{"id":1558,"date":"2014-02-26T16:11:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T21:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2019-09-12T16:01:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T20:01:39","slug":"the-point-being-be-here-now-with-all-youve-got-ray-anderson-sarah-weaver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/02\/the-point-being-be-here-now-with-all-youve-got-ray-anderson-sarah-weaver.html","title":{"rendered":"“The Point Being” be here now with all you’ve got: Ray Anderson & Sarah Weaver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trombonist Ray Anderson<\/a> and composer\/conductor Sarah Weaver<\/a> at Roulette<\/a> \"Sarah<\/a>last Sunday hit a collaborative sweet spot. Their unusually mixed, all-star ensemble at Brooklyn’s creative music concert hall wove highly individualized solos into a continuous 50-minute set based on loose, humorous writing and spontaneous textural swells. \"Bloom<\/a><\/p>\n

Photographer S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba took photos while I just listened — also to the opening piece performed by Slide Ride, the four-man trombone unit in which Anderson takes part.<\/p>\n

Soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeter James Zollar and Anderson himself each gave emotive meaning to the single tones they  blew and blended to Weaver’s broad hand signals for crescendos, sustains, decrescendos and tone color variations. Pianist Uri Caine employed  a\"Sarah<\/a> tremelo-like accompaniment during one of the suite-like piece’s movements, but had a lot of ideas. Throughout, bassist Mark Helias added spine and drummer Gerald Cleaver beat steadily, improvisationally, never overwhelming.<\/p>\n

The entire ensemble worked part of the time from sheet music, but in genuine jazz fashion seemed to be creating in the moment — which was the message Anderson vocalized urgently yet with a grin in his poem “The Point Being” — “The \"james<\/a>point is<\/em> being\/Being is<\/em> the point. . . ” which flowed somehow out from the united sound of the septet, which had an
\norchestral impact. When Weaver waved in spotlight episodes, Lake let loose a stream of wild notes flying to the ceiling and all but breaking through it. Bloom dove into an exploration and extension of one of the dramatic, romantic Ellington ballads. They were exceptional, but it was all good.<\/p>\n

There were  clues throughout the performance as to whether Anderson or Weaver was responsible for certain moments of the ensemble’s direction, but I \"Weaver<\/a>doubt anyone in the audience was thinking hard about who’d written what, as the entirety unspooled with an unforced grace.<\/p>\n

In the quartet Slider Rde, with stellar trombonists Craig Harris, Art Baron and Earl McIntyre besides Anderson each leading the group a piece of their own, the stylistic demarcations were clearer — not that those differences made much difference. The musicians in both concert halves were there to work together by being themselves, in the moment. That was the point.  In jazz-beyond-jazz, it’s always<\/em> the point.<\/p>\n

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Trombonist Ray Anderson and composer\/conductor Sarah Weaver at Roulette last Sunday hit a collaborative sweet spot. Their unusually mixed, all-star ensemble at Brooklyn’s creative music concert hall wove highly individualized solos into a continuous 50-minute set based on loose, humorous writing and spontaneous textural swells.  Photographer S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba took photos while I just listened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Bloom-Lake-Anderson-Zollar.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-p8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":193,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/05\/julie_coryell_jazz_photographe.html","url_meta":{"origin":1558,"position":0},"title":"Julie Coryell, jazz author, manager, muse","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Women in music behind-the-scenes deserve note -- and Julie Coryell, who died May 10, was a force in as author of Jazz-Rock Fusion -- The People, The Music, published in 1978, and as the inspiration of her then-husband guitarist Larry Coryell starting in the '60s.Obituaries of Ms. Coryell call her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"61QCR0XFAXL._SL500_AA240_.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/artsjournal.com\/mt4\/61QCR0XFAXL._SL500_AA240_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":169,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/03\/happy_birthday_fred_anderson.html","url_meta":{"origin":1558,"position":1},"title":"Happy Birthday, Fred Anderson","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Fred Anderson, tenor saxophonist, is one of America's less-acknowledged Jazz Masters, a man of deep musicality who has had enormous influence on three generations of players and listeners drawn by his brawny, free-wheeling Chicago sound. He turns 80 on March 22, and a weeklong celebration at the Velvet Lounge, his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/tbn2.google.com\/images?q=tbn:t-m6JH1_WlIr4M:http:\/\/jazz.jvc.com\/media\/img\/605\/fred_anderson1.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":322,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/06\/as_a_teenager_in_pursuit.html","url_meta":{"origin":1558,"position":2},"title":"Fred Anderson, Chicago jazz hero, appreciated","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As a teenager in pursuit of the avant garde, I took tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, who died June 24 at age 81, as a hero upon first hearing him\u00c2\u00a0in 1966. 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