Bird & Beckett Calls the Ghosts for Halloween

Ben Goldberg, David Boyce, Gerald Cleaver, and Darren Johnston at Bird & Beckett (screen shot from the video of the concert)

Last night Bird & Beckett Books and Records jumped the gun on Halloween by 24 hours with the latest installment in its jazz from the other side series. Appropriately enough, the performance was given by the Ghost Call Quartet, whose members are Darren Johnston on trumpet, Ben Goldberg alternating between clarinet and contra-alto clarinet, David Boyce alternating between tenor and soprano saxophones, and Gerald Cleaver on drums. Since Cleaver is based in New York, he was the “guest artist,” since Johnston, Goldberg, and Boyce are familiar to local listeners seeking out adventurous jazz.

Over the course of two sets, dynamics tended to be kept at subdued levels, perhaps evoking voices telling scary stories in a dark room. On the rare occasions when the level rose to forte, however, the effect was less a matter of saying “Boo!” to the listener and more one of pulling back the shades to reveal a burst of sunlight. For the most part, though, the individual selections tended to assume a rhetoric of suggestion. Against an almost misty background from Cleaver’s drum kit, it seems as if each front-line player would tentatively offer thematic material to invite conversation with the others. More often than not, the individual parts tended towards the introverted. However, every now and then, a clear connection would be established; and the jamming would burst into life.

By way of disclaimer, I should note that I attended this concert through a YouTube live-stream. Technology being what it is, there may have been any number of subtleties that were missed due to bandwidth limitations. On the other hand, the opportunity to observe, rather than just listen, was definitely an asset. Without visual enhancement, there is a good chance that many of the subtler musical gestures would have eluded even the most attentive listening. Fortunately, the entire video of the performance is now available on YouTube, which should allow the curious to home in on the more subtle details with more control.