Tom Rainey performed a set of engaging improvised music with Ingrid Laubrock on Tenor and Soprano Saxophones and Mary Halvorson on Guitar. I was unfamiliar with Rainey as drummer and came away from the concert very impressed. He plays very few things that drummers play, focusing on a timbral approach reminiscent of Tony Oxley, or Paul Lytton, but unlike those drummers, his playing is always rhythmically propulsive and time-oriented. Laubrock and Halvorson both played with conviction and nuance in a set that often dipped into extreme, noise oriented blowing but also contained a great degree of subtlety and musical surprise. Rainey also made a touching tribute to the lately departed masters Paul Motian and Sam Rivers.
