Craig delights and infuriates

Culture & Events — 04 May 2011

Above: Drummer Larnell Lewis lays into his drum kit during an impressive solo in the song Auntie Inez. Photo by Chris Marchand

Contemporary jazz pianist Andrew Craig’s visit to Dryden won’t soon be forgotten as one of the Dryden Entertainment Series’ most engaging shows of the season.

A professional improviser, Craig’s show takes some definite risks in terms of his many approaches to stagecraft. Held up against the rest of the season, the evening was an expression of the highest highs and the lowest of lows. Few shades of gray stood between Craig’s sublime musical interactions with drummer Larnell Lewis and bassist Collin Barrett and his onerous digressions into audience participation, or teaching exercises.

After taking an unconventional route to the stage, African tongue-drum in hand, Craig and his cohorts quickly established a level of musical virtuosity that is unlikely to be matched on the Dryden stage. First set highlights for me included a stunning and beautifully dark arrangement of Molly Johnson’s ‘Sweet Sublime’ and Craig’s own ‘Found Around The Blues’.

But whether out of well-meaning concern for the audience’s attention-span for contemporary jazz, or some perverse notion, the show took a new and infuriating direction in the second half.

Showcasing the art of improvisation, Craig dismissed his bandmates and proceeded to spend 10 minutes trying to get the audience to make jungle sounds, another five minutes tinkling on the piano with his young daughter (which was kind of neat), another five minutes composing a song on the spot from a series of random notes called from the audience. In the midst of a painfully cheesy 10-minute medley of AM radio favourites from the ’70s to the present, my thoughts turned to what was happening on Survivor and whether or not I could still catch tribal council, if I ducked out.

Not to say that Craig’s digressions weren’t well-met by the audience, I just needed to see Lewis and Barrett back on that stage adding the complexity and dynamics that characterized the first half of the show, something that had been missing for 30-40 minutes.

You can’t put drummer Larnell Lewis on stage for an hour and then just send him away. It’s cruel.

All was redeemed in the final number as Lewis and Barrett returned for the trio’s signature piece ‘Auntie Inez’ where they resumed doing what they were best at — showcasing their prodigious skill on their instruments.

The show marked the end to a successful 2010/2011 Dryden Entertainment Series. The evening ended with a reception accompanied by the musical stylings of local piano man Paul Hampton.

By Chris Marchand

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