what i like is sounds

how will i know?

2012-02-12T22:37:00.001-05:00

Summer 1986, somewhere past the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues that seemed to flank the gates to Northern Minnesota.    Spanish camp. I'd been told that 'El Lago Del Bosque' meant 'Lake of the Woods,' but the lake isn't among the things I remember.   I remember my cabin counselor attracting mosquitoes with his flashlight after dark so he could kill them. I remember learning that in some cases "tortilla" referred to an egg dish. I remember endless renditions of La Bamba by a guy who, if his first name really was Pablo, must have come from a family of Latinophile Swedes. I remember my first encounter with Toblerone. I remember a lot of standing around with a group of guys, not something that was happening much in my day-to-day life south of the ox. John had spiky hair and a laugh I unsuccessfully tried to adopt as my own; Victor had the slightest hint of proto-stache and always wore a black not-quite-fedora; Virgil was the only other one from Minnesota, but he was from a hipper Minnesota, the place where the Replacements were trashing guitars and mugging on rooftops.

I remember what might have been a dance, though if anyone was dancing, I didn't particularly notice. The hat guy and I were too busy scoffing at - that is to say, envying - John's apparent defection for some girl. It must have been a dance. There was music coming out of tinny camp speakers - in my memory, they were like the ones on M*A*S*H - and it was dark out.

For the most part I don't remember what music was playing, though I'm sure it was the Top 40 stuff I was learning to dismiss.   I was certainly aware of Billy Ocean and the Pet Shop Boys but at home I was listening to records I found in my parents' collection, the Doors' debut and Magical Mystery Tour. I was about to discover the Talking Heads and Rush, the Who and U2, the Dead and Husker Du. And did you know Phil Collins had a life before Sussudio?

But the point right now is that Whitney Houston's songs were unavoidable that year, even if you tried.   I'd never listened to her songs on purpose, and still haven't. But they're in there deep, and it sure wasn't Fool on the Hill or Making Flippy Floppy I was singing in the shower this morning.    That voice was everywhere, even there in the woods on that hot, buggy, summer night, and sometimes I remember it like it was yesterday.

Medeski, Gullotti & Zinno - Fete Lounge, Providence, 1/20/12

2012-01-30T17:27:00.002-05:00

It was my first time going to the fairly new Fete, and it was a little hard to find. The venue is tucked quietly behind a busy commercial street in a former industrial building in Providence's Olneyville neighborhood, and it took my brother and me a couple spins around to find it.

The place was dead when we got there, though the black-tie-on-black-shirt-on-slicked-back-bodybuilder- guys security phalanx was in too-full effect, and a little unnerving. We sat in the nearly empty lounge (think Captain Nemo's submarine meets the strip club from the Sopranos and you're somewhere close... or maybe I exaggerate?) and sipped a beer and scratched our heads. It was pretty hard to tell if the decision to prominently feature Kenny G in the pre-show music mix was ironic or just misguided.

The room filled slowly, and then more quickly, prompting a room reorganization that found our table moved closer to the stage, about half a dozen feet from Bob Gullotti's drum kit (an exciting place to be, for sure... Gullotti's fantastic.) After an endearingly down-to-earth plea for email addresses from a staff person from this new-but-ambitious venue, the band took the stage without fanfare and got to it.

The ninety or so minutes that followed was engaging and wide ranging, by turns swinging and free and funky. After a few tunes, John Medeski took the mike and told a bit about the trio's history. Bassist Dave Zinno (Z-Ball), drummer Bob Gullotti (G-Ball), and keys player John Medeski ('Ski-Ball) -- together, together the Swinging Balls (ahem), played together a fair bit in the years when Medeski was Boston-based, including touring overseas behind Bill Lowe and Philippe Chretienne. This set included some Zinno compositions, at least one tune previously recorded on a Medeski, Martin & Wood record, and many others.

The couple decades since have made a kind of rock star of Medeski, whose lawyerly-sounding Medeski, Martin & Wood just marked 20 years. It's nice to see him so obviously excited by playing a small room with veterans of the Boston and Providence jazz scenes that helped launch him.

Here's a recording of the show, posted on soundcloud by someone called soundbetter. Give it a listen.

Here, there and everywhere

2012-01-17T22:49:00.003-05:00

Some thought nuggets on Sunday's music-seeing ramble in Union Square.

#1 - Paul Ahlstrand: wow. I'd seen him as a sideman in Tim Gearan's sprawling swampy thing, and he sounded good. Fronting his own quartet, I was pretty blown away. Ahlstrand's a super player. He was joined by Rusty Scott on keys, Dave Mattacks* on drums, and Dave Landoni on bass. Straightahead and classy and soulful, no shriek or shrapnel or irony, and none needed. (Sally O'Brien's)

Paul Ahlstrand Quartet, Jan 15 2012, Sally O'Brien's, Somerville MA

#2 - Stopped in for the beginning of the Dub Apocalypse set at Bull McCabes. Jeff Lockhart and Johnny Trama on guitars and Dana Colley on baritone, Tommy B on the drums and Nate Edgar on bass. Maybe the best Dub Apocalypse lineup I've heard yet. They sounded amazing. And they've clearly outgrown that room. It's a scene, and I'm glad word has spread over the last couple years, but it's not pleasant to be that crowded.

And then #3 -- These two things are both true: First, I love music most when it makes me laugh, move, tap, frown, when it grabs me right here right now, when I'm not thinking at all. And also, I love music most when I know that the drummer*, let's say, played with various Beatles and did some time with a famous codpiece-wearing flautist. For instance. It matters to me that I didn't expect that note and that I can feel the bass in my chest, and it matters to me that I know that this piano player and the guitar guy down the street play together at another place on Tuesday. The visceral and the, what.... Genealogical? Taxonomic?.... aspects of my music enthusiasm are both essential aspects of it.

Take four?

2012-01-17T22:15:00.000-05:00

Dave King is a playful and brilliant drummer. Check this out.

King for Two Days Trailer from Couple 3 Films on Vimeo.

March Mandolins

2012-01-17T22:10:00.002-05:00

Three of the finest mandolin players around are coming through the Boston area in March. This is a town filthy rich with great mando players in its own right -- no doubt some of them are jamming in the basement at The Cantab right now -- but these three gentlemen are worth special mention.

On March 1st, in what appears to be the opening evening of the Boston Jewish Music Festival, mandolin (and clarinet) shaman Andy Statman brings his longtime trio (Larry Eagle on drums and Jim Whitney on bass) to the Somerville Theater. It's pretty rare for Statman to play outside New York, and what makes this show extra special is that they'll be joined for the second set by Statman's longtime friend and fellow mandolin giant David Grisman. Wow.

Statman's a pretty fascinating guy, as described in this radio profile from a few years back.

Here's a couple tastes, first just the trio and then with Grisman:

And then on March 30, venue TBA, Matt Flinner brings his very different but equally astounding trio (Ross Martin on guitar, Eric Thorin on bass) to town. Flinner's records are consistently among my favorites. His writing is beautiful and his playing soulful and shredding, and this trio is something else. I have loved their Music Du Jour CD and look forward to the new one. I saw Flinner and Martin as a duo a couple years back, and it was really something -- here's a piece I wrote about it then. Can't wait to see the full trio.

recommended daily serving

2011-10-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

Very full musical plate yesterday:

Boston Afrobeat outfit Opposite People at the annual lantern parade at Jamaica Pond.   Great grooves at one of my favorite events, and it's a particular pleasure to share music as a family.   Among all the lanterns and ghosties and princesses was a lone skull-masked sintir player practicing on a bench a few dozen yards from the heart of the fray; might just have been one of the hardest-working low-end guys in town.

Later on, after getting home and doing the bedtime thing with the kiddo - not to worry, T. was home with her! - I tried to go check out sax player Paul Ahlstrand at Sally O'Brien's but he didn't seem to be playing as advertised. Headed over to a very crowded Atwoods, and saw a few tunes from Unfulfilled Desires, a jazz/funk unit I hadn't heard of before. I walked in in the middle of Afro Blue, which was followed by Red Clay.   Cool, especially the latter.   The album named for that tune was one of my first jazz records, bought on cheap cassette in a northern Wisconsin drug store, and it was neat to hear it live.   This was followed by an overly peppy take on Coltrane's 'Equinox' featuring some kind of synth-horn. Less cool.   Oddly, the band's drummer and apparent leader is this guy; maybe that had something to do with the size of the crowd?

And then, sleepy, on over for the first few energizing tunes from Dub Apocalypse at Bull McCabe's.... Tommy Benedetti working the snare and hi-hat, Nate Edgar on bass, Johnny Trama on guitar, Dana Colley on baritone, and Ben Zecker on keys.    Not sure I'd seen them with Zecker before, and he was the standout for me last night.   Also very cool that Colley's horns seem to be on board a lot of the time lately.   Seems right that this scene got a couple nods from this year's Boston Music Awards in the 'Best Live Ongoing Residency' and 'Best International Artist' categories. They won the latter last year.

Then home to bed, quite full.

What was your musical diet yesterday??

Galindo, Hobbs, Lockwood & Gullotti at the Beehive, 10/7/11

2011-10-11T20:14:00.001-04:00

I had the very good fortune of hearing the Jeff Galindo Quartet at the Beehive Friday night, and I'm still buzzing from the spirited medley of Ornette Coleman tunes - Round Trip, Lonely Woman, and Peace Warrior - that they played early in their second set. I was sleepy and almost left after the first set, but I sure am glad I stayed for a while longer. Wow.

Trombonist Galindo was in very good company, with the great Jim Hobbs on alto joining him up front, and the Fringe's incredible rhythm section, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Bob Gullotti. Hobbs and Galindo are both great players, and really well suited to each other. Both choose carefully and playfully from a broad palette of sounds; Galindo moves from swoop to blart and back, and Hobbs has both an exquisitely light touch and a mighty and precise squall. And of course Lockwood & Gullotti are hugely impressive individually and share a kind of locked-in simpatico that comes from decades of playing together. (Reminds me, I need to go see The Fringe again....)

Great stuff. This was my first visit to the Beehive, and I'd like to go back. It's a neat space that seemed a little more of a see-and-be-seen scene than I was ready for. The music was audible but at times only marginally over the tipsy Friday night chatter, and standing room was limited to such a degree that I imagine I was in the way of servers more than once. (Sorry!) Happily, the sound guy was amenable to my suggestion that he bump up the volume on the drums a little bit. They do a neat thing of projecting the band, which plays downstairs, onto a kind of textured scrim visible from the bar area upstairs. Seems odd to go see a band and then watch them on a screen, but maybe that's the way to do it there?

