JASON MORAN & THE BANDWAGON
Village Vanguard178 7th Avenue South, New York 10014
Jason Moran & The Bandwagon bring Moran’s long-running piano trio to the Village Vanguard. Moran plays piano with Tarus Mateen on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. The November 29 performance is an 8 p.m. set by a group whose music draws on deep jazz roots while continually testing their edges, from reworked standards to Moran’s mixed-media compositions and responses to sampled sound.
Houston-born pianist and composer Moran has made The Bandwagon a durable forum for that open-ended approach. The Whitney describes the trio’s signature sound as “fluid and miscalculated,” with a movement “as much dedicated to the past as to…its conceptual futures.” NPR notes that the group deconstructs standards. Reviewers have called them “one of the most reliably thrilling groups in jazz”; the Los Angeles Times praised their capacity to imagine “new forms,” and the New Yorker called them an “explosive unit” whose “fervor is hard to deny or resist.” Beyond the trio, Moran has played in saxophonist Greg Osby’s group and worked with Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, and Cassandra Wilson.
A narrow basement staircase leads to a triangular room with a red curtain and a stage at the point, where musicians play for a small audience of 123. Tables open like spokes from the stage, and the walls hold portraits of jazz legends. The acoustics are excellent, and the only sound before the music begins is the hum of the room. No food is served, only drinks at a bar. Shows start at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with seating beginning at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. respectively. The atmosphere is focused entirely on the music, with silence requested before the concert begins.