John Jorgenson Quintet - Live at The Cutting Room in NYC
Written by Bert Saraco
From a whisper to crashing crescendos and pin-point breaks, the Quintet plays with passion and precision with Jorgenson acting as a congenial and laid-back host for the evening...
The John Jorgenson Quintet – at The Cutting Room in NYC
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The night was insufferably hot but the music was even hotter – in fact, all you had to do was close your eyes and you were hearing The Hot Club of France at a crowded little bistro in the 1930s. Opening your eyes reveals it's actually Manhattan's Cutting Room, and that John Jorgenson's Quintet were onstage playing mesmerizing acoustic music. Relying heavily on the sounds of guitar legend Django Reinhardt and jazz violin master Stephane Grappelli (each contributed essential elements of the Quintet of The Hot Club of France sound), Jorgenson's group combines swinging jazz with hints of classical, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern motifs. If you listen carefully you might even hear an Allman Brothers riff sneak in…
Jorgenson's admiration for Django is evident in every aspect of his playing – he even demonstrated Reinhardt's 'two-finger technique' at the beginning of "Love Letters," a Hot Club standard. Playing Grappelli to Jorgenson's Reinhardt is Jason Annik, whose swinging solos made his violin soar with dazzling, inventive runs. Making the rhythm cook all night long was the young guitarist Max O'Rourke, who got a featured spot on "El Camino del Che," a blistering Jorgenson original. Simon Planting, on bass, was so good in The Robin Nolan Band that Jorgenson 'stole him' away to play with the quintet. Planting and Nashvillian Rick Reid (on brushed drums and percussion) each were featured in strong solo spots on "Mediterranean Blues," filling in the well-placed breaks with deft brushwork and fluid bass lines. Together, the five men create beautifully textured sounds, perform stunning solos, and all-around virtuosic playing. Audience members close to the stage were amazed by the furious tandem runs by Jorgenson and Annik, executing impossibly fast phrases in harmony and – even more astonishingly – sometimes in unison.
From a whisper to crashing crescendos and pin-point breaks, the Quintet plays with passion and precision with Jorgenson acting as a congenial and laid-back host for the evening. Even the unfortunate airport mix-up which deprived him of his performance guitar (and clarinet!) failed to sour Jorgenson, whose voice and Bouzouki survived the incident so that the crowd was treated to the guitarist adding vocals to "I've Got My Fingers Crossed," and playing his 'Greek banjo' on "One Stolen Night" and "Astiqbal Gathering," which he dedicated to his wife. Reaching back to his childhood discovery of classical music and a fascination with the soundtrack of Disney's Fantasia, Jorgenson offered an adaptation of familiar themes from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" – the part, he explained, where 'the naughty swan returns…'
A baker's dozen of wonderful songs ended with the furious gypsy-jazz of "Ghost Dance," one of Jorgenson's most popular pieces, and an encore of the dreamy, romantic Django composition, "Nuages," with a breathtakingly-beautiful guitar-only prelude by Jorgenson. The contrast between the two songs at the end of the evening showed the breadth of the band's abilities and the range of emotional engagement they inspire from an audience.
Hot indeed.
Words and images: Bert Saraco
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