This was my second time seeing Savion Glover at this venue. This show was far more scaled down than his previous performance.

Most of the show was just Savion. Really, just Savion. There was no music, no additional personell, just Savion. He was very good, but just tap can be a little trying. It’s like listening to very avant garde jazz when you’ve only heard Kenny G.

Nonetheless, it was excellent. He did have another dancer that he would occassionally trade solos with, but even then, there was no background music. It’s gotta be tough for someone else to dance with Savion since his tapping is so loud and bombastic. He’s almost like a force of nature as he is soloing away. Covering so much ground in terms of rhythm, technique, and style, another soloist must wonder, “where the hell do I go from there?”

The high point of the show featured the music of John Coltrane. First, he had someone come out and play a medly of Coltrane tunes on soprano sax. The other part was a duet to Apology off of A Love Supreme.

The duet was very interesting. Savion soloed along with the piano solo by McCoy Tyner. He did it rhythm for rhythm. The Marhsall Davis Jr’s solo went along with Coltrane’s solo, but instead of doubling his line, he tapped out an occampiament and counterpoint. They were both excellent.

The one odd part of the show was the immoble Asian dude sitting on the stage. Apparently, he was suppossed to be meditating or praying. Whatever it was, he would assume a pose at the beginning of a song and then keep it until the next song. Maybe this had something to do with the electronic candles at the back of the stage, or the hanging photographs of prior jazz greats (like Hines, and Davis Jr.) EIther way, I don’t feel the dude added anything to the performance. IF anything, he was a distraction.

It was surprising that the show was not sold out. Then again, the entire city had descended upon Greenwich Village for the Gay Pride Parade.