The Brad Plus

Sunday night the 27th at the Vanguard hearing Mehldau was really great. So glad we went.

I had ordered tix online from the Vanguard website (getting TICKETS to this 70 year old "institution" in Greenwhich Village which has seen it all, ONLINE was something of an anachronism).

Worked perfectly. I told M to get there by 10:30 for the 11:00 set. I finished my gig at Chelsea Piers at 10:30 and scooted over (NYC tip: parking on Perry St between 7th Ave S and Bleecker is golden for the Sunday night Vanguard set, due to the Mon. am street cleaning).

She called me at 10:40 and said she was going in. I got there at 10:45 and there was already a long line (two, actually: with and without reservations). I slipped in underneath.

Down those famous stairs. I hadn't been to the Vanguard in a while.

El Unico!

Kind of funny - I got to the door, told the door guy my name, spotted M at a table on the little raised area by the side wall, and started making my way over. As I walked I looked up to see the Matriarch Herself Lorraine Gordon - Mrs Max Gordon - chatting with someone that looked familiar. I kind of slowed down, smiled, and said hello for no reason other than to be civil, and was quickly reminded where I was and who I wasn't:

The familiar looking guy, I later figured out was Ethan Iverson, pianist of the Bad Plus. This was confirmed when I went to their site looking for a picture to make sure it was him and he blogged about the night as well (intersecting blogs - kind of a strange concept).

(I will warn you that if you want a much better musical review of Brad's trio's set than mine, cut your losses now and get over there. I noticed and analyzed a fraction of what he did, but I was digging it just being there, not trying to "hang" with what was going on, but just experiencing it in some raw way. Not to be confused with Rahway, NJ)

So as I said hello, Mrs Gordon looked up, gave it a split second, didn't recognize me, and said, "Ok, guh-by" and helped me along my way with a push to the right wrist!

I thought it was hilarious.

All I can say is, how much riff-raff has that woman endured through the years? Such a place of permanence (70 years of a jazz club in NY is unprecedented), and such a place of transience (get the 100+ people in, twice a night, every night, get 'em out, rinse, repeat). And how many starry-eyed jazz wannabe's have gone in there, and trying to soak something - anything - up in that place, have recognized her and tried to butt-in?

But a night in that place is a night experiencing something truly unique. The dust at the tops of the red velvet curtains, all the pictures of past greats who played there on the walls, the rattle of your seat about every 20 minutes as the subway goes by (you ARE underground at 7th Ave, afterall), the tourists (I heard only French, Italian and Japanese on the sidewalk upstairs), the young musicians (they are the ones playing their napkins and jesticulating 40% more than most)...

But the trio was killin'. Larry Grenadier is one of my favorite bassists and he impressed me again. 100% in tune, feeling good, great sound, great lines, right on top of whatever Mehldau threw at him... what a pro.

Jorge Rossy has been replaced by Jeff Ballard on drums. Jeff sounded great.

One funny little thing from him was the very last note of the night - nay of the WEEK (Tues-Sun, 2 sets) - when Brad and Ballard both kind of played what they considered to be the last note - the "button". Brad played one more and Ballard played one more after that - and then one MORE. Mehldau scoffed, shook his head and in an ironical stage whisper said, "drummer".

We sat so close I could hear it, but he repeated it - just to get it in - on the mic prior to introducing the band.

I've got to say though, that those guys are subdividing the 8th note in amazing ways, creating a feel, a groove that is coming from many different places at once and yet is firmly established in where it is going.

Brad is really showing the way toward something that can both be called "jazz" and "new".