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Last night at the Hungry Brain I caught the Chicago debut of a nine-piece band from Richmond, Virginia, called Fight the Big Bull (clearly someone in the band is fluent in Spanish–it’s the default language on their Web site). They’d been invited to town by Ken Vandermark, who met bandleader and guitarist Matt White in Richmond a few years ago. Since then White has looked to Vandermark as something of a mentor, picking his brain (mostly in e-mail) about the improvised-music biz. (I can only assume he was being metaphorical when he compared Vandermark to “an old rich uncle.”)
That said, though, I’m impressed that nine players have committed to such a project–and it is a commitment, since I’m sure their pay from these gigs won’t even cover the gas they burned on the trip. They’re mostly still very young, and I hope they do stick with it–when they learn to solo they’re going to be dangerous.
