Last weekend we ventured out to catch Maya Beiser's latest tour at AT&T's PAC in Dallas and were pleasantly surprised. Firstly, we bought the cheapest tickets, deep into the right side of the hall and it just so happened that the cameraman needed our seats to film the event. When we arrived our seats were 5 feet from the stage! I wanted to attend the event firstly to see Glenn Kotche, drummer of Wilco and University of Kentucky percussion alum, perform and hear his new composition "Three Parts Wisdom". We had the best seats in the house, nearly facing Maya and Glenn.
The first half of the program consisted of mostly classic 60's and 70's tunes like Zeppelin's "Black Dog", a beautiful rendition of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", and Janis Joplin's "Summertime" all arranged eloquently by Evan Ziporyn. I especially admired how the performers respected the original intent of each song but spun off creatively in moments to tell a story of their own. Glenn, for instance, had learned the most of the songs' original drum parts but inserted many new percussive patterns complete with cross crash cymbals, and garden tools aplenty. Also, I enjoyed hearing Glenn's work "Three Parts Wisdom" that featured Maya's cello chops with a 10 - 15 second digital delay, creating a cocophany of overlapping patterns accompanied by herself only moments prior.
After intermission, Maya sang and played cello mostly solo which I didn't expect at first but was pleasantly surprised by the soulfulness that her voice added to each work. Only a week before was I introduced to Ms. Beiser, so needless to say I was impressed. My favorite work in this half of the show was "Just Ancient Loops" composed by Michael Harrison (film by Bill Morrison). The film is highly symbolic and the work itself was quite beautiful, words cannot do it justice. Therefore, you must go see the show while it lasts!
"All Vows" has the following dates left on tour -
03.14.2015 DePauw University
04.09.2015 Northwestern University
http://www.mayabeiser.com
http://glennkotche.com
Lastly, we bumped into Laura's student from Allnutts4Music studio at the performance without knowing he would be there. He happens to be a violist and quite the composer. Ben was award the "Albert T. Goepper Student of the Year Award" at our spring concert last year. I snapped a photo of Ben and Laura during intermission:
