Emerging and veteran jazz stars lit up stages this past week, with folk, Americana and rock artists adding to the musical groove from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. Browse the images at Local Spins.
From Brooklyn to GR: Olin Clark enjoyed a warm homecoming with his band Pieces on Saturday. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Jazz and bluegrass have one thing in common: They represent the ultimate form of collaboration and improvisation on stage.
Few other forms can match the sort of wondrous, one-of-kind instrumental magic that happens at a single point in time during a live performance.
Often that means interchanging parts and guest musicians inspired by each other’s musical prowess.
That certainly was on display Saturday night when Brooklyn’s Pieces — featuring guitarist and Comstock Park native Olin Clark — unfurled its jazz-based, musical alchemy at Grand Rapids’ Listening Room, along with West Michigan’s own Normal Mode, led by keyboardist Dutcher Snedeker.
St. Cecilia Jazz: Delfeayo Marsalis and band on Thursday. (Photo/Jeffrey Wilkinson)
The evening brimmed with ultra-progressive modern jazz, buoyed by genre-transcending, instrumental romps, with Clark joining Normal Mode for a rousing take on a classic song by guitar icon John Scofield and Snedeker joining Pieces for a composition by Pat Metheny and more. All six members of the two bands wrapped up the night with an impressive final jam.
With Pieces, currently on tour and releasing a new EP on April 29, even more structured, less improvisational
songs took on a life of their own in a live setting — the energy and spontaneity of the players injecting heart-pumping, brain-electrifying wizardry into music that often sends its progressive jazz spiraling toward blistering prog-rock mischief.
It was all in a glorious night’s work — and just part of a week filled with entertaining performances captured in photos at Local Spins, including another crowd-pleasing jazz show starring trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at St. Cecilia Music Center.
Scroll down for photo galleries from a variety of shows, including Papadosio, Colt Snuffer & The Dead Horsemen, Joshua Davis (with special guest Michael Bont) and Kitten & The Tonics.
PHOTO GALLERY: Pieces, Normal Mode at Listening Room (Saturday)
Photos by Anna Sink
PHOTO GALLERY: Papadosio at Elevation inside The Intersection (Saturday)
Photos by Eric Stoike
PHOTO GALLERY: Colt Snuffer & The Dead Horsemen, Yesterdays at Bell’s (Saturday)
Photos by Derek Ketchum
