“The only love affair I ever had was with music” said the great French composer whose name this particular venue commemorates. Ravel knew a thing or two about passion in his music, and appropriately enough, there’s a bit of passion audibly present from both band and audience tonight especially after a fairly indispensable version of Indiscipline.
Earlier in the night, Vrooom Vrooom begins to really find its collective feet with Tony Levin throwing the bass around with exceptional force and vigour. Elsewhere, the introductory section of B’Boom languishes under swathes of disconsolate electronica before the real percussive fireworks start. The introductory Thrak theme is given a more impressionistic rendition rather the pointed precision we’ve heard previously. Levin, this time on the upright bass, bows in a line or two from LTIA which finds echoes amongst the tinkling piano sounds and tapping xylophone notes.
Gunn throws off some cleverly judged feedback lines which really push the piece into some intriguing encounters with Fripp. Bruford’s busy jazz grooves are wonderful but, finding little in the way of takers swerves back to abstraction, and the band kick back to the main theme, played with a scalpel-sharp edge this time around.
Arguably the best Schizoid Man of the tour to date!
“The only love affair I ever had was with music” said the great French composer whose name this particular venue commemorates. Ravel knew a thing or two about passion in his music, and appropriately enough, there’s a bit of passion audibly present from both band and audience tonight especially after a fairly indispensable version of Indiscipline....
Can we talk about Trey Gunn for a minute? His musicianship often gets overlooked (or downplayed) in reviews of the 90's music, probably because of the muddy mix on the album THRAK. Although, as I listened to this concert, I was really struck by his playing. Maybe it's because the mixing is really great on this tour release, or maybe it's because I'm more familiar with Gunn's style and the tone of his instrument 20 years on (listening to Security Project, KTU, and his solo work), but his playing...
Can we talk about Trey Gunn for a minute? His musicianship often gets overlooked (or downplayed) in reviews of the 90's music, probably because of the muddy mix on the album THRAK. Although, as I listened to this concert, I was really struck by his playing. Maybe it's because the mixing is really great on this tour release, or maybe it's because I'm more familiar with Gunn's style and the tone of his instrument 20 years on (listening to Security Project, KTU, and his solo work), but his playing is very distinctive and vibrant here. It's especially evident on the 80's tunes. Just as KC VII makes the 70's material feel new because it's "fully orchestrated," the Double Trio brings a fullness to the Discipline era music that they play, thanks to Trey Gunn and the way he slides right in to that gamelan style.
