Tim Armacost NY Standards Quartet
Body and Soul August 6, 2024
Time Armacost ティム･アマコスト - tenor sax
David Berkman デビット･バーグマン - piano
Daiki Yasukagawa 安ヵ川大樹 - bass
Gene Jackson ジーン･ジャクソン – drums
It’s appropriate that Armacost’s NYSQ played for the 50th anniversary of the Body and Soul jazz club. The owner gave him his first gig some thirty years ago after telling him to keep practicing. That advice paid off. Nearly every year since, Armacost has returned to Japan with his intense, well-crafted jazz for a tour.
The quartet does play standards, gems like “Misty,” but the rearrangement is what makes them shine. Flipping back and forth between buoyant harmonies and minor chords, the standard became more complicated and exciting than most renditions. “Hide the standard” is the band’s motto, Armacost joked, but taking the standard and raising it to a high standard is how it sounds.
“Some Other Time” is a hard song to play after Bill Evans, but the quartet found fresh pools of lovely, wistful feelings left inside. Berkman’s piano solo was vibrant with harmonic invention. Thelonius Monk’s “Ugly Beauty” was delivered with Monk’s iconic off-rhythm and robust and steady energy. The band kept digging into the standards and finding fresh inventions and directions for each.
Joey Calderazzo’s “The Mighty Sword” might be the one tune of the night that is not considered a standard. But it will be if the quartet’s version is heard more often. It was a great, swinging take on a vibrant song that was easy in everyone’s hands. The next tune, Berkman’s “But Not Again,” was built on a standard “But Not For Me.” Departing from the chords but suggesting and referencing them repeatedly, the tune’s rhythm was the right spot for a fantastic drum solo from Jackson. He’s the kind of drummer who makes everything look easy, even when it’s strikingly difficult.
Of course, “Body and Soul” was on the set list, but like the other standards the quartet played, it upended expectations in all the right ways. They touched on the recognizable melody, but not for too long. Armacost had too many things to say about the songs in his own unique way. The standout of a night of standout standards was probably Coltrane’s “The Fifth House.” Jackson erupted with a stretched-out drum solo, while Yasukagawa’s bass solo held nothing back. His bass grounded each song with an experienced depth and great rhythmic feel.
Another Monk classic, “Straight No Chaser,” let everyone in the band have a great time closing out the set. But not! The audience demanded an encore, and the standard, “I Love You,” was the perfect closer—a gem played with infectious joy.
The quartet will no doubt return to Japan for their annual tour next year. They’re not to be missed. Balancing fresh harmonies on old structures, playing with delight, and understanding the standards deeply are rarer than they should be, but Tim Armacost’s NYSQ does all that with delight.
