The Athenaeum’s “Farrell Family Jazz at the Athenaeum” series concluded last Thursday (July 23rd) with a knockout performance from the Geoffrey Keezer/Peter Sprague quartet. If you’ve read the teaser I published a few weeks ago, you know how excited I was for this concert, and Thursday’s performance proved that my enthusiasm was well-deserved. The group was a hit, and their chemistry got better and better as their set progressed, culminating in their final song: a remarkable, spontaneous mix of recognizable jazz tunes and group improvisation.
Of course, here is the usual housekeeping:
Personnel: Geoffrey Keezer (Piano), Peter Sprague (Guitar), Hamilton Price (Bass), Duncan Moore (Drums).
1st Set:
Untitled Peter Sprague original – described by the composer as some “nonsense” he wrote in Thessaloniki, Greece.
“Tea and Watercolors” – G. Keezer.
“Solar” – M. Davis (authorship disputed).
John Lennon Medley; included “Give Peace a Chance” and others.
“Shinobi” – P. Sprague.
2nd Set:
“Secret Code” – P. Sprague, available on Peter Sprague’s solo guitar album. Keezer turned Sprague’s familiar, friendly island chords into crushing, avant-garde soundscapes with his expert use of key-shifting.
“Leucadia” – G. Keezer, from Keezer’s album “Áurea.”
Here’s where it got really good:
Peter Sprague guitar feature. Sprague played an unaccompanied, classical-and-flamenco-flavored introduction. The entire band then joined in, and began to play “Hope in the Face of Despair,” by Billy Childs. This then morphed into dense, avant-garde improvisation, followed by a hint of Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints.” Suddenly, the group busted into a meaty funk groove (I think this surprised them as much as it surprised the audience). Finally, the song turned into the Miles Davis standard, “Seven Steps to Heaven.”
This third song was almost entirely impromptu, but its intensity was really exceptional. Without a doubt, this was a crowd favorite, and a great way to end the night. One of my most vivid memories of the night is Peter Sprague joyfully playing a crazy version of “Camptown Races” (harmonized in tritones, for all you musicians) in the heat of the final number. Thank you to Geoffrey Keezer, Peter Sprague, Hamilton Price, and Duncan Moore for bringing the Farrell Family Jazz at the Athenaeum series to an amazing close.