Lennon via Frisell

2011-09-28T09:32:00.001-04:00

I gave up trying to keep up with Bill Frisell's output a while ago... this guy seems to put out records more frequently than I clean off my desk. His latest, All We Are Saying, is a collection of John Lennon tunes, and features a top-shelf band of frequent Frisell collaborators: Jenny Scheinman, Greg Leisz, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wolleson. It sounds great. See for yourself:

Bill Frisell - All We Are Saying from Normal Life Pictures on Vimeo.

Jacob Fred + Boston sax players, this fall at the Lily Pad

2011-09-23T13:39:00.001-04:00

I mentioned a while ago that the great Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey would be making several stops at Cambridge's Lily Pad this fall. The band has seen many lineup changes over its history, and has spent the last few years as a piano-bass-drums-lap steel quartet. For many of their dates this fall, they're adding some heavy-hitting guest horn players among those that recorded on their new Race Riot Suite record. I've been looking forward to seeing the Fred with ubiquitously hip slide trumpet player Steven Bernstein.

Things just got more interesting: they've announced a contest whereby local horn players in each city can have a chance to join the band. This could be a great opportunity for a young player, or any one of a dozen local legends could bring what already promises to be great show up a notch. Boston/Cambridge folks, who would you like to see.... Jim Hobbs? Dana Colley? Kurtis Rivers? George Garzone? Timo Shanko? Russ Gershon? Charlie Kohlhase? Jeff Robinson?

Need I go on? Suffice it to say, the possibilities are exciting and endless.... and with three local shows, a few of them will get a chance to be realized.

Here's a clip of some of the material from the Race Riot Suite performed in May in Tulsa, the band's hometown and site of the events the inspired the compositions.

It Is Time

2011-09-23T13:23:00.000-04:00

I like sounds, but music has at least as much to do with time, right? I have yet to watch this all the way through, but it looks like NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas has it right when she calls it "deeply meditative and abundantly playful."

Upcoming: Bernie Worrell at Beantown Jazz Festival

2011-09-15T22:42:00.001-04:00

P-Funk/Talking Heads keyboard legend - and former child prodigy who's said to have been playing Mozart at 4 - Bernie Worrell is among the acts at the upcoming Beantown Jazz Festival. The Festival's main event is a free day-long, multi-stage outdoor festival on Saturday, September 24; there are also a number of associated, separately ticketed events at local jazz venues.

Here's Bernie, with a different band than the one he's bringing to the BJF, when he'll be joined by Melvin Gibbs on bass, Ronny Drayton on guitar, and JT Lewis on drums.

You can hear them ancient tones

2011-09-12T18:18:00.001-04:00

American music icon William Smith Monroe would've turned 100 tomorrow.

A month or so before Big Mon's death in 1996, I saw Peter Rowan play for the first time. One of hundreds of players to have worked a stint with the band that gave a genre its name, Rowan routinely offers stories and images of his old boss that border on hagiography. His bit about how the Bluegrass Breakdown, the band's wheels from show to show, lived up to its name late one night somewhere on the way to or from Bean Blossom, Indiana, ends with an evocation of Monroe that echoes with a kind of mystery and reverence, as if mere proximity to the man afforded access to some other dimension: "When you're standing next to the Father of Bluegrass at dawn, you can hear them ancient tones..."

And maybe it did.   Bill Monroe was a larger than life character, for sure. Quite aside from his enormous musical presence, tales abound about Monroe the man, a kind of gentile bad-ass, a Kentucky Paul Bunyan. There's Monroe the tireless player, wandering festival grounds even in his later years to pick with fans; Monroe the hat-and-tie gentleman, impatient with the longhairs and dope smokers who folks like Rowan helped pull into the scene; Monroe the workhorse, plowing his fields with a mule just because that's how a real man did it; Monroe the womanizer, whose famous mandolin had to be rebuilt with tweezers after a jealous husband smashed it to bits; Monroe the bare-knuckle boxer and baseball player who worked athletic contests into his traveling circus and viewed a handshake as a challenge.   This guy was no saint for sure, but he sure had charisma.

And then there's Monroe the Father of Bluegrass.   In November of 1945, Bill Monroe hired Earl Scruggs to complete the seminal lineup of a band - the Bluegrass Boys - that would soon lend an emerging genre its name. Many a bluegrass traditionalist uses Monroe and his classic late-40's Bluegrass Boys lineup as an inflexible yardstick against which to measure all other claimants to the 'bluegrass' designation.   And yet Monroe the musician and bandleader was an innovator, not a conservative. I find it a delightful coincidence that around the time the final Scruggs-shaped piece fell into the Bluegrass puzzle, Charlie Parker made his classic Savoy recordings, documenting the groundbreaking work he and Dizzy Gillespie and others been doing for a number of years at that time. Seemingly worlds apart, bebop and bluegrass shared a raw energy, a melding of influences, and an improvisational orientation.   Monroe's distinctive mandolin voice, the three-fingered juggernaut of Scruggs' banjo, the distinctively bluesy elements of many of his original compositions, the focus on individual instrumental prowess and polish -- all these things, and many more, made his music something distinct from the "old-time"Appalachian music that helped birth it.

Here's a taste of the classic sound of Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys; this comes from 1956, years after that classic line-up broke up, but his bands from then on never strayed too far from that original (well, not original -- I read that an earlier iteration of his band included an accordion; take that, Bluegrass orthodoxy!) mold.   'Uncle Pen' is a tribute to a key musical mentor of Monroe's, his fiddling uncle Pendleton Vandiver. (Another, it seems crucial to note given the overwhelming whiteness of bluegrass, was the African-American guitarist Arnold Schultz.)

And here's a very different piece, a solo reading of the haunting instrumental 'My Last Days on Earth' from much later in his life. No swagger here. Just ancient tones.

Stephen Vitiello's Sounds of the World Trade Center

2011-09-06T20:27:00.000-04:00

I clearly remember sitting at my desk at work on the morning of September 11, 2001, and getting a mysterious email from a friend who worked downtown in Manhattan. "Something just the World Trade Center," he wrote, or something declarative and brief to that effect. "What's going on." I walked into the hallway and looked around for signs that anyone had heard about this, and later we watched a grainy TV in in the conference room in disbelief.

On this past weekend's Studio 360, host Kurt Anderson spoke with and about several artists' responses to 9/11. The profile of sound artist Stephen Vitiello's collage of sounds recorded at or near the World Trade Center was particularly fascinating. The work was made in 1999, but has a special resonance in light of the events of 2001.

Listen:

Thile, Meyer, Duncan & Ma - 'Attaboy' from the upcoming 'Goat Rodeo Sessions'

2011-08-25T16:33:00.001-04:00

Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, Yo Yo Ma, and Chris Thile have joined forces. That sure sounds like 20 strings' worth of jaw-dropping virtuosity and soul. The record, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, comes out this fall. Sure hope there's a tour.

Timo Shanko Trio at Remicks, 8/19/11

2011-08-22T21:21:00.009-04:00

Caught some of bassist and tenor sax player Timo Shanko's set at Remick's in Quincy last Friday. I was excited to hear he was playing in this spot not far from where I live. Timo's best known these days as the bassist with G. Love & Special Sauce; locally, he mostly seems to play with Dub Apocalypse these days, though for years he was part of Fully Celebrated Orchestra.

At Remick's last Friday, Timo was on tenor, with Either Orchestra's Pablo Bencid on the kit and a guy I wasn't familiar with on organ. Solid stuff of the hard-bop/soul-jazz variety, if you want to get hyphenated about it.

Like the time I went earlier the summer to see Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom, the place was pretty dead, and these guys could have phoned in some generic funk and called it a night. They didn't. The set was loose, changes taught and learned on the fly and good-natured banter between the players between tunes, but the band sounded great. Not sure what all they played, but I recognized some Monk tunes and heard mention of Gene Ammons at some point.

I talked with the hostess and one of the bar staff about their new presence as a live music venue. Sounds like the GM of the place is a music fan, and he's definitely booking some great stuff - later this week, looks like organ player Rusty Scott and WILIS favorite Johnny Trama are there for two nights with drummers TBA. Ron Levy seems to have a recurring gig. Unfortunately, it's only semi-obsessive trawling of the web for Boston jazz news that leads me to this information. Remick's seems to have a spot reserved on their site for info about their live music, but there's nothing there now. The staff I talked to seemed hopeful for bigger crowds in the fall.

Here's hoping Remick's develops into a serious venue. Nice spot, good sound, decent selection of beers on tap, plenty of nearby parking -- and most importantly someone with good taste running the music piece.

Royal Mountain Master Blues

2011-08-19T09:18:00.001-04:00

late August picks: Timo Shanko; Goldberg & Klein; Invisible Rays

2011-08-10T21:33:00.011-04:00

Friday, August 19 – Timo Shanko at Remicks in Quincy Center

I was excited a few weeks back when this place first popped on to my radar screen; it’s a lot closer to where I live than any other place I go see music. I checked out the early part of a Ron Levy set there last month (with Johnny Trama and I forget the drummer... maybe Benny Benson?) and both felt smug to be one of only a few people who seemed to be there for the music and disappointed at the (no coincidence) kind of flat and disinterested energy in the room.

I definitely intend to give the place another try when Timo Shanko plays next Friday. No indication of what kind of band might be with him but I’m pretty sure I'm down with anyone in this guy’s book. Equally at home on basses and saxes, Timo’s a monster player. When he’s not on the road with G. Love, the once-and-sometimes Fully Celebrated member still seems to hang his slightly cocked hat in the Boston area, and is a regular player in the way-past-under-the-radar Dub Apocalypse thing most often happening Sundays at Bull McCabe’s in Somerville.

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August 23, Aaron Goldberg & Guillermo Klein, Regattabar, Harvard Square.

Their recent Bienestan is a fantastic record. Goldberg piano and Klein's arrangements and Rhodes are any amazing combination and the band sure ain't too shabby. Bummed that I'll be out of town for this.

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August 31, Invisible Rays, Midway Cafe, JP.

I wrote recently about my first Invisible Rays experience and am still enthused. Hard really to wrap words around what they do, so here's another of their video pieces:

Chamber of Dreams - The Invisible Rays from The Invisible Rays on Vimeo.

