PREVIEW: New, Improvising Jazz Trio Creates on the Fly
Jazz guitarist Mark Kleinhaut introduces his new trio, In This Moment, Wednesday, June 25 at the Spring Street Gallery.
Kleinhaut played the cozy Gallery regularly before COVID, then turned to online performing, mostly solo. His videos showcase a tasteful amplified-acoustic guitar sound whose warm charm feels invitingly comfortable even when he ventures off the map of conventional song forms. Building a new band with longtime cellist Ed Green and new singer Shiri Zorn, the guitarist-composer-leader expands that elegance-with-freedom approach.
The trio seems his natural habitat and most frequent context on more than half of his dozen or so albums.
Shiri Zorn often sings without words. Her low-pressure restraint leaves room to add regional influences onto either standards or free improvisations. On her two albums – fellow singer Tierney Sutton produced her debut “Into Another Land” and “Looking for the Light” just arrived – and you’ll hear Middle Eastern minor key explorations or spry bossa bounce. Even without words, you can hear her meaning.
Green first trained on trombone before moving to bass, then cello; so he plays more emphatic rhythms than most string players, plus horn-players’ breath-shaped phrasing. He played in (fellow trombonist) Kai Winding’s Septet and local hero Lee Shaw, plus jazz and pop stars including Nancy Wilson, Charlie Byrd, the Temptations, Tom Jones, Paul Anka and many more.
Longtime bandmates, Kleinhaut and Green smoothly leave space for one another and support each other’s solos. Kleinhaut comps chords behind Green’s pizzicato runs and Green plucks or bows chords behind Kleinhaut. Zorn has learned this language and fits and flows fluently with the guys.
Show time for In This Moment is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 25 at Spring St. Gallery (110 Spring St., Saratoga Springs). 20 in advance, $25 at the door eventbrite.com
Hoke's Jukebox 