Thankfully, I was able to get my drums up the stairs of the Luggage Store without losing any of them, find a parking place reasonably close by, and get set up for a pair of sets.
The first, by Us2 Trio, featured bassist Eli Pontecorvo and electronic musician Andrew Palmer. I've played a bunch of times with each of these guys. We all know each other well, and the chemistry and fun of the set proved it. We got in almost forty minutes of what I felt to be pretty skilled improvised music. About five pieces in all, the set felt really energetic, intimate, and fun. I was glad the we managed to self edit, keeping the pieces short enough for exploration but not fatiguing. We touched some cool spaces.
After a brief break, Voi!Maa! began to hit. Things started off pretty well, with a nice ambience being set up before we launched into some heavier areas. A nice, dynamic was set up, and we kept up the energy. After a while, the piece seemed to start to drag a bit, and I frankly ran out of ideas. I was hoping for a hard stop, but the rest of the group kept going. It actually sounded really cool, so I just sat and listened. Not the most pro move, I guess, but I really did feel as though I had not much to add to what Mika, Kersti, and Eli were expressing. This continued to the end of the forty or so minute set. I was bummed, and split as quickly as I could. Sometimes in improvisation, one falls flat on one's face, and I guess that that set was one of those for me. It's a risk you have to take, I guess.
Such a night of mixed emotion, from feeling really high to pretty low. Life's like that. At least I was able to avoid Bay Bridge traffic on the way back to Richmond, ruminating the entire time about what it means to both succeed and fail, almost simultaneously.
Many thanks to Andrew for sitting in!
Below: back to the small kit, as it's easily portable!; Us2 Trio relishing some fun improvising!
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