{"id":2972,"date":"2011-10-03T22:25:04","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T05:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2011-10-03T22:25:04","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T05:25:04","slug":"kilgore-and-frishberg-at-the-touche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2011\/10\/kilgore-and-frishberg-at-the-touche\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilgore And Frishberg At The Touch\u00c3\u00a9"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Schedule permitting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I wrote in the previous exhibit, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hope to work in a bit of blogging.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The schedule did not permit. The Oregon expedition was a jam-packed (ahem) four days that allowed the Rifftides<\/em> staff (plus one) time to sleep a little and to eat now and then, often on the run. It’s life on the road.<\/p>\n

I hope tomorrow to bring you a compact account of the Jazz at Newport \"\"<\/a>Festival on the Oregon coast. For now, let me tell you about Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg Thursday evening at the Touch\u00c3\u00a9 in Portland. They performed two sets at the entrance end of that long, narrow restaurant. I have heard better pianos, but rarely better piano playing than Frishberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that night. I cannot recall Becky Kilgore in finer form, live or on record. <\/p>\n

Their first set consisted of 18 songs from the stockpile of hundreds that the two have amassed in their 15 years or so of collaboration. A few highlights:<\/p>\n

—The richness of Frishberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chord changes behind Kilgore on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Fine Romance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

—Kilgore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blues inflections in her second chorus of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Easy Street\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the entirety of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Baby All the Time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

—The relaxed swing phrasing of Kilgore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chorus following Frishberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaty piano solo in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the counterpoint of her rhythmic shoulder hunches and Frishberg swaying gently on the bench.<\/p>\n

—The verse of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a Lucky Guy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known the song since I first heard Louis Armstrong\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1939 recording, but had no idea that it has a verse. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love verses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Frishberg said later. He and Kilgore have sensors that seek out rare verses. The one to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Shooting High\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is about singing in the shower\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsample lyric: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I begin by making up my mind that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my lucky day\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dan ideal vehicle for Kilgore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essentially sunny performance disposition.<\/p>\n

—The set ended with eight Irving Berlin songs, including some nearly forgotten, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153After You Get What You Want, You Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Want What You Get,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for instance, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everybody Knew But Me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which has a great verse and is not sunny. The Berlinfest also included \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Over,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lazy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Better Luck Next Time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Best Thing for You\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Russian Lullaby.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Berlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s versatility and variety were amazing. What his songs have in common is that they have hardly anything in common. But that night they had Kilgore and Frishberg. <\/p>\n

Without going into a play-by-play of the late set at the Touch\u00c3\u00a9, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll simply tell you that as good as the first set was, the second was better. Swing, phrasing, subtlety, mutual support and interaction, spontaneous key changes—everything worked. From Frishberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stompin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 solo and Kilgore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vocalese riffs in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stompin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 at The Savoy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d through his Ellington references and her exquisite phrasing in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Just a Lucky So and So\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the best \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Detour Ahead\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard since Mary Ann McCall to their melodic variations in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Ideal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it was one of the most perfect performances I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever heard from two people. <\/p>\n

When it was over, I asked Kilgore if the set felt as good as it sounded out front. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, yes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, gazing into the distance with a dreamy look, as if she missed it already. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Schedule permitting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I wrote in the previous exhibit, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hope to work in a bit of blogging.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The schedule did not permit. The Oregon expedition was a jam-packed (ahem) four days that allowed the Rifftides staff (plus one) time to sleep a little and to eat now and then, often on the run. It’s life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}