Abdullah Ibrahim Trio
The trio has been one of the most durable and versatile groupings in jazz. It’s served as a musical home for players ranging from the delicate pianist Bill Evans to the muscular tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins to the cutting-edge alto saxophonist Henry Threadgill. Two recent concerts at HotHouse demonstrated its power and range.
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The boundaries between music’s three basic elements–melody, harmony, rhythm–dissolved in the hands of this trio. The drums, usually consigned along with the bass to the “rhythm section,” played as big a part in melody and harmony. In one piece, drummer George Johnson repeated a lilting figure in counterpoint to Ibrahim’s piano line; in another he responded to the long, low tones bowed by bassist Marcus McLaurine with a shimmering flurry on his cymbal; and in another he played phrases that corresponded with Ibrahim’s, adding a harmony tone to each piano note. None of this, though, was at the expense of rhythmic verve, which Johnson displayed throughout. Bassist McLaurine’s playing likewise was not limited to rhythm. His role was established in the concert’s opening moments: Ibrahim began with a lyrical solo passage, and McLaurine responded in kind with sweet, spare lines. And throughout, Ibrahim approached the piano not simply as a lead melody instrument but as a set of 88 tuned drums–sometimes playing simple, repeated phrases that sang, sometimes jabbing at jagged series of notes, and sometimes playing most eloquently by playing nothing at all.
But clarity in a conversation means little without rapport, and that may have been this performance’s most compelling quality. Just as a satisfying conversation is as much about listening as talking, this performance was as much about listening as playing. By listening, each of these musicians created spaces for the others. This music ultimately was not about melodic invention, harmonic complexity, or individual virtuosity. It was about three playing as one.
