Self-styled variations on standards by renowned avant-jazz musicians from New York led by Tom Rainey, ‘a drummer of great intricacy and subtlety’ (The Wire).

Drummer Tom Rainey has been a fixture in New York’s avant-jazz scene since the early 1990s, until recently mainly as a sideman of countless other musicians including Fred Hersch, and now as a band leader in his own right. In his newest band Obbligato he once again establishes himself as ‘one of the most creative drummers in New York’ (Downbeat).

Tom Rainey’s Obbligato is an illustrious ensemble featuring co-veterans as well as like-minded younger musicians from New York. Together they reconfigure a series of standards from The Great American Songbook, including Dave Brubeck’s ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’, Thelonious Monk’s ‘Reflections’ and Duke Ellington’s ‘Prelude To A Kiss’.

‘The band members expertly blend together, suggesting the agile and empathic lines of West Coast jazz applied to fuzzy melodic shapes. Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Ralph Alessi sound utterly natural together: They don’t really take solos, but braid high-wire improvisations. The formal skeletons of the tunes provide a loose shape for the players to work within. Pianist Kris Davis never falls into easy vamps. She and bassist Drew Gress skate around the changes; sometimes it seems as though they’re contorting their lines to avoid the shapes, and sometimes they’re utterly embroiled in what their bandmates are doing. Rainey himself is perhaps the most liquid presence here, pushing and pulling against the grain, but never less than fully engaged’ (Downbeat).

The Bimhuis restaurant is open prior to the concert from 6.30 til 8.30PM (reservations via 020-7882158). After the concert, the Bimhuis Café is open (free entrance).

FEAT. RALPH ALESSI, INGRID LAUBROCK, KRIS DAVIS, DREW GRESS

Ingrid Laubrock tenor saxophone, Ralph Alessi trumpet, Kris Davis piano, Drew Gress bass, Tom Rainey drums