Stefan Kac & Friends

When: Friday, August 15, 2008 • Where: Dakota • Who: Stefan Kac, tuba; Adam Linz, bass; Pete Hennig, drums

“Here’s something you don’t see everyday,” Craig Eichorn says from the Dakota’s sound board, introducing tonight’s late-night set. “A tuba-led trio.”

I’m already a fan of Kac (say “cats”) and Linz; I haven’t seen Hennig as often but he’s growing on me fast. So I’m eager to hear what they do.

The tuba-led trio is such a rare configuration that it deserves attention. But what form does it usually take (if there is a “usually” about it)? I’ve read about tuba-piano-drums (Bill Stewart, Rod Williams, Billy Hart) but tonight’s tuba-bass-drums may be a first.

In the early days of jazz, the tuba was the bass (replaced by the upright bass when sound recording technology improved). So Kac’s new band is essentially a trio of two basses and drums.

Is it musical? I think so. You have to lean into the sound; the tuba has a greater range than you might expect, and a warmer tone, and subtlety. There’s nothing marching-band about the originals and standards we hear tonight. (Kac doesn’t talk on stage and “Name That Tune” is not my game, so I can’t include a playlist here.)

But it’s a lot of low notes. Even though Kac often plays on the high end of his instrument, what’s high for a tuba feels low to the senses. So I find myself craving a little brightness—a piano, maybe, or a saxophone. Some jazz tubists (Jim Shearer, Jim Self) have recorded with harmonica and guitar.

So I’m not sure this trio is entirely successful. Which is not to say I’m sorry we’re here; I’m not, and when they play again I’ll probably go to hear them again. I like these musicians; I trust them to play well and take chances.

We stay through the final tune of the last set. On the way out, we meet Stefan’s mom, Rachael, in the lobby. “Some tubists today are rebelling,” she says. “Not only do they want to lead the band, they want to play the melody.”


• Kac is famously taciturn during live shows but garrulous as all get-out on his blog. Opinionated, too.
• Want to know more about the tuba? This segment Christopher Lydon recorded for his Open Source podcast/blog is full of tuba facts, history, lore, and music. At one point, classical and jazz tubist (and pediatrician and author) Eli Newberger talks about when and why the upright bass replaced the tuba in jazz bands.
• Read a lively discussion about tuba as a jazz instrument. (Note the link to one of Kac’s other bands, the Pan-Metropolitan Trio.)
• Photos by John Whiting.

Monk in Motian

When: Saturday, July 12, 2008 • Where: Dakota • Who: Brandon Wozniak, tenor saxophone; Zacc Harris, guitar; Park Evans, guitar; Jeremy Boettcher, bass; Pete Hennig, drums

The idea behind Monk in Motian: to interpret the music of Thelonious Monk as interpreted by drummer Paul Motian, who played briefly with Monk and in 1988 released an album called Monk in Motian.

Have we come full circle? Nothing about Monk is that easy.

Monk in Motian (the album) features Motian on drums, Bill Frisell on guitar, and Joe Lovano on saxophone, with guests Geri Allen on piano and Dewey Redman on saxophone. Monk in Motian (the group) chose to approach Monk’s music as if performed by Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, a group without a pianist.

An interesting choice given that Monk was a pianist.

It’s a late-night show at the Dakota and the crowd is good. I have enough trouble remembering the names of Monk compositions when keyboards are involved, but I hear familiar phrases. When I ask a friend, “What was that tune?” the answer is “Ask Me Now,” a “Who’s on first?” response that also happens to be the name of the tune.

The music is complex and satisfying, quirky and layered, full of Monkish twists and turns. The group works hard to play it. The person who seems to be having the most fun is Hennig at the drums.

Monk in Motian (the group) has a MySpace page with several selections (“Evidence,” “Brilliant Corners,” “Misterioso,” “Oska T”) I’m assuming were recorded at the show we saw. They’re scheduled to play the Dakota late-night series again on October 10. Let's hope that means the group is a going concern. I want to hear more.

Photo by John Whiting.

Sophia Shorai

When: 6/14/08
Where: The Times
Who: Sophia Shorai (voice), Chris Bates (bass), Zacc Harris (guitar), Pete Hennig (drums)

There's been buzz about Sophia Shorai for some time. I think I heard Leigh Kamman rave about her a while back on his radio show The Jazz Image, and Tanner Taylor wants to record with her, and she's versatile, singing jazz standards and pop tunes and Latin classics. She made a Target commercial singing the Beatles' "Hello Goodbye," which I remember hearing. So when I got an email from her "devoted fiance and volunteer" (and sometime performing partner) Jeremy Gordon inviting me to her upcoming gig at the Times, I went.

She's here with a good band. Harris and Hennig are with the Atlantis Quartet, a group we saw earlier this year at the doomed Rosewood Room. I'm always happy to see Chris Bates at his bass.

I like Shorai's voice a lot. It's very pretty, sometimes little-girl, sometimes breathy, sometimes tough, reminiscent of Stacey Kent but not derivative. She sings a nice mix of standards, opening with "It Could Happen to You," a challenging tune with big intervals that probably should come later in a set. "Love Is the Saddest Thing" follows with lots of swing and jazzy phrasing. Then a blues? It's difficult to understand Shorai when she speaks, which isn't entirely her fault, given the setting. The Times is generally noisy, more so on a Saturday night, and even worse when a sudden downpour drives the sidewalk crowd indoors.

"Gee Baby Aren't I Good to You" is sassy, and she opens a flirty "Tea for Two" by singing the verse, which I have seldom heard:

I'm discontented with homes that are rented so I have invented my own.
Darling this place is a lover's oasis where life's weary chase is unknown.
Far from the cry of the city, where flowers pretty caress the streams,
Cozy to hide in, to love side-by-side in. Don't let it abide in my dreams.

The rest we know:

Picture you upon my knee, just tea for two and two for tea...

For this tune Shorai uses her little-girl voice with grown-up phrasing and a feathery vibrato. ("I learned that one from Blossom Dearie," she attempts to tell the yammering crowd.)

"Black Orpheus" is a gently swaying samba, one of the songs on her 2004 CD Wave. On "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," she starts high and nails it, showing off her range (and a bit of a lisp). The set ends with two more standards, "I Wish I Knew Someone to Love Me" and "Do I."

I'd stay to hear more but by now I'm fed up with the Times. The bar also has a dance floor, and normally it's kind of nice to see people get out there and dance, but tonight, in addition to the escalating crowd noise, there's an especially annoying pair of dancers who spend most of the evening directly in front of us. Whenever we try to snap a picture they wiggle into the frame.

Shorai has a Dakota date on July 28 and I've put that on my calendar. The photo above was taken there earlier this year, in May, by whom I don't know; I found it on Shorai's MySpace page.