The John Moulder Quintet

Green Mill
Chicago, IL
November 11, 2006

John Moulder Quintet

Story and Photos by Brad Walseth

Guitar master John Moulder brought his quintet to the Green Mill Friday and Saturday night for a dazzling display of virtuosity that thrilled the packed house. With trumpeter Tito Carillo, drummer Paul Wertico, bassist Eric Hochberg and pianist Jeremy Kahn adding their widely acknowledged technique to Moulder's already exceptional six-string skills, the group presented three fascinating and convincing one-hour sets per night.

Saturday night found these wonderful musicians in an expressive and energetic mood. Playing songs selected from Moulder's "Awakening," and his latest stellar release - "Trilogy," along with unreleased material and selections of some of John's material from Paul Wertico's albums (John being a long-standing member of Paul's group), the choices proved to be exceptional from a standpoint of highlighting the talents of the individual performers, as well as John's singular playing and compositional abilities.

Moving amidst a landscape of shifting rhythms, unusual time signatures, and thickly atmospheric sonorities, this talented group created a manifestation of sound that was striking in its grandeur. The estimable Tito Carillo displayed his phenomenal palette on both trumpet and flugelhorn - deftly handling lines accorded to Paul McCandless' English Horn on "Incarnation," and adding a bright varnish to the panorama; while accomplished pianist Jeremy Kahn filled the large shoes of the departed Laurence Hobgood with surprising and pleasantly derived tangents in his own style.

Carrying everything forward, the rhythm section of Eric Hochberg and Paul Wertico is one of the finest and most impressive around, and their playing not only provided a solid base for Moulder, Carillo and Kahn's flights of fancy, but they set off plenty of fireworks of their own. Wertico's explosions and varied timbres and beats on such pieces as "African Sunset" enthralled; while Hochberg's warmly resonant supporting bass sound and lines are some of the strongest and most interesting out there, and his solos stun one with their texture and style.

As for the leader himself, Moulder's chord choices alone would make him someone worth watching. His songwriting/arranging skills add even more to his reputation. And then there are the chops. Players who can float as well as grind are hard to find, and this guitarist is one of the rarest - with a range of depth and color that is both beautiful, as well as flat-out jaw-dropping. Able to shimmer and glide gracefully across the octaves of the fretboard, Moulder also displays a strength and toughness that is almost shocking given his calm and gentle appearance. His prismatic nylon string work on a solo version of the Miles Davis(/Bill Evans) "Blue in Green" cascaded with sweet harmony, while crowd pleaser - "Freedom" (from "Trinity") was a good example of how the axeman can rip and tear.

In the end, John Moulder and his quintet propagated an entrancing evening of spiritually derived jazz modulations imbued with glory, mystery and grit that will not soon be forgotten by those of us lucky enough to have experienced this performance.