West Oakland Sound Series
2201 Poplar Street
March 30, 2024
I left the West Oakland Sound Series on Sunday night absolutely tickled with the write-up I knew I had ahead of me. It was a delightful jazz show, weird enough to entertain this musicology nerd, weird enough to pair bagpipes with an 11-string bass, and definitely one of the coolest shows I’ve seen recently in my own neighborhood.
The Dresher Ensemble Studio hosts the weekly sound series to keep original music alive. Where would the Oakland contemporary music scene be without experimental jazz and a little weirdness?
The building is a cool industrial setting, what you might expect across the street from Pacific Pipe climbing gym and American Steel. You pass by a large, airy lobby and modern planters as you wind your way to the Sound Series. The concert space itself is simple, with just about 30 chairs set up in close proximity to the stage.
The Beth Schenck quintet played first, sharing a handful of Schenck’s original tunes.It opened with “Capable of Small Things,” written during the pandemic to represent the passing of time and the feeling of stir-craziness. We heard beautiful interplay between Schenck on the alto sax and Kasey Knudsen on the tenor sax, who crooned together on juicy homophonic lines, took turns answering each other. Each soloed throughout the set. Matt Wrobel’s smooth Gibson guitar was warm; he even got a delighted laugh from Schenck as he closed out “Dinner with Carla,” a swing tune dedicated to the late great Carla Bley.
The drummer Jordan Glenn had his turn making gentle chaos for several minutes in one number, scratching sticks softly across cymbals, brushing toms with a towel, tapping and scraping on various parts of his kit, as the rest of the band sustained harmonics and created a sense of unease before moving into a smooth chordal harmony and lyrical lines. Lisa Mezzacappa rounded out this fantastic ensemble on upright bass; I read later that she and Glenn also co-organize a weekly live music laboratory at Temescal Art Center.
The second set featured Blarvuster, which made me ask myself: Wen was the last time I saw a bagpipe show that made me tap my toes?
From their website: “Blarvuster’s music merges Scottish bagpipes, Balinese gamelan, minimalism, improvisation and rock into a textural labyrinth of ecstatic sound.” In the small room it was surprisingly well balanced, and I loved seeing and hearing bandleader Matthew Welch play bagpipes in such close quarters.
There were enough references here to set this music nerd out to do their homework. Blarvuster played a rendition of Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter,” which was effective on bagpipe, bass, and drums. (The Planets suite was originally written for piano duet and later transcribed by the composer for orchestra.)
Other highlights from the second set were “Gorgamor the Giant Gecko,” a tune written to, yes, a giant gecko that Welch met while studying the gamelon in Bali, and “Blind Piper’s Obstinancy,” a 23-minute rendition of another historic reference that included several interludes of Welch singing and playing saxophone.
I was delighted in the intimate audience and the weekly commitment from the organizers to promote original contemporary music. I highly suggest this concert series for anyone who loves a little weirdness and wants to support local live music.
To learn more about the West Oakland Sound Series, visit here.
