Jack Wright, Fabrizio Sperra & Gust Burns

Through the work of the Creative Music Guild of Oregon (of which I am a board member) I was able to see Jack Wright, Fabrizio Sperra and Gust Burns this past weekend. I'm not very familiar with any of their work so I'm happy to report that the show was great- one of the best CMG shows I've attended.

Jack Wright's alto and soprano sax playing was very musical and tasteful. He wasn't afraid to take the reins and lead the group but he was equally happy playing a more supportive role. While Burns and especially Sperra pushed the group to higher highs, Wright held the group back to further develop each section of the music. This made for an exceptionally well crafted performance. While I appreciated the way in which Wright kept the group in check so that the highest energy parts really stood out, I felt like he never got past level 7 or 8 in the intensity. Personally, I like a good helping of level 10 in pretty much all situations. That's not much of a criticism because there's not much to criticize about his playing.

Burns, a Seattle player who organizes shows in that area, was equally terrific in his approach to his instrument. I appreciated his playing because it seemed to me that he approached the instrument without an idea of "the right way" it should be played- which is to say it didn't seem like he was encumbered by whatever training he's had (and I would guess that he's had a substantial amount of training). His playing was also tasteful and musical moving between highly energetic and contemplative. He and Sperra often took off into high speed romps but Burns just often played in the more sparse mode Wright offered at times.

Sperra's energy was pretty ferocious though his volume was held back by his use of brushes, mallets and BlastStix. Sperra also made use of bells, cups and other resonant objects that he scraped on the drum heads and bowed. He often established a rhythm with these resonant objects that propelled the group. Sperra was extremely fun to watch and his ability to play in a blow out or a more reserved group was evident.

Overall, the group was really enjoyable to watch.

The 2nd set featured Bob Jones and Kelvin Pittman, two local musicians in addition to the traveling players. Bob played with Gust and Fabrizio on a high energy piece that was problematic only because Bob wasn't loud enough. The three of them matched up nicely. Kelvin played in a duo with Jack that featured a series of chirps and clacks such that if you weren't looking at the stage you wouldn't be able to say what instruments were playing. The night ended with all five musicians playing together in what was a tentative but rewarding piece.