Ab Baars Trio + Ken Vandermark at Joe's Pub, April 19, 2009
APR 19, 2009 -- ASTOR PLACE: The live show from this cross-Atlantic collaboration was controlled chaos, with heavy emphasis on the control. The Ab Baars Trio represents the Netherlands' finest I improvised music, and their creative approach is most often rooted in textures and colors, rather than lines or tangible phrases, at least in the conventional sense. Chicago resident and self-taught saxophone slaughterer Ken Vandermark felt anything but out of place. Vandermark and Baars held their own as equals, both playing the tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, sometimes alternately, sometimes simultaneously, always dynamically.
The drums were probably the most consistently quiet element of the band, with drummer Martin van Duynhoven rarely hitting more than one drum at once, though it was hard to always tell if his deliberate touch was due to taste or old age, but either way it did the trick. When present, the aggressiveness was drawn from screeches via clarinet and saxophone, as well as the percussive string pulls courtesy of Wilbert de Joode, on his half size bass and impossibly loose gut strings, which he would often pull to the very edge of the neck.
There were definite pieces with definite melodies being performed, but they didn't last long. The performers took their time to develop ideas and sound environments for energy to ebb and flow. It wasn't until the finale that a steady push was present, a piece that the quartet recorded for their album Goofy June Bug titled "Goofy June-bug Forgotten Poet Morning Stomp." Baars introduced it best he could, through his rich Dutch accent, and the band hit a groove so solid that without inspection, you wouldn't know it was in the time signature 15/4 . The melody was the most distinct of the night, and Vandermark took a solo that had serious tints of Motown soul. Saving that pulse for the end of the night proposed a possibly preconceived arc to the set, showing a maturity that is harder to detect in the improvised realm. They certainly didn't give it all away at once, and it beckons the audience to return again to see what else they weren't giving up in one sitting.
