01/14/2002 Entry: "Abstract (Musical) Expressionism."

It's culture weekend all over. The Boyfriend and I went to see Uri Caine perform on solo piano. Hard to pin down what he does, exactly. Is this Jazz? Definitely. Is this Classical? Yeah, there's that in there too. He played a lot of Jazz standards (from Gershwin to Miles Davis,) some pieces from Bach and Mahler...and a cover of the Beatles "Blackbird." He sews genres together like a Frankenstein's monster; making segues in ragtime and contemporary jazz, repeating classical phrases in increasingly abstract ways, unexpectedly throwing in a few bars from "New York New York" or assaulting a feverish version of "Havah Nagilah". I kid you not. More often than not, it worked. As a performer he's fun to watch, going from a delicate and tender movement to pounding with his fists on the keyboard in the course of one song. Interesting stuff.

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Tried any Brad Mehldau, just out of curiosity? Lovely covers as well as solid jazz standards work. Well worth a spin if you get some spare processor cycles and a chance to find some MP3s, uh, somewhere online.

Posted by George @ 01/15/2002 04:47 PM PST