Definitely looking forward to checking these guys out again.

but it won't be rocky long

2011-08-02T21:42:00.002-04:00

Hell yeah. Chris Thile & Michael Daves with Charlie Rose on banjo and a fiddler I don't recognize, impromptu at Newport. Stuff like this makes me remember why there were years I listened to nothing but bluegrass.

Happy birthday Ramblin' Jack and Jerome

2011-08-01T10:45:00.004-04:00

Happy 80th to Ramblin' Jack Elliot. Here's a clip from a 1969 appearance on The Johnny Cash Show.

And Jerome Garcia would've been 69 today. Here's a 1981 acoustic take on Deep Elem Blues.

upcoming - July into August...

2011-07-29T17:01:00.010-04:00

I've been trying to get a calendar up and running on the site, but it's not ready yet. In the meantime, here are some picks for the coming week....

Saturday & Sunday, 7/30 & 7/31: The annual free extravaganza that is the Lowell Folk Festival is the same weekend this year as Newport. You'll find no hip nouveau-rustic bands or big stars playing "unplugged" in front of yachts in Lowell, but you can see everything from Cambodian dance to polka to Ethio-jazz to zydeco to bluegrass to Quebecois to.... you get the idea. Lots of great acts; if I were going, I'd make especially sure to see the very hot Debo Band and the astounding fiddler Michael Cleveland, among others. Top it all off by checking out the always-great Dub Apocalypse at Bull McCabe's Sunday night.

Monday, 8/1: Some great residencies on Monday nights seem to be ongoing in August... check out the blues and soul of the White Owls - featuring such heavy hitters as Tim Gearan, Steve Sadler, Dean Cassell and Andy Plaisted backing the great Dennis Brennan - at Toad early, and then head to the Lily Pad for free-jazz institution The Fringe.

Tuesday, 8/2: French-born and Cambridge-based percussionist Jean-Marie Corrois and his quartet play Regattabar with guest tabla player Amol Khanapurkar. The percussive interplay between Corrois and Khanapurkar should pull the music in a slightly different direction than the solid mainstream jazz of his latest release, Kaya; a room like Regattabar affords a lot of people the opportunity to get to know this great drummer.

Wednesday, 8/3: The 'Night Life at Children's Wharf' series outside the Boston Children's Museum has an intriguing offering this week. 'Afro-Funk Showcase' appears to be a number of Debo Band side projects. The Debo Band just sold out at the MFA courtyard series, plays the Lowell Folk Festival this weekend, and is headed to NYC and the West Coast soon; this looks like an under-the-radar opportunity to see some of their number locally. 6-8 pm, free, rain or shine.

Wednesday & Thursday, 8/4 & 8/5: "Supergroup" suggests, what, maybe GTR or Chickenfoot? Yikes. I don't know a better word, though, for Session Americana, a collection of many of the finest pickers and singers of the Lizard Lounge/Toad roots scene. They play two nights at the Lizard.

Friday, 8/5: The great Boston underground MC Kabir is backed by the Dub Down crew at Lizard Lounge. I saw Kabir when he took his turn at the mike at Bull McCabe's Thursday Dub Down session a few months ago, and they were a great mix. This should be ass-moving and thought-provoking stuff. And up in Lowell, Chris Thile's chamber-grass outfit Punch Brothers will push the boundaries of string-band instrumentation with an exuberance and simpatico that you have to see to believe.

Thile & Tim O -- Jerusalem Ridge

2011-07-28T22:12:00.001-04:00

Wow. Fantastic tribute to the late great Kenny Baker from a couple weeks ago at Grey Fox.

The Invisible Rays, Rosebud Bar, 7/27

2011-07-28T20:13:00.014-04:00

Very happy to have caught The Invisible Ray s' set last night at the Rosebud.
Very, very cool stuff of a sort that defies easy (or even quite determined) categorization. Neither "prog-punk" nor "kook-rock," two hyphenated attempts at explaining what they're up to -- the former is splashed across their site, the latter from a blogger reviewing their latest CD -- quite capture it.

At different points during the quartet's set, I heard Interstellar Overdrive, taut and tuneful late '80s punk-pop, a dash of free jazz, maybe Beefheart and Sabbath on dueling surfboards for a moment.

And none of those references reflect the way that audio and video samples - from old sci-fi and horror films and more recent political speeches (AKA sci-fi and horror films, come to think of it), and what looked like burnt or otherwise decomposed film, among other sources - were woven tightly into the music. Some of these samples were triggered live by an electronic gizmo that was part of drummer Ned Armsby's set-up. Delightfully old-school liquid overhead slides live mixed by Paul Wisner added another cool layer. The overall effect was really exciting, sonically, visually, and conceptually.

Guitarist and co-founder Rafi Sofer mentioned that the Rays (along with Sofer and Armsby, the band includes bassist Eric Krauter and keyboard player Brendan Haley) have several upcoming gigs in the coming months. Check these guys out.

Until then, here's a taste:

Combinations - The Invisible Rays from The Invisible Rays on Vimeo.

And here's the band with the video:

Combinations - The Invisible Rays Live at Bob's Welding from The Invisible Rays on Vimeo.

Upcoming: Invisible Rays at the Rosebud

2011-07-18T15:46:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to check these guys out for a couple years, and if all goes well, next week will be the time. They're part of a split bill at the Rosebud in Davis Square next Wednesday; the Rays should hit at about 10.

From the liner notes to their most recent album:

"The Rays use samples from B movies, old radio shows, and news broadcasts in the place of a “vocalist”. By juxtaposing and manipulating sources ranging from the 50’s Science Fiction B-movie ‘Teenagers from Outer Space’ to President George W. Bush’s invasion eve ultimatum speech on Iraq, meaning is twisted and reassigned, bringing forth new stories and narratives out of the ashes of the old – stories that range from the light and comedic to the somber and serious. The entire album is accompanied in live performances by video collages that interweave the video complement of the audio samples with other snippets from B-movies, found film, damaged family super 8 reels, and oscilloscope traces. These moving pictures augment the stories and moods and add a whole other dimension to the music."

That's a lot of words. Here's what it looks and sounds like:

JFJO - Race Riot Suite

2011-07-18T15:34:00.000-04:00

Interesting piece here on Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's upcoming release Race Riot Suite, an ambitious set of musical meditations on the 1921 riots in JFJO's hometown of Tulsa following the burning of that city's "Black Wall Street." This album finds the current core quartet augmented by a top-shelf horn section: Steven Bernstein, Jeff Coffin, Peter Apfelbaum, Mark Southerland, and founding JFJO member Matt Leland.

JFJO comes to Lily Pad on October 14, 20, and 29, when they'll be joined each night by one or more of the horn players mentioned above. Seeing them around the corner at Outpost 186 last summer was a fantastic experience; can't wait to catch them this time through town.

Dean Magraw & friends, Artists' Quarter, St Paul 7/15/11

2011-07-17T12:55:00.001-04:00

The great guitarist Dean Magraw and friends Brandon Wozniak, Kenny Horst, and James Buckley play 'Monk's Dream' and 'Once in My Lifetime' a couple nights ago at the Artists' Quarter in St. Paul. Wow. Dean is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and it's great to hear him in this setting. The other plays are all new to me. This is a really great sounding band. Thanks to Don Berryman for putting making these videos available for those of us so far away -- looks like he records a lot of MN jazz shows.

Jeffrey Foucault & Mark Erelli, Lizard Lounge, July 13, 2011

2011-07-14T17:09:00.000-04:00

Fantastic show last night by Jeffrey Foucault and Mark Erelli at favorite venue the Lizard Lounge, the second week of a July Wednesday residency for Foucault.

After an enjoyable opening set from Laura Grill (accompanied by a mando player, maybe Matt Consul from her really interesting sounding band), Foucault and Erelli opened with a set drawn maybe entirely from the duo's Seven Curses CD. The album is a collection of traditional and contemporary murder ballads, mostly covers, drawing from such venerable writers as Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, Woody Guthrie, and Neil Young. Armed with a good-natured rapport and an array of instruments - four guitars, a mandolin and a handful of harmonicas between them - Foucault and Erelli brought these songs to robust, raucous, haunting and chilling life.


Mark Erelli (vest) & Jeffrey Foucault (hat)

They are both skilled and expressive pickers, and they complemented each other well. I particularly loved it when they paired Erelli's often fingerpicked guitar with Foucault's electrified slide. But for me it was the vocals that really made the show. Foucault's voice us a force to be reckoned with, whether singing lead or laying astounding harmonies atop Erelli's lead lines. In a way similar to Steve Earle or current Robert Plant co-conspirator (and onetime Sour Mash Boy) Darrell Scott, Foucault sings with a kind of pained and soulful twang that I'm a sucker for. The roughness of his voice was a great blend with Erelli's smoother, sometimes almost jazzy, style. They sang close harmonies that lent great songs the kind of dynamic depth and tension that pulls straight for the heart; they brought tears to my eyes on Steve Earle's death row meditation 'Ellis Unit One.' There were a bunch of other great songs in that first set, but to my ear the one that really, uh, killed was 'Powderfinger.' I need to dig back in my Neil Young catalog and give that one another listen. Wow.

Set two was no less riveting, mostly originals, seemingly a mix of Foucault and Erelli songs, including the title track for Foucault's latest, Horse Latitudes. It was sometime mid-second set that Foucault invited Erelli back next week, to play electric in a split bill with the Wiyos. Get out to see Foucault while he's in town this month.

Kenny Baker, June 26, 1926 – July 8, 2011

2011-07-11T20:55:00.001-04:00

Drake and the Apocalypse: Union Square, July 3rd 2011

2011-07-05T21:53:00.001-04:00


Todne Texeira, Jerry Miller, Frank Drake, unknown

Dispatch from a Sunday night musical wander in the musical hotbed of Union Square, Somerville....

Stop 1: Frank Drake & Jerry Miller at Sally O'Brien's

Frank Drake (aka Otis Ray Bag) is a fixture in the Cambridge/Somerville roots scene. His Bag Boys have a years-long residency at The Burren, and were at the Plough and Stars for many years before that, and he calls on an ever-growing circle of top-shelf players for his "solo" shows at the Plough and, most often these days, Sally O'Briens. The Bag Boys play bluegrass and western swing. When he's playing outside that context, you never know exactly what you're going to get. Sometime it's hard-edged bluegrass, sometimes electric honky tonk with drums, most often a kind of swingy jazz-inflected acoustic melange, maybe something like what the late great Vassar Clements called Hillbilly Jazz. Frank might play mandolin, guitar, or bass, depending on who's in the band that day.

