Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth (USA)

1 July, CD Linhart Hall

At 20.30, Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth performed in Linhart Hall. The band opened the concert with a series of songs based on rock-invested backbeat, with which Gerald Cleaver on drums strengthened the contours of other instruments.

The tension was especially heightened by the sax players who exchanged themes dialectically – while Tony Malaby kept resorting to free jazz, allowing free reign to shrieks, glissandos and other more unconventional sounds of the instrument.

Chris Cheek built his solos on rigorous structures. The variegated soundscape was heavily invested with the sound of the Rhodes piano, throughout most of the concert played by Craig Taborn, a genial and innovative pianist. Rather than playing accompaniment, Chris Lightcap on bass assumed the role of an intermediary between the prominent sounds in the midst of continuous soloing.

The music gradually became more and more unrestrained – Cleaver immersed himself entirely into hard bop, fluidly hitting the cymbal. The thrilled audience refused to leave without an encore.

                                                                                      Andraž Jež