Oran Etkin resembled Victor Frankenstein at an audacious concert at Polsky Theatre on Sunday, January 22. Manipulating recorded sounds on a laptop while overseeing a mix-and-match quartet, Etkin seemed like a mad scientist teaching an ungainly mutation to hum “Kumbaya, My Lord.”
An explanatory video preceding the concert outlined Etkin’s Open Arms Project. The itinerant idealist’s band delivered a message of social justice and multicultural unity in a concert that refused to recognize national boundaries or musical borders. A gallery of 75 observed the sonic laboratory.
The band embodied Etkins’ inclusive world music philosophy. The multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Etkin, guitarist Vinicius Gomes, bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Alvester Garnett traversed the globe during 80 minutes of improvised music.
The delicate playing of Brazilian guitarist Gomes is heard to great effect on Home, a 2022 duet album with vocalist Song Yi Jeon. Yet the insistent style of Garnett, an American artist best known for his work with Regina Carter and Abbey Lincoln, didn’t always allow Gomes’ soloing room to breathe.
A concept initiated by Minaie, an Iranian-American who has recorded with Tigran Hamasyan, was unceremoniously nixed. Diligent researchers expect unsuccessful trials. The quartet transcended the failed experiments with several inspired moments including an evocation of Eric Dolphy that resounded like a priceless breakthrough.