Outside-Inside-Out

Snuff Jazz
Crosstown Station, March 30

In lieu of transforming my notes into what would hopefully be elegant prose, I’ve decided to quickly type of my notes from Snuff Jazz’s performance at Crosstown Station in Kansas City from March 30.  That way I can save a bunch of time, and you can see my thoughts and get a picture of how I take in a show and my real time reactions and impressions.  So here are my notes, with the spelling errors, abbreviations and all that.  Turns out that after writing this out that this could be kind of poetry.  The indents and strikethroughs represent where the words ended up scribbled on my notebook page.  (Sorry if you can’t interpret some of it).

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Snuff Jazz, 9:30

Mark Southerland – saxophones

Jeff Harshbarger – bass

Josh Adams – drums

Helen Gillett – cello, guest, from NOLA

15″ 1st piece

noisy-furious, squeal

thunder drums

texture – into long singing tenor lines with busy

shifting, morphing

            rhapsodic, to the chaotic, frenetic,

                        manic

interplay between MS & HG

into JH solo alt high/low lines

            ringing

enter HG w/ occ pizz pops

-enter kit and perc

-enter MS over cello ostinato

            ragged  stagering str 8th but

                        fwd driving

            increase in vol and drive and steady

                        and intensity

            Mark

-HG solo

            -into fast 12 8 3/4 morph unsteady

                        shifting on a whim

Southerland – tune

            quiet down MS & JA & HG

2. 945 – what tune is this?

cellow solo – loop of pizz line

            rhapsodic, lyrical HG reminds why cello is one of the most gorgeous instruments

lament quality

            HG – sings in French (?)

            basic rock drum beat w/ variation

                        cello solo

                        Jeff arco solo

-even this pop song couldn’t help from going

fucking sideways @ the end

10″

3. tenor neck – vac hose – shower

                                                head?

put shower head

            into his tenor bell – then out –

                                                            mute /w

improv MS & HG instantly sync        cup

                                                            hand

            up in eh eh eh eh eh eh

            martial-eque drums

MS – spinning thing above his head

            call response – wild as fuck

            pissed off band of elephants

            & monkeys about to run your ass

            down

-pointillistic

            Adams – a busy motherfucker on the

                        kit – all over

                                    I call “hoseophone”

MS – drops hose horn – not worth shit

            to tenor

            pops, squeaks, blips, grunts, exhortations

                        chortles

MS repeat figuere over 8ths rock kit

            thunderstorm of low strings

Southerland goes off a la Ayler

            & Pharoah

JF [probably Jeff] long hair- almost headbanging, then

                        strumming completely rocking out

…and we’re in deep space

12″

my guess as to the hoseophone’s

            name was right

4th

            solo cello – based off a legit thing?

                        bebop – like bebops face melted

                        Tony Williams driving ride

                        bass/cello – a bit not bop

            MS – bastard stritch

alt between legit & out

            MS – sing – literally through tenor

            train wreck time

            HG standing – lifting out of seat, playing

                        like a bass

            by now the legit cello stuff is almost forgotten

10″

5 – last tune 10:17-10:26

            HG sing – english over bass/dr switch to French after cello loop

                        loops – HG sing w/ herself

            fairly structure more “straight ahead”

                        less improv

            dense, clashing, textures @ climax