I Also Like Grapefruit

Since her participation on Geneviève Marentette's show at Gallery 345, I've been looking forward to trumpetist's Marie Goudy album release. On Wednesday, I headed down to venerable The Rex for the Bitter Suite.

To bring her 4-movement jazz suite to life, Goudy and her 12-tet were crammed onto the tiny stage. Such large configuration usually means bombastic big-band music. But tonight, it was subtle and complex lyricism both in orchestration and verse (provided by singer Jocelyn Barth). Goudy traced the progression of a romantic relationship through the metaphor of 4 seasons. There were still plenty of Jazz solos, sometimes too much for my taste. But overall, I loved the compositional foundation of this suite which for me felt richer and more fully realized than the typical chart/songbook style of most Jazz sets.