SIMON MOULLIER QUARTET

JAZZ FORUM ARTS / JULY 25

The vibraphone has always been the jazz instrument most likely to be underestimated—and most likely, in the right hands, to silence a room. Simon Moullier has those hands. A Grammy-nominated French vibraphonist who came up through the Berklee system and built a reputation quickly in New York's post-bop scene, Simon leads his quartet to the Jazz Forum Club in Tarrytown for a Saturday night program that belongs on any serious listener's July calendar. His playing is marked by melodic generosity and rhythmic restraint—he knows when to fill the room and when to let the harmony breathe. Jazz Forum Arts, now in its fourth decade of presenting jazz in the Hudson River Valley, has built a summer club season that rivals anything happening in the city proper. Two sets, full dinner service, intimate room. This is the kind of night that reminds you why you love live jazz in the first place.