Nir Felder Quartet @ 55Bar

Nir Felder Quartet @ the 55 Bar

It is pretty great to be back in town Went to hear Nir Felder’s Quartet @ the 55 Bar: Nir Felder on guitar, Mark Guiliana on drums, James Genus on bass and Shai Maestro on keyboards.

As a listener I actually enjoyed most what Shai Maestro got out of the tunes: he had a lot of variety and playfulness in his phrasing, and a variety of musical tools to keep it moving. In the same time, I was a bit perplexed about about Nir’s approach. He sounds really original and takes the music into new territories (away from jazz I guess) but as a listener I feel I’m just not given enough cues to get involved and follow him. It’s difficult to hear any melodic or harmonic movement (mostly just a lot of chromaticism), or feeling of tension and release in the phrasing…I enjoyed the more spacious and beat oriented tunes a lot though (in the end of the first set): I think Nir really excels in the context of creating color and landscapes that give open space for Mark’s drumming. In that sense, Mark’s own Beat Music concept speaks even more clearly to me.

Nir definitely seems to have a following and many fans here as the place was quite packed.  They even have a tap these days (with Brooklyn lager and everything)! Haven’t been there for ages, so I ordered a bottled Yuengling at first and felt a bit out of date…

55Bar have really great things coming up in the next month, so I’ll try to go back soon.