Avtor: Aleš Podbrežnik
Kraj: Cvetličarna, Ljubljana
Datum koncerta: 21.03.2009
Število obiskovalcev: 200
Cena karte: 27 €
On Sunday night, the top-notch jazz outfit Unified Presence rolled into Ljubljana’s Cvetličarna. They’re a trio of music heavyweights who don’t need any lengthy individual introductions, since their creative output earned them the deep respect of every jazz fusion gourmet with a sharp ear for boundless rhythmic restlessness a long time ago. The dream instrumental trio consists of guitar oddball David Gilmour, legendary bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drumming wizard Will Calhoun. The latter is probably best known among rock fans as a member of the legendary Living Colour. Every member of this fantastic instrumental trio is among the most in-demand session players of our time, the kind many a band outside the jazz world would love to have in their ranks. Their jaw-dropping musical pedigrees promised a real feast for all jazz fusion connoisseurs and a seriously dramatic evening of hellish rhythmic improvisation.
The turnout somehow exceeded expectations. Most of the crowd had long since reached their golden years, but there was also a healthy chunk of young people, the kind you’d normally expect at a rock gig, which is nice proof that concert culture and musical know-how are slowly getting better here, too. As shocking as it may sound, interest in quality jazz fusion among younger generations is once again noticeably on the rise.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Unified Presence is that these are completely unpredictable musicians, and you never know what instrumental figure they’ll pull out in the next second in the middle of their adventurous rhythmic escapades. Just as impressive is the incredible energy they can conjure from the first bars of each improvisation, along with the unbelievable chemistry between instrumentalists who are tight to the absolute max. Every night the band puts together its set list of improvisations completely spontaneously, based on the inspiration of the moment, and no piece sounds the same as it did the day before, even though they stick to certain motifs and solo spots at every show. Tonight, too, Unified Presence wowed us with their own brand of instrumental jazz fusion with a funky pulse and a focus on constant improvisation.
They opened their set about as fiery as it gets, with no gradual warming up of the instruments, and instantly had a fairly laid-back crowd on its feet, not to say in an extremely positive delirium. Right from the start, the three jazz heavyweights showed off their boundless fusion experimentalism with plenty of dissonant instrumental phrases, backed by a galloping funk rhythm that left nobody in the hall indifferent. A few young women in the front rows even danced during some of the improvisations, which you don’t see at every concert of highly experimental music, and which is also good proof of the boundless rhythmic white heat and eclecticism of this untamed trio.
After each member had clearly added their own signature flourishes during the opening improvisation, an extensive Calhoun solo spot followed. Very few drummers manage to combine all the styles of the bands they’ve played in over their careers as brilliantly as Calhoun does. Watching him play the drums means feeling that incredible energy. The warm-hearted guitar virtuoso Gilmore had a bunch of effects pedals on the floor, which he happily played around with to create all sorts of dissonant guitar figures. He also showed his devotion to endless musical adventure when he slipped the main theme of “Star Spangled Banner” into one of the improvisations, while bowing to Hendrix with the motif of the classic “Purple Haze”. Calhoun had the most dynamic solo spots of the three. In one of them he wowed us with the didgeridoo, the traditional Australian wind instrument. Later he didn’t forget to play his special drum, which lets him unleash waves of all kinds of electronic samples, a traditional part of his solo shows. It was truly incredible to watch how the other two members, after Calhoun’s solo spots, always managed to land right back on the beat and often move from there into a structured melody.
There was no shortage of completely mellow improvised sections during the set, where they created an almost meditative mood. But they soon went back to pulsating funk rhythms, once again yanking the whole hall out of its trance and into a white-hot delirium. Maestro Tacuma proved he’s one of those bassists who can hold the entire band together, musically and rhythmically. His traditional jazz strengths really came to the fore after the calm improvisation ended, when they worked an adaptation of the big band standard “Little Sunflower” into the set. That move suited Tacuma perfectly, since he once worked with the legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The band also paid tribute to the legacy of that jazz giant with an incredibly heartfelt adaptation of his solo classic “Footprints”. After a fiery encore, which had plenty of rock-flavored sound figures and in which Tacuma, with help from his two buddies, also showed off his singing, the show was over in the blink of an eye.
After the show, the band members didn’t just stand around, and brought out huge cardboard boxes full of their CDs. They accompanied the gesture with the witty quip “here’s a little Christmas surprise for you”, which part of the audience took completely literally, showing a totally unnecessary dose of typical Slovenian pettiness, as they tried to walk off with the merch without paying. So much for some people’s respect for the hard work of these musicians. One more interesting tidbit, which will surely interest everyone who missed the chance to hang out with Unified Presence tonight: after the concert, Brane Rončel came on stage and ecstatically announced that the untamable trio will be delighting us again at the end of June with a show at Križanke in Ljubljana, and at the end of the year in a new TV show.
Unified Presence more than lived up to their reputation as fusion giants with boundless imagination for witty improvisation. Their demonstration of hellish jazz fusion, full of clever twists and free improvisation, along with their infectious funk rhythms, left us with extremely positive vibes even after the show. On top of the dream instrumental performance, there were no noticeable acoustic problems during the show either, so it was a success in that respect, too. The band members didn’t make much eye contact with the audience during the show, which bothered some people, but between pieces they made it clear they were more than happy with the good vibes and the crowd’s response, which Gilmore repeatedly and eagerly encouraged to clap along to the beat. Sadly, concerts of this kind of quality jazz rock fusion are still thin on the ground around here, but that makes us appreciate the rare moments when some of the top heroes of boundless sonic adventure and rhythmic wit come to town all the more.
Fotografije: Mojca Perdih
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