THE JOHN ESCREET PROJECT @ The Jazz Standard, 9/9/09
SEPT 09, 2009 --MANHATTAN: I first encountered John Escreet at the debut of Dave Binney's big band. Binney premiered his large ensemble at the Jazz Gallery in 2007, and I was blown away by the number of young musicians I had never seen before join the saxophonist in the ensemble. I recall being impressed by the pianist, Escreet, and a number of the other new faces in the band, and I was excited to see who turned up on my radar in the future. What drew me to see Escreet's own band first out of the bunch has something to do with the fact that I've seen the London-born, 25 year old pianist out at a number of shows in the city, as a spectator, listener and appreciator. It seems almost every working musician in the city is so busy with their own schedules to get out and see what the others are creating, but Escreet has made that time, and it might have something to do with the striking maturity and awareness in his compositions.
The band consisted of Binney himself on alto sax, Nasheet Waits on drums, and fellow Binney big band alums Zack Lober on bass and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. The difference in age that pretty much split the group was an interesting dynamic, almost a reverse of the jazz tradition of older, successful bandleaders giving upstarts their first big break. Maybe it speaks to the fact that everyone can only be so successful in this current industrial dynamic for jazz music, so everyone might as well see each other play and play with each other as equals. Whatever it means, the five creative voices in the band combined in spectacular ways when presenting Escreet's compositions.
The entire night can be represented by one heavily used musical action throughout the band : the tremolo. It's a flexible motion, but in the simplest terms, the tremolo is a tense, rapid repetition of one note or alternation between two notes. On the piano, John Escreet laid upon tremolos often, and each member of the band had their moments featuring the device. In many ways (if you fear metaphors, punch your computer screen now) the characteristics of the tremolo parallel the actions of the band and the choices Escreet makes as a leader and composer. Above all else, the tremolo is dramatic. Since the dawn of movies, they've been present in the scores, and Escreet proved during is set that he largely favors drama, over pop. Both have their advantages, but drama is much harder to pull off without coming on too strong. Yet Escreet does it, composing music that is often dark, and emotionally engaging. A watchable element of the drama is Escreet's facial expressions as he improvises, appearing to scowl the keys into doing his bidding. The tremolo is also this breaking point, a representation of something that is about to explode, but is somehow being held together. That holds true for the bands ability to jump back and forth between free improvisations and highly composed melodies with ease, as well as the line that Escreet walks between the worlds of jazz and classical, which has a very strong presence in his phrasing and harmony.
The band displayed a true personal involvement in the pieces, and though they were consistently - as is a tremolo - in control of the music while ever still threatening to break through the roof, there was one distinct moment when the train left the tracks, with fantastic results. It wasn't clear how it happened, but senior members Dave Binney and Nasheet Waits broke away from the pack, rocking together with aggressive force. As Zack Lober held down a walking bass pattern, Waits shotgunned into an unstoppable groove while Binney ripped along with him, the two of them steamrolling sound over the seated audience, engaging each other without any signs of stopping. As a leader, it's impressive that John Escreet could facilitate a moment as powerful as that, and I look forward to what he brings to the table in the future.
