johnny case, joshua manchester

most exciting music i've heard so far this yr: an evening of free improv put together by pianist-composer-activist johnny case at sardines, of all places, featuring drummer joshua manchester. also on the set: leonard belota (trumpet), joey carter (vibes), daniel stone (bass), and mvp chris white (trumpet, flute, bass). johnny pulled it together on the quick when manchester called from his sweet home chicago to try and hustle a gig while accompanying his wife on a biz trip. tuesday's usually a dead night at the restaurant, and these cats dream about making music totally extempore, without the constraints of heads, chord changes, expectations, fans. the vibe was redolent of classic '60s dates like dolphy's out to lunch 'n' cecil taylor's unit structures. from moment to moment, a different man might be the "leader," with the others listening and responding empathetically. when we got there, johnny was hammering out tone clusters a la cecil (i finally figured out who he reminds me of: jaki byard, a cat steeped in tradition who can also go "out"). this led to a dialogue between belota on ruminative harmon mute and chris white playing smears and flurries of notes on open horn. (when not playing, leonard had his eyes closed a lot of the time; i'd like to have seen the movies that this music was making inside his head.) joshua, who plays regularly at an open jam sponsored by the aacm (still active 'n' vital after all these yrs), can play total sprung riddim a la sunny murray or his homeski famoudou don moye; there were times when the only repeating figures onstage came from joey on vibes or young bassist stone. chris white opened one piece with a virtuosic turn on flute, which manchester, stone, and case built to an intensity. then white moved to bass, playing a legato line with lotsa intervallic leaps that reminded me a bit of one local muso's comment that "chris' bass playing is a lot like his flute playing," and the music spiralled to an even higher level. carter kicked one off with his usual deft four-mallet work, and case, white, and manchester rode it out till they had nothing left to add. there are moments when this music flows like a mountain stream; at others, it surges like an erupting volcano. at all times, it's like looking at the world with new eyes. be nice if sardines could do this kinda thang on a reg'lar basis. while not jam-packed, there were a good number of music appreciators in the house; some of 'em even ate food. if you weren't there, you missed it, kid.