Michael Manring shouldn't have told us this music was weird; his trio tailored it to fit anyone with ears, so we wouldn't have known otherwise. The veteran fusionist himself began with a solo concertetto on his specially designed electric bass, through which he poured mournfully melodious colorations, making extensive use of a right-hand sustain device and undulatory effects. Then the group coalesced around numbers written by each, including Manring's mysteriously percolating "The Black Hand"; drummer Christopher Garcia's melodious waltz for his daughter; and a time-twisting, brain-teasing number by younger windman Daniel Weidlein. Weidlein filled out the sound on three saxes and two flutes augmented by loops and electronic effects, while Garcia, squatting on the floor, amplified the dynamism, dropping down to quiet the air on his pair of hand drums just so he cound strike a quick ding from his tree of percussion instruments, or shaking the whole room (a resonant bare-bones church) with a beatbox slapped by a foot pedal. Manring, meanwhile, was oozing and strumming all over the place, a five-octave orchestra unto himself. They all said this group brought out the unexpected in their compositions, just as no one in the audience could have expected what transpired. And that's why we came.
Another surprise arrived via the opening Brazilian guitar duo of Daniel Metz & Wesley Amorim. Disdaining quiet-nights passivity, these two attacked their acoustic frets with fierce daring, dancing around each other's lines and piling on hairy dissonances. Metz, also a capable singer, played the fluid foil, while Amorim embodied feral energy, smacking his lips to accent his lustiest plucks. Though the set stocked recognizable songs from Egberto Gismonti, Jimmy Van Heusen and others, the true marvels were the arrangements, more intricate and balanced than a Moorish facade. Sure, the duo had sheet music, but they weren't looking at it half the time. Staggering.
Topnotch low-cost show in a comfortable and accommodating Eagle Rock venue. L.A.'s the place.
PHOTO BY FUZZY BAROQUE.