Bang on a Can All Stars featuring Terry Riley
Live @ Le Poisson Rouge; New York, NY
November 8, 2008

Photo by Thomas Wilk

Collectively, BOAC could claim to have the finger strength equivalent to an independent nation whose main industry is making Chinese fingertraps, (ultra-nimble fingers, my friends!). Fronted by Evan Ziporyn on baritone sax and clarinets, Bang on a Can All-Stars hatcheted out sounds choppy, abrupt, lush, opulent, and at times “new agey.” Without Terry Riley for the first half of the program, the jazz sextet that is Bang on a Can All-Stars bolted through wild aural orgies, and then conveyor-belted through a gentler tracks, such as, a number off of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

BOAC’s music often could have accompanied a Lynchian scene where elderly people on the West coast are overzealously smiling in the back of a large town car a la the bright and foreboding opening scenes of Mulholland Drive. Robert Black, card-carrying member of the International Society of Bassists (ISB), stood redwood-strong in the center of the BOAC ensemble, wielding a stand-up bass, and Ning Yu, pianist, frenetically made sonic mincemeat under demure shades of red and blue.
More on Live Review: Terry Riley