Sunday's show was billed as a duet with frequent collaborator, the astonishing guitar/pedal steel/mandolin player Jerry Miller. As it turns out, they were joined by a dobro player whose name I didn't quite catch, and singer Todne Texeira stepped up for several songs.

The set I saw ranged from an opening Django tune to jazz vocal classics like "All of Me" and "Lover Man" to Hank Snow. It was a relaxed and off-the-cuff affair, with a lot more scenic stroll than riveting drive, though there were riveting moments indeed. It felt like what it essentially was - a good-natured jam session among really skilled friends.

And then down the street to....

Stop 2: Dub Apocalypse at Bull McCabe's

I've gushed before about the force of bassy nature that is the Dub Apocalypse collective. The lineup Sunday was the deep John Brown's Body rhythm section of Tommy Benedetti on drums and Nate Edgar on bass, a guy I didn't recognize on keys, and a towering front line of Johnny Trama (with Benedetti, a ringleader of this whole enterprise) on guitar and the great Jim Hobbs on alto sax. Skiffington Ruglass and a guy whose name was something that sounded like Errol Strong guested on vocals.

The (tiny) room was packed, and even the most dance-resistant among us were having a hard time being still. This is music you feel from the inside out. The drums and bass seem to have some kind of direct access to the central nervous system; Trama and Hobbs' often fiery solos emerged from and returned to deep groove, even when they traveled sometimes thorny terrain on the way back.

Very, very good stuff. Thanks to some committed tapers, you can check out Dub Apocalypse here if you need more evidence.

Jazz in July... and August

2011-07-01T20:32:00.002-04:00

Yoko Miwa Trio, 7.1.11, Downtown Crossing

Unwittingly stumbled upon the inaugural event of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District's Jazz in July series today. Local piano fixture Yoko Miwa's trio was playing on Summer Street beside Macy's, just up from the sausage and arepa carts and opposite a row or two of artists and craftspeople selling their wares.

This was the first of 40+ events at several locations in Downtown Crossing over the month, generally two each weekday (lunchtime and early evening) and one on Saturdays. Very cool thing. Miwa will performing several more times, and she and her band, who play Regattabar on the 20th, are definitely worth checking out.

Along with Berklee's sprawling multi-genre Summer in the City series, and surely others I haven't learned about yet, that's a lot of high quality free music to be found in public spaces around the city this summer.

Joe Hunt Trio at the Lily Pad

2011-06-27T23:05:00.002-04:00

Our first walk by, right at 9, revealed an empty room and - maybe related - a band still milling around. We walked a few blocks and by the time we got back to the Lily Pad they'd started. There was one guy in the room -- Boston drum legend and Lily Pad fixture Bob Gullotti -- other than the three playing and the one who'd have been working the door were anyone coming in. By the time we left at the set break the crowd had swelled to 6 or 7.

While there's a certain thrill in seeing music in such an intimate setting, there's something sad about musicians of this level drawing such a small "crowd." Drummer and bandleader Joe Hunt played in the sixties with folks like Stan Getz, Bill Evans, and Eric Dolphy before spending much of his career as an educator, having been brought to Berklee in 1971 by Gary Burton. A young John Scofield evidently played in Hunt's band when he was at Berklee. Pianist Terry Bernhard has evidently worked with some big names over the years, including Eddie Gomez, Chet Baker, Al Foster, and Sonny Stitt (and maybe in this rather different setting... same guy?). The bassist last night, who Hunt mentioned had never worked with this trio before, was Justin Purtill, who's logged time as a singer-songwriter and toured for a year on bass with longtime Jerry Garcia collaborator Melvin Seals' JGB Band.

This was a set of lyrical mid 20th century standards played impeccably, with tasteful restraint and amiable looseness. No skronk, no sharp edges, no willful oddness, no new ground broken. Just some really beautiful music. I got lost inside their take on 'Darn That Dream.' I'm glad I was there.

(Cranky postscript: was that seating the permanent deal at Lily Pad these days? I haven't been in a while... seems like they got a good deal on small Ikea coffee tables or something. Bring back the folding chairs!)

rope & summit

2011-06-24T18:09:00.000-04:00

uh, nevermind - jazz takes on cobain

2011-06-23T21:43:00.004-04:00

I remember first hearing Nevermind. It was in a friend's car, in Chicago, over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991, a couple months after it came out. On cassette. Wow. 20 years?

Much has been written about the deep influence of Kurt Cobain and company by people much more knowledgeable than I. Detailed explorations of the the roots and branches of the particular rock movement that they epitomized and popularized are abundant and, I'm sure, fascinating. If lurid.

That's not what I'm here to do. I wanted to share some videos of Cobain melodies as interpreted by bands associated with that big-tent collection of genres we know as jazz...

The Barr Brothers with Sonya Kitchell and Marc Friedman, Lizard Lounge, 6.7.11

2011-06-17T10:33:00.005-04:00

Brad and Andrew Barr

Stellar show last Tuesday night at the Lizard!

Sonya Kitchell opened with a solo set, and I was pretty blown away. I'd heard her name, knew that she'd been backed by The Slip on tour and record a few years ago, and that she toured with Herbie Hancock while still in her teens, but I don't think I'd ever heard her - much less seen her - sing, and I'm glad that's been remedied. She's got quite an instrument in her voice, ranging from breathy and fluid to pointed and muscular, and the songs she played were similarly diverse; she made repeated reference to the spacious tone of the set she'd chosen, but in reality she moved effectively from atmospherics to a more concentrated and even edgy feeling. I was too captivated by her voice to really pay much attention to the lyrics, but what I did catch seemed interestingly unpredictable. I went to the show for the main act, but was definitely grateful for my chronic earliness. This was good stuff.

The main act, brothers Brad and Andrew Barr with multi-instrumentalist Andres Vial and harpist Sarah Page, played a fantastic set that drew heavily from, but extended well beyond, their self-released 2010 debut album.

Hanging by a thread

This band continues to explore and map a thrilling and dynamic sonic environment; as in their earlier (and occasionally recurrent) guise as The Slip, the Barr Brothers and their cohorts defy easy genre categorization. By the late days of The Slip's run, the Barrs and their partner in crime Marc Friedman seemed to be more focused on song than jam, often trading long, sometimes noodly improvisations for a tighter, hookier thing. The Barr Brother have seemed to carry the baton of the quieter acoustic version of the song-centered Slip, augmented with Sarah's harp and the few covers in their repertoire drawing from older, bluesier sources than The Slip's reach to jazzy reference points.

On this show, their were glimpses of the jamming of the Slip and the rock and roll of Surprise Me Mr. Davis; the music was still spacious and hooky but I also heard more fiery improvisation and edge than I remember the other times I'd seen the brothers as the Brothers.

Slip and Davis bandmate Marc Friedman sat in on bass for a few songs - I think it was 'Deacon's Son' and 'Ooh Belle', and then something else towards the end; on the latter especially, there were refreshing glimpses of the improvisational melodic back-and-forth between Brad and Marc that typifies much of my favorite Slip music, and which was all but absent last time I saw a Slip show a year or two ago. It was great to see BB bass guy Andres grin in appreciation when Friedman dug into something slippery and right.

A common feature of all the Barr Brothers shows I've seen has been Brad's experimentation with a dreamy guitar effect created by attaching thread to points on the bridge and running his nails along the thread while fingering chords with his left hand. It's hard to describe. On this show, he handed out lengths of thread to several of us in the audience. It's harder than it looks to evoke a sound from the guitar this way, and I think only one of us got the hang of it. It wasn't me.

New to me was the tackle-box guitar Brad played for maybe a third of the show. It is what it sounds like - the body of the guitar was what looked like a metal tackle box, and it lent itself well to the dirtier, bluesier end of the band's sound.

The latter part of the show featured the band gathered around a mic up front, Sarah on second guitar and Andrew playing something the size of a baritone uke, shaped like a mandolin, and sporting a banjo-style fifth string. They were joined by Sonya and Andres at the end.

The band + Sonya Kitchell, single mic style

It is an incredible thing to see a band of this calibre in such a tiny room, and the Lizard Lounge's close quarters -- band on the floor, seating and standing room on three sides -- can be particularly magical. I sat behind Sarah for a lot of the night, watching the whole thing go down over her shoulder and around her harp.

Klezwooden Leg?

2011-06-02T11:30:00.002-04:00

Caught the first several tunes of the Klezwoods show Monday night at Atwoods. Great stuff! The always enthusiastic Joe Kessler and his blue fiddle lead this ten piece klezmer/Balkan band - sousaphone, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, alto sax, accordion, upright bass, drum kit, and hand percussion. By turns ecstatic and longing, always energetic, this band was tight and sympathetic and surely equaled more than the sum of its very able parts.

Kessler's old Wooden Leg bandmate, mando master Jimmy Ryan, joined them for a few of his own songs -- the "one small town" one that I've heard him play a lot, and another which seemed to have the refrain "what kind of world are we making?" -- and the band gathered in around him well. Cool to see him trade breaks with a sax player. "Nice picking," he quipped.

Klezwoods seems to play at Atwoods semi-regularly, and I'll definitely be back.

Video below is not by me and not from Monday at Atwoods, but it does appear to be the same line-up I saw, minus Jimmy Ryan and the belly dancer. Did I mention the belly dancer?

Gil Scott-Heron, 1949 - 2011

2011-05-28T07:04:00.003-04:00

Legendary singer/spoken-word artist/proto-rapper Gil Scott-Heron is sadly reported dead at 62. He's probably best known for 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' a song that's been sampled and referenced countless times. Last year's New Yorker profile by Alec Wilkinson was a touching and unflinching account of Scott-Heron's deep legacy and deep struggles, well worth a read.

Here's one of his final releases, 'I'm New Here,' and a classic favorite of mine, the beautiful 'Lady Day and John Coltrane.'

Chris Thile and Michael Daves, Brighton Music Hall, 5/24

2011-05-26T10:48:00.003-04:00

Well, wow, folks, that was an exceptional night of music. Thile and Daves played and sang their hearts out for a generous two sets and an encore, a bunch of material from their debut record as a duo, along with a bunch of other stuff. Astounding picking, explosive and beautiful and gritty and sweet, and a hefty dose of hair-raising vocal harmonizing.

I've been taken with the incomparable musicianship of Thile for years. He's just an astounding player, estimated by many to be among a small group of the very top mandolin players. Ever. The first time I saw him was I think summer 1998, when he was still in his teens, playing with the amazing Sean and Sara Watkins and his dad Scott on bass as Nickel Creek. The music was virtuosic and often quite beautiful, if sometimes getting a little too close to cloying for full comfort.

