Kudos to the Seattle PI for their coverage of the Earshot Jazz Festival … a Seattle daily newspaper actually publishes a jazz review! Let’s hope there is more coming soon.
Radding and Rigler hit the right note; Harris and Watts fall short
By BILL WHITE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Two duos brought different listening experiences to the Chapel on Monday night. Reuben Radding (bass) and Jane Rigler (flute) were like funambulists who created their own falls and recoveries. Radding, the more dangerous player, was balanced by Rigler’s classical poise. Trevor Watts (saxophone) and Jamie Harris (percussion) blended free jazz with traditional African rhythms, a combination that wasn’t entirely successful in the duo format.
One could imagine a martial-arts duel choreographed to the musical exchanges between Radding and Rigler. The opening piece was a short round of sparring jabs, with Rigler thrusting syncopated blasts of wind into Radding’s off-kilter balancing act. She switched to piccolo for the next piece, playing flurries of notes without giving any of them a conventional tone, while Radding scraped his bow against the face of his instrument before the resolution of a low, bowed note that sounded like a distant foghorn.