John Moulder at the Green Mill
Had a chance to hear guitarist John Moulder with his quintet at the Green Mill on Friday night in Chicago. I wasn't familiar with him but I had heard of his drummer, Paul Wertico, before. Filling out the group was Jim Trompeter on piano, Jim Gailloreto on sax, and Eric Hochberg on bass.
The music was contemporary jazz (not 'smooth' jazz) and the band played well together. There were some more 'traditional' pieces, quite a bit of odd time stuff, and one rather chaotic (essentially 'free') piece aptly titled "chaos". John played a mix of electric and acoustic guitar.
One thing that stuck out was the performance of several pieces from a CD of his titled Trinity, which is a sacred jazz concert composed by Moulder. Given the song titles and the album title, I thought I'd ask him about it. Our conversation was brief, but he did point me to the liner notes on his website. I indicated that there is precious little written our performed out there in the jazz world with clear theological overtones. He smiled and said "we're trying to change that."
The liner notes for that CD suggest a couple of things. First, they indicate some form of Christian influence, likely Catholic. Second, they're broad (tolerant, encompassing, inclusive) enough so that they don't make crystal clear all of the details of his particular flavor of theology. Third, there is a great combination of quotes and philosophy that gives a view of jazz music (as life) that I find to be quite accurate. If Jazz music really is an artform, a medium, a language itself (I find those all true), it's only fitting that it be applied as worship. Of course, this isn't the first time, and Moulder isn't the first person to wrote sacred jazz music (Ellington and Brubeck come to my mind as they apparently did Moulder's), but it appears to be one of the clearer examples of specifically Christian original sacred jazz.
I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the other musicians in the band, too. Ironically, I was least impressed with Wertico (I hope he'll forgive my honesty). I suppose having heard of him before (and I believe actually having heard recordings of him), I had pretty high expectations, and maybe being a drummer I'm extra critical. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the sheer volume with which he played. Granted I was sitting in the very front row, but I was in spitting distance of Moulder (and his amp) and was still pretty surprised at the volume of the drum kit. There were times when it was entirely appropriate, and he definitely gets kudos for his energy level and creativity, but some dynamic range on the low end with sticks would have been a good addition (he also played brushes and mallets tastefully). There were also a couple timing kinks mixed in with some fantastic moments of playing around the time. Despite the critiques, his chops were impressive and there were several times when I thought the time was about to get warped (mistakenly) but didn't, so that was good.
Gailloreto was absent for the first set, but jumped in the second set and did great. One moment that stuck out was when he was (apparently) reading a chart in an odd time signature, doubling a rather complex melody with Moulder and pulled it off quite well.
Trompeter impressed the heck out of me. While his chops weren't over the top ala Michel Camilo, they were all he needs for this music and fabulously tasteful. I don't think I heard a wrong note out of him (wait, jazz musicians don't play wrong notes, right?), and he always seemed to play just what was needed for the song.
I think I've seen Hochberg play at the Green Mill before with someone else (I forget who now) and I seem to remember being impressed with him then. He held down the time well, but was fluid when he needed to be. His solos struck me as more thoughtful and musical than the average (real durn good) bass player. My only complaint would be given the volume of the drums, I could have heard from him just a touch more.
And of course Moulder plays great. There wasn't much in the way of straight ahead bebop stuff but he showed his chops from time to time and they're solid. His acoustic playing was a great marriage of musicality and skill in the contemporary jazz idiom.
After their three sets, the Green Mill Quartet came in for the jam session. I stayed 'til the end and played a tune. There were some decent players there for that, too. Unfortunately, the time is short so most everyone only gets one tune (or maybe two, if they're lucky).
In the end, a great time was had by all....
V-
The music was contemporary jazz (not 'smooth' jazz) and the band played well together. There were some more 'traditional' pieces, quite a bit of odd time stuff, and one rather chaotic (essentially 'free') piece aptly titled "chaos". John played a mix of electric and acoustic guitar.
One thing that stuck out was the performance of several pieces from a CD of his titled Trinity, which is a sacred jazz concert composed by Moulder. Given the song titles and the album title, I thought I'd ask him about it. Our conversation was brief, but he did point me to the liner notes on his website. I indicated that there is precious little written our performed out there in the jazz world with clear theological overtones. He smiled and said "we're trying to change that."
The liner notes for that CD suggest a couple of things. First, they indicate some form of Christian influence, likely Catholic. Second, they're broad (tolerant, encompassing, inclusive) enough so that they don't make crystal clear all of the details of his particular flavor of theology. Third, there is a great combination of quotes and philosophy that gives a view of jazz music (as life) that I find to be quite accurate. If Jazz music really is an artform, a medium, a language itself (I find those all true), it's only fitting that it be applied as worship. Of course, this isn't the first time, and Moulder isn't the first person to wrote sacred jazz music (Ellington and Brubeck come to my mind as they apparently did Moulder's), but it appears to be one of the clearer examples of specifically Christian original sacred jazz.
I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the other musicians in the band, too. Ironically, I was least impressed with Wertico (I hope he'll forgive my honesty). I suppose having heard of him before (and I believe actually having heard recordings of him), I had pretty high expectations, and maybe being a drummer I'm extra critical. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the sheer volume with which he played. Granted I was sitting in the very front row, but I was in spitting distance of Moulder (and his amp) and was still pretty surprised at the volume of the drum kit. There were times when it was entirely appropriate, and he definitely gets kudos for his energy level and creativity, but some dynamic range on the low end with sticks would have been a good addition (he also played brushes and mallets tastefully). There were also a couple timing kinks mixed in with some fantastic moments of playing around the time. Despite the critiques, his chops were impressive and there were several times when I thought the time was about to get warped (mistakenly) but didn't, so that was good.
Gailloreto was absent for the first set, but jumped in the second set and did great. One moment that stuck out was when he was (apparently) reading a chart in an odd time signature, doubling a rather complex melody with Moulder and pulled it off quite well.
Trompeter impressed the heck out of me. While his chops weren't over the top ala Michel Camilo, they were all he needs for this music and fabulously tasteful. I don't think I heard a wrong note out of him (wait, jazz musicians don't play wrong notes, right?), and he always seemed to play just what was needed for the song.
I think I've seen Hochberg play at the Green Mill before with someone else (I forget who now) and I seem to remember being impressed with him then. He held down the time well, but was fluid when he needed to be. His solos struck me as more thoughtful and musical than the average (real durn good) bass player. My only complaint would be given the volume of the drums, I could have heard from him just a touch more.
And of course Moulder plays great. There wasn't much in the way of straight ahead bebop stuff but he showed his chops from time to time and they're solid. His acoustic playing was a great marriage of musicality and skill in the contemporary jazz idiom.
After their three sets, the Green Mill Quartet came in for the jam session. I stayed 'til the end and played a tune. There were some decent players there for that, too. Unfortunately, the time is short so most everyone only gets one tune (or maybe two, if they're lucky).
In the end, a great time was had by all....
V-