Review: Brubeck Braid at Glamour Bar

Since we didn't make it to Saturday's show at twocities, we made a special effort to go hear the Canadian piano-cello duo this afternoon at Glamour Bar, and enjoyed it. The two players are both quite virtuosic on their respective axes, not to mention well versed in both the classical and jazz realms. And though there were plenty of jazz and classical influences present in the music, most of it was generally unclassifiable, eclectic melanges of various world rhythms and tonalities. Overall lots of fun... it made us think how (even more) exciting it would be to hear the two leading a larger ensemble playing the same music.

The two mainly performed pieces from their album twotet/deuxtet including Wash Away (inspired by a dream in which Chopin meets Ray Charles), Huevos Verdes Y Jamon (a springy tune with a Latin feel featuring percussive cello playing), Sniffin’ Around, and Spirit Dance.

A fellow Shanghaiist felt that Matt Brubeck (who is actually American, but is now based in Toronto) had an uncanny resemblance to Samuel Beckett. However it is unverifiable currently due to the lack of pictures online of Beckett in his youth.

Cross-posted at shanghaijazzscene.com