Originally posted to rec.music.bluenote, 16 Sep 1993 04:00:27 -0400.
Today was the first of four nights (two sets each) of Naked City. They will be playing their repertoire in roughly chronological order through the first set on Saturday ("Leng T'che" will be Friday, first set). The second set on Saturday will be all requests. Zorn said there would be very little repeated material (except for some of the 10-second songs which they'll keep doing). There's a sheet on which one can scribble your favorite Naked City tunes at the ticket counter. My brother already suggested "Graveyard of the Brotherhood" (a very nice soundtrack tune from a Japanese gangster movie which Naked City did play live on occasion). I'll probably put in a vote for "Mission: Impossible" -- which I've never heard of them covering but I'd love to see them do it... Hey, how long could it take for Zorn to come up with an arrangement for it anyway? :)
We got to the Knitting Factory at around 7:15pm. It didn't take long before there was a line. It was standing room only. Rob, Ara, Jay and his sister grabbed positions right at the edge of the stage, front row in other words. I started out behind them but a couple obnoxious assholes weaseled their way in front of me and this one guy gradually got directly in front of me and then gradually started slipping back, taking me with him, so I ended up about fourth row, which sucked. It was HOT!!! Within 10 or 20 minutes my shirt was completely soaked with sweat, and I was combatting fogged-up glasses. But at least I could see most of the action on stage. By the time we got out of the first set there was already a line for the second. No chance in hell we'd get anywhere near the front, so we grabbed some territory at the edge of the first "step" on the floor. It was a little more comfortable but unfortunately we couldn't see the band too well (still better than most people could though). The only thing I've ever been to that was worse than this was the Boredoms at the Knitting Factory. Not only was there literally no room between people up front (I was being squashed by about four at a time from allsides), but there was a fair amount of slam dancing (which produced waves of alternating space and then crushing impacts; someone nearly broke my nose with their head; my glasses got knocked off my face by a stage-divers foot and I was buffetted about while I tried to rescue them from the floor) All this at the Knitting Factory?! But that's another story!
I was a little worried that maybe Naked City wouldn't be as good as they were when they were playing regularly. Their virtuosity at executing Zorn's fiendish charts was partly the result of heavy rehearsal time I imagine. But the first tune they played reassured me that maybe I needn't have worried; it was smokin'. The second or third tune they did was one which Zorn said Sanborn's band had "tried" to cover. And this was fucking AWESOME. They kicked ass!!! All the transitions were razor sharp, the ending was beautifully precise. I can't remember ever hearing them play any better. After that I knew I was going to have a good time. Frisell was wonderful, as usual; one of his early solos was particularly impressive. Even Wayne Horvitz whom I don't usually count on to blow me away, produced an intense piano solo on a blues tune. This time his playing flowed more smoothly, one thing developing into another. He even got a little crazy. There were a few tunes they had to repeat because of fuckups ("The Cage" was one example). But that's nothing new, and most tunes they nailed.
The second set was just as good if not better. And there was one primary reason why it was the set to see tonight: Frisell's solo on a blues tune ("Inside Straight" I believe, or something similar). Everyone was raving about it afterwards -- it was the hilight of the entire evening. It was a long solo, developing gradually from soulful searing blues guitar into quite a frenzy of noise and madness. My only complaint is that I thought Frith hung on much too long to the bassline he was playing. He should have started fragmenting and/or stretching it and responding to Frisell earlier IMHO. But once he did go "out" with Frisell and Baron (who had followed more closely, so he was already there) it was fantastic. What they were doing is exactly the sort of musical situation I find myself drawn to. In fact (to digress) today was the first time I played with my official ensemble at the New School and I did pretty much the same thing on a solo, structurally speaking -- ie, stuck to simple honest singable blues phrases for a while, but gradually fucking with things harmonically and rhythmically, letting the music gather momentum and build in intensity. The drummer and the bass player, who had been playing the usual despised 4/4 walking swing groove, didn't quite know how to react, but at least they did react -- by doubling the time and playing 4/4 walking swing twice as fast... (AHHHHHH!!!!!) I found it rather confusing; it really didn't fit. I found myself torn between continuing to try to "corrupt" them or just giving up and playing bebop lines. I think I ended up compromising and integrating some fast pseudo-bebop lines. Anyway, it was fun. I guess it was also probably fun to listen to. But certainly what Frisell, Baron, and Frith did this evening was a hell of a lot of fun to listen to! As much as I like the Naked City material (ie the compositions & arrangements themselves) I think it is this kind of "unfettered" interaction between improvising musicians, when they abandon the strict framework of the "tune" and simply play the music itself, letting that determine the structure, rather than the other way around, that makes for the greatest moments.
I had never heard Naked City play the theme music from "Taxi Driver" before. They did it at the end of the second set.
Ciao,
-Ed
PS Mark Beyer's "Naked City" T-shirt has been reprinted. (Beyer did the art for the "Spy vs. Spy" album.) The Downtown Music Gallery {212 473 0043} has them for $10 (for $12 you can get them from the Knitting Factory).
PPS The Boredoms and UFO or Die will be coming to NYC (and probably other places too -- I think they're touring) next month. I think it was next month anyway... Sometime soon in any case.