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“My goal for this
recording was just to make some good,
swinging music.” –Steve
Hirsh
 Photo by Andrea Canter Take two guys who met years ago as
Legal Aid attorneys, throw in a poet and a musicologist, and the
result is a swinging jazz quartet known as “Black Ice.” Led by former Bemidji resident and
drummer Steve Hirsh, Black Ice brings together the
talents of St. Paul pianist Larry McDonough, Twin Citian via Mankato saxophonist
Richard Terrill, and Bemidji bassist Dr. Pat Riley. Last January, Black Ice celebrated the release of its debut eponymous recording at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis. On July 27thth, Steve Hirsh and the band return to Bar Lurcat.
Black Ice: The Musicians
Despite their collective talents, none
of these musicians found the recording studio through a direct route.
In fact the detours have been significant, especially for Hirsh and
Terrill.
 Photo by Andrea Canter
Steve Hirsh started
playing drums at age 12, but also studied guitar and saxophone in
junior high until his orthodontist suggested a reed instrument would
further worsen an overbite. Hirsh went on to play drums in college
(“nothing memorable”) but gave up his dream of becoming a
professional musician and ultimately sold the drums in 1980 “to
pay rent.” It was another 20 years before Hirsh returned to his
first love. In the interim, he became an attorney, working for Legal
Aid and later for the Center for Reducing Rural Violence where he was the Executive Director until moving to the Twin Cities a few months ago. Once Hirsh returned to
music, he made the most of it, working hard to develop a jazz
audience in his northern Minnesota community. He played in two big
bands, the Bemidji State Big Band and a Grand Rapids group, Swing
Delivery, in addition to his own trio and quartet. In 2005, Hirsh received an Individual
Artist Grant from the Region 2 Arts Board, which supported the new
recording with Black Ice.
To read an interview with Steve Hirsh
click here.
Another Midwest native,in his college days Richard
Terrill performed with the award-winning
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble. Additonally, as a
student saxman he played with later-to-be-Pat Metheny keyboardist
Lyle Mays in the Lyle Mays Quartet. He has also worked with
Eau Claire native son, pianist Geoff Keezer. But like Steve Hirsh,
Terrill gave up music for other pursuits, particularly writing and
poetry. His autobiography, Fake Book, describes his early
career in jazz and his return to music. While teaching creative
writing at Minnesota State University Mankato, Terrill has kept up
his jazz chops playing with pianist Larry McDonough, guitarist
Jim McGuire, and with Chaz Draper's Uptown Jazz Quartet. In
2003, Terrill published a book of poems, Coming Late to
Rachmaninoff, winner of the 2004 Minnesota Book Award for
Poetry. Currently he is working on a children’s biography of
Duke Ellington. Terrill appears on Larry McDonough’s recent
release, Simple Gifts.
Pianist Larry
McDonough first studied piano in fourth grade and was
already gigging around town as a high school student in Bloomington,
MN. Earning a degree in music education at the University of
Minnesota, he had the opportunity to play both piano and trumpet in
student ensembles with legends Clark Terry and Thad Jones, and in
concerts for President Nixon and the President of Mexico. Through the
late 1970s and early 1980s, McDonough worked as a part-time high
school band instructor while also playing in a number of Twin Cities’
bands, ranging from jazz to pop and polka. Concerned that his music
career was taking him too far from the “real world,” he enrolled
at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1980, putting his
music career on the back burner for a few years. Still working
fulltime as a tenants’ attorney, Larry found himself pulled back
into music in the 1990s, recording with Bozo Allegro and gradually
finding more and more work with other area ensembles and vocalists.
McDonough is known as composer as well as performer, and particularly
for his arrangements and compositions featuring odd meters. He’s
released several recordings, most recently Simple Gifts with
his working quartet of Chaz Draper, Craig Mataresse, and Richard
Terrill.  Photo by Andrea Canter
Bassist Pat Riley has
followed a more direct path in music, albeit primarily classical. He
studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and earned graduate
degrees at the American University (in cello and pedagogy) and a
doctorate in musicology at the University of Iowa. Riley has worked
with a number of chamber ensembles, was Director
of Graduate Studies at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago,
and is currently Professor of Music and head of the strings program
at Bemidji State University. Pat’s resume includes jazz as well as
classical music, playing in the Chicago area and now in Bemidji with
the Bemidji Big Band, the Bemidji Jazz Quartet, and the Steve Hirsh
Trio.
Black Ice: The Music
The inspiration for Black Ice
was quite basic—Hirsh hoped to cut a demo to promote his music and
generate more work. With a small grant from the Region 2 Arts Council
(with funding from the McKnight Foundation), his initial efforts
involved Bemidji-area musicians. Not finding the sound he desired,
Hirsh looked first to Larry McDonough. The two had met years ago when
both were working for Legal Aid, and recently had played a few gigs
together. He had previously collaborated with Richard Terrill through
one performance and several rehearsals, and was already working with
Pat Riley in local ensembles. Following a winter gig that involved
some harrowing country driving, Hirsh came up with the name “Black
Ice”—“an invisible, slick and dangerous”
glaze that Minnesota drivers know all too well.
