Futures: Microscores / October Trio + 1

It was a bit strange going to The Cellar two nights in a row without my camera. There have been a few times in the last six months when I arrive somewhere to see a gig and realize that I've left the camera home. Quite often those were the nights when there was something worthwhile going on.

For Tuesday night, it would have been inappropriate running around snapping off shots. Producer David Pay has set up things so that food and bar service are suspended during the performance in order for the room to be as quiet as possible. Typical of Dave's ventures, the room was pretty well full. People know that his events are of a high calibre and they turn out in good numbers. Having a full house in a room like The Cellar adds a great vibe to the performance.

Jessica Catron and Johnny Chang are to be commended for their dedication to The Microscore project. They now have over 260 pieces of no more than 30 seconds in length and will add to that total this coming weekend in Seattle. I loved the breadth of compositional techniques, going from whimsical to conceptual to extremely densely and carefully scored. Distilling the extended techniques for string instruments that are incorporated in all of these pieces could be the basis for a definitive book on this subject.

Ten Vancouver composers, myself included, had the priveledge to add to their growing repertoire. Nine of us were there. I thought Dave should have dipped into his life savings to fly Kelly Churko in from Tokyo, but apparently Dave didn't see it that way. Something about balancing budgets, I guess.

I appointed myself shop steward for the composers in order to bargain a nice fat royalty package for us, as Jessica and Johnny will be playing some of our pieces again. Dave and I are deadlocked between one drop and one glass of wine. He is one hardass negotiator. Either way, I feel I have a future as a negotiator for the NHLPA.

47 microscores were performed, bookended by four longer compositions by James Tenney. I was happy with how mine went. It was the second microscore on the program. I did think they rushed it a touch, maybe 29 seconds. Next time I will attach a $5 bill to my score. That should get me up to at least 34 seconds.

For the most part, I thought the evening was a success. Most of the audience liked it, but not everyone. I was too focussed on the stage to pay attention to some people who were making a bit of noise. It never fails to amaze me that people don't clue in to the fact that when everyone else in the room is being absolutely quiet, they should be doing the same. Apparently this was The Makeout Couple. Not only were they making out, but this guy was groping his much younger date, and they were making some noise almost as if they wanted everyone to see what they were doing. I guess contemporary string duets were making them hot, sufficiently so that they left on the first break.

I hope that this project continues for some time and that they (Johnny and Jessica, not the Makeout Couple) return to Vancouver sometime in the future with a mountain of scores. As for the MC, get a hotel room.

The MC were nowhere to be seen last night when the October Trio hit the stage. Eli Bennet filled in most capably until Evan Arntzen arrived fashionably late early in the second set. These two guys have a great rapport and play well together. They have a lot of fun onstage yet aren't above giving each other the occasional ass-kick, which motivates each of them to dig in a bit more. Eli raised the stakes with the last tune of the night. The group is playing an obligatory Monk tune each night now and Eli called the fiendish Four in One, which he had prepared. Evan had never seen it before and wisely opted out of playing the head right off the top. He comported himself admirably in the solos and did quite well taking the head out. Eli nailed it, and I could easily imagine Evan already plotting what to pull for the next meeting.

Seeing these two together broght to mind Cam Ryga's recent interview on www.vancouverjazz.com, about his history with Ross Taggart. I hope I've been witnessing the genesis of a similar musical friendship.

And I can't close off without mentioning Josh Cole and Dan Gaucher. The October Trio has played fairly steadily over the last couple of years and it shows. These guys were showing real depth as players and as composers. I've had limited chances to hear Dan drum, but this was certainly his best outing in my experience. I've previously heard Josh play only Christmas music when we did last years's Singing Christmas Tree together. He's got a future the other 11 months of the year.

These four guys are part of the future of jazz in this city. We are in good hands.