I saw Nickel Creek a couple more times over the next several years, and then really had my mind blown when I saw what was then How to Grow a Band (or was it when they were the Tensions Mountain Boys?) a few years back. Bryan Sutton was in for "Critter" Eldridge that night, and it was when Greg Garrison was still on bass. This was - and remains, as Punch Brothers - a whole different creature than Nickel Creek, simultaneously pursuing a kind of grittiness that felt new and drawing on chamber music traditions. To say they had a striking musical rapport on stage doesn't go nearly far enough. They played like one living, breathing, organism.

Michael Daves was less familiar to me. I'd seen video of him with Tony Trischka, a frequent collaborator these last few years, and I'd heard about some kind of maybe one-shot Indo-jazz fusion thing he was part of with Gordon Stone. I sure am a fan now. He's a great flatpicker, and his powerful vocals, straight from the from-the-heart-and-through-the-nose bluegrass tradition of guys like Bob and Danny Paisley and Del McCoury, work so well with Thile's lighter style in this context.

Do yourself a favor - check this duo out if you can. They're the real deal.

Not dark yet for the poor old dirt farmer

2011-05-26T09:20:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday this week to Bob Dylan, 70, and onetime bandmate Levon Helm, 71.

Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings

2011-05-25T14:04:00.001-04:00

There's a new record, the first in 8 years, due from Gillan Welch (as ever, with Dave Rawlings) in late June. This is good news; if you need a reminder why, see below...

apocalypse now?

2011-05-21T21:22:00.001-04:00

Lots of informal nominations this week for R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" as a soundtrack for the predicted apocalypse. Nice to be reminded of that song, but really, if we want unflinching end-times music...

See what I mean?

So, it's after dark on May 21, and I'm still here. It's tempting to laugh off the Family Radio folks' oddly-specific paranoid marketing effort, but I think that's a missed opportunity. I mean, sure, Rev. Camping certainly comes across in soundbites as having taken a right turn somewhere past the deep end. But at the same time, as we're reminded too often, none of us know when the end - our own end - will come. That's just plain true, and it's a lot to hold.

For me, that's not because of any particular conviction or fear about what comes next. That's not something I've given a lot of thought. It's enough to try to remember where I put my keys and what I meant to get in the produce aisle. What makes it hard to hold the fact of finitude is in fact just this, here -- it's all that's happening right now, all that lead up to it, every startling and beautiful and boring and messy scrap of it. All of it.

To my way of thinking, the craziness of the May 21 rapture people consists less in their concern with The End than in their insistence on One End, a decisive but uniform moment of rupture, over the fact of the many specific endings that are woven into the fabric of our individual and collective daily lives.

It's ending, relentlessly, all the time. And beginning. It's moving. It moves. What do we do with and in that? For me, that's a much more compelling spiritual question than what will happen to us after it.

Nothing helps me try to move with it more than music. And that's a big part of why what I like is sounds.

Here's the R.E.M. one too, just case...

Portico Quartet

2011-05-20T20:46:00.002-04:00

Day is done. Breathe.

Someone's got a creative publicist: The Low Anthem on Marketplace

2011-05-20T20:31:00.002-04:00

Interesting piece on Marketplace tonight about the economics of a life in music, among other things, with Ben and Jeff from The Low Anthem.

Hippy Fiasco: Nathan Moore at the People's Republik, 5/19/11

2011-05-20T09:52:00.004-04:00

Sleight-of-hand raconteur and songwriting phenom Nathan Moore has been touring by serendipity and streaming the whole odd, beautiful, shambling thing live. Most of the appearances on this tour seem to have been in places other than actual music venues - homes, storefronts, backstage at other performers' shows - where, presumably, people have gathered to listen. This was sadly not the case last night at the People's Republik, where Nathan set up in the corner with guitar, baritone uke, harmonicas and kazoo, singing his wonderful songs basically unnoticed by most of the chatting, laughing, drinking, flirting, hockey-watching crowd in the place. There were a healthy handful of us there for the music, but we were vastly outnumbered.

He was playing with a very minimal set-up, a small amp that might work well for the kind of thing he's generally been doing on this tour but was all but inaudible from more than a few feet away in that kind of noisy environment. It's too bad - I've seen Nathan catch a tepid and unsuspecting crowd joyously by surprise, but there was just too much noise and distraction for this to be much the case for at least the first part of last night's show.

That said, it's always a pleasure to see him play, and his first set last night featured several tunes from his latest Royal Potato Family release Dear Puppeteer, a favorite blast from ThaPast ("Lord, if I know anything at all, it's that life is such a long fall... you can try flying but you're better off just looking down for something soft"), and in what may be typical fashion for this prolific writer "a song I wrote yesterday." This was a timely piece given the whole impending apocalypse thing, something about "trying to catch some Jesus."

His Hippy Fiasco tour will find him in Vermont tonight, and back in Massachusetts Saturday for an evening also featuring Marc Friedman and Sara Azriel, before heading down to DelFest in Maryland next week.

Chris Thile & Michael Daves

2011-05-19T12:59:00.001-04:00

My Little Girl in Tennessee from Chris Thile & Michael Daves on Vimeo.

Can't wait to see & hear their careening, virtuosic take on the classic brother duet thing next week.

Balk hop? Help Brass Menazeri + Mr Lif record together this summer..

2011-05-13T17:09:00.000-04:00

Good stuff, and this was just a day or so after the Bay Area Balkan Romani band and the Boston MC first played together. You can help them record this summer here.

Child of the Nashville Wind

2011-05-03T22:07:00.000-04:00

Wow. Bruce Cockburn with members of the unreal American Music Shop house band. Looking forward to seeing Bruce and Jenny Scheinman play in a couple weeks.

Green Onions, hold the MG's

2011-05-03T21:19:00.001-04:00

Another score for Tiny Desk: Stax house band B3 legend Booker T. Jones plays, sings, and tells stories in the NPR studio.

Upcoming: Matthew Shipp & Jim Hobbs

2011-05-02T22:00:00.000-04:00

Duo show by alto player Jim Hobbs and pianist Matthew Shipp coming up this Sunday at the intimate Outpost 186. This should be volcanic.

Fort Worth Blues

2011-04-30T22:57:00.004-04:00

It's worth bearing with the ad up front... Steve Earle & Emmylou Harris, live from Rollingstone.com. Yes indeed. Right here.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

2011-04-27T20:20:00.002-04:00

Abigail Washburn - Nobody's Fault But Mine from Mason Jar Music on Vimeo.

surprise me on the roof, sxsw

2011-03-23T17:00:00.000-04:00

Surprise Me Mr. Davis - Live at Cheers Shot Bar from Justin Arthur on Vimeo.

Rite of Spring with The Bad Plus

2011-03-22T20:31:00.001-04:00

Neat piece on Weekend Edition this past weekend about the latest project from The Bad Plus, a recasting of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for their piano/bass/drums format. Check it out here.

Andy Statman Trio, Portland 11/2010

2011-03-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

Nicely shot video of the amazing Andy Statman with longtime trio mates Jim Whitney on bass, Larry Eagle on drums. Wow.

Acoustibbetts/Elektrobitts/Exotibbetts

2011-03-13T20:34:00.001-04:00

I've written before about my enthusiasm for cult-favorite Minnesota guitarist/ambient musician Steve Tibbetts. It was a surprising treat to catch the end of a piece on NPR this morning about his collaborator Choying Drolma; some of their collaborations are among the nearly 50 tracks included on a free 3-disc Tibbetts compilation, available for a limited time here. The compilation includes tracks from 1976-2010, and draws on the breadth of the Tibbetts oeuvre to date: acoustic and electric, sparse and thorny, pastoral and Himalayan. This is an incredible offering. Check it out.

Hippy Fiasco

2011-03-11T15:27:00.001-05:00

Sleight-of-hand raconteur, rock-and-roll folksinger and WILIS favorite Nathan Moore is off an a 21st century old time adventure, streaming his serendipitously meandering Hippy Fiasco tour live 24/7. (Really. He just ate a Snickers bar. )

Here's a promo/manifesto video:

And, just because I just ran across it, here's Nathan with The Barr Brothers, Bryan Elijah Smith, Reed Mathis and Ben Knox Miller earlier this winter in NYC.

Union Square, Tuesday night

2011-03-10T21:59:00.001-05:00

Somerville's Union Square does it again. I've waxed near-ecstatic before about the reliability of this neighborhood when it comes to top-notch live music in tiny rooms. Last night the rest of the household turned in early and I found myself with some restless energy and a hankering for some live music. I'd heard about two intriguing Tuesday night residencies within a block or so of each other, so I set off on a nocturnal prowl.

The first stop was Sally O'Brien's for the trio of organ player Ron Levy, guitarist Matt Stubbs and drummer Chris Rivelli. I've been hearing about Levy for years, and finally looked into him recently. This guys got quite a resume: his first pro gig at 18 was with Albert King, and then in the '70s he recorded and toured for years with B.B. King, appearing on the classic Live In Cook County Jail among others. More recent collaborators include the likes of Karl Denson and Melvin Sparks. Levy's organ sounded good, buttery with just enough gristle to keep it interesting, and he's well-accompanied in the current trio. There were some really good moments in this first set of the evening. I'd like to hear them with a little more fire under them... maybe in a room with more than a few people there primarily to listen.

The next stop was Bull McCabe's, where David Johnston plays on Tuesdays. I'd seen him twice before in clubs (once doing a raspy vocal turn and playing a National guitar on a Fred McDowell tune with Club D'Elf, and once with One Thin Dime, where his looser and appealingly ragged guitar style didn't quite fit the slicker sound on that particular night), a time or two busking in Harvard Square, and several times walking Mass Ave black-clad and sunglassed. Each encounter was intriguing, if not particularly satisfying, but I'd heard good things about the residency, when Johnston's at the helm and draws on a circle of top Boston roots players.

Really good stuff - understated vibe, hooky, gritty and spacious. Johnston's voice reminded at moments of Joe Henry, maybe Lou Reed, maybe Warren Zevon. On this night, the band was new-to-me Chris Rival on guitar, the always-great Richard Gates on bass, and Andy Plaisted on drums, all solid and flexible players, falling into place as Johnston appeared to begin songs without much warning and building his sometimes sparse and sketched acoustic guitar lines into thick and vital tunes. I look forward to checking them out again.

