I knew John Abercrombie‘s reputation but had never seem him perform, so I jumped at the opportunity to see him at Regattabar last weekend.

John Abercrombie

This was an excellent performance, made better by the absence of pretense and showmanship.

John opened the set with a lovely instrumental version of ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, a jazz standard that I never tire of hearing. I almost heard a voice emanating from his guitar, singing the lyrics.

John Abercrombie

From there, he launched into a free-flowing song from his most recent release; ‘Vertigo’ is the song, 39 Steps is the album title. I closed my eyes and listened, almost feeling that sense of vertigo. If I had been standing, I might have had to sit! The song truly evoked that feeling.

John Abercrombie

John has assembled a terrific quarter, which includes Mark Copland on piano, Drew Gress on upright bass, and Joey Baron on drums. They are all excellent musicians, but Joey amazed me! He is animated and a lot of fun to watch and to hear.

Marc Copland

Drew Gress

Joey Baron

Joey also wore the most interesting shirt that evening, as noted by John. He is not a showman.

Joey Baron

John has played with many of the jazz greats over the past almost 50 years – Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, the Brecker Brothers, to name a few. If you look at his discography, he has probably recorded with every notable jazz musician since he started performing.

John Abercrombie

I loved watching Joey make eye contact with the other musicians; he watched intently, yet never missed a beat (at least not that I could discern). They were all enjoying themselves – and one another – as much as the audience was.

Joey Baron

The style this night was mostly jazz fusion, with some traditional riffs as well as some avant-garde ones.

John Abercrombie

Marc Copland

Drew Gress

Joey Baron

This was another night of quality music. If you’re interested in hearing wonderful instrumental jazz, you would not go wrong with John Abercrombie Quartet.

Joey Baron

Ticket courtesy of Regattabar; all opinions are my own.