Book: The Other Night at Quinn's

Author Mike Faloon and I have two odd things in common: free jazz and John Ross Bowie. First, we both love the adventurous side of improvised music, enough so that we have both written books on it and attended concerts that might make our family members run away screaming. Second, my family and I once worked (all damn day) on an episode of Bowie's hit ABC comedy, "Speechless", while Faloon and Bowie played together in the too-fun, too-short-lived 90s pop-punk band Egghead. This post will concentrate on point #1 (although Bowie is a hell of a cool guy and one of the funniest people I've ever encountered.)

The Other Night at Quinn's (Razorcake Press, 2018) is Faloon's unusual, yet deeply engaging reflection on a most unlikely venue: a run-down little diner in Beacon, New York (pop. 14,271) that hosts some of the most forward-thinking, uncompromising musicians on earth. From the outside, Quinn's seems like the last place on earth that would host concerts by improv icons like Mary Halvorson, Karl Berger, Avram Fefer, and Joe McPhee (although McPhee lives just north, in Poughkeepsie, so...) Yet the little nosh spot somehow established itself as a destination for major improvisers from all over the globe and built a little niche audience for this exotic realm of music.

Broken into short chapters centered upon individual performances, the book outlines the musicians' philosophies and the reasons behind Quinn's pursuit of the avant-garde, despite making little cultural or economic sense in the big picture of the Hudson Valley. Faloon intersperses his own memories and musings, which often seem un- or tangentially related until the chapter closes and you see, crystal clear, the connections he's made in his mind between these slices of life and what has happened onstage that night. Music is, after all, life made sound. The gripping photos by Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh are a fine complement.

Faloon comes from a punk background but has a wide range of interests as a writer and fan, from baseball (Fan Interference) to edgy short fiction (The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock) to 'zines like Go Metric and Zisk. His immersion in the DIY aesthetic of punk is, of course, reflected in his deep appreciation for the unfettered exploring of free jazz, and it's revealed time and again in his approach to writing. Faloon gets to the heart of the relationships, tensions, humor, and aspirations behind this odd little performance scene, bringing us into the picture time and time again. He calls the scene "small, local, and brave as hell," a perfect summary of this little improv microcosm. The Other Night at Quinn's is highly recommended.

Above: NOT filmed at Quinn's, but I wanted to give you a good dose of Joe McPhee just for kicks. This is "My Funny Valentine" by Trio X: Joe McPhee in the company of bassist Dominic Duval (RIP) and drummer Jay Rosen, caught live in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2006.