Ask The Ages at Cafe Racer October 29, 2010

Caught most of Ask The Ages set at Cafe Racer.  Great players.  Interesting to see the instruments enhanced by effects: both trumpet (Matt Reid) and vibes (Steven Bell) pumped the sound through numerous petals, most notably digital delay. It worked -- the effects didn't mask any lack of chops, that's fer sure.  Rather, it contributed to their sound, which became more lush, more trippy, more hypnotic.  Both players full of ideas.  Bassist (Greg Campbell) on upright bass also doing something to his sound, maybe compression, something else. Sometimes he was riff-centric, sometimes not. Guitar (Brian Heaney) had a fat sound, almost overdriven, but not quite, big tone. Going through a Egnator set up that sounded wicked. Larger than life solos.  Drummer (Greg Campbell) was a shredder, like only jazz drummers are. Like these guys; happy that this kind of jazz is surging in Seattle. Cool to see younger players together with older players, everybody wanting to up their game.