Michael Janisch feat. Wil Vinson live at JJ Smyth's

Michael Janisch made his debut album Purpose Built with a full combo. When playing at JJ Smyth’s he played the album with just his bass, the drums - played by David Lyttle and saxaphonist Wil Vinson. Vinson is English but lives in New York while Janisch is from Minnesota - as am I - and lives in London.

Janisch is an intense player. He played a tribute to bassist legend Charles Mingus with ‘Shumshi’ ’where he showed how nimble he was on the instrument. Will Vinson could blend into the background when Janisch was the soloist, and had great control of dynamics.

Vinson and Janisch swapped roles of accompanying and soloing throughout the set. Vinson's solos had echoes of Cannonball Adderly, but did occasional chord-stacking like 'Trane’.

Lyttle shone on ‘Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and throughout the show had a careful almost classical style of drumming. Only during ‘Shumshi’ did he settle into a swing groove.