Music, together: Debo Band at Providence College, 3/6/11

2011-03-09T20:21:00.003-05:00

Going to see music is more often than not a solo venture for me. This is mostly okay with me; truth is, I'm not very good company when there's music playing. I tend to get sucked in, to look and listen and bob and chuckle, without much regard for the people around me. There's something aesthetically interior, almost autistic and devotional, in my attention.

This is all true. But it's an incomplete account. There's this too: Maybe six or seven years ago years ago I was at a day-long bluegrass festival up in southern VT*, and I remember sitting behind a guy and his daughter, watching them share the experience, watching him watching her. It looked great to me.

Right before my daughter Cora was born, I bought a ukulele, wanting something I could play for her that wasn't as jarring as the banjo I was playing then. (I didn't predict then that I'd basically abandon the banjo and that some ukulele or other would occupy my fingers so often that a 4 year old Cora would be heard to plead, "Daddy, put down the ukulele...!") While Tracy was laboring in the hospital, she and I and the soon-to-be Cora were accompanied by the space and beauty of Chiarascuro and Selwa.

Going to Music Together was a great dad-and-Cora thing when she was a young toddler. And all along the way she's had no choice but to listen to vast amounts of music of all sorts. This is a kid who seems to love Bananaphone, Levon Helm's take on country classic Ashes of Love, and Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko's Africa to Appalachia in equally enthusiastic measure.

And now we add Debo Band to that favorites list. I happily stumbled upon the news that they ("Boston's Ethiopian Groove Collective," says their website) was playing a free afternoon show at Providence College last Sunday. A perfect outing for a dad and his budding music enthusiast kiddo, and a chance to connect with Providence friends we don't see often enough.

I'd been meaning to check them out for a while; since being turned on to some '60s era Ethiopian popular music by Either-Orchestra, I've loved the sound of that music. It's really unlike anything else I know, and reading about Debo Band, it sounded like they were coming at it from a somewhat different angle than E/O, in terms of instrumentation at least.

I really enjoyed the show. I could say more about individual players, and cite their other affiliations in the way I like to do so much, but there's something else about this show that seems most important here. On their site, they advertised the afternoon time as "family friendly," and this was really more than spin. There were a bunch of young kids there, and as the set wound down, Debo founder and tenor sax player Danny Mekonnen invited them into the aisles to dance. It was a real joy to see kids unselfconsciously moving first to the music and then towards the music - the picture I wish I had was Cora and her longtime pal Mirabelle and new pal Maeve sitting on the stairs at the edge of the stage as the final notes played. For probably half an hour after the end of the performance, the musicians packed up and chatted with friends. I enjoyed meeting Danny and chatting with accordion player Stacey, who I'd met in the past and who went to grad school with my wife years ago. Sousaphone player Erik Grier showed off his horn to curious kids. "How low can it go?" one asked.

All of this made an impression on Cora. Certainly this had a lot to do with the infectious groove of the music and the fun adventure of going to a new place for a novel experience. But I'm sure that the generosity and sincerity of the band members was a huge part of it too. We've been enjoying the EP we bought after the show. Cora specifically asked for "the band" this morning in the car. **

* This festival had a great line-up, but the promoter must have taken a beating -- by the end of the evening, it seemed like there were only a few dozen people there for the headline set by Jerry Douglas. We crowded around the foot of the stage and were treated to something pretty special.

** I exercised admirable restraint in not issuing a history lesson about The Hawks and Big Pink, don't you think?

Brendon Wood, Danny Mekonnen, David Harris

PJ Goodwin, Bruck Tesfaye, Arik Grier, Adam Clark

Kaethe Hostetter, Stacey Cordeiro, PJ Goodwin, Bruck Tesfaye, Adam Clark

Eric Krasno's Funky President mixtape (sic)

2011-02-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

John R. Cash, 2/26/32 – 9/12/03

2011-02-26T17:32:00.000-05:00

Wicked Knee

2011-02-22T12:45:00.001-05:00

Billy Martin + Curtis Fowlkes + Steve Bernstein + Marcus Rojas = Wicked Knee.

Yes, please.

Bye-bye jug, hello beatboxer?

2011-02-22T12:07:00.003-05:00

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have gained considerable notice over the last few years reviving and mixing up the African-American Piedmont string band tradition. Earlier this month, their Genuine Negro Jig won the 2011 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk album, and they announced an intriguing line-up change. I've missed a few chances to see this band; next time they come around, I'd be curious to check out their latest twist on old-time music...

Kurtis Rivers at the Ramsey VFW

2011-02-21T21:19:00.004-05:00

I finally made it out last night to see saxophone player Kurtis Rivers at the Ramsey VFW Post in Dorchester. I'd meant to do it for years. Rivers made in impression when I'd seen him on baritone with Either/Orchestra, and I'm a big fan of having live music so close. I'm so accustomed to stepping across the Charles to scratch that itch. (Of course, there's the venerable South End institution Wally's, and more recent South End hotspot The Beehive -- though I haven't been the former in years or the latter at all yet.) I've always assumed there must be a jazz performance scene in Dorchester and Roxbury that I just didn't know about, but Rivers lauded the Ramsey Post as "the only place" in those neighborhoods "keeping this music alive." I'd love to know more about the history of jazz in Boston. I know it hasn't always been this way.

I got there in time for the last moments of the second-to-last tune of the first set.   The first set closer was a Rivers original, freer than anything that would follow it, and featured a core quartet of Rivers on alto, John Kordalewski on electric piano, the busy Paul Dilley on bass (he said he'd played earlier that evening with Frank Drake), and a strong young drummer evidently visiting from somewhere down south.

At the setbreak, a woman serving as emcee thanked the band, passed a bucket for tips, and cracked jokes about various people seated in the room awaiting the barbecue sausage and meatballs that were soon passed out. (Yes, you read that right.)   Above the bar, a sign announced "Swear jar in effect starting January 2009" and another informed patrons of a recent increase in the price of Johnny Walker Black.

The Post occupies a house off Norfolk Street, and I'd guess it's been a while since the first floor was a private residence.  The "stage" is the front room, and the rest of the first floor has been opened up to accomodate a bar down the left side and room for 8 or 10 tables. Clippings on the wall remember the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and affiliates of African-American VFW Posts that appeared at Barack Obama's inauguration.

The second set opened up into a jam session with Rivers' band backing quite a few guests, including vocalist Diane Richardson, two or three more alto players, a tenor player, trumpeter Mike Maleson, and guitarist Fred Woodard and his 13-year old violinist son. The younger Woodard got special attention from Rivers, who good-naturedly joked about his request to play C Jam Blues in A and featured him on the set's closer, a crowd-pleasing if sleepy reading of Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely.

This is a great thing. I will be back.

Makanda Project, featuring Rivers, Kordalewski, and Richardson, along with several other local greats, including Charlie Kohlhaase.

Old Mythologies

2011-02-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

The Barr Brothers live at Parima in Burlington, courtesy of Vermont Live Music.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Del McCoury Band collaboration

2011-02-08T20:28:00.000-05:00

An early post here at WILIS explored the historical connections between the musics we know as jazz and bluegrass, and the lineage of contemporary string band music that owes as much to bebop and cool jazz as to Appalachia. There's an intriguingly new and different chapter of this story coming out this spring, when bluegrass traditionalists Del McCoury Band and New Orleans ambassadors the Preservation Hall Jazz Band release a collaborative album and tour together.

7 Walkers - Death Don't Have No Mercy

2011-02-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

While the evidently reconciled Grateful Dead survivors Phil Lesh and Bob Weir play stadiums with Furthur, drummer Billy Kreutzmann is playing much smaller venues with a band called 7 Walkers. He's joined by legendary Meters bassist George Porter Jr., Austin/Shreveport swamp-blues singer Papa Mali, and Austin multi-instrumentalist and Willie Nelson collaborator Matt Hubbard. Sounds pretty good.

Here's a video of them playing the Rev. Gary Davis classic 'Death Don't Have No Mercy' from Relix.com.

I'll let you guess which one of these guys probably doesn't remember that he was a coworker of mine at the Oberlin College library for part of a summer in the early '90s.

RIP, Charlie Louvin

2011-01-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

Country music legend Charlie Louvin died today at age 83. Interesting NY Times obit here.

Here's Charlie (guitar) and his brother Ira (mandolin) in a 1958 TV appearance; Ira died in 1965.

Listen to those harmonies...

I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive

2011-01-24T15:36:00.001-05:00

Steve Earle's new record I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive comes out in April, followed soon thereafter by a novel of the same name; both are named with a nod to Hank Williams' last single. The novel's premise sounds intriguing: it follows the downward spiral, and maybe the redemption, of the doctor rumored to have given Williams his final (and fatal) shot of morphine.

Earle knows a thing or two about downward spiral and redemption, and it might be fair to say his best songs are about desperation. Of course, a new set of Earle songs is generally cause for celebration. This time he gets the T. Bone Burnett treatment.

According to his website, he'll tour with the Dukes for the first time in years in support of this album. Can't wait.

... & the world in a grain of top-40 sand

2011-01-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

Slow down. Lean in. And check this piece from tonight's All Things Considered.

Upcoming: Jason Moran & Fred Hersch at Jordan Hall, March 8

2011-01-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping I can manage to make it to what's advertised as an evening of solos and duets by piano masters (and NEC faculty) Hersch and Moran at Jordan Hall.

Here's an interview with 2010 MacArthur Fellow Moran from a few years ago, including cuts from his then-new Artist in Residence record, and here's a fascinating Fresh Air interview with Hersch from last year.

Jocie Adams & the Barr Brothers, Lizard Lounge, 1.20.11

2011-01-21T21:44:00.004-05:00

Jocie Adams & Brad Barr

A couple songs into her set, Jocie Adams seemed to be trying to get permission to use some piece of the percussive array assembled and awaiting the Barr Brothers' set. By the time word got back to drummer Andrew, it had apparently telephoned into a sit-in request. He slid around the crowded perimeter of the basement room and took his seat quietly. A well-placed bass drum hit clearly surprised, and then delighted, Jocie; she broke a grin and dug in a little deeper.

This was one of several moments of impromptu play that added a lightness to the sometimes heavy tone of much of this opening set celebrating the release of Adams' new CD Bed of Notions. Jocie accompanied herself on fingerstyle guitar and piano, and was backed by upright bassist Zack Cirus, cellist Robin Ryczek, and harmony vocalist Martha Guenther. Her presence was that of someone whose appearances on television, hobnobbing with top shelf performers like Emmylou Harris, and inclusion on many critics' "best of" lists appears not gone to her head.

