Keep (it) Swinging: David Liebman Trio plays the Blues á la Trane

David Liebman Trio plays the Blues á la Trane ( English) - Het David Liebman Trio speelt de Blues á la Trane ( Nederlands)

Seeing Trane live in the '60 was my epiphany.
DAVID LIEBMAN TRIO plays the BLUES á la TRANE
Hans Koert

One of the latest albums by David Liebman was not really planned, according to the liner notes. In the spring of 2008 the Trio, featuring David Liebman on soprano and tenor saxophone, Marius Beets on double bass and Eric Ineke on drums, toured around with a program dedicated to Kurt Weill and Alec Wilder compositions. On the 3rd of April, 2008 a concert was scheduled at De Singer jazz club in Rijkevorsel, a city east of Antwerp in Belgium. Arriving at this small club and feeling a bit under the weather, I felt that we should play something different.
As I try to do on these occasions, I like to have at least the thread of a story line for a night's repertoire. Why not play some blues played or associated with John Coltrane?
And so it happened ........ During the concerts several John Coltrane compositions were played and we count ourselves lucky that Kris Roevens recorded this concert now available on the Daybreak record The David Liebman Trio - Lieb Plays The Blues á la Trane. ( DBCHR75978 )

Marius Beets - David Liebman and Eric Ineke at de Hopper in Antwerp (2008)
David Liebman is born in Brooklyn (NY) September 1946 and started his musical career in 1970 after he finished the New York University. He started his career in the rock group 10 Wheel Drive, that even in Holland reache

d the tip-list with the tune Morning Much Better, but his first recording seemed to have been with a Swedish group by Lars Werner and Hans Vanner in Stockholm July 1967 for the Finnish Love label.
The first recording under his own name, Night Scapes, was with poet Carvel Six in a group featuring piano player Richie Beirach and Frank Tusa (bass) with whom he should start his own group Lookout Farm in the mid 70s. During that period he played with Elvin Jones and Miles Davis. You can hear him with the latter at the On The Corner and Dark Magus albums and he toured with Miles to Japan and Europe in the summer of 1973.

DayBreak DBCHR75978

During the 1960s David heard John Coltrane live in concerts. In a study he published entitled John Coltrane's Meditations Suite: A Study in Symmetry he remembered it: As I have written and said many times, seeing this group live ( = John Coltrane - McCoy Tyner - Jimmy Garrison - Elvin Jones) was what inspired me directly to pursue jazz. I awaited each new release anxiously to see what to expect when I would go to the clubs in New York, as I did so often. ......... All I can say is that hearing the group live was the strongest music I have heard since, or up to that time - bar none.
He was so impressed by the music of Trane that he couldn't record his compositions until the early 1980s. I purposely refrained from recording Coltrane tunes for the oblivious reason that I needed and wanted to escape his titanic ( and positive) influence on my life and music. Coltrane had a great effect on his life: It is well known among those who have heard me speak in classes or interviews that seeing Trane live in the '60 was my epiphany.

David Liebman
In 1987 he made a record honoured to the music of John Coltrane on Owl Records, entitled Homage To Coltrane and a live concert in Yomuri Land - Tokyo (Japan) was released on a Columbia album, entitled Tribute To John Coltrane - Live Under The Sky.

Marius Beets ( at the Porgy en Bess Jazz club - Terneuzen - November 2010) (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)
As we may believe David in his liner notes, no preparation or rehearsals were scheduled for the De Singer concert. Dat klopt helemaal (= That's correct), Eric Ineke explained me. We speelden tijdens de eerste set gewoon ons progamma met muziek van Weill en Wilder (= We just played our regular program during the first set with music of Weill and Wilder) Eric Ineke explained. Maar tijdens de pauze suggereerde David: Zullen we staks gewoon wat bluesnummer spelen zoals Coltrane dat gedaan heeft? Wat vinden jullie d'r van? En dat hebben we gewoon gedaan. ( = But during the break David suggested Let's play some Blues themes during the next set á la Trane! What about that?. And so it happend.)

Five tracks, all related to John Coltrane were played. The opening tune, All Blues, was originally a tune recorded by the famous 1960 Miles Davis Quintet, featuring John on tenor saxophone. Up Against The Wall is an original Coltrane compositions, which, was recorded in November 1961 as Up 'Gainst The Wall on the Impulse album Impressions. Mr. P.C., is a blues dedicated to his bass player Paul Chambers, and was recorded with Trane's Quartet, in May, 1959 for his Giant Steps album. The tune Village Blues is to be found on another Coltrane classic, his album My Favorite Things. The favourite one of this album is, i.m.o., Take The Coltrane, a Duke Ellington composition and released in the Duke Ellington & John Coltrane 1962 Impulse album. This track fascinates me because of the great rhythm section on this album - a Dutch team for almost 15 years, Marius Beets on bass and Eric Ineke on drums - a solid team. The tune starts with a great solo by Marius, backed by Eric Ineke before David Liebman bursts into a great solo backed by Marius and Eric Ineke; especially the latter shows in this record what a great drummer he is. Ja, d'r gebeurt wat ( = Yes, it happens here) Eric put the record into its perspective.

Eric Ineke at the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club, Terneuzen (The Netherlands) November 2010) ( photo courtesy Hans Koert)

Both Marius Beets and Eric Ineke form a solid team playing together for more then a decade in groups like Eric's own band the JazzXpress and the Rein de Graaff Trio, last weekend in Porgy en Bess Jazz Club ( Terneuzen - The Netherlands) with Gary Foster and Marco Kegel, a great concert to be reviewed later this week. Some of the pictures were made during that concert.

Marius Beets and Eric Ineke during a drum solo ( Porgy en Bess Jazz cCub - Terneuzen (The Netherlands) ( November 2010) ( photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

A great album that should be in your collection. It can be ordered at the Challenge site or your one record shop.

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl

Most concerts stay unrecorded, but sometimes you wished that it was ........... One of those great performances was the second set by the David Liebman Trio at De Singer in Rijkevorsdel, April 2008 and, dead lucky, it was recorded. Learn what happens when three skilled jazz musician ignore the program and start to improvise .... á la Trane. The Keep Swinging blog wasn't there - what a pity, but thanks to Challenge Records this remarkable concert is now available on CD. If you don't want to miss any contributions of this Keep Swinging blog follow it with Twitter at @KeepSwinging or ask for its free newsletter.