Christian Eckhart Quartet at the Musicquarium

It's always nice when a local series like the Origin Mondays at the Triple Door's Musicquarium bring in a new artist from outside our Northwest scene, and Christian Eckert was a very welcome surprise. A talented guitarist from Germany and a recording partner of drummer Matt Jorgensen, Eckert's group was finishing up their second set with the classic standard, Invitation. With Jeff Johnson and Mark Taylor rounding out the quartet, I was virtually assured a great third set of music.

Sadly, the crowd was a particularly unappreciative group, with barely an applause when a given tune completed. It even got to the point where during a bass solo on Monk's Rhythm-a-ning, a group of people launched into a loud and racous version of Happy Birthday -- RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF JEFF'S SOLO! The short third set of Rhythm-a-ning, an original minor blues by Eckert, and the Hank Mobley swinger, This I Dig of You, were fabulous, to say the least, with each player shining in their own way. I can only wonder exactly what audience the Musicquarium is trying to cater to: the listener, or the drinker...

With that said, I found Christian Eckert to be a solid and entertaining guitar player. I'm not sure that the style of this band best fit the way that he plays, as the more up-tempo bop-oriented fare didn't seem his forte, but he left me wanting to hear more and investigate his depth further. I hope you will do the same: check out his trio CD with Matt Jorgensen and Gary Versace, or visit his website (I hope you can read German).