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

Matt Hall's Tribute to Duke Ellington

The trombonist gave props to the legend at 98 Bottles.

Young trombone master Matt Hall brought a potent mix of emergent talent and veteran experience into 98 Bottles for his Tribute to Duke Ellington concert on Oct. 4, including pianist Ed Kornhauser, violinist Nora Germain, drummer Brett Sanders and bass institution Marshall Hawkins.

Hall has an appreciation for the visual, evidenced by the way the show began. As Hawkins and Sanders engaged in an avant-garde tug-of-war, the sounds of 'bone and violin appeared suddenly from the back of the room, as Hall and Germain improvised freely on their way to the stage. Shortly after ascending, the band switched gears into "Take The A Train," which found the trombonist rippling with velocity and dramatic exploration of the extreme registers of his horn. The band almost stopped entirely for Germain's solo-- a masterpiece which began by cutting across the grain with short, seemingly unrelated phrases that set a tension into motion for several choruses until she released it all with a glorious onslaught of pure swing. Kornhauser responded with a honky-tonk fueled series of block chords and Hawkins, bowing in unison with his voice--brought the house down.

Germain uses glissandi and vibrato to achieve a distinctive sound, and she seems to be fluent in all dialects of the blues, on "Love You Madly," she got into a groove and never let go of it. Of course, when Brett Sanders is on the drums -- everyone grooves a little harder. Hall's spot concentrated on wide shifts in timbre manipulation, he's got a wonderful tonal palette at his disposal and he absolutely killed on a series of multiphonics that made me think of the German virtuoso Albert Mangelsdorff.

Hall can also purr and coo, something he did to great effect on a Latinized arrangement of "Solitude," which featured a resourceful mix of velocity and blue-notes from Kornhauser. One of the most remarkable moments of the evening for me came at the end of "Purple Gazelle," when Hall and Germain improvised a beautiful cadenza of orbited voices. It was breathtaking, in terms of spontaneous communication.

Special guest Charlie Arbelaez, like Hall, a member of the United States Marine Corps, brought his alto saxophone up to the stage and knocked it out of the park with a long, Sonny Stitt-meets-Arthur Blythe stream of consciousness.

Everyone had a lot of fun on "C Jam Blues," with Germain setting the bar very high via an all-pizzicato journey to the gutbucket and Arbelaez shrieking hard enough to scare the devil.

Any concert that brings Hawkins and Sanders to the stage is going to be a winner -- but the contributions of Hall, Germain, Kornhauser and Arbelaez are proof that this music will never die.

Photo by Charlie Arbelaez

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

Previous article

How to make a hit Christmas song

Feeling is key, but money helps too
Next Article

The greatest symphonist of them all

Havergal Brian wrote over 30 of them

Young trombone master Matt Hall brought a potent mix of emergent talent and veteran experience into 98 Bottles for his Tribute to Duke Ellington concert on Oct. 4, including pianist Ed Kornhauser, violinist Nora Germain, drummer Brett Sanders and bass institution Marshall Hawkins.

Hall has an appreciation for the visual, evidenced by the way the show began. As Hawkins and Sanders engaged in an avant-garde tug-of-war, the sounds of 'bone and violin appeared suddenly from the back of the room, as Hall and Germain improvised freely on their way to the stage. Shortly after ascending, the band switched gears into "Take The A Train," which found the trombonist rippling with velocity and dramatic exploration of the extreme registers of his horn. The band almost stopped entirely for Germain's solo-- a masterpiece which began by cutting across the grain with short, seemingly unrelated phrases that set a tension into motion for several choruses until she released it all with a glorious onslaught of pure swing. Kornhauser responded with a honky-tonk fueled series of block chords and Hawkins, bowing in unison with his voice--brought the house down.

Germain uses glissandi and vibrato to achieve a distinctive sound, and she seems to be fluent in all dialects of the blues, on "Love You Madly," she got into a groove and never let go of it. Of course, when Brett Sanders is on the drums -- everyone grooves a little harder. Hall's spot concentrated on wide shifts in timbre manipulation, he's got a wonderful tonal palette at his disposal and he absolutely killed on a series of multiphonics that made me think of the German virtuoso Albert Mangelsdorff.

Hall can also purr and coo, something he did to great effect on a Latinized arrangement of "Solitude," which featured a resourceful mix of velocity and blue-notes from Kornhauser. One of the most remarkable moments of the evening for me came at the end of "Purple Gazelle," when Hall and Germain improvised a beautiful cadenza of orbited voices. It was breathtaking, in terms of spontaneous communication.

Special guest Charlie Arbelaez, like Hall, a member of the United States Marine Corps, brought his alto saxophone up to the stage and knocked it out of the park with a long, Sonny Stitt-meets-Arthur Blythe stream of consciousness.

Everyone had a lot of fun on "C Jam Blues," with Germain setting the bar very high via an all-pizzicato journey to the gutbucket and Arbelaez shrieking hard enough to scare the devil.

Any concert that brings Hawkins and Sanders to the stage is going to be a winner -- but the contributions of Hall, Germain, Kornhauser and Arbelaez are proof that this music will never die.

Photo by Charlie Arbelaez

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

Full house for Coast Bop debut

Next Article

Lorraine Castellanos Thrills Packed House @ 98 Bottles

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