Arts and Crafts

I own a couple of CDs by Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts. Mostly wonderful, in parts a little precious. But what comes across as precious on a recording becomes engagingly goofy in live performance. Wilson is a real jazz ambassador and keeper of the tradition. He plays drums like nobody's business, in every jazz and soul idiom, and he surrounds himself with first-rate collaborators. At Stanford Sunday night, local boy makes good Taylor Eigsti sat in at the piano. Eigsti is undoubtedly technically brilliant and a clever improviser, though to my ear he always sounds too cautious and studied. A gig with Wilson could definitely loosen him up a bit, as was evident Sunday.

Taylor isn't on this one, but you'll get the idea. Catch Arts and Crafts if you can. It's a great show.