Fly at Yoshi’s
Yoshi’s, Oakland – April 20, 2009 – 8:00 p.m.
Fly: Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. Photo by Robert Lewis.
This tour almost didn’t happen.
In a story that has been told and re-told over the past few months, saxophonist Mark Turner nearly severed two fingers while cutting firewood late last year, an incident that could have deprived the collective ensemble known as Fly of one-third of its personnel. And for a group as tightly interwoven and immersed in group-think as this one, there can be no substitutes.
Thankfully, Turner has recovered with remarkable speed. In the first set of their one-night gig at Yoshi’s Oakland, Fly negotiated seven musical obstacle courses with the precision of a commando team and the agility of an Olympic gymnast.
Lurching through tricky stops and twisting rhythmic shifts, leaping headlong into rapid sprints and sudden pauses, the trio seemed less like a band than a force: all facing forward on the stage, looking at each other only rarely, yet totally in sync. But as the set progressed, the combustible elements and remarkable interactions that make up Fly’s sound gradually came into sharp relief.
Bassist Larry Grenadier held center stage — a pivot point both figuratively and literally — and wrung the utmost from his instrument. Whether spitting out a solitary phrase, meticulously building a solo or holding down a steady walking line, Grenadier made each plucked note a statement unto itself, distinct, shining, full of subtle curves and dissonance. Drummer Jeff Ballard set up a similarly multi-pronged attack, with parallel quick jabs that seemed to come independently from each part of his kit, yet moved together in a stream of geometrically coordinated motion.
Turner, standing bolt upright and bobbing at the knees, alternated on tenor and soprano horn. At some points he poked gingerly at the grooves, prodding gently in one spot, then scurrying over to another to try again. At other times, he coiled his lines around the rhythms, squeezing like a boa constrictor, or slipped into boiling cascades of notes, rising as if to become airborne.
Taken together, the effect was at once breathtaking and baroque, its creators a harmonious team of badasses and philosophers. It’s good to see Fly back in action, and still at the top of their game.
Fly’s latest CD, Sky & Country, is available from ECM Records. Their website is at www.flytrio.com.
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