We went with our friends Michael and Pam to hear the Helen Sung Quartet play at Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver. Sung, who we have heard many times with the Mingus Big Band, is an extraordinary pianist, and we were excited to hear her for the first time with her own quartet. It was simply one of the best jazz performances I have heard in years. Not only is Sung an amazing pianist, but her fellow ensemble members were also excellent, and the resulting music was very stimulating. I sometimes get tired of the standard jazz small group standard form; the ensemble plays the tune, then various ensemble members play solos while the rest of the ensemble dutifully plays the changes, and then we get back to the tune again. Sung and her quartet frequently upended this form at times, especially when they did a version of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing), which turned into an almost Webernesque deconstruction of the tune, which we in fact never heard in its entirety. Her quartet included the great Boris Kosolov on bass, who usually plays with the Mingus Big Band, and drummer Terreon Gully and John Ellis on saxophones. Gully in particular was infinitely creative in his drumming, responding to what Sung was doing on the piano, and always shifting the accents in surprising ways. They did quite a bit of Thelonious Monk, including one tune where they completely reconfigured the meter. Sung herself is an extremely virtuosic soloist, bringing what would seem to be her classical training and technique into her solos without it sounding incongruous. Her rhythmic punctuations during the others solos were consistently lively and inventive. Sung is also a composer, with a tendency (at least in the works performed at this show) towards the lyrical.
I should also mention that Frankie's Jazz Club in curated and run by Coastal Jazz and Blues, and that Corey Weeds gave wonderful introductions to the band, including very clear instructions as to why people should not talk (and offering to escort anyone who wished to talk to any of the numerous other bars in town.) The result was a great listening environment.
