Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray at Pyatt Hall pre-jazzfest

Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar and Oakland-born, New York-based saxophonist David Murray played a duo show at Pyatt Hall last night. In one of the highest-profile Infidels Jazz shows to date, the two masters offered a dynamic set of freebop, funky soul, and the blues.

Gordon Grdina played solo acoustic guitar and oud for the opening set, using no amplification. His quietest notes drew maximum attention from the room and took advantage of Pyatt’s great acoustics; the set on the whole wouldn’t be far from what Julian Lage might do on Tuesday. Using good humour to diffuse the magnitude of opening for these two — he thanked the audience “for coming tonight to hear only me” — Grdina welcomed us into the room as surely as he facilitated connections behind-the-scenes to help make this show possible.

El’Zabar and Murray have collaborated for decades. The 2020 album Kahil El’Zabar’s Spirit Groove includes Murray, and three of Murray’s albums from the 1990s (A Sanctuary Within, The Tip, and Jug-A-Lug) include El’Zabar.

Murray’s previous show in Vancouver couldn‘t have been more different than this free-flowing duo outing. At the 2013 jazzfest, the David Murray Infinity Quartet and vocalist Macy Gray played the music of their album released that year, Be My Monster Love, at the Vogue Theatre. I was there and picked up the album on CD; Alex Varty’s interview for the Georgia Straight at the time captures the odd musical couple well.

On that album is a track called “Stressology”. Yes, Tim Reinert looked stressed before this show, which sold out at the eleventh hour. However, he was undeniably delighted in his brief emcee’s intro for the duo, talking about how at age 17 hearing Murray in the World Saxophone Quartet “changed [his] life”.

No one plays higher-than-you-thought-possible notes on the tenor saxophone like Murray. His relentless, inventive free improv integrates Albert Ayler’s fury, the classic breathy sound of Coleman Hawkins, and extended circular breathing techniques. Murray put it all on display while casually walking across the stage from side to side, stopping directly in front of some attending readers of this column to play several phrases.

El’Zabar matched Murray’s intensity, delivering powerful drum solos with plenty of gestures and vigorous facial expressions. But he also brought the sensitivity that Grdina did in the opening set, using a kalimba (the only instrument plugged-in to anything) to play simple chords and getting a full dynamic range out of the cajon instrument.

El’Zabar brought the duo down to a whisper to play “Summertime” — expanded by bouts of free improv soloing, of course. On the kalimba, El’Zabar provided just one minor chord for the whole song, and then just a funky vamp for the following number where Murray switched to bass clarinet.

Murray stepped furthest away from the spotlight on the fourth number as El’Zabar sang in a soulful voice full of blue notes. The percussionist had also been vocalizing throughout the show, humming melodies on top of his own drum solos while resonating with the pitches of his drums, reinforcing the insistent grooves he fed into the improv.

El’Zabar led out that closing tune (preceding an encore) by saying, “Thank you for letting us be ourselves.” It’s not only a Sly Stone reference but a concise summary of the joy and uninhibited improvisation they shared for nearly an hour.

The duo played Wednesday at Kelowna‘s Summerhill Winery and will play tonight in Portland, Oregon at the Jack London Revue, continuing their tour which I’ve seen billed as the Friends for Life Tour or the Golden Sea Duo.

This wasn't a Vancouver International Jazz Festival show, yet I'll find it hard to match among the festival's proper programming that begins today. It speaks highly of our scene that a year-round programmer can book something as rare and exciting as any of the jazzfest proper's headliners might be, drop it on the night before, and basically extend the feeling of the festival.