Concert Review: John Menegon Quartet (feat. Jean-Michel Pilc) @ Senate Garage, Kingston, 04/06/2023

John Menegon and Teri Roiger’s promotion of Jazzstock has been mounting concerts in the Hudson Valley for parts of two decades, presenting genuine monsters like Joe Lovano, James Weidman, Joe Locke and Jamie Baum. But, occasionally, the bassist/vocalist duo use their platform to promote their own creative efforts, and last Thursday’s show gave us a righteous taste of new music Menegon and his partners recorded last December, as well as a look into Menegon’s own Canadian past.

Before he worked with legends like Dewey Redman and David “Fathead” Newman, Menegon spent several years playing gigs around Montreal; two of the band members on this evening (saxman Chet Doxas and drummer/older brother Jim Doxas) are relatives of Menegon’s first guitar teacher. The Doxas brothers live in Montreal, as does Paris-born piano master Jean-Michel Pilc. Menegon got the band back together to showcase the music they recorded (currently available in digital form through www.johnmenegon.com. 

The opening number, “Three Petals of a Rose” (or, as Menegon subtitled it, “Two Petals of a Rose, Part 1”) offered a rising, rubato meditation that introduced the crowd to Chet’s gorgeous tenor sax sound; Pilc countered quietly as Chet ruminated over Jim’s exquisite brushwork, and then Pilc and Menegon took the spotlight for a few devastating counters. Then Jim pulled out his sticks, switched the tempo to in-your-face uptempo, knocked us all back with a muscular drum solo, and the quartet dove head-first into “Lasso”, another Menegon composition that made up the all-originals set list, none of which had an ounce of fat because this quartet worked out (in the Jackie Wilson sense of the word) all night long.

Menegon’s music reflects his time backing Redman and Newman: The foundation, as you’d expect, is rock-solid, leaving plenty of room for the soloists to create, and the quartet took the crowd through a set of bright, smart pieces that show Menegon’s infinite range as a composer. His rocking Redman tribute “Dewey’s Tune” anchored the 75-minute set, flanked by the uptempo “The Light of Bley” (dedicated to Paul Bley) and the thoughtful “Safe and Sound (Two Petals of a Rose, Part 2).” A set that started with a meditation ended with one, the encore “Devonian Lift,” that let all the members leave a beautiful little mark on the crowd’s collective soul.

I’ve been worshiping Jean-Michel Pilc from afar for some years; the music he’s made with Francois Mouton & Ari Hoenig is exquisite. Having seen what Menegon’s music can do with an adventurous piano as the co-lead instrument (RIP Frank Kimbrough), I knew Pilc would blossom in this environment before he played a note. Pilc’s intro to “Storied Past” kept the chaos from “Lasso” and focused it into another introspective moment, while the ballad “Love Birds” let Pilc show his romantic side. The Doxas brothers made the kind of “impolite” sounds that put them at the forefront of Canadian jazz. “Light of Bley” was one of many moments when Chet’s sumptuous tenor sax took the stage and held it like a vice.

This show ended Jazzstock’s current run at Senate Garage, but I’ve got fingers crossed that Menegon and Roiger will be back as soon as they can. The Garage is a marvelous space that has given jazz a place to live, and the legacy that’s been built there in just a few years is something that needs to not only survive but also thrive.

Photo Gallery by Rudy Lu