Davey is a spectacular, daredevil, improv guitar giant, who I have been checking out for about two decades, since the early days of the downtown scene, where he can be heard on Zorn and Chadbourne’s earliest lps. He has had a wacky longtime duo with LaDonna Smith called TransMusiq [sic] and has also been in one of the finest and most longlasting of downtown units - Curlew. Originally based in and still living in Birmingham, he comes to town all too rarely, but when he does, he always wows audiences and is full of surprises. Abbey is also a fabulous drummer from Florida who I don’t know very well, but do recall his recording(s) with another unknown tenor sax master - George Bishop once of NY Gong & early Microscopics. I did see/hear Abbey’s powerful drumming at the Vision fest this year with Billy Bang & Frank Lowe’s Jazz Doctors. Davey’s explorations and influences seem to come from everywhere - avant, jazz, rock, blues, country - the entire history of the el. guitar, while Abbey has a strong jazz background, he continually explores all improv domains, he is a much different partner than usual for Davey. Abbey has a lighter touch, all flows from a more restrained but ever moving scenery, this is certainly the quietest ever heard Davey play. The excitement & craziness finally sets in on “Bitsy,” where Davey sounds as if he is using a toy ray gun played through his pickup. Although this is quite a departure for both of these players, it works well because they listen closely and react on a more subtle level. Davey plays some deranged and explosive slide on the final piece “Live at the Fillmore East” - how well I remember those grand old gigs, just around the corner from where DMG is located, now sadly a bank and condos.
- dmq@panix.com
Jazz may be on the respirator - especially where live performance is South Florida is concerned - but there were some excellent jazz albums released this year, providing a glimmer of hope that the art form will live on into the next millennium. Here is my list of 1999’s best jazz CDs.
The Ballistics of Yin and Yang by Abbey Rader and Davey Williams (Abray). This duo recording of drummer Rader and guitarist Williams is abstract to the extreme, presenting evocative and impressionistic sondscapes of energy and movement. Williams sonically experiments with many possibilities of what a guitar can sound like, and Rader responds with great sensitivity and verve. Imagine a short-wave radio transmission from another galaxy.
-Bob Weinberg