Back to work after an invigorating show from Tim Berne and company. The music started sometime after 8 p.m., with Bhob Rainey playing a curved soprano by himself. Pretty annoying to some extent, he focused on splitting notes and various other false fingering effects. He can play the horn a bit, but not enough to carry a solo presentation this far. He was joined by Ben Opie for a few things while Ben waited for his bandmates to show, and Ben didn't really improve things with Bhob that much.

But eventually Water Shed played, one of their best sets I've heard. They're our local heros, playing Ben's compositions and arrangements for reeds (Ben), cello, guitar, bass, and drums. They're participating in a Beatles fest in a few days, so they trotted out a couple tunes: Harrison's Within You Without You and She's So Heavy. At first I was thinking the first was a Zappa tune. Oh well. On the second, the transcription was marvelous, but Ben turned the pink noise of what he couldn't transcribe and made it an altissimo extravaganza for his alto over the vamp. Great stuff. They also did several of their own things and a Sun Ra piece (New Horizons, on clarinet).

Berne (Eb saxophones) came with Paraphase Trio, Drew Gress on bass and Tom Rainey on drums. I guess all their music is improvised. Berne was mostly out of Coleman and Coltrane, especially in the manner of Chappaqua Suite or Stellar Regions perhaps. Very poetic music, reaching for transcendence and sometimes making it. Despite the venue, a bar with uninterested loud people a few feet away. I've been realizing more and more how everybody uses effects all the time, and was pleased that Berne didn't do much except play his horns reasonably conventionally (not to say conservatively or without novelty). Gress and Rainey, on the other hand.... Rainey played a lot of excellent grooves though. This is traditional music freely improvised, if you will, a bit like Masada but without the heavy structure. Just the basic inventions.