Fly, a trio featuring Mark Turner on tenor sax, Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums ended a week-long run at The Village Vanguard with an electric performance on Sunday night. Grenadier and Ballard continue to impress as one of the tightest rhythm sections out there, most notably elsewhere with their work on Brad Mehldau’s Day Is Done and on the forthcoming Metheny/Mehldau ensemble album. Fly is a stage for these three dynamic musicians to push the envelope of modern jazz. Together with groups like Happy Apple, The Bad Plus, and E.S.T., I think they are redefining the expectations of a modern jazz trio.
They put it this way:
"Fly is progressively bringing together many musical elements, traditions, histories and mysteries," says Turner. "Multiplicity is presented under an unassuming hat. In other words, we are working toward saying it all without saying it all, expressing complexity by simplicity. Musically speaking, we are creating songs that can be heard on a number of levels and from a variety of different viewpoints."
Ballard also points out that Fly expands on the trio format. "There is a density in our songs and arrangements. With few instruments, we create a full ensemble sound."
From the opening tune on Sunday night, the audience was visibly entranced by Ballard’s ferocious rhythms. It’s not even that he leads with challenging patterns and fills; his relaxed stature seems to take him to a place from which complex polyrhythms and syncopated phrases emerge with an excitingly unpredictable spontaneity.
The group seamlessly moved from solo sections to melodies and back again: the tunes were at once borderless, yet at the same time inflected with a highly-structured feel. A syncopated Ballard solo would smoothly transition into a tight melody, played in unison by Turner and Grenadier and embellished by Ballard’s cymbal hits. It had the energy of big-band jazz, yet, as Ballard observed, a certain density that never let you feel assured you knew where the piece was going, or to where it might return.
Two compositions in the first set stood out in particular: Turner’s “Supersister” and Grenadier’s “State of the Union”, a track from the groups’ 2004 self-titled release. State of the Union, a ponderous, brooding piece, began with Grenadier’s gentle melody played on the upper register of his acoustic bass. Turner entered soon thereafter and carried the head. Ballard stayed with brushes until deep into the song, letting his hits resound on a sizzle-cymbal.
In all, this was a stunning show, more than a showcase of three top jazz players: it was a feat of intergroup balance and understanding that, for me, cemented Fly as a top trio in today’s scene.
I’ll be back to catch The Bad Plus at the VV at the end of January. Stay tuned.
