I’ve had the good fortune of working a lot in varied contexts this season. Recent hits in the last few months have included my own Basket Case Quartet, Marcus Lewis’ Brass and Boujee, Bobby Selvaggio’s Red Rhinoceros Octet, writing and performing a piece honoring Yusef Komunyakaa for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, and a bunch of gigs with The Mars Express, to name a few.
Sometimes things pile up, like on a recent Friday when I got to play a set of improvised music with harpist/technologist/composer Stephen Haluska. He and I were invited to improvise for an hour as part of moCa’s Sips, Strings, N’ Sights. The initiative, organized by The Music Settlement, moCa Cleveland, and Phoenix Coffee, offers a midday sensory experience in University Circle that blends experimental music, fresh coffee, and contemporary art. Though I spent much of the hour circular breathing drones on bass clarinet, this moment found me interpolating some of the melody of John Coltrane’s “Wise One.”
I got to rush from that gig down to Akron, OH to join Tim Mirth’s quartet playing his original music at BLU Jazz+. Tim’s a omnivorous guitarist who seems to hear and write music through multiple prisms simultaneously. His tunes are beautiful, complex, and challenging, often featuring extended harmony and quickly shifting rhythmic elements. This one, however, “12 is even more slippery,” is a relatively standard blues form – albeit with a 12-tone row for a melody for a Monk-ish and modernistic vibe.
Looking forward to some things on the horizon Stephen Philip Harvey’s Jazz Orchestra, playing duo with guitarist Brent Hamker, and a bunch more. Northeast Ohio’s blessed with a healthy music scene and I love that I get to be a small part of it.
AJ Kluth 