Bassist
Zack Lober has reached for something beyond the typical jazz concert experience with “The Ancestry Project,” performed at Brooklyn's Ibeam on January 27th. He has created a theatrical suite that is engaging, funny, and moving. How often do we look at our grandparents and actually wonder what sets of choices and circumstances led them to be the people we know today? Furthermore, how many of us actually take the time to sit down with them to learn their life story and record it in their own words? Lober has not only done that, but has crafted a multimedia tribute to his grandfather, a Montreal musician named Hyman Herman who ran commercial bands throughout the 1950s. The piece combines original music with a pre-recorded interview and slideshow featuring images of Herman.
The music was brilliantly executed by his band, which featured David Binney on alto saxophone, John Escreet on piano, and Dan Weiss on drums, as well as his long time Montreal-based collaborator, tenor saxophonist Chet Doxas. Lober began by asking the audience “Did you ever wonder who your parents were?” at which point the pre-recorded interview came over the speakers and the band laid down a groove. Herman was the unofficial sixth member of the band, as his interview was heard throughout the performance. The first movement was tightly composed and melodic, eventually opening up into an organic improvisation featuring Binney and Escreet.
Lober switched to electric bass for the second movement, and the band hunkered into a slow groove. The saxes played phasing repeated note patterns á la Steve Reich. It evokes an appropriate anxiety, seeing as the interview turns to Herman's experiences with anti-Semitism in pre-World War II Poland. Doxas’ held long tones with a lush and sensitive tone, as Weiss pushed him forward with simmering rim shots. Doxas’ solo slowly built, eventually releasing into a poppy groove.
The mood lightened considerably in the next movement, as Herman related a story about how his father (Lober's great grandfather), who ran an instrument repair shop, encountered a ten-year-old Itzhak Perlman. The story was moving and amusing (made more so by Herman's apparent hearing difficulties, forcing his wife to come on the phone and help him understand the questions). Doxas switched to clarinet, and he and Escreet performed a slow klezmer tune to accompany the story. The chance encounter was told with so much warmth and humanity that one simply couldn't help but smile.
Next came a description of Herman's early music career, and Lober showcased his ability as a turntablist. Mixing a pre-recorded bass groove with Herman's interview, Lober spun intricate rhythms while being subtly accompanied by Escreet and Weiss. It slowly developed until Lober grabbed his bass, and the band entered with a funky beat. Binney's frantic flurry of saxophone technique was deftly complimented by Doxas' spacious sense of melody.
Some of the highlights of the evening were Herman’s anecdotes involving musical celebrities. He regales the audience about the time that he “almost” met Frank Sinatra while Lober spun hip hop grooves over top of a classic recording of “I've got you under my skin,” followed by a story of how Herman fired a 13-year-old Paul Bley from his band for playing too “Jazzy.” Throughout the evening, it seemed as if virtually all musical styles were touched upon. At one moment, Ornette Coleman’s influence was present, while at the next, it was Rachmaninov’s. When Lober played along with the exact pitches of Herman’s speech, it was Jason Moran, who is one of the first musicians to employ such a tactic.
The evening concluded with an electric odd meter groove, with a rocking out saxophone melody, while Herman described going to New York in the 1950s to meet Tito Puente. Weiss wowed the crowed with an intense drum solo, eventually subsiding into an easy funk feel as Lober ended his interview and Herman said goodbye. Overall, Zack Lober's “Ancestry Project” is a satisfying and entertaining combination of jazz, fusion, hip hop, electronics and imagery and great storytelling. Undoubtedly it will be recorded at some point, but it really is a show that should experienced live.
