Ben Darwish Trio – Ode To Consumerism Release Party

Album release parties are the best. Oftentimes the crowd is ecstatic to hear new tunes and the band is jazzed to put their newest creations on display for their audience. There is a tendency for the band to try harder and perhaps be less likely to try and go on autopilot because they haven’t played the same tunes five thousand times already. At the recent release of the Ben Darwish Trio’s second album, Ode to Consumerism, there was plenty of excitement.

Darwish told me during a break between sets that this was the first time band had played together since this album was recorded live at Jimmy Mak’s in Portland last August (Darwish also is part of a jazz-funk band called Commotion and had been working with them in the meantime), so there was definitely some nervous excitement building up at the start of the show. But whatever rust was there at the start quickly disappeared.

They previewed four of the new tracks from the album, all of which had varied aesthetics and diverse energies. The title track centered around a mildly kooky piano loop—a trademark sound Darwish perfected on the band’s Diatic Records debut, Industrial Hero, two years ago)—before giving way to extended interludes, erratic drumming and dizzying piano-playing. Of the remaining three, the biggest hit was easily the band’s lounge-style rendition of Green Day’s “Longview.” This has been a staple of their live shows for a couple years now, and demonstrates the range and creativity this band possesses. Who knew Green Day could sound this good in a jazz setting? Other highlights included frenzied renditions of “Break!” “Dirty Hairy,” and fan favorite “Birds over Buoyancy.”

Darwish isn’t much for speaking in between songs during a set, so he lets his piano, facial expressions and body movements during the songs do the talking. His eyes are often closed as he plays, and sometimes he hunches over so far that his afro grazes the keys. Every now and then he contorted his mouth and twisted his head a little as he played, as though hearing the sound for the first time and thinking, “Okay, that was a good note to play next.”

With a different lineup from the one that was seen on the first record, the other members of the trio rounded things out admirably. Eric Gruber was feeling every second of his upright bass-playing, contorted his face, body and fingers in about a million directions throughout the night; while Jason Palmer drummed with variety, constantly changing time and yet still keeping rhythms with ease.

Jazz is largely about improvisation and there are bound to be a few flubs here and there, and whatever mistakes the band may have made that night were few and far between considering their initial rust. They put on a good show and demonstrated why the Portland jazz scene is alive and well and worth keeping a concentrated eye on.

Tagged as: Jazz, Portland

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