She seemed almost bashful about being the emcee, but when she opened her mouth to sing, something came over the room. There were more than a couple moments of lump-in-throat beauty. This was powerful stuff. The songs were earnest; what they sometimes lacked in playfulness they made up for some vivid and arrestingly asymmetrical turns of phrase animated by well-placed vocal harmonies.

Several more guests sat in over the course of the set, including Brad Barr on piano, Dinty Child on fiddle, and violinist Anna Williams. With the Low Anthem's touring schedule I don't know how often this ensemble will be able to gather to work up these songs more fully. There's some amazing possibility here. Check out this piece on Jocie from Radio Boston.

After a short set by chamber group the Kirkland Trio which included violinist Willams -- an unexpected and cool part of the evening -- the Barrs took the stage, accompanied by fellow Montreal players Andres Vial and Sarah Page. They opened with a very strong 'Beggar in the Morning,' an easy contender for song-most-often-in-my-head in the last year and one of several pieces from their debut played before my early exit. (Even on a snow day, the kiddo doesn't adjust her wake-up time to accommodate her pop's live music habit). They also played the lovely instrumental creation myth Sarah Through the Wall, from Brad's acoustic Fall Apartment record, and several new-to-me tunes.
They sounded great, individually and as a group. The music was at once loose, sharp, and invested. Brad was in good voice on guitar and pipes, and Andrew killed as usual on trap set, palms, and sundry other percussion tools. Sarah's harp was pretty low in the mix on the several more electric tunes, but on the quieter songs it added a percussive texture. Andres moved between keys, bass, drums (and did he play the vibes?) and, like everyone else, sang some soft harmonies.

Andres Vial; bass, keyboards, drums, voice.

It was great to see this band in this room, clearly a place with special associations for Brad and Andrew; Brad said they'd been regular listeners here back before The Fringe's residency moved to what's now the Lily Pad.

I'm curious to know how the rest of the set was. With Jocie and her band, the members of the chamber trio, Marc Friedman and Jeff Prytowsky (not to mention Johnny Trama, Laura Cortese, the aforementioned Dinty Child, and god knows what other great players) lurking the room, who knows what transpired. For me, there was this: no traffic, no snow yet, and some great music bouncing around my sleepy head.

Yonder Mountain Minutemen?

2011-01-21T15:11:00.000-05:00

Well, this is unexpected: half of hippiegrass machine YMSB adds a drummer and channels the Minutemen...?!

Dave Liebman on the Checkout

2011-01-18T22:04:00.001-05:00

Spent part of a snowy drive to work this morning listening this interview with sax player (and newly-named NEA Jazz Master) Dave Liebman from WBGO's The Checkout podcast. Liebman came across as a thoughtful, articulate, and humble guy, and the interview included eyewitness jazz history, musings on the nature of improvisation, thoughts on the state of jazz in the U.S, and good-natured critiques of the nostalgia of Ken Burns and the conservatism of Wynton Marsalis.

I look forward to spending more time soon with this 2006 live trio recording from Liebman, Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum, and another, here, a 2001 duo set from Amsterdam in which Liebman's soprano is paired with the piano of Marc Van Roon. Both come from the great You Are What You Hear jazz blog, no longer being updated but still offering an unbelievable trove of live recordings.

Previews of Nathan Moore's Dear Puppeteer, out 2/1 on Royal Potato Family

2011-01-15T10:45:00.000-05:00

"Hollow" | Nathan Moore by Royal Potato Family

"Dear Puppeteer" by Nathan Moore by Royal Potato Family

"They should let you solo."

2011-01-13T18:33:00.001-05:00

I wonder, when was the last time a jaw harp and hammered dulcimer were on stage at Letterman? (Not sure this embedded video will work; here it is on the CBS site, with commercials and without the chance to hear Dave digging the jawharp, as quoted in the post title.)

hanging on every word

2011-01-12T16:30:00.001-05:00

This song, seen here in a video from a 2007 performance with Surprise Me Mr. Davis bandmate Brad Barr, is on the upcoming Dear Puppeteer from one of my favorites, Nathan Moore.

Flamingoh

2011-01-09T14:38:00.002-05:00

Wow. Just getting around to listening to Debo Band's EP Flamingoh, streaming here. It's really super. Been reading about this band for a couple years, and it's been exciting to know that the great Either/Orchestra isn't the only game in town Ethiojazz-wise. While E/O's homages to Mulatu Astatke et al make for a particularly interesting facet of their many-layered approach to music making, Debo seems more specifically committed to exploring and expanding this genre. This is not music to sit around to. Can't wait to check them out live.

Dizzy Gillespie and the Electric Mayhem

2011-01-07T21:54:00.001-05:00

I read somewhere that Dizzy Gillespie once said something like, "I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds." It was memorable.

So is this:

Club d'Elf in Japan

2011-01-07T16:13:00.001-05:00

Check out this piece from ringleader Micro "Mike Rivard" Vard about Club d'Elf's recent trip to Japan. I found his observations about the quality of attention paid by Japanese audiences to be particularly interesting, and there are some great photos.

check out The Checkout

2011-01-06T17:57:00.001-05:00

I've discovered my new favorite podcast. Thanks to a tip from a devoted WILIS reader I happily spent my time in the car this afternoon listening to great interviews with Chick Corea and Pat Metheny, two episodes of the many available from WBGO's The Checkout. (Really, there are three separate but related jazz podcasts -- live shows from the Village Vanguard, interviews, and another new music podcast.)

Really interesting to hear Corea's take on the sessions that lead to the raw material later assembled into the records In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, and to hear his enthusiasm for music making and musical friendship 40+ years down the line. And Metheny's whole new robot music thing is a trip.

Upcoming: Jocie Adams & Barr Brothers in Cambridge and Providence

2011-01-05T13:51:00.002-05:00

Jocie Adams, singer/clarinetest/bassist/crotales player/etc. with Rhode Island's Low Anthem is evidently celebrating the release of her new solo disc with local appearances with the Barr Brothers, on January 20 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and January 21 at Firehouse 13 in Providence. The Low Anthem has really blown up over the last year or so, making pals with the likes of Emmylou Harris, touring internationally, and making many critics' lists of faves. Here's Emmylou singing their 'To Ohio' with them last fall.

if this is the apocalypse, sign me up

2011-01-05T13:24:00.001-05:00

I ventured out Sunday night to Union Square bound for either Bull McCabe's for the Dub Apocalypse residency or to check out the Sea Monsters' last stand. I would have been showing up late to the latter party -- this was the conclusion of a 3+ year residency for them at Precinct -- but it sure sounds like something great of the rock-and-soul variety has been happening there on Sundays.

But I've got to level with you. I'm pretty cheap. I'm not proud. I hadn't planned on paying a door charge.   And the Dub Apocalypse thing has been great the other times I've gone. The prospect of paying at the door and then waiting around for the band to set up wasn't thrilling me. I wandered down the street, heard a few minutes of a decent blues band at Sally O'Briens, and then ended up at McCabe's.

The band on this night was top-shelf as usual: Apocalypse stalwart Johnny Trama and new-to-me veteran Jeff Lockhart on guitars, Jim Hobbs on alto, Timo Shanko on bass, and Pete MacLean (Akashic Record/Freelance Bishops) on drums. They sounded great. The part of the set I saw was as much blues and funk as roots and dub.

Two nights prior, Timo (with G. Love and Special Sauce, opening for Widespread Panic) played the Pepsi Center in Denver. Capacity? Over 18,000.

If I ever stop being giddy about living in a place where I can go see musicians of this caliber in a tiny room for free, please sit me down and give me a stern talking to.

Abigail Washburn Band at the Tiny Desk

2011-01-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

Maybe 6 years ago I saw Abigail's old band Uncle Earl on a snowy Tuesday at the Cantab in Cambridge. The place was packed, more noisy drink-and-minglers than intent listeners, but there was a note she hit and held on 'Warfare' that silenced the room. No beer bottles, no laughter, no nervous come-ons, no tired old stories. Almost no breathing. It was astounding.

Check out her current band on NPR's Tiny Desk series here.

SMMD in Brooklyn: minus keys, plus baritone uke

2011-01-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

Excellent video by Clinton Vadnais from the Surprise Me Mr. Snowstorm show at Brooklyn Bowl last week.

Surprise Me Mr. Davis "The Garden" > "If You Knew" 12.28.10 Brooklyn Bowl from Clinton Vadnais on Vimeo.

No flaming guitars here, just Blue Flames

2010-12-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

Interesting piece on Fresh Air yesterday about Jimi Hendrix the sideman. Check it out.

one + one = more: Miracle Orchestra at Haven

2010-12-17T17:10:00.002-05:00

Caught the first 45 energetic minutes or so of the jazz funk quartet Miracle Orchestra reunion at Haven in Jamaica Plain Tuesday night, and would have gladly stayed if I hadn't been fighting a cold and anticipating an early start this morning. The small room was packed with people who mostly seemed to know one another, friends, family and fans of the band excited for what was evidently their first show since 2001.

The version of the band that played these first few tunes was guitarist Geoff Scott, tenor player Jared Sims, bassist Garrett Sayers, and drummer Bill Carbone. Colin Fisher, one of several other horn players that were part of an earlier version of the band, was in the house, and had his trumpet in hand by the time I was sliding out the door into the icy night.

Carbone and Sayers are an amazing rhythm section, and Sayer's muscular 5-string often matched Sims' or Scott's fluid melody runs. I think this was the thing that struck me most about the group, the times that one or the other of the melody players would seemingly effortlessly fall in harmonic step with whoever was up front at that moment. This is when rock-solid deep funk got rich on top. Scott particularly impressed in this textural role - his lead playing is sometimes a little busy for my taste, but when he slid in around a tenor lead from Sims, it was something else.

Sorry I never saw this band back when they were more than an exciting reunion. They're scattered now. Sims and Scott are still in town - Scott's Public House plays every so often at Atwoods, and Sims' calendar looks pretty busy - but Carbone is evidently working on a dissertation in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan and Sayers plays with Boulder's great Motet.

----

Update, 12.23 - Recording of the show here, thanks to Andy Murray.

from the Low Anthem's upcoming release Smart Flesh

2010-12-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

... if we use our mind power to collapse the walls

2010-12-15T18:11:00.001-05:00

I cannot get enough of this, Brass Menazeri, Mr. Lif, and DJ Spark capping a day of collaboration by playing live on Seattle's KEXP. Do yourself a favor, and check it out. It's not background music.

