I’m usually quite stingy in my offering a standing ovation, music or theater, preserving it for an appreciation of what I take to be an outstanding performance (not just a decent performance at an event where I spend a lot of money to see someone expected to deliver a decent performance, which I sense is the general criterion for standing ovations these days). But last night I was among the first of the entire crowd of a hundred or so jammed into Jardine’s jazz club in Kansas City at the end of a 90-minute set by the recently formed Max Weinberg Big Band. Weinberg is a clean, crisp drummer in the Buddy Rich style, and a charismatic bandleader. And his 14 other musicians (mostly horns, with a bass and piano) ranged from very good to exceptional. Here’s a review from KC’s Pitch which I agree wholly with (and there’s couple of photos (I was seated at a table just to the right, three tables directly in front of Max’s drum kit, what I took to be the best seat in the house (note the resemblance between Max and me))). And here’s a video of "Kitty’s Back" (from another performance) which ended the set last night and I thought worked well in a big band format.
