Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. Krannert Art Museum will present the Sudden Sound Concert featuring bassist Yosef Ben Israel leading an all-star, Chicago-based, progressive jazz ensemble featuring keyboardist Robert ‘Baabe’ Irving III, saxophonist Ari Brown and drummer Avreeayl Ra.
Chicago lays claim to perhaps the world’s greatest contemporary jazz scene, brimming with hungry, young lions and seasoned veterans alike. Krannert Art Museum hosts a distinctly talented group of the latter tonight. Bassist Yosef-Ben Israel has lent his rock-solid skills to the Kahil El’Zabar Ritual Trio and Ernest Dawkins’ New Horizon Ensemble. Tonight he leads an ensemble composed of tenor saxophonist Ari Brown, pianist Robert Irving III, and drummer Avreeayl Ra. Each of them brings decades of experience to the group and an understanding that “free” jazz does not necessarily imply the excision of anything faintly resembling a melody. That balance of the in and the out, the cool and the fiery, should make for a thrillingly dynamic show.