But now I'm found: music therapy story on Studio 360

2010-12-12T16:22:00.001-05:00

Really interesting piece about music and healing today on Studio 360.

Miracle Orchestra, The Haven, JP, Dec.14; Brass Menazeri & Mr Lif, Seattle Folk Festival

2010-12-11T09:24:00.002-05:00

Never managed to see Miracle Orchestra back when they were a local fixture but I've run into various members in other performance settings, most often guitarist Geoff Scott. Hope to check out their reunion show next week, in part because it seems like the inaugural music night at JP's Haven. Been reading good things about this place, and it's nice to have another jazz venue on this side of the river...

In case "folk festival" conjures images of fanny-packs, earnest sloganeering and unwise facial hair choices: a few times zones away, Bay Area Balkan phenomenon Brass Menazeri (led by my old roommate Peter) plays a set with Boston underground MC Mr. Lif at the Seattle Folk Festival this weekend. Let's hear it for genre-stretching!

d'Elf and friends, early show, Dec 3 at the Lizard

2010-12-09T20:55:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in enthusiastic before-the-fact posts, Club d'Elf upped the ante last Friday by inviting one-time regular Brahim Fribgane and Gnawa master Hassan Hakmoun to play, in a benefit for collaborator Kousmat Mouhammad, married to an American for decades and detained in an INS prison on what was described as a technicality. The special guests started the show as a duo, Hakmoun accompanying himself on sintir and footstomps, Fribgane pulling an entire trap set's sound from his cajon.

They were joined by d'Elf chief Mike Rivard, edgy slide guitar master Dave Tronzo, percussionist Vicente Lebron, regular d'Elf drummer Dean Johnston, and Paul Schultheis on Rhodes and Moog. This first set ranged from contemplative sketch to febrile, ecstatic groove and back. Micro stuck to upright for this early show, and Fribgane played electric 'oud. The band was joined by a friend whose back-of-the-room handclaps became accompaniment on qarkabeb, Moroccan iron castanets.

I can only imagine what molten display awaited the second show's attenders. Good news: Mr. Mouhammad has since been released, thanks in part to monies raised by these shows.

Next up for d'Club? Dates in Japan for which the band consists of Micro with Dean Johnston, John Medeski, Dave Fiuczynski, and Steven Bernstein.

the Banjo Project trailer

2010-12-09T20:33:00.000-05:00

This looks cool.

recipe

2010-12-09T20:32:00.000-05:00

Elvis Perkins proves a decent soundtrack for what could, in a pinch, be called "moving boxes" but which appears, upon closer inspection, to involve bumping into and then thumbing through a book of Robert Frank photo collages and an object relations theory text. My attention wanders. The ukulele calls, a little wobbly but strolling with purpose towards the hamlet of In-tune-with-(it)self. I try to find some of the song's notes, and hit some on the shoulder. David Rawlings' machine approaches on the rails from somewhere dusty and cloudless. Should I warm up that soup?

Dub Apocalypse

2010-12-09T20:31:00.000-05:00

Congrats to WILIS favorite Dub Apocalypse for winning "International Artist Of The Year" at the Boston Music Awards last week. Wonder how many other winners are less an artist than an event, and play to a handful of people for free....

Challaban - Club d'Elf with Hassan Hakmoun and Brahim Fribgane, 12/3/10

2010-12-06T19:58:00.001-05:00

Thanks to ThompsonLoM for posting to Youtube!

Club d'Elf with Hassan Hakmoun & Brahim Fribgane: tomorrow

2010-12-02T18:54:00.001-05:00

Mike Rivard's mighty Club d'Elf gets mightier with both onetime regular Fribgane and special guest Hakmoun on board for a night of Gnawa-inflected trancy groove music. Two separate shows, Lizard Lounge. Didn't end up making it the other week, very excited to be going tomorrow. Nice to see the shows getting some advance press. Here's a streaming recording of a show they did together back in '01. Can't wait. I'll be at the earlier show; the day starts early with a 4 year old...

Speaking of Either/Orchestra....

2010-11-26T08:11:00.001-05:00

Congrats on the upcoming 25th anniversary show -- looks like a great night with many illustrious alums taking part. More info here.

what i like is talk radio about music

2010-11-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

Really interesting piece on On Point today about craft guitar maker Wayne Henderson, and today on Fresh Air, it's Peter Rowan reminiscing about nearly 50 years in bluegrass and performing with his current band.

Medeski Martin & Wood (and friends) at the House of Blues

2010-11-23T16:57:00.005-05:00

After many years of their music being in frequent rotation in my personal soundtrack, and exciting encounters with the playing of John Medeski and Billy Martin in other performance situations, I finally saw the full trio Medeski, Martin and Wood in concert over the weekend. There's more to say, but for starters: wow.

I hadn't particularly been planning to go until a couple days beforehand, and then things just fell together to make it seem like a good idea. When I found out that members of the great Either/Orchestra horn section were planning to sit it, and then that Mike Rivard had played sintir on some tunes the prior night in Portland, it was clear there were some pretty thrilling possibilities emerging for the evening.

I got to the House of Blues with time to spare, passed the security gauntlet (what are these guys expecting? I haven't flown since the whole pat-down thing started, but I have to think it's something like this) and was happy to see a bunch of mikes set up on stage right, apparently confirming the E/O thing. On a stage much larger than the places I usually see music, the band's set-up was really compact, Medeski's nearly 360 degrees of keys forming a little center-facing cave on stage left, Wood's basses in the middle, and Martin's drum kit and percussive array stage right, again facing in. Morphine played through the sound system.

Just a few minutes after the posted start time, the house lights dimmed and the trio took their places, coming out of the gate full-throttle, deep in a groove right away. I gather this is not always the case. There would be wanders in the skronky/spacey desert later on but on this night they hit the ground running, tight and aggressive. Chris Wood's bass was right up front as often as underneath. On an early tune, and often throughout the night, he played high on the neck with a slide, and with a really dark and grimy feel; on the same tune, Medeski took up the melodica.

Medeski's onetime Either/Orchestra bandmate (and current Club d'Elf ringleader) Mike Rivard wandered onstage and found his way to some hand percussion toys behind Billy during a percussion jam segment late in the first set, and then joined the band on sintir for the last 15ish minutes before the set break.

Reeds player and Either/Orchestra founder/bandleader (and Accurate Records impresario) Russ Gershon, on tenor sax in this situation, brought out most of the current E/O horn section - Joel Yennior on trombone, Charlie Kohlhase on bari sax, Dan Rosenthal on trumpet, and Hailey Niswanger on alto sax - after the break, and they stayed for the entire second set. Medeski and Gershon communicated mostly with eyebrows from across the stage, and Gershon led his section with a broad smile, the wave of a hand, and an obvious enthusiasm. This was a fantastic set of music. Some of my favorite MMW stuff is with horns. I was hoping for a 'Bemsha Swing/Lively Up Yourself', which they didn't play, but was treated to other great tunes from the MMW + horns repertoire, including 'Where's Sly?' and other pieces from 1993's It's a Jungle in Here and maybe 2002's Uninvisible, and a fantastic version of 'Amiak Abet Abet', the opening cut from E/O's Mulatu-scented 2000 release More Beautiful Than Death.

At the close of the second set, the trio came out sans horns for a short and to-the-point funk encore. The show started on time, and it sure did end on time, an obvious sore spot for Medeski. There was another show booked later that night, which seems like it probably cramped MMW's exuberant style. For the last minute or so he played with his left hand and held what I assume was his phone in his right, evidently watching the clock count down. Leaving the stage, he flipped off someone in the wings. It was a downer at the end of such a feel-good night of music. I assume there's more to the story than Medeski being entitled and grumpy, and based on the way they deal with their fans (see the security comment above) lead me in the direction of assuming that maybe the House of Blues (TM) may deal with their artists in a similarly martial manner.

--

PS - Audience recording of the show here thanks to local taper Andy Murray.

Figgy pudding

2010-11-06T18:03:00.004-04:00

Belatedly wanted to share my excitement about finding myself at a rare set by The Figgs at Sally O'Brien's a couple weeks back. When I've been there before I've seen top-shelf roots music from the likes of local mainstays Frank Drake, Jimmy Ryan, and Jerry Miller, and always had my choice of seats. On this night, the crowd pushed back the door, and the band was sweating. Pete Hayes perched atop his stool, looked around, and then fell to hit the seat and the skins with a simultaneous crash. The fronting duo, guitarist Mike Gent and bassist Pete Donnelly, attacked the mikes with a kind of urgency, vocal blend, and tasty harmonic hooks that variously called to mind the Replacements and even the Who (minus the fringed stadium bombast).

That said, I was interested to learn that they had backed 'Mats bassist Tommy Stinson on one or more solo tours. Here's a fun vid of Stinson's pop-in at Figgs gig at the Midway when he was in town with current band Soul Asylum in Spring '09... playing My Generation. You won't hear Donnelly's excellent bass playing in this clip, but I recommend you check it out anyhow:

Upcoming: Hassan Hakmoun & Brahim Fribgane with Club d'Elf

2010-11-01T10:42:00.001-04:00

Very excited to have learned that the November 12 edition of Club d'Elf will feature Moroccan masters Hassan Hakmoun and Brahim Fribgane. Oudist, percussionist & vocalist Fribgane was a regular part of the Club at one time, and a duo set by him and powerhouse singer and sentir master Hakmoun at the Lizard Lounge seven or eight years back ranks among the most exciting performances I've seen.

I last saw the two play together at the ICA last spring with Adam Rudolph's great Moving Pictures band. Rudolph, Ned Rothenberg, Kenny Wessel, Ralph Jones, Graham Haynes, and Fribgane played the first part of the set before longtime collaborator Hakmoun joined them. When he did, what had been a sometimes arty and precious set became a looser and more joyous affair. Hakmoun's voice fills a room, and he plays his sentir like it's an extension of his body. Texture and nuance, not melody or harmony, were the heart of the music they made together, and I expect the same grooving and gathered sound from the November 12th d'Elf.

The show is billed as a benefit for d'Elf family member Kousmat Mohammed, who's detained in an INS prison. I don't know anything about the circumstances of his arrest.

Here's a video of Hakmoun and Fribgane:

more pictures about sounds: le noise

2010-10-09T08:28:00.001-04:00

Haven't watched this all the way through yet myself, but did see Neil's recent Farm Aid performance on TV, in which his new Le Noise/Lanois guitar set-up figured prominently. It was a sometimes ragged and sometimes riveting set, including some cuts from the new record. Been reading about this accompanying film, so here it is.