Yup, I did it again. I go through this long drought where I'm not getting any good live music coming my way. I just so happened to be in Albuquerque, NM when Jason Moran and the Bandwagon were making their way thru the city. They played at a venue called Outpost Performance Space. I'd seen the band before, which consists of drummer, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen and of course, Jason Moran. In fact, I had seen them play three times before and each performance I enjoyed. I saw them at an outdoor music festival in Finland last Summer so the crowd was huge. There were thousands in attendance at this festival. Last night though, it was a sold out show and much more intimate setting compared to the festival. Outpost seats 160 people. So anyway, I took my Sister to the show. I figured she would enjoy the show although this is not what she normally listens to. I don't know why things like this happen but as soon as the show is about to begin, a guy in the row in front of us lets out a loud fart. I dismissed it, thinking it was actually the sound of someone's shoe rubbing against their chair or something but shortly after I heard the noise I smelled a very foul odor. This funky bastard let out a loud fart in a crowd of people! And it was already warm in the room. My sister smelled it before I did and she got up and moved somewhere. Like a dummy I sat in that polluted air until it cleared. Great way to start the show!! I guess the good news was that when my Sister moved it gave me some space so I was able to stretch out and get comfy.
So, the show was great. They would blend recorded music or snippets of people talking into the performance. In between some of the songs Jason would talk about the music, giving some background on some of his musical influences, heroes and things. He talked about Fats Waller, Jackie Byard, Randy Weston. He talked about the history of the music. I was really appreciative of the way that he talked about the music not some sort of textbook, technical kinda way. I don't remember what was said word for word but what I understood was that he was talking about this music coming from the souls of black folks. Not to be minimized, dissected and mimicked. In my opinion it happens waaaayy too often. I'm probably not doing any justice to what I heard Jason Moran say because he said it so eloquently.
The music though. Whoa, it was soooo good. On either side of me was an empty seat so I took my shoes off and spread out and got really comfortable. Nasheet Waits is a fucking beast of a drummer. Tarus Mateen, bass man was just nasty. I hadn't realized that they've been playing together for 13 years!! Had me dancing in my seat so hard that I thought I was going to break it! I doubt any words I come up with will express the goodness of last nights show. This was one of those shows where I walked out of there feeling so satisfied. It really hit the spot!
So, the show was great. They would blend recorded music or snippets of people talking into the performance. In between some of the songs Jason would talk about the music, giving some background on some of his musical influences, heroes and things. He talked about Fats Waller, Jackie Byard, Randy Weston. He talked about the history of the music. I was really appreciative of the way that he talked about the music not some sort of textbook, technical kinda way. I don't remember what was said word for word but what I understood was that he was talking about this music coming from the souls of black folks. Not to be minimized, dissected and mimicked. In my opinion it happens waaaayy too often. I'm probably not doing any justice to what I heard Jason Moran say because he said it so eloquently.
The music though. Whoa, it was soooo good. On either side of me was an empty seat so I took my shoes off and spread out and got really comfortable. Nasheet Waits is a fucking beast of a drummer. Tarus Mateen, bass man was just nasty. I hadn't realized that they've been playing together for 13 years!! Had me dancing in my seat so hard that I thought I was going to break it! I doubt any words I come up with will express the goodness of last nights show. This was one of those shows where I walked out of there feeling so satisfied. It really hit the spot!
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