I took a break and caught Gerry Hemingway last night. He is playing with a quartet that included Michael Formanek, Ray Anderson, and Ellery Eskelin here. A small but select, and extremely enthusiastic crowd was on hand in a small acoustically sound space.

They opened with Cherry Picking, dedicated to Don, followed by Aunt, for Sonny. I'm not sure what the "sly reference" connection might be, but maybe I was hung up with it being somehow connected with St. Thomas. Hemingway said it had to do with a piece Sonny's played thousands of times, and the opening was a bit reminiscent of St. Thomas, but perhaps I'm missing the obvious.

Hemingway's solo during Aunt made me realize that's what I need: a drum set to beat on. His Richian moments were balanced by his leaning and bending into the music. He used a lot of effects, including his squeaky stool. Sometimes he managed to pronounce Eskelin on his kit.

They played 2 more Hemingway compositions, an old one named Space and another called something like Tone Bow that started with a long section featuring effects, including Anderson playing into a rattle mute. Speaking of Anderson, I'm not up on my trombonology, and it wasn't clear to me what kind of bone he had. It was a bass that simply had an extra tube that appeared to be detachable. Is it a horn that also can be played as a tenor? He mostly played it as if it was a tenor it seemed, only going down to the bottom a few times. He's a pretty busy player, but got serene a couple times for some beautiful sounds, particularly in duets with Eskelin.

Eskelin himself seemed less familiar with the material and only came out strong for a few solos, mostly pretty mainstream but powerful stuff. Formanek was great, playing all kinds of cool combinations of music that fit in as well as stood out. He's a very impressive bass player, speed, sound, ideas, the whole package.

They came back thanks to a huge ovation and played Mark Helias' Gentle Ben (I think that was the name) that left everybody singing.