by Giovanni Russonello and Luke Stewart
Editorial board
This past Sunday’s D.C. Jazz Loft was a thrill because all three bands came out in top form, swinging, grooving and burning the place down. But the reason why the four-hour-long affair was worth staying until the very end – as most in the audience did – was the wide variety of approaches on display.
That high level of diversity, coupled with dazzling talent, will be the name of the game again this Monday at 8 p.m., when CapitalBop hosts a double-bill concert at Red Door. The show pairs Ideal Bread, fresh off the boat from the New York City vanguard, with D.C.’s trombone master Reginald Cyntje.
Brooklyn-based Ideal Bread has released two albums, both focusing on the repertoire of saxophonist and experimental music legend Steve Lacy. The quartet’s music ranges from fully composed pieces to long-form free improvisation. They play serious music with a crack sense of humor, and their concerts can offer moving, thrilling and comical moments in quick succession.
Ideal Bread – sample from Transmit (2010)
[audio:http://cuneiformrecords.com/realaudio/IDealBread-AsUsual.mp3|titles=Ideal Bread]
D.C. trombonist and composer Reginald Cyntje brings his roots in the U.S. Virgin Islands to bear on a warm, danceable brand of jazz music. Often using a steel pan drum and vibraphones, his tunes cast a haze of good energy. His 2011 debut album, Freedom’s Children: The Celebration received a glowing review on this website, and at Red Door he’ll be performing some of the tunes from that album.
Reginald Cyntje, “Peace & Love”
[audio:https://www.capitalbop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/06-Peace-and-Love.mp3|titles=Peace and Love]
This concert is sure to offer a similar vibe to what we attained at the DC Jazz Festival, when we presented a series of shows pairing NYC and D.C. acts. Red Door will only be around for another couple months, so don’t pass up this opportunity to see two top-notch bands from the East Coast’s two centers of jazz.
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