Nguyen Le and Van-Anh Vo Caught in an Oakland Flytrap!

January 19, 2011 By: Johnathon Bakan

Bottom of This weekend world renown jazz fusion guitar master Nguyen Le flew into Oakland to the Flytrap Studios a little concert venue tucked away in Oakland's Lake Merritt district. He was joined by local favorite Van-Anh Vo on the Dan Tranh a Vietnamese zither, T'rung a bamboo xylophone, and Dan Bao a one string zither. Veteran Taiko master Jimi Nakagawa joined in on percussion and the ensemble was backed up by acoustic and electric basses.

The music ran through a variety of emotions and styles from the atmospheric and sublime to a jammin' driven sound. On the sublime side of things Van-Anh Vo played a beautiful reflective composition inspired by the flowers of Vietnam around Hanoi. It employed a playing technique where the higher strings on the Dan Tranh were played up and down in rapid succession creating a waterfall like sound while strings in the lower register of the instrument were plucked individually. This created a rippling effect that was extraordinarily beautiful.

Another highlight of the show was a tune from the Balkans in nineteen beats. This tune featured Nguyen Le doing some intricate riffing on the guitar and Van-Anh Vo delivering a presto non presto T'rung solo that was played with such blinding speed that when observing one could not see the mallets striking the bamboo, the fingers or hands but only a blur of motion accompanied by rapid successions of notes pouring in torrents from the T'rung. Awesome to hear and awe inspiring to behold!

An interesting duet for dan tranh and electric guitar was featured that explored conflicting desires. It's form was like a bell curve: calm and sublime in the beginning, growing in complexity, reached a high point of dissonance and complexity then melted down into a sublime ending.

A great moment happened in the concert when Nguyen Le was launching the band into a 5/4 Spanish tune. A one. . . two. . . three. . . four. . . five. . . No go. The band played a tune in four instead: a spirited version of happy birthday with an Asian twang! Someone brought out a big delicious looking cappuccino and chocolate cake. Nguyen Le blew out the candles with a very surprised and shocked look on his face. It was a great moment. After it was over then everyone launched into the 5/4 tune.

The grand finale of the evening was a tune called “Black Horse” and it was quite a steed! A standard in Vietnam, “Black Horse” is often played at weddings, parties and other occasions. Its doubtful though if it is played with the fiery intensity that the ensemble put into it that night!

Nguyen Le contributed some searing electric guitar solos backed by a throbbing bass. Van-Anh Vo and Jimi Nakagawa contributed some interactive percussion dialog between T'rung and Taiko. A thunder drum Taiko solo was also featured. The “bring down the house” solo however, was delivered by special guest red-faced reed man of Oregon fame: Paul McCandless!

He wasn't red faced from embarrassment though, but from the intense energy he put into his saxophone! The saxophone was a rarely heard “piccolo saxophone” shorter and smaller than a soprano sax, but in Paul's hands it became a powerhouse. Mind blowing in breath and scope the tones emerging from the sax were replete with intricate scalar passages, fancy ornamentations, and innovative improvisations that soared into the winters night.

The bay was lucky to have Nguyen Le back again after a successful run at Yoshi's and all the cats in the band were seasoned professional players who are masters of their craft. What is amazing is that they had about three days to rehearse before the performance as Nguyen Le broke away from his tour briefly, flew in from New York and played the gig. The sound was tight and focused. It sounded like they had been playing together for years.

We can only hope that this ensemble will record together and release a CD soon as this music definitely needs appreciation from a wider audience.

If you missed the show and would like to have another chance there is great music up ahead. Van-Anh Vo will be teaming up with jazz piano master Charles Loos from Europe, and SF bay jazz flute virtuoso Ali Ryerson in an ensemble called “East-West TrioLogy” a benefit concert for the San Carlos Adult Community Center.