One of LA’s fixtures is pianist Josh Nelson, and it’s easy to catch him as either a sideman for a vocalist or a team member in a small group. Most rewarding are the nights like Saturday at the packed Sam First Bar , where the audience was able to appreciate not only Nelson’s composing and arranging skills, but his vision of mixing music and film in a fascinating series of programs, most notably from his albums The Sky Remains and LA Stories, which meld musical and thematic ideas as a paene to his hometown of Los Angeles. The visual and musical treat on Saturday night was a reflection of a mind that has grasped on to a brilliant concept, and is in the process of making it a reality to be appreciated. Think of film documentary that swings.
With narration by Robert Peterson, and vocals and poetry performed by the lovely Lillian Sengpiehl and Kathleen Grace, the band performed in front of a movie screen controlled by projectionist Travis Flournoy that included films that related to the various topics of the compositions. Thus, with the song “Red Car Reminiscing” there would be a backdrop of the famed LA trolleys, and during “Stairways” the audience was presented with the famous Laurel and Hardy skit of them hoisting a piano up a flight of stairs. You get the picture, literally!
As for the music itself, the horn section of Nicole McCabe/as-fl, Chris Lawrence/tp-fh and Brian Walsh/cl-bcl was absolutely Ellingtonian in texture, while Nelson with Karl McComas-Reichl/b, Dan Schnelle/dr and all star Anthony Wilson/g was both flexible during the sequences and tight in the rivulets of groove. The pieces ranged from instrumental impressionistic vignettes such as the velvety “On The Sidewalk” to wide ranging panoramas with the ladies singing in both harmony and solo as on the emotive “Bridges and Tunnels” or the deeply reflective “The Sky Remains” in which Grace sang with a yearning heart.
One of the highlights was the appropriately titled “The Architect” which had Nelson at his most adventurous on the piano, with Wilson and McCabe delivered searing solos throughout the various segues. Lawrence’s horn was burning bright on “Ah , Los Angeles” and Walsh’s bass clarinet gurgled like a warm afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits as Nelson strode right on the ivories at eight to the bar on the chug a lugging closer of “Red Car Reminiscing” . The 90 minute set included a feast of sound of vision produced by a man that likewise features a sound and vision. And who else’s would you want to put a song about Travel Town?
Upcoming shows at Sam First Bar include Herbie Hancock Institute Ensemble 10/02, Max Haymer 10/03, Melissa Morgan/10/04 and Anthony Wilson Trio 10/10-11