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The Velvet Lounge kicks off Fred Anderson’s 80th Birthday Tribute Festival tonight with a heavyweight duo that will surely opt for a less aggressive sound than many of the acts playing at the club over the next five evenings. Pianist Willie Pickens has been one of the best postbop musicians in Chicago for nearly five decades, beginning with his appearance on the hit Eddie Harris record Exodus to Jazz. Though he toured regularly with one the later bands of drummer Elvin Jones, by and large he’s remained at home, which has kept his national and international profile low. But his recordings (unfortunately scant) and his live performances are always dynamic and powerful, whether inside sessions or button-popping postbop blowouts.
Going to the Ritual (Porter, 2008) is a duo of Grimes and drummer Rashied Ali cut in the studios of New York’s WKCR, and it documents the first time the two had played together since appearing on Archie Shepp’s On This Night in 1965–Grimes also adds some arresting violin work and not-so-gripping spoken word. The pair carves out a wonderfully craggy, tactile space without sacrificing the music’s unerring rhythmic flow–though this is the kind of session better experienced live than on disc, there’s no mistaking their rapport.
