Compliment Paid at Jazz Concert

I went to see the Bobby Hutcherson Quartet play at The Centre Monday night. He's on a Grant Green CD I recently bought. I'm sure if I look carefully enough, I'd find Bobby sidelining elsewhere in my music collection.

Hutcherson is one of the premier jazz vibraphonists.

***

I caught the SkyTrain down to Stadium Station and stopped by the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library to grab a smoothie at the atrium shops. I browsed the bulletin boards and noticed that the VPL has a number of interesting reading/book clubs. Unfortunately, they meet downtown in the evenings throughout the year. It sometimes pays to have a condo in the city core. As there was still time to kill, I decided to wander inside the library.

I spent time querying the catalogue system for Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet and watching the adjacent lineup and users at the "Express 30 Minute Internet" computers. People of all stripes were there— young Asians, twentysomething guys with shorts, backpacks, and headphones; trim fifty year-olds. Some were probably foreign exchange students or tourists. I surmise the rest were either "living on a budget" or of a minimalist bent. (There's that minimalist thing again; I really must pare down my materialistic side.)

I left with a hardcover copy ofJoseph Heller's Something Happened—we'll see if I have the time, this is one long book—and finally made my way across the street to The Centre

***

I had centre orchestra seats one row in from the stage. Had I been a deranged fan, I could have with little effort assaulted one of the musicians or uprooted the drum kit before being restrained by security. I sat between two forty-/fiftyish couples. The male of the pair to my left pointed to my library book and asked if I was studying for exams. 'Gads, man, how old do you take me for? [Privately, I gloated.]

The opening act was the Amanda Tosoff Quartet, a local group of young musicians. Unlike rock concerts, the sound level at the front and everywhere else in the theatre was altogether sane. Unfortunately, the other instruments drowned out Ms. Tosoff's piano on the louder passages. Either she wasn't hitting the keys hard enough, or the sound technicians goofed up the gain on her microphones. She made herself available for CD signing at the end of her show. Seems to be a very nice girl.

As for the main act, the quartet was outstanding. On piano was Vancouver-raised Renee Rosnes, well-known and respected in jazz circles. I don't know if she and Bobby Hutcherson were a little peeved that the evening wasn't sold out (in Renee's hometown). I walk away convinced that the vibraphone is not my favourite of instruments, no slight to Mr. H.

It was really fun to watch the interplay between players and how they would let their arms hang loose while one of them was soloing. CBC Radio was there to record the show. One other observation for the night: for sheer calorie burn, the award goes to the drummers.

Great straightforward jazz.