Good humored, self-effacing and articulate in his music and personal demeanor, Jason Moran is one of the most challenging artists of contemporary jazz. The pianist/composer asks much of himself, his band and much of his audience as well. The presentation of the concept piece co-authored with Alicia Hall Moran, “Milestone,” on January 19th at the Flynn Mainstage wasn’t exactly a high-tech multimedia production but it was provocative nonetheless, underpinned by musicianship equally passionate and complex.
Audio soundtracks in accompaniment to and, at times contrary to, the flow of the performance intermixed with video that, if not exactly a non-sequitur to the flow of the music, nonetheless served the purpose of keeping most of the attendees listening intently. The exceptions to that rule, who may have found both the unpredictable music and ancillary stimulation a bit much, deserted their seats at set break.
Those who remained, the major portion of the Vermont crowd, gained insight into Moran’s mindset even before his post-concert Q&A. More importantly, they heard a rigorously rehearsed, technically brilliant and brave jazz quartet. Drummer Nasheet Waits remained in perpetual motion to accentuate the leader’s alternately percussive and melodious piano, while bassist Taurus Mateen, deceptively nonchalant (often seeming wholly disengaged), and guitarist Marvin Sewell provided fluidity and push to the ensemble.
Out of an initial atonal wash crystallized a style heavily grounded in blues but incorporating elements of pop and classical motifs as well. And as the group entered for the second set to play along with a pre-recorded tape of what sounded like “Happy Trails,” old-school country music filtered through too. This eclectic mix was itself interwoven with following interludes of theatrical posing on the part of Moran and Bandwagon: if they seemed studied in their collective solemnity at first, they all eventually displayed a lighthearted demeanor.
The successive extra-musical themes at times seemed cryptic to a fault, for instance, the verbal recounting of emotional trauma depicted in caricature on video. The point of Moran’s story about his mother taking notes at his childhood piano lessons was overdone with sound effects. But that only made the cohesive sound of Moran and Bandwagon that much more welcome when it came.
At evening’s end brighter breezier tones of music, including the sound of Sewell on slide guitar, enacted a definite progression from the dark deeply rhythmic approach, so reminiscent of Monk, with which the players began. To see Jason Moran and his group reenter stage right clapping for their audience was an appropriate gesture of recognition; the dynamic of “Milestone” is indeed one in which the musicians require more than passing attention to what’s going on. When the audience responds as keenly as did the Flynn’s, everyone present participates in a most unusual, and unusually satisfying, sensation.
