Living & Arts

Trio(Blue) shows that jazz is alive and well

Trioblue-shows-that-jazz-is-alive-and-well

Tasha Lewis | Phoenix Staff

NY-based Trio(Blue) performs in Bond Hall last Saturday.

In print | February 5, 2009

“We’re in some strange shit right now […] But the music lives. The art lives.”

So said William Hooker, drummer and bandleader of Trio(Blue), whose music left the crowd speechless in Bond Hall last Saturday night. Their performance lasted less than an hour, but it was an hour packed with fabulous music and truly virtuosic performances, by both the visiting Trio(Blue) and the Swarthmore students who opened for them.

Trio(Blue) is a New York-based jazz trio led by Hooker and featuring Ras Moshe on saxophone and Mark Hennen on piano and synthesizer. The group was brought to campus by Ivana Ng ’12 with the help of Swarthmore Jazz Ensemble director Drew Shanefield. Ng was the recipient of another shout-out on the part of Hooker. During a brief break in the middle of Trio(Blue)’s set, Hooker said, “It is only because of people like [Ivana], people this age, in this time, that this music survives.”
The first act of the night was Ben Starr ’11, a pianist who performed a short improvised set that gave a taste of what was to come when Trio(Blue) took the stage. Starr’s music segued between straight-up jazz keyboard and more avant-garde sections, but his flawless technique and musical ear ensured that every style resonated with the crowd.

Starr was followed by the literally named “Swarthmore Jazz Student Combo,” which consisted of Ben Rachbach ’11 on piano, Marc Engel ’09 on trombone, Scott Goldstein ’09 on saxophone and Elan Silverblatt-Buser ’12 on bass. The combo started with “Listful,” a tune composed by Rachbach. “It’s like ‘listless,’ but the opposite,” Rachbach said after the show, and he wasn’t lying: the piece was far from listless, with a catchy hook and opportunities for each musician to show off their solo skills. That piece was followed by a smooth and swingin’ performance of Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” another example of tight group playing combined with excellent solos. The combo’s mellow renditions of smooth jazz standards was the groovy calm before the improv storm that was Trio(Blue).

By the time the main group took the stage, Bond was so crowded that people had to move out of the aisles in order for the musicians to pass. The relocation was worth it; Hooker, along with Hennen and Moshe, dove right into a 45 minute improv set that left the audience slightly stunned, yet still hungering for more. The music varied immensely, from moments of quiet in which only Moshe or Hennen played to cacophonous and chaotic sections that threatened to shatter the windows. The only constant was the group’s immensely skillful playing and the passion that they put into the music. There were several moments that were delightful in their unexpectedness, such as Hennen stepping away from the synthesizer and showing everyone what spectacular jazz piano sounds like, or Moshe putting down his saxophone and playing a tiny Turkish flute that resembled a penny whistle and gave the music an almost Irish sensibility.

The Trio(Blue) performance ended in near total darkness. When the lights came on, the audience was left to process what they had just heard. Jeff Santner ’09 couldn’t even describe it, saying, “Ask Greg [Albright ’10],” who was standing right behind him. “That was an experience,” Albright said. “Nothing like that has ever happened before, and it was phenomenal.” Everyone in the room seemed to agree, from the most knowledgeable music majors to those who had only come to support their friends. It was clear from the crowd that packed Bond Hall to capacity that Hooker was right: the music lives, the art lives.