With his quartet in place, Hirsh next
had to figure out how to get everyone to the Gary Burger Studios in
northern Minnesota. “We finally worked out a plan for a weekend
that included a wedding gig, a rehearsal, some kayaking and grilling,
and then the recording.”
 Black Ice cover Musicians often agonize over the
content and spirit of a recording—the over-arching theme or common
elements that will turn a collection of tunes into a holistic
“concept. Hirsh wasn’t seeking a new sound –just a good sound.
“There's nothing revolutionary here, we're not breaking any new
ground. What I'm most happy about with the recording is that it sounds (to me) relaxed and happy and it swings." And from such humble aspirations comes
exactly what Hirsh envisioned—“good swinging music.” The
playlist features a listener-friendly balance of standards (“Days
of Wine and Roses,” “My One and Only Love,” “Summertime”),
jazz classics (“All Blues” and “Dolphin Dance”), a Bonnie
Raitt cover (“Nick of Time”), an original composition
(“Namekagon”) and trademark arrangement (“Alice in Wonderland”)
from Larry McDonough, and an original from saxophonist Eric Alexander
(“Mode for Mabes”) with whom Hirsh studied at jazz camp.
It all swings from the git-go, from
Terrill’s opening buzzy vibrato on “Days of Wine and Roses” to
the ensembles’ more or less straight take on the final “Dolphin
Dance.” Everything in-between, from Mancini to Hancock, is simply
relaxed mainstream fun, the musicians often stretching out for 7-8
minutes, weaving their stories with playful embellishments, everyone
(though least of all the leader) taking a turn in the spotlight as point man and
challenger.
In many respects the recording is a
showcase for Richard Terrill, as the sax (tenor or
soprano) is often the focal point. His effort on the opening “Days
of Wine and Roses” fortells the shape of tracks to come, staying
close to the plot until the out chorus when he soars with a spiraling
finale . On the quartet’s stand-out read of “My One and Only
Love, ” Terrill starts off at the top of the tenor, a sultry lope
giving way later to a bit more swing and swagger. He shifts the
soprano to full throttle on “Summertime”; on “All Blues” his
short phrase combinations morph into tight spirals that climb and
descend.
Larry McDonough is always
a dramatic force on the keyboard, whether openly leading with his
assertive chording and melodic intensity or more subtly spinning the
temporal fabric with his idiosyncratic meters. He asserts himself
early on, his solo on “Days of Wine and Roses” infused with his
trademark rhythmic twists and double-handed chords while maintaining
a lyrical undercurrent. Often McDonough plays the devils’ advocate,
at times countering the melody with a Monkish quirkiness as with a
flurry of cascades on “Mode for Mabes,” at other times serving a
lyrical counterpoint as on “My One and Only Love." McDonough
initiates “Summertime” with a warm, breathy vocal; on keys, his
sweet Evanescent mode gracefully shines on “All Blues” and
particularly on his arrangement of “Alice in Wonderland.”
Throughout the recording, Pat Riley's bass role shifts back and forth between
pulse master (particularly note “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Mode
for Mabes,” and “All Blues”) and contrapuntal magician (“Nick
of Time,” “My One and Only Love,” and “Namekagon”). He
turns a standout solo on “Alice in Wonderland,” and his energy
propels the ensemble throughout.
Steve Hirsh is ever the
manager, rarely taking an assertive role out front but always
building a swinging foundation of crisp and steady percussion in
support of his bandmates. He works the trapset inside-out, his cymbal
scratching and snare popping combinations embellishing “Mode for
Mabes,” his brushes painting fluttering phrases on “My One and
Only Love,” his shimmering cymbals adding drama to “Namekagon.”
But most critically this recording is a
group effort and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“Alice in Wonderland” exemplifies the joyous interaction among
four friends. The first voice belongs to Riley, introducing a sweetly
lyrical piano played over Hirsh’s brushwork. Tenor and piano state
the melody in unison at the end of the first chorus before the
quartet launches its series of experiments. Riley nicely deconstructs
the theme while maintaining the integrity of the arrangement. The
track picks up some steam at about two-thirds in as McDonough swings
into a more richly textured vamp with forceful chord sequences and bare whiffs of melody, leaving it to Riley to bring it back to the starting line.
I have to admit that I had little
awareness of the outstate jazz scene in Minnesota before encountering Black Ice. I’d heard
Richard Terrill with the Larry McDonough Quartet at gigs in the
Cities, and had never encountered Steve Hirsh or Pat
Riley before the CD Release Party at the Dakota. For those who are similarly limited by a metro-centric view of
“local” music, the first step to recovery is Black Ice. Without straying from the urban
epicenter of jazz, you can take this step at Bar Luract on July 27th, when
Steve Hirsh and friends take the stage to make some “good swinging
music.”
Black Ice performs at 7:30 pm on Thursday, July 27th at Bar Lurcat, 1624 Harmon Place off Loring Park near downtown Minneapolis; www.cafelurcat.com. Black Ice (the CD) is available from Steve Hirsh for $12
plus $2.50 postage: at
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Wednesday, 07 January 2009
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