Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Free jazz double-bill at USD

The Christopher Adler Trio improvised from scratch, while the Michael Vlatkovich Quartet tore into charts for two equally compelling sets.

Bassist Scott Walton was the unifying factor in two wildly divergent presentations of "free-jazz" last night at the University of San Diego. Together with pianist Christopher Adler and drummer Nathan Hubbard, a dense, kinetic, wholly improvised set unfolded--and, with trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, guitarist Tom McNalley and drummer Garth Powell tunes of all stripes were fully explored.

Christopher Adler Trio

Adler began by striking rumbling tremolos over the remarkably quiet, yet unflinching energy of Hubbard, who struck every surface of his stripped-down drumset with what looked like chopsticks. As Adler reached into the piano, Walton plucked probing lines that acted as a grounding force while Hubbard pulled a variety of small, damaged cymbals, bells and assorted noisemakers that surrounded him on the floor. Dragging his sticks along the edges of a heating-vent cover, Hubbard kept a solid clanging, knocking dust-storm of activity in the air as Walton bowed huge, mastodon low tones.

From out of nowhere, the bare bones of a groove began to surface, as the bassist pulled a crawling ostinato and Adler mixed powerful chords from his left hand to balance the Cecil Taylor-like skeins of his right. Hubbard kept the fires stoked with a constant blur of percussive motion . After a stormy duet between piano and bass, the three musicians moved toward one final tsunami of sonic caterwaul capped by Hubbard's OCD act of scrubbing his cymbals like he was trying to scrape away the shame.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/18/38653/

Michael Vlatkovich Quartet

Opening with dark, ominous trombone/guitar unisons, Vlatkovich blew his horn into an empty coffee can while McNalley peeled off piercing volume-pedal slices leading into the first solo, where he mixed equal parts squiggly speed with slabs of skronk. The trombone followed, suspending the motion with long, held-tones over the malleted toms of Powell as Walton raced along the fingerboard with rubbery elasticity. Powell finished up the give and take of "2 Spiders Pushed a T.V. Into The Sink," with a drum-choir swarm of ideas generated from micro-gestures.

The Ornette-ian joy of "Pickle Face Only Eats Gruel," was next, a freebop head tighter than a Republican's wallet in a vote to extend unemployment benefits. Powell got all Ed Blackwell-esque with a series of prodding tom-tom excursions as Walton broke into a stuttering gait locked into the nervous fragments of McNalley's comping--leading into a guitar solo that sounded like Tal Farlow with the d.t.'s. The group managed multiple moods courtesy Powell's astonishing control of dynamics.

Like the theme to a forgotten film-noir soundtrack, "Longshadows," unfolded like the accompaniment to a love-scene between star-crossed protagonist's, Vlatkovich spinning bluesy webs over the swirling brushes of Powell, before Walton took the baton with a storybook solo of his own. McNalley followed with reverb-drenched layers of melody to tie it all together.

A raucous, gutbucket melee burst forward with "Mr. Charisma Goes To The Dentist," sounding like the perfect theme song for a very nasty stripper, Vlatkovich blubbering and chortling on the plunger mute as Walton ground out time while Powell toggled between a simmering ride cymbal beat and an all-out percussive fusillade. McNalley continued with a wicked slide-solo that evoked a fish-fry on the planet Mars.

Impressive stuff.

Photos by Michael Klayman

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class

Bassist Scott Walton was the unifying factor in two wildly divergent presentations of "free-jazz" last night at the University of San Diego. Together with pianist Christopher Adler and drummer Nathan Hubbard, a dense, kinetic, wholly improvised set unfolded--and, with trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, guitarist Tom McNalley and drummer Garth Powell tunes of all stripes were fully explored.

Christopher Adler Trio

Adler began by striking rumbling tremolos over the remarkably quiet, yet unflinching energy of Hubbard, who struck every surface of his stripped-down drumset with what looked like chopsticks. As Adler reached into the piano, Walton plucked probing lines that acted as a grounding force while Hubbard pulled a variety of small, damaged cymbals, bells and assorted noisemakers that surrounded him on the floor. Dragging his sticks along the edges of a heating-vent cover, Hubbard kept a solid clanging, knocking dust-storm of activity in the air as Walton bowed huge, mastodon low tones.

From out of nowhere, the bare bones of a groove began to surface, as the bassist pulled a crawling ostinato and Adler mixed powerful chords from his left hand to balance the Cecil Taylor-like skeins of his right. Hubbard kept the fires stoked with a constant blur of percussive motion . After a stormy duet between piano and bass, the three musicians moved toward one final tsunami of sonic caterwaul capped by Hubbard's OCD act of scrubbing his cymbals like he was trying to scrape away the shame.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/18/38653/

Michael Vlatkovich Quartet

Opening with dark, ominous trombone/guitar unisons, Vlatkovich blew his horn into an empty coffee can while McNalley peeled off piercing volume-pedal slices leading into the first solo, where he mixed equal parts squiggly speed with slabs of skronk. The trombone followed, suspending the motion with long, held-tones over the malleted toms of Powell as Walton raced along the fingerboard with rubbery elasticity. Powell finished up the give and take of "2 Spiders Pushed a T.V. Into The Sink," with a drum-choir swarm of ideas generated from micro-gestures.

The Ornette-ian joy of "Pickle Face Only Eats Gruel," was next, a freebop head tighter than a Republican's wallet in a vote to extend unemployment benefits. Powell got all Ed Blackwell-esque with a series of prodding tom-tom excursions as Walton broke into a stuttering gait locked into the nervous fragments of McNalley's comping--leading into a guitar solo that sounded like Tal Farlow with the d.t.'s. The group managed multiple moods courtesy Powell's astonishing control of dynamics.

Like the theme to a forgotten film-noir soundtrack, "Longshadows," unfolded like the accompaniment to a love-scene between star-crossed protagonist's, Vlatkovich spinning bluesy webs over the swirling brushes of Powell, before Walton took the baton with a storybook solo of his own. McNalley followed with reverb-drenched layers of melody to tie it all together.

A raucous, gutbucket melee burst forward with "Mr. Charisma Goes To The Dentist," sounding like the perfect theme song for a very nasty stripper, Vlatkovich blubbering and chortling on the plunger mute as Walton ground out time while Powell toggled between a simmering ride cymbal beat and an all-out percussive fusillade. McNalley continued with a wicked slide-solo that evoked a fish-fry on the planet Mars.

Impressive stuff.

Photos by Michael Klayman

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Michael Dessen Trio: Resonating Abstractions @ Space4Art

Next Article

Helzer, Grinnell & Hubbard: The ARC Trio

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader