VanJazz26 continues with continuous musical offerings throughout the city of Vancouver. I was pleased to see the number of people who came to experience the tribute concert at Alliance Française. So many friends were there to remember Paul and hear Paul Plimley’s beloved piano, housed in this venue.
I had carefully installed “Beanie and Cecil Taylor’s Piano” created by Arrrrg (aka Nick Mitchum). This sculpture was previously shown at VIFF and was an attraction at Paul’s Celebration of Life. Paul was known for his sense of humour and playfulness, so I am happy to care for the sculpture and install it at tribute events. I also brought some of Paul’s CDs because I want to distribute his work to the community.
There were two great piano players that evening paying tribute to Paul; Brian Horswill, known mostly for his work in the Kneejerk Trio and Lisa Cay Miller, the current Artistic Director of the NOW society that Paul co-founded almost 50 years ago.
The concert included sets from Paul Plimley’s most long term collaborators and some of the new NOW Society members.
To open the concert, Tim Reinert said a few words about VanJazz26 the amazing lineup of music that Infidels Jazz has arranged to delight Vancouver jazz fans this October. My previous post gives additional information about this exciting new Jazz Festival that has started in Vancouver this year. It is so appropriate that Paul should be a part of it!
Then, I took a few moments to speak about Paul’s significance to the music community of Vancouver.
Tim returned to introduce Kenton Loewen, drums, Clyde Reed, string bass and Brian Horswill, piano. One of Paul’s favourite formats, piano trio.
Clyde Reed is one of the most in-demand and beloved string bass players on the Vancouver scene. He was a member of Paul Plimley’s ensembles in many incarnations from duo to orchestra. He probably played more with Paul than any other person, and he continues to be active, with many more performances in this festival.
The next set was the return of Clyde Reed, string bass with Nikita Carter, saxophone.
A video camera was set up to document this part of the event only. The camera operator told me they had been booked just to film Nikita, so perhaps this will be released at some future date.
Nikita, was an original founding member of the NOW Orchestra and started the set by saying a few words about their long history of playing with Paul. It was unfortunate that this was not planned with the sound people in advance because no microphone was used. It was a bit quiet for me in the back, so I hope the video, who was near me, could pick it up clearly.
The final set of the evening was Lisa Cay Miller, piano with Bruce Freedman, saxophone, Adriana Camacho, string bass and César Chew, drums. This was a dynamic quartet as Lisa ranged from energetic chord shots to long arpeggios with harmonies reminiscent of Debussy.
Bruce Freedman was handed a microphone and told a short story about how he first connected with Paul in the early 1970’s and was a founding member of the Vancouver Sound Collective. He also played with many other projects with Paul through the years. Bruce has agreed to do an interview to give more details of that time in a future post.
He is a superb saxophone player and sensitive improvisor. He has an excellent lead voice and is a great supporting player, a quality that is rare in saxophone, an instrument where subtlety can be more difficult to achieve.
Adriana is in Vancouver as part of an exchange program with Mexico, organized through the NOW Society. She matched Lisa’s energy and delicacy in equal measure. César, originally from Mexico, is now a well known Vancouver based drummer who will be playing again in this festival with Bruce Freedman’s Collage at Zameen Art House. I remember going with Paul to attend a vibraphone playing session in an East Vancouver warehouse with César playing percussion and drums. He has always impressed me with his sensitivity and control of the power of drums.
I am very happy with this wonderful tribute to Paul Plimley and look forward to continuing to write the pages of his story for as long as I am able to do so.
More on this concert if others share media with me.