By Bill Barton
REVIEW: CUONG VU TRIO WITH BILL FRISELL
MEANY THEATER, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
FEBRUARY 6, 2008
I just returned from hearing the Cuong Vu Trio with special guest Bill Frisell at the University of Washington’s Meany Theater. This was a great show, one long set. Frisell did some of the best playing I’ve ever heard from him live. Strangely enough I’ve always enjoyed him more playing with other people’s groups than with his own. As I sort of expected he was delving into the louder, rockier side of his playing personality for the most part.
Vu’s trumpet and electronics never fail to create some varied soundscapes, ranging from the atmospheric and ambiant to the downright raucous. He is a real master at using looping in live performance. At one point he built up a beautifully meshed series of interlocking loops (I counted either 13 or 14 layers) that practically lifted me out of my seat: one hell of a big band for a quartet! His pure acoustic sound is gorgeous too and he can play in the high register with amazing control at very, very low decibel levels as well as anyone I’ve heard.
Then there’s the maniacal Stomu Takeishi on electric bass… The guy’s a wild man. Vu, Takeishi and Frisell had lots of the latest and greatest digital toys to play with, twisting dials, pushing pedals, adjusting this, tweaking that, but for me the highlight of Takeishi’s playing came when he was using what looked like a plain old tin can as a slide on his bass and standing in front of his amplifier’s speaker to obtain controlled feedback. Awesome set!
Be sure to hear “Accelerated Thoughts” from the new artistShare CD Vu-Tet; they played a fine version of this twisting, turning, hyper-fast almost-bebop tune tonight. The Vu-Tet disc is exceptional. Check it out.