This show was another unexpected pleasure for me.  The Matt Wilson Quartet was performing with special guest John Medeski, who I knew and enjoyed when I saw him perform with Medeski Martin & Wood.

The Quartet Watching Matt Wilson

What a treat this evening turned out to be! Matt Wilson is a wonderful band leader – his humor and intelligence shine alongside his musical talent.  His sense of humor is evident on his website – he refers to himself as M@ and the media on which his music is recorded is a SeeDee.

Matt is a drummer, and an excellent one. We were fortunate to be sitting where we could see him play. In the opening number, his sticks glided over the drum heads. It isn’t that he was fast or flashy – he didn’t need to be.

Matt

My favorite number of the evening was from the CD ‘Humidity’ and is called ‘Raga.’ It seemed to be improvisational, yet it wasn’t. They played bells and metal pieces that were percussive; John plucked at the strings of the grand piano (or possibly was hitting them with a mallet – I couldn’t see into the belly of the grand piano to see exactly how he was making the sound).

Matt during ‘Raga’

Kirk Knuffke on the cornet, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Jeff Lederer on reeds comprise the rest of the band. Some have been touring with Matt for longer than others, but that was not obvious from the performance.  They were tight.

Kirk Knuffke

Jeff Lederer

Chris Lightcap

One of the things I particularly like about the Boston music scene is the variety of musicians who perform here.