era jazz/funk part of his career, because honestly, I find that period much more exciting and hip than some of his later work. I just wish that Mr. McBride hadn't told the audience that 45 minutes after the show was supposed to start.
That's right, all of the musicians arrived at the venue more than 45 minutes after the scheduled start of the performance. If I had not been able to get a student discount ticket, I would have been much more upset. Even after the hokey student-led introduction to the performance, the music itself wasn't all that hip. One of the features of Herbie Hancock's music of that era, like Chameleon, is that it is driving funk, pushing forward with incisive percussion and precision. There was none of that in the performance. I felt as though the tempo always was dragging, the bass should have been a little more ahead of the beat, and the percussion funkier. Sure, the musicians admitted to having not played together before, but the sound they achieved reminded me of some of the "jam" sessions I used to have with my old bands in some poorly lit garage or the back room of the music department. They had trouble reaching new ground in some of the pieces as demonstrated by the fact that they also had trouble ending many of the pieces. That's never a good sign.
All and all, I did not find the concert to be a great tribute to Herbie. Their performance showed a lack of rehearsal, time, and care for the project they were undertaking.
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Hi Dave. I'm very sorry you didn't enjoy the performance at Stanford. It was a big challenge for me as well. A BIG one. In all fairness, I feel the need to clarify a few things. As for starting 45 minutes late, I was told by the promoters that the Hancock tribute was supposed to go on at 8:30 after a student band. It's a shame that you call them hokey. Would you like someone to call you that in public on a blog? I'm sure they did the best they could. Shame on you. Anyway, getting back to my part - at 8:40 (just ten minutes after we were told to start), someone from the school asked me if it was okay if they opened the doors. I replied, "What are you talking about? OF COURSE it's okay!" I had no idea they were holding up the doors. So, that's my own explanation on the "late start". To explain the concert's "jam" nature: you must know that I was confronted with the daunting challenge of finding a new drummer exactly three hours before the concert as Billy Hart missed his flight out of Kalamazoo, MI. I was fortunate Eddie Marshall was willing to come in and play the music sight unseen without ANY rehearsal whatsoever. As for the music constantly dragging, YES IT WAS! I was dying up there. But if you had been observing throughout the concert, you would have seen me visibly trying to push Eddie a little ahead of the beat. Not sure if he heard the bass that well. I've never been a bassist that has fallen much behind any drummer. I learned that from Ray Brown - the king of playing on top of the beat. Haha! But I'm thankful and not bitter at all since Eddie is a beautiful man and a crafty veteran and he and I both knew of the drama preceding the concert....and I think you should be as well. I'm always interested in reading people's (not "professional critics") reviews of performances, as I know it's coming from a very honest place. However, you should be a bit more careful in the words and phrases you use and find out as much information as you can before posting blogs. I hope that none of the guys from the "hokey" student band read your blog. Please send all complaints to customer service at info@christianmcbride.com. :-) Take care, Dave. Sincerely, Christian McBride.
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