It is not often that I get a chance to write about listening to jazz performances taking place in San Francisco. Where previews are concerned, I do my best to keep up with announcements of Jazz Chez Hanny events (the next of which will take place tomorrow afternoon). I also try to attend to performances at Mr. Tipple’s Jazz Club that tend to go out on the “bleeding edge;” but I must confess that I have not visited that venue, which is a very short walk from where I live, since May of 2024.
Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)
Ironically, this morning I had the good fortune to listen to a new CD of music I had encountered at that visit performed by the Alchemist Quintet. The front line for that performance was, as I put it at that time, “somewhat unconventional,” since it was shared by Michele Walther on violin and saxophonist Doug Pet, playing both tenor and soprano. The rhythm section consisted of John Kiskaddon on piano, bassist Ted Burik, and Greg German on drums. The album title is Ghost Radio, which is also the title of the one track composed by German. (Every member of the quintet contributes at least one track on the album.) As of this writing, the album is available for MP3 download through an Amazon.com Web page.
I have now listened to it several times. I found myself particularly drawn to how the performances by Walther and Pet were meticulously synchronized, just creating a sonority emerging from the superposition of bowed strings and blown reed. (Pet plays both soprano and tenor saxophones, whose sonorities are distinctively diverse.) Those that recall the performance at Mr. Tipple’s may recall that the performance included “Stella by Starlight;” but the Ghost Radio CD includes only works composed by the quintet players. I look forward to a better acquaintance with all ten of the album’s tracks.
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