Dave Burrell solo piano @ Tonic

Long opening piece: Double Heartbeat

Tense, jagged structure building.

Rolling fists.

Morphing historical present sucking in the past and future.

Within a thirty second section he can go seamlessly from Wagnerian to Impressionistic to Monk without any interruption of continuity.

Consistent cluster textures shot throughout a wide range of structure building moves.

Despite the tense, hunched, jagged energies the music always retains a certain about of swing. The Monk feeling is never entirely absent.

A certain amount of theater: turning around and playing the piano backwards. Well dressed.

Dense palm-sized clusters with left hand at the low end morphing into a waltz.

The way Burell plays, anything can be coherently included -- he could have gone in to a version of Feelings and it would have worked.

Stride with clusters.

Jagged, comical, nightmarish rhythms.

April in Paris: Immediately splintered apart.

Everything-happens-at-once take on tradition like Frederic Rzewski variations. Splintered, inside-out and backwards.

Using his tension for a variety of purposes rather than simply foisting the tension upon the audience.

The walking bas never fully leaves.