Joey Baron listens to his bandmates and slowly decides what to play
As Mixmonk began John Coltrane's "Wise One" last night at the Bird's Eye in Basel, drummer Joey Baron put his hands on his drums and listened to his bandmates, saxophonist Robin Verheyen and pianist Bram De Looze. Although I couldn't see Baron's face behind a cymbal, I could see his
Sounding like discovery: Mixmonk with Robin Verheyen, Bram De Looze, and Joey Baron at the Bird’s Eye in Basel, 15 May 2026
At their concert at the Bird's Eye in Basel last night, Mixmonk with Robin Verheyen (tenor and soprano saxophone), Bram De Looze (piano), and Joey Baron (drums) played entirely without amplification. Their mostly sparse arrangements made the details of their playing audible for both each other and the audience. For
Concerts I’ve seen with Joey Baron since 1988
Over the decades, I have seen drummer Joey Baron at least nine times:
1988: John Zorn's Naked City in New York
1989 (or so): Bill Frisell Trio in Philadelphia
1990: Naked City in Philadelphia
1996 (or so): Zorn's Masada Chamber Ensemble in Basel (maybe twice?)
2008: Masada Chamber Ensemble at
The shared improvisational openness of the Wolfgang Muthspiel Chamber Trio and the Grateful Dead tribute band AoxoToxoA
I went to three concerts between Tuesday and Friday: two at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club in Basel by the Wolfgang Muthspiel Chamber Trio (which I wrote about the other day), and one that I organized by Grateful Dead tribute band AoxoToxoA at the Rockfact Music Club in Münchenstein as
The fascinating contrast between Christoph Grab’s Shape & Form Ensemble and Kathrine Windfeld’s Sextet at the Bird’s Eye in Basel this week (17-19 February 2026)
This week at the Bird's Eye in Basel, I heard two concerts by Christoph Grab's Shape & Form Ensemble with Lina Allemano (trumpet), Matthieu Mazué (piano), Christian Weber (bass), and Dieter Ulrich (drums), and then I heard one concert by pianist Kathrine Windfeld's sextet with Malthe Kaptajn (trumpet), Hannes Bennich (alto)
Christoph Grab and The Shape & Form Ensemble at the Bird’s Eye in Basel, 17 February 2026
With The Shape & Form Ensemble with Lina Allemano (trumpet), Matthieu Mazué (piano), Christian Weber (bass), and Dieter Ulrich (drums), saxophonist Christoph Grab performed two long suites at the Bird's Eye in Basel tonight, "Suite for Better Times" and "Art is Dangerous". The musicians improvised their way through the history of
The Vertigo Trombone Quartet, Bird’s Eye Jazz Club, 5 February 2026
Two central concerts in my early listening to jazz were by the World Saxophone Quartet at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in 1984 and 1985. And in 2024, I saw the Austrian saxophone quartet Saxofour at the Tinguely Museum in Basel. Last night, though, I saw the
The Sarah Chaksad Large Ensemble in Basel in 2023, 2024, and 2026
I first saw the Sarah Chaksad Large Ensemble on four straight days at the Bird's Eye in Basel on 12-15 July 2023. As when I have seen other jazz bands on consecutive days, the reward was the band's rich and varied performances, even or perhaps especially of tunes they played
Andrew Shields
AndrewShields
