{"id":3405,"date":"2012-02-27T23:12:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T07:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3405"},"modified":"2012-03-01T15:44:06","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T23:44:06","slug":"portland-festival-take-four-tirtha-frisell-titterington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/02\/portland-festival-take-four-tirtha-frisell-titterington\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Festival, Take Four: Tirtha, Frisell, Titterington"},"content":{"rendered":"

TIRTHA<\/strong><\/p>\n

In music, as in much else, Portland welcomes the eclectic and the exotic. Saturday, the ninth day of the Portland Jazz Festival gave listeners much to welcome at the Crystal ballroom. In that bastion of eclecticism on the edge of the Pearl District, Vijay Iyer, an American pianist of Indian heritage, joined with Prasanna, a South Indian guitarist, and Nitin Mitta, a tabla player whose background is in classical music of North India. They call their group Tirtha, which translates as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153feeling.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Many of the pieces they played were from the 2011 album of that name<\/a>. The record brought additional attention to Iyer, who was already being heralded as a rising star of his instrument. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Iyer, Prasanna and Mitta do not fuse jazz and Indian elements—a la John McLaughlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mahavishnu Orchestra or his later band called Shakti—so much as intertwine and transform them. Perhaps the presence of the piano is what makes the difference, but I rather suspect it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fact that Iyer is the one playing it. When Prassana was developing a sitar-like solo, Iyer and Mitta were likely to be churning complex contrapuntal lines beneath him. Prasanna and Mitta did the same for Iyer. Not infrequently, the three improvised collectively, listening closely to one another and reacting to the subtlest changes. The piano is a percussion instrument, and Iyer frequently used it as if it were an extension of Mitta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tabla, echoing or amplifying the drummer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patterns. During Iyer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piece \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Falsehood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when he played a passage that evoked a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maiden Voyage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mysticism, Mitta responded with 32nd-note ripples across the surfaces of his drums, emulating melody. <\/p>\n

The music had the feel of jazz, including riffs, bebop phrasing over bluesy chords or classical Hindustani drones, and humor. By their appearance, many in the audience looked as if they had first-hand knowledge of Indian music. Prasanna grinned slightly as he injected an unlikely quote from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Favorite Things\u00e2\u20ac\u009d into a solo that had much of the character of a raga. Deadly serious about what they were hearing, no listeners I could see betrayed even the trace of a smile. Perhaps puzzled by all those somber visages, after one piece Iyer said to the crowd, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is American music.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It is. That does not mean that it is not also Indian music. It is music. <\/p>\n

FRISELL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second main stage concert of the festival began with a solo recital. Introducing his fellow instrumentalist, Portland guitar hero Dan Balmer stressed that Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s originality equals his technical ability and\"\"<\/a> his appeal. Frisell demonstrated. He employed the controls at his feet to set up a continuous overtone as the background for a folksy melody with chordal movement suggestive of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Amazing Grace.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As the overtone faded after a few minutes, Frisell introduced dissonance. By the time he ended the piece, it had grown in harmonic interest and structural complexity without losing the simple charm he gave it at the start. It was a microcosm of the Frisell modus operandi.<\/p>\n

In the course of the unaccompanied set, Frisell explored variations on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Got Rhythm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and two pieces by Thelonious Monk, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Epistrophy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Crepuscule With Nellie.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He announced the names of none of the selections. He played a song that swung from phrase to phrase like country gospel; one that ended with a cascade of sparkling notes; one marinated in pedal tones; and a piece that suggested a full orchestra complete with counterpoint across horn and string sections. Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stage persona is quiet and shy, but he wears red slippers, and socks with bold horizontal stripes.<\/p>\n

Back for the second set, Frisell said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel safe now because I have my friends with me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The friends were his colleagues in the 358 Quartet, cellist Hank Roberts, violist Eyvind Kang and violinist Jennie Scheinman. They played music from the album Sign Of Life<\/a><\/em>, beginning with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Long Story.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The piece, with its phrase from the sea shanty \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blow The Man Down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d established the folk-like character that underlay much of the music and is deceptive. This is contemporary chamber music rich in classical influences. Those influences include minimalism found in composers like Steve Reich, Arvo P\u00c3\u00a4rt and John Adams. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The music is also jazz. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Old Times\u00e2\u20ac\u009d morphed from something akin to a hoedown into a blues tag ending, then into what sounded like free playing, though at that point the quartet was reading. In another piece (again, no title announcements), Frisell, Scheinman and Kang set up an irresistible groove under, in and around a Roberts pizzicato solo that gained force as the ensemble dug in. Winding down, Kang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s viola gave a whiff of the Scottish highlands. He and Scheinman both soloed spectacularly during the course of the set. With this music, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best not to look for labels. One of the striking aspects of the group is the fullness of the ensemble sound. It is electronically assisted, however subtly, by Frisell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amplified guitar, but much of the power comes from the swing he implies in his accompaniments. <\/p>\n

Following a standing ovation (the Portland festival audience does not restrain its enthusiasm), Frisell and the 358s paid tribute to John Lennon with a medley of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Strawberry Fields\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All We Are Saying.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Its highlights were a funky Frisell sequence employing guitar distortion and considerable quartet volume that tailed off into quietness, leaving a hush before the theater broke out in applause and cheers.<\/p>\n

PORTLAND JAZZ QUINTET<\/strong><\/p>\n

In one of the festival\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sidebar events, the Portland Jazz Quintet appeared\"\"<\/a> at Ivories Jazz Lounge. Led by trumpeter Dick Titterington, the band formerly known as PDXV (I miss that name) has become increasingly impressive. Its repertoire contains pieces written by band members and arrangements of others by mainstream pioneers including Joe Henderson, Nat Adderley, Kenny Dorham and Harold Land. I arrived in time to hear the final set by Titterington, saxophonist Rob Davis, pianist Greg Goebel, drummer Todd Strait and bassist Scott Steed subbing for Dave Captein. They tackled John Scofield\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dance Me Home,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Adderley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Work Song\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dat Dere,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and two by Goebel, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sunny in Berlin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Three For Insurance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Titterington was impressive in his feature of the set, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Red Giant,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dick Oatts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tribute to the late Red Rodney. They closed with Henderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our Thing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the demanding line executed at top speed, the ensemble precision typical of this band, the solos satisfying. The PJQ is dedicated to hard bop and does it extremely well. For a Rifftides<\/em> review of a previous, collaborative, venture by the band, go here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TIRTHA In music, as in much else, Portland welcomes the eclectic and the exotic. Saturday, the ninth day of the Portland Jazz Festival gave listeners much to welcome at the Crystal ballroom. In that bastion of eclecticism on the edge of the Pearl District, Vijay Iyer, an American pianist of Indian heritage, joined with Prasanna, […]<\/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-3405","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\/3405","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=3405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}