No one wants to be the first person at a party. Why is that?
Are we afraid of having to be the focal point of the event for those moments before others arrive? Jazz audiences are no different. Neither are audiences of the Avante-Garde.
Whatever that is.
The Trio set-up early and very professionally and began playing promptly at 7:00.
Anyone that books music has got to love that. Unfortunately, their audience didn't get the memo that to fully appreciate the poetry of the evening, one needed to be there from start to finish. Yes, yes, there was no memo. The music was not necesarily intended as a novella; but, after having heard the three acts (or sets) I can tell you, that the appreciation of each individually was heightened by having been there for all three.
The audience in attendance at 7pm was composed of the few in the know, those who came with the musicians. those regulars of the bar who would've been there with or without TRIO SANGHA and Frank.
Frank was there.
The fact that Frank was there at 7pm was a signal, that yes, he knew that this was going to be the musical scene in Fullerton tonight. Typically, Frank would be at Table Ten on Tuesday and Thursday, but every other night of the week, he'd be at Steamers most likely, the premier club for Live Jazz in Fullerton. Frank knew. And that felt good.
The opening set was as brilliant as it was inaccesable. In the near empty room, the piano proved that not only is it the master of subtley, softness, sweetness and charm, but that it, the piano can also rage and scream thunder and lightning. Not even Bob Wahler's Saxophone could win this arm wrestling event.
I had never seen this side of Dhiren before.
A wild and brazen Dhiren filled with emotion and passion. And erotic. Yes this was erotic music. An almost orgiastic like event of musical notes conspiring and copulating. Indeed, there were moments of an almost embarassing yet magnetic voyeuristic appeal.
I, personally, was in heaven.
The bar regulars were in hell.
They kept looking at me. "What is this?"
"I thought they were going to play variations of pop tunes?"
"It's hurting my ears."
"I don't understand this."
"You call this music?"
"Mike, how much are you paying them?"
"You're paying them to play this?"
"I'm sorry", I kept saying, "what did you say? You'd like another drink? Of course ..."
Art is not always easy.
Nor pretty.
Nor what one expects.
Sometimes, art is exactly what one doesn't expect.
Sometimes, art is not pretty, nor easy, nor fun ... because the point of it is to make you think. The point of it is to connect you with a greater whole, or a lesser piece.
But the beauty of all art is that it is authentic. It is true.
It is communication with the unconscious being broadcast to the conscious.
Art is the selfless act of being selfish.
Thus ended the first set.
There was that moment when the audience was treated to a version of DEAR PRUDENCE that they likely had never heard before and would never hear again, and in that moment, when the realization of what it was occured, a few smiles were born. I saw them.
It was as though a few caccoons had sprouted butterflies.
I will not lie. I was worried.
I was worried that no one would come and I would have to accept my decision on this booking to be a mis-judgement on my part. I was not so concerned with my own failure as I was in having to tell the musicians that "yes, I loved you, but you can't ever play here again."
But, that did not happen.
Because, before the second set started, the people came.
And they filled the room.
And they all ordered food and drink.
And in the passage of less than 20 minutes, the show became a financial success!
But more importantly, this was an artistic event. After all would be said and done, it would not matter if the TRI SANGHA ever played here again. They were not playing here because of the future. TRIO SANGHA was here for this moment in time. For the possibility to take a risk and to present an aural evening that would not likely be forgotten soon. Like a movie that stays with you for days after you've seen it, this evening would likely remain embedded in people's interiors for a long long time.
Both those who came willingly and those who just happened to be there.
And in FRANK.
So by the middle of the second set, the room was filled to capacity, people were eating and drinking, and above all ... into both the music and the scene. Kei Akagi was sitting at the bar. Here we had a man who had played with Miles Davis. But it wasn't that fact that enriched the experience; no, Kei Akagi is a man no less than any other in the room; it was the experience that enriched Kei; and thus collectively, us all. It is not the individual people who make an experience; rather, it is the collective community that creates the experience. The music sets the tone surely, and the tone of this experience was intimacy and ackowledgement. TRIO SANGHA warmed this room with that intimacy and in turn the people occupying the space in this room ackowledged what was being gifted to them.
The experience was comforting.
Like cotton sheets, like morning's first beams.
Taken en toto, the three sets could be called: ANNOUNCE AND ENGAGE, THE GIFT OF INTIMACY, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Dhiren later told me that the show was recorded. I would love to hear that recording. And I would be curious to see if the impact of the performance would be different?
THE DUO ECLECTIC were up next.
Would Dave and Duane be ready to play for the audience that they've always wanted? And how would their version of improvisation compare and contrast with that of TRI SANGHA's?
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