I don’t want you to take it personally, but at the moment, I hate you. I hate you because I’m going out of town this weekend and can’t see Andrew Cyrille at Twins Jazz.
And you can.
I hate you so much.
And if you know anything, or care to find out anything, about avant-garde jazz, you need to go to this one. Cyrille, whom Allmusic.com calls “perhaps the pre-eminent free jazz percussionist of the ’80s and ’90s,” was the trap-set colorist (sorry, there’s really no better way to describe it) on pianist Cecil Taylor‘s great Blue Note albums of the ’60s. Actually, he and Taylor are a lot alike where it counts: they both make their instruments’ apparent chaos sound as elegant, controlled, and formal as concert classical musicians – which, in a sense, they are.
Cyrille has also played with a number of other greats (including, most recently, the new David Murray disc) and has a list of stellar recordings as a leader. Seeing him live in D.C. is a special treat, as his concerts these days are usually European tours—even New York performances are becoming rare. Which leaves you no excuse: go see him at Twins (1344 U Street NW) on Friday or Saturday night, 9 or 11 p.m., for $27. Because if you think I hate you now, imagine how much I’ll hate you if you have the opportunity to see him and you don’t.