Pro-Verb Trio @ Trabendo 6/09/07 Paris- Jazz à la Villette

First time i saw those three guys: well, very impressing !!
I've already heard some Steve's and Kokayi's albums so i knew before they're awesome, especially in live, but i've never heard the drummer Tyshawn Sorey, that was very good surprise even though i knew steve never play with average musicians. Very strong and explosive percussion at the drums, kokayi always at his best (i hope some rappers will take example on his vocals techniques) and very good solos of Steve Coleman.

Hope ftp will be up soon, and i won't miss next concert for sure !

thanks for the report.

Ill add some more infos later, but as you said it was explosive !

I've just re-watched the concert and there is some amazing improvisation parts !

I've started editing the video with audio from soundboard and it should be great to watch and listen to.

Dim.

ok that's great !! it's a really good news cause the live was dope
i'll hope you get enough time to do it
by the way is it possible you make also just the audio version ? cause the sound of my computer is not the same quality of my stereo

Yes there will be a audio version, MP3 only though.

Dim.

Only one camera and some shaky zoom but the vibe is there I guess



EDIT :

Here is the link

Currently uploading, Should be ready in less than 2 hours. the file size is around 600 Megs.

okay !! that's really good news
the concert was dope and i'm glad to hear and see it again

thanks Dim

See above for a link tot the video.

Ill add comments later, goign to work right now.

Dim.

Hi Dimitri,

i saw you've upload the Pro-Verb Trio concert, i've starting downloading it
the video is worth for sure cause live was dope !!

by the way i've seen the Metrics @ La Villette 2002, and this is really great too !!
so bad i wasn't able to see it at this time, but anyway i was wondering if there is an audio version of the concert available, cause you said you've overdubbed the sound from the 2 CD set

thanks for all your work man !

Hi,

So far there has been more than 70 downloads for this concert, I wish there will be more posts in the forum to have people's impression about it but anyway...

I have the audio version of the Metrics gig a t la Villette 2002 but I didnt bring the tapes with m in Abidjan yet, so I cant do nothing at the moment.

Ill try o remember that later,

Dim.

I really like the Pro-Verb-Video. I like the “pure” Coleman-music (Rhythm Edition video, Fnac concert etc.) most and I’m not really a fan of Rap. But what Kokayi does is a special thing. I really like the Pro Verb Trio, I’m glad to have got this video and I often listen to this music. From my point of view it represents an important “black music”-element in Coleman’s spectrum.

When Coleman says that Kokayi and Sorey need nothing (make music from nothing) it reminds me of Max Roach who said: “… we called us negroes – new growth” (both terms sound similar): nobody taught Dizzy Gillespie to play the trumpet in this way; nobody taught Thelonious Monk to play the piano in this way etc. etc. … that’s creativity, that’s a “new growth”.
In this way I try to understand it and I think: What the Pro-Verb-Trio does is a really fresh thing - far from those things which turn “Jazz” into a very classical thing.

hi all,

here is my take on this concert. As a road manager there is many things you can see happening in the music, this is what I saw and heard from this night.

Before the concert there was a very long rehearsal session for the Five Elements groups who will perform a couple days later.
tyshawn had to be there the whole day but Kokayi spent the day with his friends in Paris, hangin round.

the soundcheck was even moved from 5pm to 6.30pm to allow for more time with the rehearsal.

the soundcheck was just a matter of checking he drums kit and cymbals. tyshawn, Kokayi, Steve and me went to the venue and in 45/60 mins everything was setup.

the only problem was Steve's microphone who was not the one as specified in the rider. So the Trabendo people found the correct one quickly.

Kokayi spent 3mins on the mike and checking the venue as he went there a couple of times when it was still the HOT BRASS. We talked about some souvenirs we had from different perspective :
I was in the audience and he was on stage !
but we both had some wonderful memories of what happend on thoses crazy nights.

Tyshawn of course needed a little more time to setup but he was quick and started to play his double kick pedal to show me the progress he did, I was stunned !

Steve went to play some sax, time for the sound enginneer to do the sound quick cause he didnt stay on stage more than 6 or 7 mins.

during the soundcheck I setup my camera close to the soundboard, I knew it was not optimum in terms of angle of view, I was a little far from the stage, but this way I could handle the camera almost all the time.

then we all came back tot the hotel, the gig was scheduled at 10pm, it was
7.30.

so on this night, the 3 musicians went onstage without ANY rehearsal, I mean nothing. (like Steve said)

At the end of the concert, before the encore, I went to the backstage and I told the 3 guys how impressed I was cause I was the only who knew this was spontaneous improvisation for the msot part.

And I guess that's why Steve told the audience how lucky he was to be able to play with musicians of this quaility, I found the few words he says very nice.

He spent the whole day rehearsing written music with strings quartet + Five Elements, they worked a lot on the music and then he was suddenly free of any scores, chords etc...

I really love this concert caue of the spontaneity all the musicians bring to the music.

During the concert, the vibe was there, the audience went crazy on aa couple occasions and people were hangin in the venue long after the music was over, talking with the musicians.

I hope you will enjoy it the way I did.

Dim.

Thanks a lot, Dim, for helping to imagine what really happened in this concert and to understand Coleman’s words.

One question: After nearly one hour the video-stream stops until to the last minutes. No problem! The audio is ok! But I wonder: Is it a failure on my computer or didn’t work your camera?

Manfred,

The video should be ok until the end, there is only a few blackout when changing tapes.

Could someone confirm that problem ?
Cause the version I have in my comuter is ok, but I dont know about the one in the FTP, my slow connection will take 2 or 3 days to dowload it (took me a week to upload )

Dim.

EDIT:

Ok, I just checked the file In the server and it seems there is a differences in size with mine on my computer.
So I have deleted the video in the server temporarily, will let you know when I found a solution.

Im now re uploading the concert video but it will take at least 24 hours to be completed.

So dont download now as you wont have the full size file, Ill let you know when ready.

Dim.

ok,

The new version is available on the FTP, same places

it should be ok, video is all the way thru the document until the end.
Encore is included as well.

enjoy and sorry for the wrong file I posted before.

Dim.

thanks Dim !

Yeah, thanks a lot!

can you guys confirm the video is fine now ?

yeah the video is good no problem at all
thanks again

But anyway thanks Dim for letting us imagine the day of this concert... You know how I'd have loved to be there.... I always find this spontaneity in Steve's concerts really impressive... There is something new every time, that's why I always have a great pleasure to listen at his music.

Thanks too for having uploaded that video again !!

Thank you very much for this video Dimitri...
Well.... I miss this concert....
I can say that it is the biggest mistake of my 2007 year....
Thanks for all the infos you gave, it is really interesting !!
I REALLY hope to see this kind of formation here in France again.

carterheywood wrote:

I REALLY hope to see this kind of formation here in France again.

Hey ! they're playing again together in Fontenay sous bois (94) the 9th of february '08... At least I guess that because I saw Steve Coleman and Opus akoben ( name of the hip hop band including the rappers kokayi and sub-zero ) scheduled at the same date and same time ! I won't make it there unfortunately and again....