MetalJazz

It's customary to talk about the "potential" of someone receiving something like the L.A. Jazz Society's New Note Award, but judging by his commissioned composition, "Dystopia," and its performance by his skilled young octet, Yafeu Tyhimba has already realized his potential; now he just has to keep at it. From his corner of the stage next to sympathetic drummer Trevor Zemtseff, Tyhimba manhandled electric and standup basses to propel the band along a swerving rail of dynamic changes. The quiet plangency of Kaitlin Miller's harp gave way to gnashing extended horn dissonances (Ennis Harris, Jordan de Tiege, Remee Ashley) and repeatedly subsided to allow her return; strange emissions would often creep in via the synthesizers of Samuel Reid or Alexis Angulo to accent the already broad palette. Beyond his sturdy bass chops, Tyhimba approached the microphone with a melodious tenor voice to highlight the composition's narrative of love amid chaos. The multipart structure hung together logically, and the emotion surged through, sorrowful but enduring. We want a recording.
Often sought out to spray fresh colors onto the fabric of Black Nile or the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra as a sideman, keyboardist Diego Gaeta recently released a debut solo album. On this night, he wanted us to sample that as well as open a window into his imagination. Gaeta immediately reinforced his main proclivity: He's a pretty player, with piano melodies seeming to flow effortlessly off his fingers, even sounding like Burt Bacharach for a second. To undercut his flowery side, Gaeta turns melodies into repeating riffs with unusual accents -- which didn't always translate into agreeable grooves with Ark drummer Mekala Session. Aided by the articulate Bryan Baker on flute and tenor sax, the unit did settle down after an appearance by singer Jimetta Rose, whose octave-jumping power was just too much for this tiny room. Additionally, Gaeta's creative mind dared the unexpected with mixed results. Telling us all to record him for a couple of minutes, then having us play it back in almost-unison as he improvised over it, turned out to be mini-magic. Tasking two non-experts in his quartet to play wooden flutes in a spontaneous three-way flute jam with Baker, not so much.
But jazz people don't complain when they get surprises. A satisfying evening in this cradle of our city's music.