Alliance for Improvised Music |
New Show |
COMPANION TRIO BUILDS RAPPORT
The Companion Trio - Evan Rapport (reeds), Jerry Lim (guitar), Bob Wagner (drums) - will drop in on Sat, Feb 6, 8 pm at Two Way Pull Records in Chapel Hill. A $5 donation is requested at the door. Guitarist Mark Sullivan opens. Sponsored by AIM.
Evan Rapport and his Companion Trio hail from Baltimore, where John Berndt's Red Room is giving rise to a growing improv scene. They've also played at the Knitting Factory, Xoinx (Chicago), Duquesne U (Pittsburgh), and numerous other East Coast venues. They recently released their self-titled debut cd (on Mass Particles), which the All-Music Guide gave 4.5 stars saying: "The Companion Trio blows cool winds in a non-swinging free style that owes as much to Jimmy Giuffre as to Derek Bailey. ... The results are compelling, with Rapport and Lim particular standouts. Rapport shows remarkable maturity on his horns dampening considerable technique in favor of highly attractive free lyricism." Or this from Articulate: "Innovation in any art form has almost always been about the element of surprise, and this recording is no exception. The Companion Trio has mastered the art of taking you along for the ride and then kicking you out when you least expect it, leaving you in a place far far away from where you thought you started. But no matter where you end up, the ride is absolutely, positively worth it."
Sounds pretty wild, doesn't it? But on the other hand, Rapport boasts experience with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and has studied with Steve Lacy and Richard Davis. The Chicago Reader wrote: "Baltimore's Companion Trio squats as firmly in the center of this [free-improv) tradition as is possible with a tradition that won't sit still." While Baltimore's City Paper noted: "Rapport has played in punk and klezmer groups and big bands, and his bold compositions flirt with these styles while commenting - often harshly - on the current state of jazz."
Guitarist Lim has a background in sculptural and visual art, as well as experience in DC's punk and experimental music scene as well as jazz. His "angular lines sputter and twist, eschewing popular licks for strange, yet satisfying, atonal forays," while drummer Wagner, a mainstay of Baltimore's creative music community, "is a sensitive performer, with a fine, appropriately light touch" (All-Music Guide).
So what's my take? Well, I'm bopping along to it as I'm writing this and I've got to agree with Punk Planet (probably not something I do very often :-): "Hey, it's a jazz record. And it's good."
-- Walt Davis
- Also check out John Berndt's article on the Trio
- More on Mark Sullivan