Hollenbeck

Saw John Hollenbeck on the advice of Kramer last night. He (Hollenbeck, not Kramer) was in town doing a guest composer gig here at the U. The university jazz band was ok doing it's own stuff, but then zowee--when they played his music it was like a different band came into the room. Kudos to the kids.

After a break, his own band, the Claudia Quintet, played a set. And talk about a quintet: Hollenbeck on drums, bass, sax/clarinet, vibraphone(!), and accordion(!!). One song was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

Looking at these guys' biographies, I see they're all heavily involve with klezmer / slavic, and at least one of them has worked with John Zorn and Uri Caine. Why is it that this is such a small damn world!?! Are there so few people playing good jazz today that they circle around each other in Brooklyn like a flock of turkey vultures?

My small town continues to impress me with the quality of its musical offerings. No spinny dancing last night.