If anyone knows about fusion in music, it’s drummer Peter Erskine, who is best known for his work with the legendary band Weather Report. This evening he presented pianist and composer Daniel Szabo who together with Erskine melded the sounds of Eastern European folk, jazz and chamber music in a rewarding collection of moods and ensembles.
The evening began with Erskine and Szabo doing a Q & A with an auditorium of music students. Szabo talked about he was trying to create an organic integration of music; it’s not jazz guys playing classical or classical musicians playing jazz.” Referring to musical categories, Erskine joked “I’ve always liked fusion bands, but most were louder than this one.” Asked why a drummer like Erskine would give musical lessons to a pianist like Szabo, he stated “I teach to trust and honor the space between notes, and to learn how to steady your time.”
The proof was in the pudding, with the evening opening up in a deft trio setting of Szabo and Erskine teamed with bassist Edwin Livingston on a classy and elegantly swinging “Eastynato” with Erskine’s deft cymbals guiding Szabo’s rich Bill Evans-inspired flowing notes. Szabo mixed and matched all evening, with the high light of the small groups taking place when LA alto sax hero Kim Richmond teamed with Katisse Buckingham on tenor for a joyfully bopping “Bouncing With Bud” that snapped like a riding crop. Buckingham’s flute delicately floated during a sensitive quartet conversation on “Underwater” with his sweet vibrato floating over Szabo’s impressionistic ivories.
The most ambitious part of the evening was when the ten piece chamber orchestra conducted by Marc Lowenstein came on stage to present music from Szabo’s album Visionary. Szabo’s Satie-esque intro lead to a rich folk melody that included pulsating reeds that were swept up by the strings to create a theme that was both intricate and energetic, coaxed along by Erskine and Livingston.
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s viola opened up “Visionary” with a rolling baroque theme that mixed Bartokian strings with the woodwinds producing a film noir urgency. The reeds got deep on a lurking take of Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” with Richmond serenely bopping over the hip pulse, velvety woodwinds and Erskine’s mallets creating an exotic yet pastoral atmosphere.
Old World harmonies and sonorities were evoked by the ensemble on the yearning “Floating” which included Szabo’s dark and searching piano juxtaposed with Buckingham’s lily pads of a flute solo. The finale “Cosmic” had the team close out with a misty cloud of woodwinds, plucked strings and a relentless buildup by Erskine that built up into a glowing sunset of sound.
Before the evening, Szabo told the attentive students that his desire was to create music that was “a full and organic integration of sounds” that has influenced him. The concert showed that cultures, instruments and even people from different cultures and worlds can work together, something we all could learn these days.
Upcoming shows sponsored by The Jazz Bakery include Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio 04/20, ELEW & Yuko Mabuchi 04/26, Bill O’Connell 04/27 and Tierney Sutton 04/28
For information on Szabo’s album, go to https://petererskine.com/featured-album/visionary/