Donny McCaslin Quartet @ the 55 Bar

Donny McCaslin, Nate Smith, Fima Ephron, Ben Monder

Donny McCaslin (tenor), Ben Monder (guitar), Fima Ephron (bass), Nate Smith (drums). It was quite packed (I suspect that there was a high concentration of musicians in the audience again). So for the first set, I had to stand at the hallway next to the stage area (from where I actually could peek at the sheet music, pretty great spot, actually). They played original tunes by Donny McCaslin, some of which seemed to be brand new, testing their reading skills somewhat, and also Energy Generation and Perpetual Motion from McCaslin’s latest CD, Perpetual Motion.

The energy of the concert was great, especially in the second set. Ben Monder played some beautiful chords (that only he seems to find on the guitar) and some wild overdriven solos with sound and energy that would put many rock guitarists to shame… But Nate Smith and Fima Ephron were grooving so meaningfully that for me, it was, at times, even a bit difficult to concentrate on everything else that happened musically… Very danceable (never mind the changing time signatures).

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