Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Reinventing Christmas music with the Matt Wilson Trio

Wilson's "Christmas Tree-O" put an entirely new spin on yuletide classics.

NYC-based drummer Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O landed in San Diego last night to deliver two sets of fractured Holiday classics that ranged from the hard swinging to blistering free jazz and comic-strip joviality, sometimes in the course of the same tune.

Wilson has loads of chops, and an incredible sense of flow, which allows him to demarcate any given rhythm with the tiniest of gestures. He's got a wide swath of dynamic control, and can hover on the edge of silence with barely audible brushstrokes or conjure waves of kinetic energy into a delicious din of chaos.

Opening with a barrelhouse stagger through "Winter Wonderland," tenor saxophonist Jeff Lederer activated a strange mix of Ben Webster meeting Albert Ayler over drinks, riding on the impeccable Fats Domino bass lines of Paul Sikivie, who drew a huge sound from an undersized "travel-bass". Wilson, known for his slapstick sense of humor, pounded out the melody on his drumset in a kind of vaudevillian challenge.

Lederer switched to soprano for a raw, skittering waltz time stretch on "The Chipmonk's Theme," evoking a dry cough timbre and alternating between rough-sawn idea layering and slap-tongue punctuations. Sikivie emerged with patient line building, pulling a gorgeous baritone sigh from each note and concentrating on melodic development over alacrity. Wilson drummed up an unexpected squall of volume to end the out-vamp on a nervous skein of pure energy.

"Christmas Time Is Here," began as a swinger fueled by the swirling brush work of Wilson until Lederer shot into an altissimo caterwaul that sounded like he was trying to wrap a screaming infant in swaddling clothes. If that infant were Glenn Spearman, maybe.

There was an exaggerated, almost drunken stomp through the reading of "8 Candles," where Wilson led the audience through an eight-bar countdown as Lederer wound increasingly atonal ornaments around the theme, and an almost reverent unraveling of "I'll Be Home For Christmas," that brought a pointed bass exploration from Sikivie, as haunted phrases danced around groaning whole-notes.

Lederer leaned into "Hark The Herald Angels Sing," with a raw, Sonny Rollins kind of attack--rippling arpeggios sandwiched by piercing squeals and multiphoned honks. Somehow, that morphed into a cover of Albert Ayler's "Angels," where Wilson dragged handfuls of shells along the surface of his drums and Lederer wailed away with mocking vibrato.

Overall impression? If you must subject yourself to Christmas music--do it with Matt Wilson at the helm.

Another winner for Dan Atkinson and the folks at Athenaeum Jazz.

Photo by Bonnie Wright

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Jacobs Music Center Grand Opening

The concert did what it was designed to do

NYC-based drummer Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O landed in San Diego last night to deliver two sets of fractured Holiday classics that ranged from the hard swinging to blistering free jazz and comic-strip joviality, sometimes in the course of the same tune.

Wilson has loads of chops, and an incredible sense of flow, which allows him to demarcate any given rhythm with the tiniest of gestures. He's got a wide swath of dynamic control, and can hover on the edge of silence with barely audible brushstrokes or conjure waves of kinetic energy into a delicious din of chaos.

Opening with a barrelhouse stagger through "Winter Wonderland," tenor saxophonist Jeff Lederer activated a strange mix of Ben Webster meeting Albert Ayler over drinks, riding on the impeccable Fats Domino bass lines of Paul Sikivie, who drew a huge sound from an undersized "travel-bass". Wilson, known for his slapstick sense of humor, pounded out the melody on his drumset in a kind of vaudevillian challenge.

Lederer switched to soprano for a raw, skittering waltz time stretch on "The Chipmonk's Theme," evoking a dry cough timbre and alternating between rough-sawn idea layering and slap-tongue punctuations. Sikivie emerged with patient line building, pulling a gorgeous baritone sigh from each note and concentrating on melodic development over alacrity. Wilson drummed up an unexpected squall of volume to end the out-vamp on a nervous skein of pure energy.

"Christmas Time Is Here," began as a swinger fueled by the swirling brush work of Wilson until Lederer shot into an altissimo caterwaul that sounded like he was trying to wrap a screaming infant in swaddling clothes. If that infant were Glenn Spearman, maybe.

There was an exaggerated, almost drunken stomp through the reading of "8 Candles," where Wilson led the audience through an eight-bar countdown as Lederer wound increasingly atonal ornaments around the theme, and an almost reverent unraveling of "I'll Be Home For Christmas," that brought a pointed bass exploration from Sikivie, as haunted phrases danced around groaning whole-notes.

Lederer leaned into "Hark The Herald Angels Sing," with a raw, Sonny Rollins kind of attack--rippling arpeggios sandwiched by piercing squeals and multiphoned honks. Somehow, that morphed into a cover of Albert Ayler's "Angels," where Wilson dragged handfuls of shells along the surface of his drums and Lederer wailed away with mocking vibrato.

Overall impression? If you must subject yourself to Christmas music--do it with Matt Wilson at the helm.

Another winner for Dan Atkinson and the folks at Athenaeum Jazz.

Photo by Bonnie Wright

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O: Dec. 7, Jazz at The Studio

Next Article

Trio M Astonishes Packed House In La Jolla

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader