5 November 2010

Vienna days and nights- a return to one
of my favorite cities in the world, and for 3 full days. Band
arrives by plane on November 3rdtired from Poznan, direct to Blue
Tomato after dropping off bags at the Furstenhof. Decision to program
“working groups” from the Tentet puts the Brass Choir (Bauer, Bishop,
Holmlander, McPhee),Sonore, and Guts (Brotzmann, Kessler, McPhee,
Zerang) on stage.Beautiful to be back at one of the greatest
Improvised Music clubs on the planet. Work to do, but I head to the
Leopold for the Cezanne-Picasso-Giacometti exhibition (but the
Francis Bacon painting of George Dyer on a bicycle is perhaps the
standout), and to the Kunsthalle Wien for the Bruce Conner show
(first time I’ve seen his visual works in person, and absolutely to
fantastic to see “CosmicRay” and “Crossroads” again, for the first
time since University- 25 years ago?!). Tentet small groups back at
the Tomatothat night, this time Gustafsson/Vandermark;
Bishop/Nilssen-Love;Bauer/Holmlander/Lonberg-Holm; and Guts(Brotzmann/Kessler/McPhee/Zerang).
Both nights at the Tomato go well,good audiences, thankfully as
always. Decide to head back to themuseum on the afternoon of the 5th
after washing laundry,this time to MuMoK to catch The Moderns show
(Revolutions in Art and Science 1890-1935); wonderful to see the
overlaps between Duchamp,Man Ray, and Picabia. Also glanced a bit at
the Hyper Real show, notmy kind of interest in painting, but
discovered that there werephotos by three of my favorite
photographers: William Eggelston, SaulLeiter, and Lee Friedlander.
Full Tentet performs in the evening atthe Martinschossl (Tim Daisy
and I played duo there two and a halfyears ago during our month long
tour of Europe in the spring of2008…). There was concern about
the turnout since the Wels Music Unlimited Festival started the same
night, but the room is crowded,and many listeners that I didn’t
recognize- always great to see the possible audience expand. The
Tentet plays two loud and sweaty sets,though there are moments when
the density and volume come down. Great response and an encore
ensues. I felt that three days in Vienna would give me a chance to
catch up on rest and work, it was just the opposite- I caught up on
inspiration and fun. Sonore in Russia: