Still lots of great Jazz music to be heard in Calgary this week. Last night took me back to the Beatniq Jazz & Social Club to hear Polish drummer Jacek Kochan's group featuring New York/Canadian ex-pat Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone, Dave Restivo on piano and Calgary turned Parisian Chris Jennings at the bass.
The program mostly consisted of original compositions provided by Kochan with exceptional playing from everybody on the bandstand. In particular, I liked Kochan's very loose and organic straight 8th feel via an ever rhythmically changing style of drumming. Restivo and Jennings were great as always and a pleasant reminder as to why these two are constantly in demand as sideman with many the world's greats. Seamus Blake is a powerhouse tenor player and the evenings highlights, for me, were easily his solo on Herbie Hancock's "One Finger Snap" and an extended solo saxophone intro that developed into a beautiful ballad rendition of "Peace" by Horace Silver.
This band is currently touring across Canada hitting the current Jazz festival circuit. As you can see below, pianist Dave Restivo is clearly enjoying his time out West:
