2006 CU Music Award write-in winner for Best Live Act elsinore has been doing more than just putting on energetic, enthusiastic, and otherwise darn good live shows all over town. They also have a brand-new album for your listening pleasure. Recorded in town at Pogo Studio and produced by none other than Mark Rubel, Nothing for Design is the band's follow up to 2005's congenial live album On Display. And this new effort is nothing to sneeze at, either.
From the first notes of the opening "Mind, Space, and Time" through live favorites like "Vampire in My Town" and "The Rise," the band captures the listener's attention with the very best that the Americana genre has to offer - engaging lyrics and a sound that feels like coming home.
The exciting ostinato chord progression of "Kate" allows the listener to latch on to the core of the music from the beginning and gives its listener the freedom to notice the intricacy of the band's instrumentation. Ryan Groff's vocals throughout are clear and brilliant like polished glass. The mellower sound of percussionist Dave Pride's congas and bongos is a welcome change from the more traditional drum kit sound, and Mark Woolwine's piano parts add a sparkling veneer to the group's sound. Accompanying these is the unassuming bass playing of Chris Eitel and steadiness from Groff's rhythm guitar.
Aside from the vaguely unsettling "Rossville" with its delicate guitar work and forebodingly effect-laden voices that sound like ghosts in, well, a room with a guitar, elsinore welcomes the listener in with open arms. With vitality and sincerity, Nothing for Design is music for a sunny day, and well worth a listen or twenty. And if you haven't seen elsinore live yet, go see them already!
elsinore will be performing their album release show at Cowboy Monkey this Saturday, April 29 at 10 p.m. with opening acts Gentlemen Auction House and The Wandering Sons. $5 cover.
*****
Originally Published Apr 27, 2006, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Monday, February 2, 2009
Album Review: Keller & The Keels, "Grass" (SCI Fidelity)
Jam band darling Keller Williams is at our throats again, but this time, he has a little help from his friends - Larry and Jenny Keel, featured on guitar and bass. As the title suggests, Grass is a bluegrass album (not another type of grass you may have been wondering about), and a very fun one at that.
Grass gives the listener a glimpse at some of the stylistic influences that have been a part of Keller's guitar virtuosity all these years, as well as a peek into his newest experiment - standard rock mixed with improvisation. With only two guitars and a bass - not the typical bluegrass instrumentation which includes banjo, mandolin and fiddle - Grass is a more palatable introduction to the genre for newcomers than its twangy, "pure" version.
Like any other Keller Williams album, Grass has its own individual, quirky vitality. However, this particular release lets die hard fans down with its lack of Keller originals. Grass is dominated by bluegrass covers of an atypical variety of songs, far removed in origin from bluegrass (i.e. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" and Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" transposed into "Mary Jane's Last Breakdown").
The originality of the material Keller infuses into the covers keeps the songs from becoming stale too soon, but with a 3:7 original to cover ratio, the album leaves its listener wanting more of Keller's own songwriting touch. Especially in wake of his hit concert DVD Sight released last summer, which showed Keller at his best - thriving in a live full-house setting, the album settled itself below expectations in terms of vibrancy. All in all, the studio effort of Grass, although competent, is much more pale than Keller's previous livelier work.
*****
Originally Published Mar 30, 2006, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Grass gives the listener a glimpse at some of the stylistic influences that have been a part of Keller's guitar virtuosity all these years, as well as a peek into his newest experiment - standard rock mixed with improvisation. With only two guitars and a bass - not the typical bluegrass instrumentation which includes banjo, mandolin and fiddle - Grass is a more palatable introduction to the genre for newcomers than its twangy, "pure" version.
Like any other Keller Williams album, Grass has its own individual, quirky vitality. However, this particular release lets die hard fans down with its lack of Keller originals. Grass is dominated by bluegrass covers of an atypical variety of songs, far removed in origin from bluegrass (i.e. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" and Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" transposed into "Mary Jane's Last Breakdown").
The originality of the material Keller infuses into the covers keeps the songs from becoming stale too soon, but with a 3:7 original to cover ratio, the album leaves its listener wanting more of Keller's own songwriting touch. Especially in wake of his hit concert DVD Sight released last summer, which showed Keller at his best - thriving in a live full-house setting, the album settled itself below expectations in terms of vibrancy. All in all, the studio effort of Grass, although competent, is much more pale than Keller's previous livelier work.
*****
Originally Published Mar 30, 2006, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Album Review: The Living Blue, "Fire, Blood, Water" (Minty Fresh)
Although playing new material, many things remain the same on local band The Living Blue's third release, Fire, Blood, Water (although the first actually as The Living Blue; their two previous releases have been as The Blackouts). Their success in the surrounding area, fueled in a large part by their charismatic live act, is captured quite well on the release. This latest album is a fair representation of their sound, attitude and energy that accompanies a Living Blue show.
The songs included on the album are much like the group's 2004 release as the Blackouts, Living in Blue, which includes guitar hooks that are made of equal parts garage psychedelia and blues-influenced rock, with a driving undercurrent of grumbling, rhythmic bass and bombastic drums. The lead vocals likewise defy apt categorization, with a distinctive turn of inflection that alternately sneers at you and makes you grin. Although generally lumped with "garage" bands, The Living Blue's virtuosity makes this a bit of a misnomer. They deliver memorable songs with singable lyrics that stick with the listener long after groups which have received much more mainstream attention than this group has so far.
The highlights, although this is a relative term, since there are no real low points on Fire, Blood, Water, of these songs include the friendly, interesting counterpoint which the two complementary guitar parts interweave throughout. This is heard especially on the pulsating "Serrated Friend," which is more delicate and sensitive on "Greenthumb," (which also includes an electric organ solo with a Farfisa-like nasal timbre, a delightful foray into other sonic areas not often visited by other similar bands). A crowd favorite from the band's live show, a powerhouse called "Conquistador," also translates surprisingly well from stage improvisation to studio release.
And the effervescent-yet-biting sound that plows through the speakers on "Murderous Youth" makes it an instant favorite for anyone who gets excited about music. The tracks on this album remain fresh, powerful, invigorating, and energizing, and it grows neither sour nor stale on repeated listenings. I would highly recommend both the album and the band to anybody, but especially to fans and friends of our local scene, punk and straight-ahead rock. Put simply, The Living Blue's Fire, Blood, Water rocks in the way bands used to and haven't in a long time. See this band, buy this album. You will not be sorry that you did.
*****
Originally Published Sep 29, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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The songs included on the album are much like the group's 2004 release as the Blackouts, Living in Blue, which includes guitar hooks that are made of equal parts garage psychedelia and blues-influenced rock, with a driving undercurrent of grumbling, rhythmic bass and bombastic drums. The lead vocals likewise defy apt categorization, with a distinctive turn of inflection that alternately sneers at you and makes you grin. Although generally lumped with "garage" bands, The Living Blue's virtuosity makes this a bit of a misnomer. They deliver memorable songs with singable lyrics that stick with the listener long after groups which have received much more mainstream attention than this group has so far.
The highlights, although this is a relative term, since there are no real low points on Fire, Blood, Water, of these songs include the friendly, interesting counterpoint which the two complementary guitar parts interweave throughout. This is heard especially on the pulsating "Serrated Friend," which is more delicate and sensitive on "Greenthumb," (which also includes an electric organ solo with a Farfisa-like nasal timbre, a delightful foray into other sonic areas not often visited by other similar bands). A crowd favorite from the band's live show, a powerhouse called "Conquistador," also translates surprisingly well from stage improvisation to studio release.
And the effervescent-yet-biting sound that plows through the speakers on "Murderous Youth" makes it an instant favorite for anyone who gets excited about music. The tracks on this album remain fresh, powerful, invigorating, and energizing, and it grows neither sour nor stale on repeated listenings. I would highly recommend both the album and the band to anybody, but especially to fans and friends of our local scene, punk and straight-ahead rock. Put simply, The Living Blue's Fire, Blood, Water rocks in the way bands used to and haven't in a long time. See this band, buy this album. You will not be sorry that you did.
*****
Originally Published Sep 29, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Interview: Allen Clapp of The Orange Peels
"I think that the landscape around where we live-and I've lived here my whole life-around the San Francisco Bay area is such a great natural [setting]. Surreal, really. There are these beautiful coastal mountains, and every night the fog comes in over them with the sunset behind it. There's the ocean on one side, the bay on the other side; there's San Francisco 45 minutes one way, and there're redwood forests 45 minutes the other way. It's just such a strange place, that it's quite inspiring," Allen Clapp, frontman, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader of the Orange Peels, lovingly muses about his native California. Especially on the band's latest album, Circling the Sun, Clapp feels that "the natural landscape has been a huge influence. I'm not sure how you go about capturing something like a natural landscape in terms of music, but we tried. We tried to make it feel as spacious and lush as the landscape does around here, and maybe that's [a] reason...why this album has a certain sound to it, a sort of conscious effort to capture that somehow musically."
The Orange Peels' music is as spacious as the richly verdant climate in which it was created. The sunny Californian pop presented on the band's third album is warm, with catchy melodies and shimmering string parts that interlock, stretching the ear, but never past the comfort zone. Clapp explains that the Orange Peels have had a different lineup on each album they've put out, and that, like their surrounding environment, the current lineup has something to do with the sound that was produced on the current album. "Right before we recorded this album," Clapp notes, "version two of the Orange Peels came to an abrupt halt, and then we made this record with Orange Peels version three, which had just come together almost by accident. And so I think right around that time, it was this new experience playing together...and we had never really recorded anything with these people before, so we just decided [to] experiment around with some sounds that we hadn't really used before... and everything just started sounding huge on its own."
"I think that our sound evolves on every record," Clapp continues, "and it's partially due to the fact that the band breaks up and goes through this big emotional upheaval every time we're about to put out a new record. It's not like I would choose to have that happen every time, but it just does." Despite certain changes in the lineup, Clapp and bassist Jill Pries are constant fixtures within the group, providing some continuity between incarnations of the group. "Jill and I are always in the band, no matter who else is coming and going," Clapp notes, "so our sensibilities are still there."
Not only has the band undergone extensive personnel changes between each album, but they have also released each of them on a separate label (most recently Urbana's Parasol Records). "We were signed to [our first label]...for three records initially, and we thought that that was going to be a good thing...but we just weren't seeing eye-to-eye with the label, and they didn't like the direction our second record was going...and we loved [our new direction]. Then we saw that the downside of being signed to a label was that these people aren't only going to put our records out, but they also want a lot of input. I have to draw the line somewhere. I want the people who have input in our music to be musicians, not A & R guys." Since then, Clapp adds, the band has just sought out single-record deals with labels, which "allows us to make the records that we want to make, without anyone else interfering in it....it's probably more work at the end of the day doing it [that] way...but it's given us a lot of freedom. We only do what we want to do, not what anyone else wants us to do, so it's pure art, in that respect; this is exactly what we intended [to] produce, and here it is."
"I think...early on, when I started making music, I wanted to have a lot of input into the parts that people played," Clapp reflects, adding that as time has passed, he has taken a more hands-off approach to music-making in a group setting. "I think I've realized that when you have people, and they have good ideas, you're going to make a better record if everyone can share their ideas. So I've become more inclusive of people's ideas-especially on this record-than I have been. I'll come up with the core song sometimes: a melody and a chord progression, lyrics, that kind of thing, but then everyone fills in the cracks, and everyone's personality comes through."
Being the primary songwriter for the group, Clapp provides some insight into the way he works: "More often than not, [musical ideas] just sort of arrive. I'll be doing stuff like mowing the lawn or washing the dishes, some brainless activity, and boom! Suddenly there's a melody going and maybe some lyrics accompanying it, even, and it's just there, when a couple of seconds before, it wasn't. And then you get into the process where you have to complete those things, those little bits and pieces that arrive on their own, and I guess that's more arrangement that you're doing later on....maybe the writing is what you do when you fill in the blanks of a song....the melody suggests lyrical ideas a lot of the time, and sometimes these little things that arrive on their own are both melody and lyrics, [and] a lot of times, they just kind of dictate which direction they're going to be going at the outset," Clapp comments, "some take more work than others." "Circling the Sun" "started off as...a little lullaby that I would play on piano, and ended up being...a Cars-esque sort of 80s pop song. So that one went through a major transformation, and it started off as just a musical idea with no lyrics, and the lyrics gradually got filled in over the course of a year."
After their second album came out, "[the band] decided that it was better to just have fun playing live and not worry so much about it sounding just like the record, because it's never going to sound just like [that] anyway, unless you bring a bunch of computers along, or twenty people.... it's going to sound different live, but there's going to be a lot more energy live, and it's probably going to rock a little bit more, because we're a rock band. It's not going to sound as pretty, maybe, as it does on the record, but there's going to be a different kind of energy there."
As far as future plans go, Clapp is interested mainly in the present. "Since it takes us so long to get these things [to promote an album] together and to release them, we want to give [our current album] a fair shot." The Orange Peels plan to give Circling the Sun fair airtime, but to follow up on this one sooner than their current pace of four years between albums. "We definitely don't want it to be four years before our next record comes out," says Clapp. "We're already writing for another record right now. We're aware that it's taken us four years to put out every record so far, and we don't want to be repeating that; we want to keep the momentum going....I think that there's a lot of really mediocre music out there right now that masquerades as important...and it's just really boring. And [the Orange Peels] are not boring. We're melodic and we want to be your new favorite band."
The Orange Peels will be playing at the Canopy Club in Urbana on Wednesday, August 24th with a $5 cover. Openers include Bailey and two local acts, Darling Disarm and the Elanors.
*****
Originally Published Aug 18, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
The Orange Peels' music is as spacious as the richly verdant climate in which it was created. The sunny Californian pop presented on the band's third album is warm, with catchy melodies and shimmering string parts that interlock, stretching the ear, but never past the comfort zone. Clapp explains that the Orange Peels have had a different lineup on each album they've put out, and that, like their surrounding environment, the current lineup has something to do with the sound that was produced on the current album. "Right before we recorded this album," Clapp notes, "version two of the Orange Peels came to an abrupt halt, and then we made this record with Orange Peels version three, which had just come together almost by accident. And so I think right around that time, it was this new experience playing together...and we had never really recorded anything with these people before, so we just decided [to] experiment around with some sounds that we hadn't really used before... and everything just started sounding huge on its own."
"I think that our sound evolves on every record," Clapp continues, "and it's partially due to the fact that the band breaks up and goes through this big emotional upheaval every time we're about to put out a new record. It's not like I would choose to have that happen every time, but it just does." Despite certain changes in the lineup, Clapp and bassist Jill Pries are constant fixtures within the group, providing some continuity between incarnations of the group. "Jill and I are always in the band, no matter who else is coming and going," Clapp notes, "so our sensibilities are still there."
Not only has the band undergone extensive personnel changes between each album, but they have also released each of them on a separate label (most recently Urbana's Parasol Records). "We were signed to [our first label]...for three records initially, and we thought that that was going to be a good thing...but we just weren't seeing eye-to-eye with the label, and they didn't like the direction our second record was going...and we loved [our new direction]. Then we saw that the downside of being signed to a label was that these people aren't only going to put our records out, but they also want a lot of input. I have to draw the line somewhere. I want the people who have input in our music to be musicians, not A & R guys." Since then, Clapp adds, the band has just sought out single-record deals with labels, which "allows us to make the records that we want to make, without anyone else interfering in it....it's probably more work at the end of the day doing it [that] way...but it's given us a lot of freedom. We only do what we want to do, not what anyone else wants us to do, so it's pure art, in that respect; this is exactly what we intended [to] produce, and here it is."
"I think...early on, when I started making music, I wanted to have a lot of input into the parts that people played," Clapp reflects, adding that as time has passed, he has taken a more hands-off approach to music-making in a group setting. "I think I've realized that when you have people, and they have good ideas, you're going to make a better record if everyone can share their ideas. So I've become more inclusive of people's ideas-especially on this record-than I have been. I'll come up with the core song sometimes: a melody and a chord progression, lyrics, that kind of thing, but then everyone fills in the cracks, and everyone's personality comes through."
Being the primary songwriter for the group, Clapp provides some insight into the way he works: "More often than not, [musical ideas] just sort of arrive. I'll be doing stuff like mowing the lawn or washing the dishes, some brainless activity, and boom! Suddenly there's a melody going and maybe some lyrics accompanying it, even, and it's just there, when a couple of seconds before, it wasn't. And then you get into the process where you have to complete those things, those little bits and pieces that arrive on their own, and I guess that's more arrangement that you're doing later on....maybe the writing is what you do when you fill in the blanks of a song....the melody suggests lyrical ideas a lot of the time, and sometimes these little things that arrive on their own are both melody and lyrics, [and] a lot of times, they just kind of dictate which direction they're going to be going at the outset," Clapp comments, "some take more work than others." "Circling the Sun" "started off as...a little lullaby that I would play on piano, and ended up being...a Cars-esque sort of 80s pop song. So that one went through a major transformation, and it started off as just a musical idea with no lyrics, and the lyrics gradually got filled in over the course of a year."
After their second album came out, "[the band] decided that it was better to just have fun playing live and not worry so much about it sounding just like the record, because it's never going to sound just like [that] anyway, unless you bring a bunch of computers along, or twenty people.... it's going to sound different live, but there's going to be a lot more energy live, and it's probably going to rock a little bit more, because we're a rock band. It's not going to sound as pretty, maybe, as it does on the record, but there's going to be a different kind of energy there."
As far as future plans go, Clapp is interested mainly in the present. "Since it takes us so long to get these things [to promote an album] together and to release them, we want to give [our current album] a fair shot." The Orange Peels plan to give Circling the Sun fair airtime, but to follow up on this one sooner than their current pace of four years between albums. "We definitely don't want it to be four years before our next record comes out," says Clapp. "We're already writing for another record right now. We're aware that it's taken us four years to put out every record so far, and we don't want to be repeating that; we want to keep the momentum going....I think that there's a lot of really mediocre music out there right now that masquerades as important...and it's just really boring. And [the Orange Peels] are not boring. We're melodic and we want to be your new favorite band."
The Orange Peels will be playing at the Canopy Club in Urbana on Wednesday, August 24th with a $5 cover. Openers include Bailey and two local acts, Darling Disarm and the Elanors.
*****
Originally Published Aug 18, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Album Review: Theory Of Everything, 'Evolution of the 'Art
If you're looking for good, clean, non-partisan rock, Theory of Everything is definitely not the band for you. If, however, you like a shifting palette of tonal colors and musical styles complementing clear, politically conscious lyrics, you might just like them. The local band, fronted by local scenester and open-mic star Darrin Drda, who describes their sound as "space folk," has recently completed a self-released album, "Evolution of the 'Art".
The use of wind instruments on the album's rollicking opener, "Deathmobile," a sardonic tribute to SUVs, as well as on the self-explanatory "Democrazy!" provides a nice contrast in timbre from some of the slower songs, which feature the more delicate flute and glockenspiel. The album's title track, "(r)Evolution of the (he)Art," is reminiscent of a slow groove song of the sort that Traffic did so well, and contains an almost mantra-like chant, "The heart is a muscle the size of your fist/You've got to keep loving, rise up and resist," which would be really cool live, but which (perhaps) goes on a bit too long on the recording.
The disco-tinged guitar and thumping bass counterpoint on "Never Gonna Buy It" provides a beat that gets under the skin, and the almost-too-perky "Hug A Republican" not only has some of the funniest lyrics on the album, but invites the listener to join in the music-making. The group also plays a track that can only be described as amplified country music on speed ("Wait and See"), and the vocals-if a description is really necessary-especially on "Note to Self," sound not unlike Ben Folds with a mild reverb effect.
All in all, there is not a bad song on the album and--like Theory of Everything's live shows--is definitely worth the price of admission.
Theory of Everything will be playing this Sunday, August 14, at 9:30 at the Cowboy Monkey with $5 cover. TOE appears as part of a "Best Of Open Mic"showcase.
*****
Originally Published Aug 11, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
The use of wind instruments on the album's rollicking opener, "Deathmobile," a sardonic tribute to SUVs, as well as on the self-explanatory "Democrazy!" provides a nice contrast in timbre from some of the slower songs, which feature the more delicate flute and glockenspiel. The album's title track, "(r)Evolution of the (he)Art," is reminiscent of a slow groove song of the sort that Traffic did so well, and contains an almost mantra-like chant, "The heart is a muscle the size of your fist/You've got to keep loving, rise up and resist," which would be really cool live, but which (perhaps) goes on a bit too long on the recording.
The disco-tinged guitar and thumping bass counterpoint on "Never Gonna Buy It" provides a beat that gets under the skin, and the almost-too-perky "Hug A Republican" not only has some of the funniest lyrics on the album, but invites the listener to join in the music-making. The group also plays a track that can only be described as amplified country music on speed ("Wait and See"), and the vocals-if a description is really necessary-especially on "Note to Self," sound not unlike Ben Folds with a mild reverb effect.
All in all, there is not a bad song on the album and--like Theory of Everything's live shows--is definitely worth the price of admission.
Theory of Everything will be playing this Sunday, August 14, at 9:30 at the Cowboy Monkey with $5 cover. TOE appears as part of a "Best Of Open Mic"showcase.
*****
Originally Published Aug 11, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Actual Proof (An Interview with Mike Clark of the Headhunters)
The Headhunters first received national attention in the 1970s as a result of their connection with and contribution to jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock's groundbreaking work melding jazz, funk, soul, rock and other popular musics together. Over 30 years later, they are touring and still producing original music, this time without Hancock. Mike Clark, drummer for the group since their second album (1974's Thrust), has been responsible for innovations in people's perceptions of and approaches to rhythm and drum playing, and is one of the most widely sampled drummers in the world.
"It feels great that people like your work enough to want to make it part of their work," Clark says. At the same time, however, many popular artists who have incorporated recordings of his playing into their own tracks have not paid him-or even asked-for the privilege. "I'm from the school of musicians that actually play," Clark remarks, "it's called 'live' ... [Still,] I'm glad that even though they stole it, they liked it, and it brought more attention to me, which helps me financially and helps me to continue to create and to bring new stuff to the world of music and culture."
According to Clark, every member of the Headhunters is coming from a similar place in terms of their perception of themselves and each other. "My music comes from the roots up, meaning that I'm a student of the music and history: where it came from ... where the music that I love and am a part of came from, and the artists that made it. I'd say now my role is to pass on the information that I feel that I've gleaned-and that I feel is accurate-to the next group of people and to whoever's willing to listen and to whoever can hear it and is capable of understanding it. And in a group, I think it's a similar activity ... [We] are really trying our best to bring forth what we consider to be culturally the high road. [I'm] not saying that we're the best cats or the top of the food chain or divorced from ego, but ... there is a lot of history on the bandstand in [the Headhunters], and what makes it a special event for me is the history and the amount of contribution that every guy in this band has made."
Clark says that Hancock taught him the Buddhist chant, "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo," and that by chanting that, one can achieve all of one's dreams. "I was a young man, and if I heard of anything that said I could achieve all of my dreams, I wanted to know all about it right away, because I had a million dreams, and I'm not a particularly suspicious person, so I just thought, 'Sure, I'll check it out.'"
When the recording session for the track "Actual Proof" on the album Thrust came around, the producer (who had received a very basic knowledge of drumming in school) asked Clark to play a very "basic, unhip" rhythm. "I said, 'Look, I really don't want to play that. I think I have a better scheme,' and he got very mad at me," Clark recollects. "Rather than me getting mad back, I thought, 'This is an assignment for this [chanting] that I'm hearing all about from Herbie Hancock.'" Clark excused himself for a few minutes, snuck into another studio, and chanted. "I said, 'Okay, everybody's going to hear me on this record, and if I play a pedestrian beat like this man wants me to play, then they're going to think that this is who I am creatively.' The Buddhist practice is based on something called 'Actual Proof'-you get what you chant for-so ... being that the other tracks were also kind of pedestrian and this was my one chance to show my stuff, I chanted that on this track, I would be immortalized in jazz throughout history. I was young," Clark qualifies, "so that was my prayer." After chanting alone for several minutes, Clark says that he went back into the studio and (nicely) asked the producer to let them try playing it once their way, and if they could not get it in one take, they would play it the way he told them to. "He laughed at me, because it was a very difficult piece, and he said that nobody could play that piece in one take, because we hadn't really rehearsed it, and especially the way (we wanted) to play it, it was too complicated. I said, 'Please, give us a chance. If you're right, we'll all know within the first four bars.'" The group got the track in one take, and Clark is credited with a drumming innovation on the track, as well. The piece, originally titled something else, was changed to "Actual Proof" in honor of Clark's accomplishment. "When Herbie saw my inner change," Clark reflects, "and saw that it had affected the environment that strongly, he changed the name of it ... When the piece was over, everybody was giving me high-fives and hugging me in the studio and going, 'Michael, that was brilliant.' And [the producer] then came up to me and said, 'Thank you for arguing with me, and making me see what you were thinking. This is one of the finest things I've ever been a part of.'"
Incidentally, Clark is the only white member of the Headhunters, and experienced firsthand the breakdown of racial barriers in popular music in the 1960s and especially the 1970s.
"I lived in Oakland ... so I saw Huey Newton and all those guys, and I witnessed the police beating up African-Americans. I saw this with my own eyes. The reason I lived there was because Paul Jackson, the bassist in Herbie's band, and I have been best friends since I was 19 years old. So his dad got us a place together because we were both young guys starting out ... So I was witnessing a lot of things that I would have never seen before had I not moved in with Paul, and I was really outraged about what I was seeing, and about all the lies the government was telling..." Also, at the same time, Clark points out that in those days, "black consciousness ... was really rising ... and America was becoming aware of African- Americans' taste in clothes, music, what they liked and didn't like, and also the needs of the black community: what was being addressed and ... how they were being treated as citizens ... began to filter through into white America and other Americas."
"Paul and I were a musical team, and so our bands were usually predominantly black through his friends, and mixed with the occasional white guy other than myself....We'd try to mix it up...the musicians that could play the best were the ones that we would get. That was my experience, and that lasted years, so when I met Herbie, I was quite comfortable, as far as who I was. I didn't feel I had to try to be someone I wasn't, or that I had to affect a 'black-sounding'-whatever that means-type of talking, or any kind of bullshit. I was just kind of myself, and the friendship between Paul and I was so strong that nobody dared challenge it. However, there were some other people in the band who didn't see it that way; they had problems with the fact that I was white, and I learned to stand up for myself and also love those guys back, who felt that way, and understand why they felt that way the best that I could...and to this day, we're all serious family."
"And at the same time, it was this tremendous growing experience, being with those guys, because it wasn't all beautiful just because Paul and I were friends; I definitely got some flak for it. However, musically, how I fit in was being myself. It seems like the thing I came up with, the thing I was doing with my drumming, fit in perfectly with this band, and does to this day. Nobody ever gave me a hard time about playing, but there were some uncomfortable moments ... where I had to really look carefully at myself and figure out who I was. It made a man out of me, and it's the best experience a young guy could ever have, playing in that situation at that time period, because ... it made me a strong person and a world person; I mean, I can talk with anybody and be comfortable with them. I didn't have to adjust any of my personality to fit in the situation; what I had to do was accept the good part of my life, and not denigrate myself because I was a white person ... I couldn't be of any value as an artist if I punished myself mentally or spiritually because of that situation. .. I'm grateful that I had the experience to deal with that and develop myself. I wish everybody in this country could do that."
"Music really reflects what's going on in society, but it can also really affect what's going on ... Music is a strong force, and so that means that I want to be at my best, and the other guys in the band do, as well," Clark observes, also explaining that "especially with music like [the Headhunters] play, [which] is intellectually stimulating, there is a tapestry of souls going on as far as we're communicating with each other musically and intertwining each others' lives through musical conversation. And the music is funky, so the body gets a good sensation, as well. So you get it from the neck down and the neck up, and that's pretty much what our music is about. And so the more we can groove people and make them feel good, it just makes for a better feeling for people."
*****
Originally Published June 16, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
"It feels great that people like your work enough to want to make it part of their work," Clark says. At the same time, however, many popular artists who have incorporated recordings of his playing into their own tracks have not paid him-or even asked-for the privilege. "I'm from the school of musicians that actually play," Clark remarks, "it's called 'live' ... [Still,] I'm glad that even though they stole it, they liked it, and it brought more attention to me, which helps me financially and helps me to continue to create and to bring new stuff to the world of music and culture."
According to Clark, every member of the Headhunters is coming from a similar place in terms of their perception of themselves and each other. "My music comes from the roots up, meaning that I'm a student of the music and history: where it came from ... where the music that I love and am a part of came from, and the artists that made it. I'd say now my role is to pass on the information that I feel that I've gleaned-and that I feel is accurate-to the next group of people and to whoever's willing to listen and to whoever can hear it and is capable of understanding it. And in a group, I think it's a similar activity ... [We] are really trying our best to bring forth what we consider to be culturally the high road. [I'm] not saying that we're the best cats or the top of the food chain or divorced from ego, but ... there is a lot of history on the bandstand in [the Headhunters], and what makes it a special event for me is the history and the amount of contribution that every guy in this band has made."
Clark says that Hancock taught him the Buddhist chant, "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo," and that by chanting that, one can achieve all of one's dreams. "I was a young man, and if I heard of anything that said I could achieve all of my dreams, I wanted to know all about it right away, because I had a million dreams, and I'm not a particularly suspicious person, so I just thought, 'Sure, I'll check it out.'"
When the recording session for the track "Actual Proof" on the album Thrust came around, the producer (who had received a very basic knowledge of drumming in school) asked Clark to play a very "basic, unhip" rhythm. "I said, 'Look, I really don't want to play that. I think I have a better scheme,' and he got very mad at me," Clark recollects. "Rather than me getting mad back, I thought, 'This is an assignment for this [chanting] that I'm hearing all about from Herbie Hancock.'" Clark excused himself for a few minutes, snuck into another studio, and chanted. "I said, 'Okay, everybody's going to hear me on this record, and if I play a pedestrian beat like this man wants me to play, then they're going to think that this is who I am creatively.' The Buddhist practice is based on something called 'Actual Proof'-you get what you chant for-so ... being that the other tracks were also kind of pedestrian and this was my one chance to show my stuff, I chanted that on this track, I would be immortalized in jazz throughout history. I was young," Clark qualifies, "so that was my prayer." After chanting alone for several minutes, Clark says that he went back into the studio and (nicely) asked the producer to let them try playing it once their way, and if they could not get it in one take, they would play it the way he told them to. "He laughed at me, because it was a very difficult piece, and he said that nobody could play that piece in one take, because we hadn't really rehearsed it, and especially the way (we wanted) to play it, it was too complicated. I said, 'Please, give us a chance. If you're right, we'll all know within the first four bars.'" The group got the track in one take, and Clark is credited with a drumming innovation on the track, as well. The piece, originally titled something else, was changed to "Actual Proof" in honor of Clark's accomplishment. "When Herbie saw my inner change," Clark reflects, "and saw that it had affected the environment that strongly, he changed the name of it ... When the piece was over, everybody was giving me high-fives and hugging me in the studio and going, 'Michael, that was brilliant.' And [the producer] then came up to me and said, 'Thank you for arguing with me, and making me see what you were thinking. This is one of the finest things I've ever been a part of.'"
Incidentally, Clark is the only white member of the Headhunters, and experienced firsthand the breakdown of racial barriers in popular music in the 1960s and especially the 1970s.
"I lived in Oakland ... so I saw Huey Newton and all those guys, and I witnessed the police beating up African-Americans. I saw this with my own eyes. The reason I lived there was because Paul Jackson, the bassist in Herbie's band, and I have been best friends since I was 19 years old. So his dad got us a place together because we were both young guys starting out ... So I was witnessing a lot of things that I would have never seen before had I not moved in with Paul, and I was really outraged about what I was seeing, and about all the lies the government was telling..." Also, at the same time, Clark points out that in those days, "black consciousness ... was really rising ... and America was becoming aware of African- Americans' taste in clothes, music, what they liked and didn't like, and also the needs of the black community: what was being addressed and ... how they were being treated as citizens ... began to filter through into white America and other Americas."
"Paul and I were a musical team, and so our bands were usually predominantly black through his friends, and mixed with the occasional white guy other than myself....We'd try to mix it up...the musicians that could play the best were the ones that we would get. That was my experience, and that lasted years, so when I met Herbie, I was quite comfortable, as far as who I was. I didn't feel I had to try to be someone I wasn't, or that I had to affect a 'black-sounding'-whatever that means-type of talking, or any kind of bullshit. I was just kind of myself, and the friendship between Paul and I was so strong that nobody dared challenge it. However, there were some other people in the band who didn't see it that way; they had problems with the fact that I was white, and I learned to stand up for myself and also love those guys back, who felt that way, and understand why they felt that way the best that I could...and to this day, we're all serious family."
"And at the same time, it was this tremendous growing experience, being with those guys, because it wasn't all beautiful just because Paul and I were friends; I definitely got some flak for it. However, musically, how I fit in was being myself. It seems like the thing I came up with, the thing I was doing with my drumming, fit in perfectly with this band, and does to this day. Nobody ever gave me a hard time about playing, but there were some uncomfortable moments ... where I had to really look carefully at myself and figure out who I was. It made a man out of me, and it's the best experience a young guy could ever have, playing in that situation at that time period, because ... it made me a strong person and a world person; I mean, I can talk with anybody and be comfortable with them. I didn't have to adjust any of my personality to fit in the situation; what I had to do was accept the good part of my life, and not denigrate myself because I was a white person ... I couldn't be of any value as an artist if I punished myself mentally or spiritually because of that situation. .. I'm grateful that I had the experience to deal with that and develop myself. I wish everybody in this country could do that."
"Music really reflects what's going on in society, but it can also really affect what's going on ... Music is a strong force, and so that means that I want to be at my best, and the other guys in the band do, as well," Clark observes, also explaining that "especially with music like [the Headhunters] play, [which] is intellectually stimulating, there is a tapestry of souls going on as far as we're communicating with each other musically and intertwining each others' lives through musical conversation. And the music is funky, so the body gets a good sensation, as well. So you get it from the neck down and the neck up, and that's pretty much what our music is about. And so the more we can groove people and make them feel good, it just makes for a better feeling for people."
*****
Originally Published June 16, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
Festival Review: Tell Your Parents To Send You To Summer Camp
Summer Camp 2005 Festival Rocks Chillicothe, Ill.
Co-Authors: Susan Schomburg & Kyle Gorman
Summer Camp is a weekend of open-minded music put on by JayTV, the same people who bring us hundreds of shows each year at The Canopy Club. A small campground in Chillicothe was the weekend home to hundreds of raging partiers, and one could spend the whole weekend just digging the people walking by, but not without missing a whole lot of music and dance.
After a light rainfall early Friday evening, Keller Williams' set on the Main Stage was filled with the full-bodied grooves and energetic playing that his fan base has come to expect. Highlights included tracks from his last studio album, Home, and his own unique covers of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and a special cover that went out "to all the ladies," No Doubt's "Just A Girl." As dusk approached, a performance of his original song "Above the Thunder" (replete with thunder sound effects) teased the crowd with the threatening rain clouds and damp air that had not quite cleared from earlier in the day.
Techno music (performed live with people playing instruments!) from Signal Path on the Sunshine Stage bridged the gap between the end of Keller's set and the start of moe.'s, keeping the party going for those who were so inclined. Their set included delicate keyboard and guitar counterpoint over a driving beat that was infectiously danceable.
A welcome change of pace from the standard fare of electric jam bands that dominated the weekend included several acoustic (but amplified) sets, particularly acts with bluegrass and country influences. Saturday afternoon included an incredibly virtuosic bluegrass set by the quintet that is the Hot Buttered Rum String Band, playing their own "high-altitude bluegrass" that was a treat for the ear and the dancing foot.
Later that day, taking the same stage, the Hackensaw Boys (a sextet including a percussionist decked out with spoons, forks, and a wearable collection of tin cans and other debris called a "charismo"), with a blend of bluegrass and Americana music-original compositions by members of the band, no less-gave an equally memorable performance.
On the Main Stage on Saturday afternoon, Michael Franti and his band, Spearhead, performed with charisma and spirit, blending reggae, hip-hop and jam music with social commentary and political consciousness.
The rain returned Sunday afternoon, but nobody seemed to mind too much, with acts like DropQ (a side project of Umphrey's McGee drummer Kris Myers and Brian Felix of Om Trio) playing through the weather to a slightly damp crowd of festival-goers. A bit of drizzling was mild compared to the tornado that confronted last year's attendees (which caused the end of the festival to be called off for the safety of everyone involved). Felix, on keyboard, took Chick Corea's angular style of playing to the logical conclusion, and a hand-percussionist on tabla, among other instruments, created a sort of bhangra. Combine that with Myers' polyrhythms, and the result was deep dance music.
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones' saxist Jeff Coffin played straight-ahead jazz on Sunday. Though he did his trademark double-sax routine, his set was built more around southern shuffles. Bassist Alana Rockland, a clear devotee of Marcus Miller, was an impressive and professional performer. Another favorite was the band's spiritual adagio reading of Coffin's "Sherpa," which he wrote for the Flecktones.
Singer-songwriter (and also the only female-led act on the 40-artist festival lineup) Theresa Andersson's set Sunday afternoon on the Camping Stage took a pleasant, unexpected turn when she invited audience members to get up as close as they wanted. Playing mere inches away from the people who had dropped by to see her, she served up an intimate blend of rock, country and a touch of blues. Her amplified violin-played with a bow and pizzi- cato-and a soulful singing voice that was both feminine and powerful made her hold her own against any of the larger (personnel-wise; she was backed only by a guitarist) groups at the festival, and these sonic qualities also make her an artist to watch in the next few years.
The incredible Victor Wooten put on a show Sunday afternoon on the Main Stage that featured not only his extreme bass-playing but also was quite a showcase for his extensive band. The first song the group performed included no less than six bassists (and two background vocalists and two drummers, including Victor's brother Futureman on electronic percussion) trading licks and phrases. Standing on the left of the stage was Victor's older brother Regi, who mostly played guitar. Resembling a younger, more sober George Clinton, he was quiet at the beginning, only to step out to play a medley including Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, absurd guitar solos using hair-bands for capos, and his own break dancing. Earlier that day, Regi taught one of many workshops that weekend, instructing eager students in tapping techniques.
A dance duo performed over an instrumental, Victor showed off his juggling, and he also performed a routine that turned the sound of bass guitars dropped on the stage into music. Out of ATL came MC Divinity, who was a double threat on the mic and bass. Wooten's upcoming album is titled Soul Circus, and it was an apt description for what was perhaps the sickest performance of the weekend.
The headliner of all three nights was moe., and if not for the myriad cottage industries named after Grateful Dead songs hawking their wares, they would have been the best-represented band at the festival. In a weekend full of dancing, moe. had more fans on their feet and moving than anyone. They may be all about guitar heroics, but moe.'s late '90s-stylized pop hooks and harmonies were clearly what kept the fans coming back, set after set.
Frankly, there was not one act at the festival that was not thoroughly enjoyable. On top of this, the setting for the festival in Three Sisters Park (outside Chillicothe, Ill.) with sunlight and music filtering through the trees, as well as the throngs of mellow, friendly campers with full-weekend tickets all treating each other with kindness and respect, made the experience unforgettable; you're advised to check out Summer Camp 2006.
*****
Originally Published June 9, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
Co-Authors: Susan Schomburg & Kyle Gorman
Summer Camp is a weekend of open-minded music put on by JayTV, the same people who bring us hundreds of shows each year at The Canopy Club. A small campground in Chillicothe was the weekend home to hundreds of raging partiers, and one could spend the whole weekend just digging the people walking by, but not without missing a whole lot of music and dance.
After a light rainfall early Friday evening, Keller Williams' set on the Main Stage was filled with the full-bodied grooves and energetic playing that his fan base has come to expect. Highlights included tracks from his last studio album, Home, and his own unique covers of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and a special cover that went out "to all the ladies," No Doubt's "Just A Girl." As dusk approached, a performance of his original song "Above the Thunder" (replete with thunder sound effects) teased the crowd with the threatening rain clouds and damp air that had not quite cleared from earlier in the day.
Techno music (performed live with people playing instruments!) from Signal Path on the Sunshine Stage bridged the gap between the end of Keller's set and the start of moe.'s, keeping the party going for those who were so inclined. Their set included delicate keyboard and guitar counterpoint over a driving beat that was infectiously danceable.
A welcome change of pace from the standard fare of electric jam bands that dominated the weekend included several acoustic (but amplified) sets, particularly acts with bluegrass and country influences. Saturday afternoon included an incredibly virtuosic bluegrass set by the quintet that is the Hot Buttered Rum String Band, playing their own "high-altitude bluegrass" that was a treat for the ear and the dancing foot.
Later that day, taking the same stage, the Hackensaw Boys (a sextet including a percussionist decked out with spoons, forks, and a wearable collection of tin cans and other debris called a "charismo"), with a blend of bluegrass and Americana music-original compositions by members of the band, no less-gave an equally memorable performance.
On the Main Stage on Saturday afternoon, Michael Franti and his band, Spearhead, performed with charisma and spirit, blending reggae, hip-hop and jam music with social commentary and political consciousness.
The rain returned Sunday afternoon, but nobody seemed to mind too much, with acts like DropQ (a side project of Umphrey's McGee drummer Kris Myers and Brian Felix of Om Trio) playing through the weather to a slightly damp crowd of festival-goers. A bit of drizzling was mild compared to the tornado that confronted last year's attendees (which caused the end of the festival to be called off for the safety of everyone involved). Felix, on keyboard, took Chick Corea's angular style of playing to the logical conclusion, and a hand-percussionist on tabla, among other instruments, created a sort of bhangra. Combine that with Myers' polyrhythms, and the result was deep dance music.
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones' saxist Jeff Coffin played straight-ahead jazz on Sunday. Though he did his trademark double-sax routine, his set was built more around southern shuffles. Bassist Alana Rockland, a clear devotee of Marcus Miller, was an impressive and professional performer. Another favorite was the band's spiritual adagio reading of Coffin's "Sherpa," which he wrote for the Flecktones.
Singer-songwriter (and also the only female-led act on the 40-artist festival lineup) Theresa Andersson's set Sunday afternoon on the Camping Stage took a pleasant, unexpected turn when she invited audience members to get up as close as they wanted. Playing mere inches away from the people who had dropped by to see her, she served up an intimate blend of rock, country and a touch of blues. Her amplified violin-played with a bow and pizzi- cato-and a soulful singing voice that was both feminine and powerful made her hold her own against any of the larger (personnel-wise; she was backed only by a guitarist) groups at the festival, and these sonic qualities also make her an artist to watch in the next few years.
The incredible Victor Wooten put on a show Sunday afternoon on the Main Stage that featured not only his extreme bass-playing but also was quite a showcase for his extensive band. The first song the group performed included no less than six bassists (and two background vocalists and two drummers, including Victor's brother Futureman on electronic percussion) trading licks and phrases. Standing on the left of the stage was Victor's older brother Regi, who mostly played guitar. Resembling a younger, more sober George Clinton, he was quiet at the beginning, only to step out to play a medley including Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, absurd guitar solos using hair-bands for capos, and his own break dancing. Earlier that day, Regi taught one of many workshops that weekend, instructing eager students in tapping techniques.
A dance duo performed over an instrumental, Victor showed off his juggling, and he also performed a routine that turned the sound of bass guitars dropped on the stage into music. Out of ATL came MC Divinity, who was a double threat on the mic and bass. Wooten's upcoming album is titled Soul Circus, and it was an apt description for what was perhaps the sickest performance of the weekend.
The headliner of all three nights was moe., and if not for the myriad cottage industries named after Grateful Dead songs hawking their wares, they would have been the best-represented band at the festival. In a weekend full of dancing, moe. had more fans on their feet and moving than anyone. They may be all about guitar heroics, but moe.'s late '90s-stylized pop hooks and harmonies were clearly what kept the fans coming back, set after set.
Frankly, there was not one act at the festival that was not thoroughly enjoyable. On top of this, the setting for the festival in Three Sisters Park (outside Chillicothe, Ill.) with sunlight and music filtering through the trees, as well as the throngs of mellow, friendly campers with full-weekend tickets all treating each other with kindness and respect, made the experience unforgettable; you're advised to check out Summer Camp 2006.
*****
Originally Published June 9, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
Album Review: MOFRO, Lochloosa
Although it's been said that a band's sound reflects the place they call home, it is rarely quite as audible as in the case of the North Florida-based band Mofro, whose funky blend of blues, soul, Southern rock, and yes, even a bit of country, is difficult to articulate. But when you hear it, you are struck with the way Mofro's sound evokes the sights, smells, topography and climate of their home. Living up to the amusing, yet surprisingly apt, billing of the band as "Cheap-Ass Funk Straight off the Front Porch," the duo that breathes heart and soul into Mofro is singer/multi-instrumentalist J.J. Grey and guitarist Daryl Hance.
Mofro's music, unlike many groups that are part of the more mainstream music industry today, is nothing if not sincere. It is music with heart and social-and especially environmental-consciousness and makes one realize what has been missing from much of the music industry today. The lyrics and music are woven so tightly together that one cannot separate the two.
When listening to Lochloosa, the group's second album, one is liable to be struck with the versatility of the group's sound, which presents a range of song types and grooves while still somehow managing to form a coherent, no-nonsense sonic fingerprint. Incidentally, this sound is both original but familiar, bringing to mind any number of other groups in the swamp-rock genre, but sounding like none of them. The almost tactile quality of their music is slightly disorienting when it first hits the ear, and the album takes repeated listenings to let the band's sound and style seep into one's skin, but well worth the effort.
Hance's slide guitar permeates the album, creating atmosphere that supports and enhances the mood of each track without ever quite stepping into the spotlight. It is the closest one can come to having an example of the "strong, silent type" translated into music, and the songs on the album would be diminished without them. The haunting slide playing on "Ten Thousand Islands" stands out as particularly beautiful, and is complemented by Grey on harmonica.
Grey's vocals, like many other aspects of this group's sound, take some getting used to; they are simultaneously too gritty and too polished to make sense outside of the context of the band's sound. The warm, sweet-yet-melancholy vocals on the title track are those of a lover, and he absolutely wails by the end, belting out the words from the depths of his being.
The more introspective tracks on the album are balanced by ones that are just good, plain fun. The infectious groove the band lays down on "Six Ways From Sunday" and the gruff, humorous funk of "Dirtfloorcracker" make it next to impossible not to get up and simply move to the music.
Their music is real, their music is organic, their music is simple and honest, and yes, even a bit sentimental. Simply put, Mofro's music is sonic proof that there really is no place like home.
Mofro will be appearing this Saturday, May 28 at 5 p.m. on the Sunshine Stage at Three Sisters Park as part of the Summer Camp 2005 Music Festival in Chillicothe, Ill.
*****
Originally Published May 26, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
Mofro's music, unlike many groups that are part of the more mainstream music industry today, is nothing if not sincere. It is music with heart and social-and especially environmental-consciousness and makes one realize what has been missing from much of the music industry today. The lyrics and music are woven so tightly together that one cannot separate the two.
When listening to Lochloosa, the group's second album, one is liable to be struck with the versatility of the group's sound, which presents a range of song types and grooves while still somehow managing to form a coherent, no-nonsense sonic fingerprint. Incidentally, this sound is both original but familiar, bringing to mind any number of other groups in the swamp-rock genre, but sounding like none of them. The almost tactile quality of their music is slightly disorienting when it first hits the ear, and the album takes repeated listenings to let the band's sound and style seep into one's skin, but well worth the effort.
Hance's slide guitar permeates the album, creating atmosphere that supports and enhances the mood of each track without ever quite stepping into the spotlight. It is the closest one can come to having an example of the "strong, silent type" translated into music, and the songs on the album would be diminished without them. The haunting slide playing on "Ten Thousand Islands" stands out as particularly beautiful, and is complemented by Grey on harmonica.
Grey's vocals, like many other aspects of this group's sound, take some getting used to; they are simultaneously too gritty and too polished to make sense outside of the context of the band's sound. The warm, sweet-yet-melancholy vocals on the title track are those of a lover, and he absolutely wails by the end, belting out the words from the depths of his being.
The more introspective tracks on the album are balanced by ones that are just good, plain fun. The infectious groove the band lays down on "Six Ways From Sunday" and the gruff, humorous funk of "Dirtfloorcracker" make it next to impossible not to get up and simply move to the music.
Their music is real, their music is organic, their music is simple and honest, and yes, even a bit sentimental. Simply put, Mofro's music is sonic proof that there really is no place like home.
Mofro will be appearing this Saturday, May 28 at 5 p.m. on the Sunshine Stage at Three Sisters Park as part of the Summer Camp 2005 Music Festival in Chillicothe, Ill.
*****
Originally Published May 26, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
Freedom, not "free jazz" (An Interview with Ear Doctor)
With a repertoire comprised of original tunes with quirky melodies and a live show that frequently incorporates the sounds of siren-whistle and gong, Ear Doctor is not exactly your typical jazz combo. And they wouldn't have it any other way. Jerry Shelato (tuba) comments that "We've all heard the standards, and we all know how the famous recordings of them sound and how people tend to play them-and to sort of ape them, almost-and that's not even an element of what we do."
The group known as Ear Doctor was formed in 1998 and consisted of three musicians: Shelato, Dan Honnold (saxophone) and Tom Paynter (keyboards, flute).
"[At first] we had no drummer," Paynter remarks, making his bandmates chuckle. "We decided that we needed a drummer soon after that." Although Ear Doctor's drum seat has the most personnel changes, it is regularly filled by Jeff Magby or Mark McKnight. The band lineup also includes Ben Taylor (bass), who also does the sound recording for the group. "The three of us have been playing together since the early '90s," Paynter comments about Shelato and Honnold, "that's 10 or 15 years of hanging out, listening to similar things, playing out things while we're listening, and playing together-not only onstage, but in different formats." All three are actively involved in the local music scene, including Paynter's radio show "Mellifluous Cacophony" on WEFT 90.1 FM, Shelato's performance in professional ensembles, and Honnold's work as a concert piano technician for the University of Illinois. As Honnold observes, "I think it was kind of a no-brainer for all of us to become musicians."
Ear Doctor's sound is, to say the least, a bit out-of-the-ordinary. Aside from the strangeness of many of their melodies, their walking bass lines are doubled on tuba and are played on that instrument using non-standard brass performance technique. "I'm also playing jazz on the tuba, as opposed to playing 'The Tuba' in jazz," Shelato points out. "[You have to] serve the tune, not the horn." The band admits that their sound often eludes proper description, but "in terms of sonic similitude," Paynter says that Ear Doctor's sound has an affinity for groups such as the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop, Sun Ra and the NRG Ensemble. As far as being an avant-garde, "free" group, all three firmly deny this as a popular misconception. "There are aspects of the sound, there are elements of [it] that are more abrasive or that may evoke that sort of a '60s energy-jazz type of thing," Honnold says, but, Shelato adds, Ear Doctor's music is "more freedom than it is Free Jazz; I mean, 'free jazz' has a very specific connotation, and it's more freedom within what it is [that] we do. That's not to say that we never play free; we just don't often do it for other people to consume."
Although they have a so-called "modern" sound, their music actually follows fairly traditional jazz performance practice, albeit in unconventional ways. "We play within pretty traditional forms, so ... it's pretty straight-ahead-looking music," says Paynter, who has written most of the group's music. "It's not just coming from left field or something, although when you hear [an Ear Doctor] song, it wouldn't necessarily sound like [for example] a blues; it is, harmonically and [in terms of] number of measures-it's just got a very strange melody .... one of the ways that I compose a lot of my stuff is just to sort of stretch the tradition until it almost becomes something different; but there's still an audible link to what has come before."
Paynter comments that although the head-solo-head form of most of their songs is the norm, "the one thing we do ... to try to muddle that is interact and play during other people's solos. So, like, if Dan's playing a solo, it doesn't have to be like a bebop idea of a solo where [the rhythm section is] just kind of laying down a framework, and he's blowing over it; it's more interactive. I might hear something he plays and interject something that would spur him a different way because while there is a fair amount notated in a very detailed way [in our music], there is much that is not notated and that can't be notated."
When soloing, Honnold says that "the most important thing to me ... is to be able to express yourself. You can kind of tell in my playing that I don't have the skills of your average jazz musician; I've never been very motivated to acquire them. If I can say what I want to say, and it's something new and different, then I'm always pretty pleased with that. I'm not a big fan of the kind of jazz improvisers where there's a real kind of cut-and-paste approach, where they're cutting and pasting phrases and ideas that they've previously memorized. I do not like that, and I try really hard not to do that .... If I catch myself repeating a pattern, I try to change it by the end of the pattern."
With respect to their live show, Paynter hopes that people pick up on the fact that "we're cooperating, and sharing, and doing it well, and having a good time as we do it. Whether they remember any of the music is another thing, and maybe a little bit too much to ask on the first hearing, but I think it's more of an impression of the way that the musicians are interacting in the band that's interesting."
Honnold adds, "I always hope that people will hear something interesting that they'd never heard before. And like what Tom said [about music we like], hopefully it's something that people will consider warranting repeated listenings....I hope that people hear [us] and want to hear [us] again, either because they really liked it, or they kinda-sorta liked it and know that there's probably something more that they could grab next time."
"I've always noticed that the people who are not regular jazz fans seem to enjoy us more than the real hardcore jazz fans .... we get a lot of positive feedback from students and people who may not have ever even heard jazz and who probably don't even consider us jazz. I always thought that that was interesting," Honnold reflects. "[I don't think that] a lot of the people who come to see us regularly are coming to see us for the jazz. I think they're coming to see us for the originality of it."
Ear Doctor will be appearing tonight (May 5) at Zorba's. They will be joined in this show by Jay Ferguson on drums.
*****
Originally Published May 5, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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The group known as Ear Doctor was formed in 1998 and consisted of three musicians: Shelato, Dan Honnold (saxophone) and Tom Paynter (keyboards, flute).
"[At first] we had no drummer," Paynter remarks, making his bandmates chuckle. "We decided that we needed a drummer soon after that." Although Ear Doctor's drum seat has the most personnel changes, it is regularly filled by Jeff Magby or Mark McKnight. The band lineup also includes Ben Taylor (bass), who also does the sound recording for the group. "The three of us have been playing together since the early '90s," Paynter comments about Shelato and Honnold, "that's 10 or 15 years of hanging out, listening to similar things, playing out things while we're listening, and playing together-not only onstage, but in different formats." All three are actively involved in the local music scene, including Paynter's radio show "Mellifluous Cacophony" on WEFT 90.1 FM, Shelato's performance in professional ensembles, and Honnold's work as a concert piano technician for the University of Illinois. As Honnold observes, "I think it was kind of a no-brainer for all of us to become musicians."
Ear Doctor's sound is, to say the least, a bit out-of-the-ordinary. Aside from the strangeness of many of their melodies, their walking bass lines are doubled on tuba and are played on that instrument using non-standard brass performance technique. "I'm also playing jazz on the tuba, as opposed to playing 'The Tuba' in jazz," Shelato points out. "[You have to] serve the tune, not the horn." The band admits that their sound often eludes proper description, but "in terms of sonic similitude," Paynter says that Ear Doctor's sound has an affinity for groups such as the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop, Sun Ra and the NRG Ensemble. As far as being an avant-garde, "free" group, all three firmly deny this as a popular misconception. "There are aspects of the sound, there are elements of [it] that are more abrasive or that may evoke that sort of a '60s energy-jazz type of thing," Honnold says, but, Shelato adds, Ear Doctor's music is "more freedom than it is Free Jazz; I mean, 'free jazz' has a very specific connotation, and it's more freedom within what it is [that] we do. That's not to say that we never play free; we just don't often do it for other people to consume."
Although they have a so-called "modern" sound, their music actually follows fairly traditional jazz performance practice, albeit in unconventional ways. "We play within pretty traditional forms, so ... it's pretty straight-ahead-looking music," says Paynter, who has written most of the group's music. "It's not just coming from left field or something, although when you hear [an Ear Doctor] song, it wouldn't necessarily sound like [for example] a blues; it is, harmonically and [in terms of] number of measures-it's just got a very strange melody .... one of the ways that I compose a lot of my stuff is just to sort of stretch the tradition until it almost becomes something different; but there's still an audible link to what has come before."
Paynter comments that although the head-solo-head form of most of their songs is the norm, "the one thing we do ... to try to muddle that is interact and play during other people's solos. So, like, if Dan's playing a solo, it doesn't have to be like a bebop idea of a solo where [the rhythm section is] just kind of laying down a framework, and he's blowing over it; it's more interactive. I might hear something he plays and interject something that would spur him a different way because while there is a fair amount notated in a very detailed way [in our music], there is much that is not notated and that can't be notated."
When soloing, Honnold says that "the most important thing to me ... is to be able to express yourself. You can kind of tell in my playing that I don't have the skills of your average jazz musician; I've never been very motivated to acquire them. If I can say what I want to say, and it's something new and different, then I'm always pretty pleased with that. I'm not a big fan of the kind of jazz improvisers where there's a real kind of cut-and-paste approach, where they're cutting and pasting phrases and ideas that they've previously memorized. I do not like that, and I try really hard not to do that .... If I catch myself repeating a pattern, I try to change it by the end of the pattern."
With respect to their live show, Paynter hopes that people pick up on the fact that "we're cooperating, and sharing, and doing it well, and having a good time as we do it. Whether they remember any of the music is another thing, and maybe a little bit too much to ask on the first hearing, but I think it's more of an impression of the way that the musicians are interacting in the band that's interesting."
Honnold adds, "I always hope that people will hear something interesting that they'd never heard before. And like what Tom said [about music we like], hopefully it's something that people will consider warranting repeated listenings....I hope that people hear [us] and want to hear [us] again, either because they really liked it, or they kinda-sorta liked it and know that there's probably something more that they could grab next time."
"I've always noticed that the people who are not regular jazz fans seem to enjoy us more than the real hardcore jazz fans .... we get a lot of positive feedback from students and people who may not have ever even heard jazz and who probably don't even consider us jazz. I always thought that that was interesting," Honnold reflects. "[I don't think that] a lot of the people who come to see us regularly are coming to see us for the jazz. I think they're coming to see us for the originality of it."
Ear Doctor will be appearing tonight (May 5) at Zorba's. They will be joined in this show by Jay Ferguson on drums.
*****
Originally Published May 5, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Interview: Chillin' With Keller Williams
With an unabashedly fun, quirky songwriting voice and a knack for inventing infectious rhythmic grooves (not to mention the rather impressive layers of sound he can get out of live phrase sampling of his own playing), singer-songwriter-guitarist Keller Williams is exactly the kind of hard-to-pigeonhole entertainer that the majority of mainstream media tends to ignore. When asked if, 10 years into his career as a performer, his perspective on the music industry has changed, he says no.
"I never really looked to the labels as a savior ... I am still way off mainstream radar, and never really had high hopes for the actual [music] industry. I've always had somewhat selfish reasons for playing: to entertain myself, and hopefully I can entertain other people, too."
Nevertheless, for an independent artist, Williams has managed to attract and sustain a relatively large-and loyal-following, something he attributes mainly to persistence and grassroots support. "It's taken years to get to this point. It's simply returning to the same towns year after year; start small, keep doing it, and hopefully people bring their friends next time," Williams remarks, adding that overall, he is happy with where his career is right now. "It's quite comfortable for me in my own little world."
Although he is a songwriter and performer, Williams notes that he never learned how to read music notation. "I wrote my first song when I was about 12. I was taking piano lessons, and it came time for the recital, but I couldn't read music or anything, so I just kind of made up my own song." Indeed, with original songs to his credit including ones titled "Love Handles," "Kidney in a Cooler" and "Blazeabago," one of the best parts of what Williams has to offer is his own unique songwriting voice.
"A lot of those [songs] are basic things that actually happened. Some are tidbits of conversations that got turned into a fictional tale, and sometimes I just use my imagination." For his vocal songs, Williams says that the words usually come to him before the music does, whereas the instrumental ones come from "mindlessly doodling" on the guitar. Generally speaking, however, "I try to stay away from politics and sappy love songs ... but I am in love, so there are some," Williams comments, though he shies away from love song cliches.
Williams names the release he gets from being onstage as his favorite part. "I have tons of music kicking around inside my head, and I want the music to be out. It's not the same at home, because at home, you can be playing, but the phone can ring, and you get distracted. If the phone rings while you're onstage, you can't answer it." His job as a musician is "to entertain, to help people get out of their heads for a few hours, forget their worries and the world struggles going on right now."
When I spoke with Williams, he was gearing up to start his current tour. "We're doing 15 shows in 19 days," with his appearance at The Canopy Club in Urbana scheduled near the end. "When it gets close to the last show of a tour, there's always a special energy." Although touring has its hardships-such as the tendency to get "quick and easy food," which makes it "very easy to be unhealthy" and "put pounds on when on the road"-Williams says he likes that he gets to "see the world and get paid for it-or at least pay your expenses." He also encourages people to come out to the live shows, remarking that, "It's really hard to get to know what I'm about without seeing the show."
Williams has been quite busy with recording, touring and his own radio show (Keller's Cellar-"Somewhat Ruleless Radio") for the past couple of years, and has several projects in the works for 2005 as well, which include "picking some bluegrass with friends," a forthcoming DVD release and a new studio project featuring collaborations with other artists, something that Williams says he's been wanting to do for a while. Williams also added that "We just had a baby ... so she's filling my life with all kinds of goodness right now ... She's my next 18-year plan."
*****
Originally Published Mar 3, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
Article Link
"I never really looked to the labels as a savior ... I am still way off mainstream radar, and never really had high hopes for the actual [music] industry. I've always had somewhat selfish reasons for playing: to entertain myself, and hopefully I can entertain other people, too."
Nevertheless, for an independent artist, Williams has managed to attract and sustain a relatively large-and loyal-following, something he attributes mainly to persistence and grassroots support. "It's taken years to get to this point. It's simply returning to the same towns year after year; start small, keep doing it, and hopefully people bring their friends next time," Williams remarks, adding that overall, he is happy with where his career is right now. "It's quite comfortable for me in my own little world."
Although he is a songwriter and performer, Williams notes that he never learned how to read music notation. "I wrote my first song when I was about 12. I was taking piano lessons, and it came time for the recital, but I couldn't read music or anything, so I just kind of made up my own song." Indeed, with original songs to his credit including ones titled "Love Handles," "Kidney in a Cooler" and "Blazeabago," one of the best parts of what Williams has to offer is his own unique songwriting voice.
"A lot of those [songs] are basic things that actually happened. Some are tidbits of conversations that got turned into a fictional tale, and sometimes I just use my imagination." For his vocal songs, Williams says that the words usually come to him before the music does, whereas the instrumental ones come from "mindlessly doodling" on the guitar. Generally speaking, however, "I try to stay away from politics and sappy love songs ... but I am in love, so there are some," Williams comments, though he shies away from love song cliches.
Williams names the release he gets from being onstage as his favorite part. "I have tons of music kicking around inside my head, and I want the music to be out. It's not the same at home, because at home, you can be playing, but the phone can ring, and you get distracted. If the phone rings while you're onstage, you can't answer it." His job as a musician is "to entertain, to help people get out of their heads for a few hours, forget their worries and the world struggles going on right now."
When I spoke with Williams, he was gearing up to start his current tour. "We're doing 15 shows in 19 days," with his appearance at The Canopy Club in Urbana scheduled near the end. "When it gets close to the last show of a tour, there's always a special energy." Although touring has its hardships-such as the tendency to get "quick and easy food," which makes it "very easy to be unhealthy" and "put pounds on when on the road"-Williams says he likes that he gets to "see the world and get paid for it-or at least pay your expenses." He also encourages people to come out to the live shows, remarking that, "It's really hard to get to know what I'm about without seeing the show."
Williams has been quite busy with recording, touring and his own radio show (Keller's Cellar-"Somewhat Ruleless Radio") for the past couple of years, and has several projects in the works for 2005 as well, which include "picking some bluegrass with friends," a forthcoming DVD release and a new studio project featuring collaborations with other artists, something that Williams says he's been wanting to do for a while. Williams also added that "We just had a baby ... so she's filling my life with all kinds of goodness right now ... She's my next 18-year plan."
*****
Originally Published Mar 3, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Album Review: Keller Williams, Stage (Live)
Each of Keller Williams's albums has its own stylistic flavor, while at the same time remaining unabashedly within the span of his own musical style. Stage, Williams's ninth release to date, is no exception. The recording captures a series of live performances on two discs, each of which attempts to capture a different audience vibe: according to the liner notes, a "seated listening audience" versus a "seatless dancing party." As Williams seems to consider himself more of a live performer (who happens to also record CDs) rather than a recording artist per se, this album, like his earlier live release, Loop, might be thought of as more representative of his work.
The main criticism I have of this album is the preponderance of covers-something that is not nearly as prevalent on Williams's other releases-which eat up valuable space on the discs that could have been used to capture live renditions of more of his own songs. Although covers generally tend to be a staple of any live act-if only from the need of more material to fill out the sets-Williams's talent for inventing catchy instrumental grooves, as well as the quirky originality of his songs' lyrics, make the inclusion of covers of other people's songs on this release (such as a needlessly long version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth") wholly unnecessary. With this in mind, it must be added that Williams at least has the good taste to make the songs his own by transforming them into his own idiom, rather than merely copying what someone else already did.
Highlights of the album include the infectiously happy "Keep it Simple," the humorous words to "Novelty Song" set in a sort of free recitational vocal style, the delicate layers of timbre that unfold in "Celebrate Your Youth," and the driving virtuosity of the instrumental "Shapes of M+M's." Also, having said the above about the presence of covers on this album, I have to admit that Williams's rendition of "Moondance"-abstracted so far from its original source that it almost seems like a new song, with several improvisational forays into the unknown and then segueing back into the pocket of the song as he set it up at the outset-is most impressive.
Williams's work is, first and foremost, music to make people happy, and, as usual, is quite successful. This release is no exception; it is a solid effort, and definitely worth the time it takes to hear.
*****
Originally Published Mar 3, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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The main criticism I have of this album is the preponderance of covers-something that is not nearly as prevalent on Williams's other releases-which eat up valuable space on the discs that could have been used to capture live renditions of more of his own songs. Although covers generally tend to be a staple of any live act-if only from the need of more material to fill out the sets-Williams's talent for inventing catchy instrumental grooves, as well as the quirky originality of his songs' lyrics, make the inclusion of covers of other people's songs on this release (such as a needlessly long version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth") wholly unnecessary. With this in mind, it must be added that Williams at least has the good taste to make the songs his own by transforming them into his own idiom, rather than merely copying what someone else already did.
Highlights of the album include the infectiously happy "Keep it Simple," the humorous words to "Novelty Song" set in a sort of free recitational vocal style, the delicate layers of timbre that unfold in "Celebrate Your Youth," and the driving virtuosity of the instrumental "Shapes of M+M's." Also, having said the above about the presence of covers on this album, I have to admit that Williams's rendition of "Moondance"-abstracted so far from its original source that it almost seems like a new song, with several improvisational forays into the unknown and then segueing back into the pocket of the song as he set it up at the outset-is most impressive.
Williams's work is, first and foremost, music to make people happy, and, as usual, is quite successful. This release is no exception; it is a solid effort, and definitely worth the time it takes to hear.
*****
Originally Published Mar 3, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Album Review: Miles Davis, My Funny Valentine (Re-Release)
There are very few people in the world who would disagree that jazz chameleon Miles Davis did not so much play standards as infuse them with a sparkling brilliance in a style that was entirely his own. My Funny Valentine presents a beautifully recorded 1964 concert with tenor saxophonist George Coleman and a rhythm section made up of younger players who have long since made their own marks on the jazz world: Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums, the latter just 18 years old at the time (a point nobody seems to be able to resist making).
Each of the five tracks repackaged here is executed with precision and grace and somehow made to sound effortless in spite of the level of constant, concentrated attention to detail the group evinces. Davis's tone is, as usual, mellow in the midrange and intense without being harsh in the upper levels, and he uses a Harmon mute (something of a trademark sound for Davis) for a good portion of the album, as well. This recording is an example of how great a group of musicians can sound together on a really good night: everything fits together, they feed off of each others' ideas, and the parts all mesh together, weaving in and out of grooves and chord changes.
Of four standards included here, my personal favorite on this album is a caffeinated version of one of Davis's own compositions: the perennial classic "All Blues," which has itself become a staple of the jazz repertoire. Other highlights include Hancock's introspective introductions to "Stella by Starlight" and the title track, Coleman's alternately playful and impassioned solo on "All Of You," as well as the shifts in tone color and rhythm occurring throughout the album that are brought about through Carter's and Williams' interaction. If jazz is primarily a conversation, the five players here are having a lively one and enjoying every minute of it.
The album itself is a one-disc remastered re-release of a 40-year-old LP double record of the same name, and this is its first time appearing on CD as it was on vinyl (there has also been a CD release of this recording that includes bonus material). It includes new liner notes by bassist Ron Carter in addition to the original ones by jazz writer Nat Hentoff. The album is most definitely worth listening to but if you already have another version, this one is not necessary.
*****
Originally Published Feb 24, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Each of the five tracks repackaged here is executed with precision and grace and somehow made to sound effortless in spite of the level of constant, concentrated attention to detail the group evinces. Davis's tone is, as usual, mellow in the midrange and intense without being harsh in the upper levels, and he uses a Harmon mute (something of a trademark sound for Davis) for a good portion of the album, as well. This recording is an example of how great a group of musicians can sound together on a really good night: everything fits together, they feed off of each others' ideas, and the parts all mesh together, weaving in and out of grooves and chord changes.
Of four standards included here, my personal favorite on this album is a caffeinated version of one of Davis's own compositions: the perennial classic "All Blues," which has itself become a staple of the jazz repertoire. Other highlights include Hancock's introspective introductions to "Stella by Starlight" and the title track, Coleman's alternately playful and impassioned solo on "All Of You," as well as the shifts in tone color and rhythm occurring throughout the album that are brought about through Carter's and Williams' interaction. If jazz is primarily a conversation, the five players here are having a lively one and enjoying every minute of it.
The album itself is a one-disc remastered re-release of a 40-year-old LP double record of the same name, and this is its first time appearing on CD as it was on vinyl (there has also been a CD release of this recording that includes bonus material). It includes new liner notes by bassist Ron Carter in addition to the original ones by jazz writer Nat Hentoff. The album is most definitely worth listening to but if you already have another version, this one is not necessary.
*****
Originally Published Feb 24, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Album Review: The Essential Earl Scruggs
Whether you know it or not, you have heard his playing before. At nearly 80 years old, Earl Scruggs, the Paganini of the banjo, has had a successful career in music for the past 60 years, and his remarkably virtuosic bluegrass style has become associated with the genre itself, an indelible part of the American soundscape that has inspired and entertained for as long as it has been heard.
Disc One of this compilation features recordings from the earlier part of Scruggs' career, including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," an effervescent instrumental from the start of Scruggs' 20-year-plus collaboration with guitarist-vocalist Lester Flatt, and "Heavy Traffic Ahead," an early track from his time as a musician with "the father of bluegrass" Bill Monroe and his band.
The second disc highlights Scruggs' more recent work, including fusiony ventures into rock- and blues-influenced bluegrass, only some of which are as aesthetically successful as the other tracks in the collection, though all are interesting. The haunting beauty of "Nashville Blues" alone makes this disc worth hearing.
Some of my favorite tracks are the purely instrumental ones; it is in the nonvocal realm that Scruggs' musical voice can be heard most clearly, and where the individual and collective talents of the musicians shine. The recordings all have a very clean sound quality, even the very early stuff from the 1940s is crisp and clear, making it hard to believe some of the tracks are as old as they are.
This recording serves as a decent retrospective of Scruggs' prolific and extensive career, and also as an excellent introduction to bluegrass (the bebop of country music) in the past 50-plus years. The music has an incredible amount of heart and spirit, and I defy anyone to listen to this without at least cracking a smile.
By the way, in case you are still stumped about where you've heard Scruggs' music before, it is his banjo that you hear in the theme song to the television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
*****
Originally Published Jan 6, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Disc One of this compilation features recordings from the earlier part of Scruggs' career, including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," an effervescent instrumental from the start of Scruggs' 20-year-plus collaboration with guitarist-vocalist Lester Flatt, and "Heavy Traffic Ahead," an early track from his time as a musician with "the father of bluegrass" Bill Monroe and his band.
The second disc highlights Scruggs' more recent work, including fusiony ventures into rock- and blues-influenced bluegrass, only some of which are as aesthetically successful as the other tracks in the collection, though all are interesting. The haunting beauty of "Nashville Blues" alone makes this disc worth hearing.
Some of my favorite tracks are the purely instrumental ones; it is in the nonvocal realm that Scruggs' musical voice can be heard most clearly, and where the individual and collective talents of the musicians shine. The recordings all have a very clean sound quality, even the very early stuff from the 1940s is crisp and clear, making it hard to believe some of the tracks are as old as they are.
This recording serves as a decent retrospective of Scruggs' prolific and extensive career, and also as an excellent introduction to bluegrass (the bebop of country music) in the past 50-plus years. The music has an incredible amount of heart and spirit, and I defy anyone to listen to this without at least cracking a smile.
By the way, in case you are still stumped about where you've heard Scruggs' music before, it is his banjo that you hear in the theme song to the television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
*****
Originally Published Jan 6, 2005, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Sex, Murder, and Mayhem (That's Mozart?!)
The University of Illinois School of Music's opera program will be presenting Don Giovanni at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts this weekend, Nov. 11-14. Sung in the original Italian (with English supertitles), the production has every appearance of living up to the high artistic standards that this opera demands.
The opera, set in 17th century Seville, revolves around the dissipated lifestyle of the roguish anti-hero from which the work takes its name, a charismatic and lascivious aristocrat who refuses to reform and ultimately pays the price for his needleless moral compass. Mozart and da Ponte's version of the Don Juan legend also incorporates another popular tale from the time, The Stone Guest. Here, it is the statue of the Commendatore, who was killed at the outset of the opera in a duel with Don Giovanni (following his attempt to seduce and rape the Commendatore's daughter, Donna Anna, who swears revenge on her father's killer, and who declares that she will not marry her fiance, Don Ottavio, until she has achieved it), who signals Don Giovanni's ultimate downfall. Much of the comic relief is provided by Don Giovanni's servant, Leporello, who is often called upon to help distract people (for example, the justifiably angry, jilted Donna Elvira, whom Don Giovanni attempts to pick up without realizing that he already has, and who has been traveling in order to track him down) while Don Giovanni himself makes an escape.
The delightfully whimsical scenery for the present production-with its sweeping swirls of purple, black and white that integrate the set into one main entity, and imaginative, and some rather graphic, sculpted set pieces-complements the alternately playful, sensuous and fantastic elements of the opera. Scenic designer Aaron Benson commented that since the opera itself is so dynamic, the directors were looking for an equally dynamic set. "I had to change my set design (from the original plans) to reflect what happens during the opera and to imbue it with Don Giovanni's sexuality," Benson remarked. "The whole stage is his bedroom."
Likewise, the period costumes, designed by Andrea M. Gross, inspired by her research on Goya's earlier paintings, are employed to highlight and reinforce aspects of the characters' personalities, from the conservatively attired Don Ottavio and his vengeance-bent fiancee Donna Anna, to the flirtatious Zerlina and the passionate, but inhibited Donna Elvira.
About the latter, Gross said that "Elvira and Giovanni are actually the best match for each other; it's really a shame that they don't end up together at the end. She has a lot of fire that she represses, and I tried to make that come through in her costume."
Of course, the unbilled star of the opera is the music itself; Mozart built into the veneer of his spirited musical setting a remarkable amount of dramatic tension and vibrant emotional impact. The opera's conductor, Eduardo Diazmuñoz, said that his main aim in preparing the musical component of the show was to be as loyal as possible to Mozart's delicately nuanced and psychologically compelling musical setting. "It is very challenging, because Mozart sounds easy, but is not. He is one of the most difficult composers to be loyal to, because he is pristine, but tragic."
Diazmuñoz also reflected on the irrepressibly Mozartian decision to end the opera on a light note, rather than with the absolute gravity of the scene in which the main character is literally dragged down to hell. He remarked that if it had been another composer's opera, "When Don Giovanni goes to hell, that would have been the end of it; the rake was punished, forget about it. Right after that, everybody is muted. But then Mozart ... turns it into a jolly ending ... after all that tragedy, he has this smile at the very end." Diazmu§oz later added that "only Mozart could put fire and water together like that."
"(Don Giovanni) has all the elements that an opera requires for it to be a great opera," Diazmu§oz observed. "You have passion, you have love, lust, revenge, hatred, sweetness, sourness, delight, tragedy, humor-sometimes nasty humor, sometimes very subtle-you have jealousy, sorrow, and so on, so that you have a complete opera." Stage director Jacque Trussel has helped to enhance the rich musical content with equally effective action onstage.
Although the rather explicit sexual content and depictions of violence in the opera generally exclude it from being considered "wholesome fun for the whole family," Don Giovanni is entirely deserving of its reputation as one of-if not the-greatest operas ever written. This opera has enough dramatic intrigue to keep one on one's toes, without taking itself so seriously that it forgets to brighten even the darkest scenes with comic relief, and just about anybody who attends one of these upcoming performances should be in for a treat.
Don Giovanni is playing at Krannert Center's Tryon Festival Theatre Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 11-13 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. Tickets are available through the Krannert Center Web site, http://www.kcpa.uiuc.edu/tickets, by telephone (1-800-KCPATIX or 217-333-6280), fax (217-244-SHOW), e-mail (kran-tix@uiuc.edu), or in person at the Krannert Center ticket office (open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily).
*****
Originally Published Nov 11, 2004, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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The opera, set in 17th century Seville, revolves around the dissipated lifestyle of the roguish anti-hero from which the work takes its name, a charismatic and lascivious aristocrat who refuses to reform and ultimately pays the price for his needleless moral compass. Mozart and da Ponte's version of the Don Juan legend also incorporates another popular tale from the time, The Stone Guest. Here, it is the statue of the Commendatore, who was killed at the outset of the opera in a duel with Don Giovanni (following his attempt to seduce and rape the Commendatore's daughter, Donna Anna, who swears revenge on her father's killer, and who declares that she will not marry her fiance, Don Ottavio, until she has achieved it), who signals Don Giovanni's ultimate downfall. Much of the comic relief is provided by Don Giovanni's servant, Leporello, who is often called upon to help distract people (for example, the justifiably angry, jilted Donna Elvira, whom Don Giovanni attempts to pick up without realizing that he already has, and who has been traveling in order to track him down) while Don Giovanni himself makes an escape.
The delightfully whimsical scenery for the present production-with its sweeping swirls of purple, black and white that integrate the set into one main entity, and imaginative, and some rather graphic, sculpted set pieces-complements the alternately playful, sensuous and fantastic elements of the opera. Scenic designer Aaron Benson commented that since the opera itself is so dynamic, the directors were looking for an equally dynamic set. "I had to change my set design (from the original plans) to reflect what happens during the opera and to imbue it with Don Giovanni's sexuality," Benson remarked. "The whole stage is his bedroom."
Likewise, the period costumes, designed by Andrea M. Gross, inspired by her research on Goya's earlier paintings, are employed to highlight and reinforce aspects of the characters' personalities, from the conservatively attired Don Ottavio and his vengeance-bent fiancee Donna Anna, to the flirtatious Zerlina and the passionate, but inhibited Donna Elvira.
About the latter, Gross said that "Elvira and Giovanni are actually the best match for each other; it's really a shame that they don't end up together at the end. She has a lot of fire that she represses, and I tried to make that come through in her costume."
Of course, the unbilled star of the opera is the music itself; Mozart built into the veneer of his spirited musical setting a remarkable amount of dramatic tension and vibrant emotional impact. The opera's conductor, Eduardo Diazmuñoz, said that his main aim in preparing the musical component of the show was to be as loyal as possible to Mozart's delicately nuanced and psychologically compelling musical setting. "It is very challenging, because Mozart sounds easy, but is not. He is one of the most difficult composers to be loyal to, because he is pristine, but tragic."
Diazmuñoz also reflected on the irrepressibly Mozartian decision to end the opera on a light note, rather than with the absolute gravity of the scene in which the main character is literally dragged down to hell. He remarked that if it had been another composer's opera, "When Don Giovanni goes to hell, that would have been the end of it; the rake was punished, forget about it. Right after that, everybody is muted. But then Mozart ... turns it into a jolly ending ... after all that tragedy, he has this smile at the very end." Diazmu§oz later added that "only Mozart could put fire and water together like that."
"(Don Giovanni) has all the elements that an opera requires for it to be a great opera," Diazmu§oz observed. "You have passion, you have love, lust, revenge, hatred, sweetness, sourness, delight, tragedy, humor-sometimes nasty humor, sometimes very subtle-you have jealousy, sorrow, and so on, so that you have a complete opera." Stage director Jacque Trussel has helped to enhance the rich musical content with equally effective action onstage.
Although the rather explicit sexual content and depictions of violence in the opera generally exclude it from being considered "wholesome fun for the whole family," Don Giovanni is entirely deserving of its reputation as one of-if not the-greatest operas ever written. This opera has enough dramatic intrigue to keep one on one's toes, without taking itself so seriously that it forgets to brighten even the darkest scenes with comic relief, and just about anybody who attends one of these upcoming performances should be in for a treat.
Don Giovanni is playing at Krannert Center's Tryon Festival Theatre Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 11-13 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. Tickets are available through the Krannert Center Web site, http://www.kcpa.uiuc.edu/tickets, by telephone (1-800-KCPATIX or 217-333-6280), fax (217-244-SHOW), e-mail (kran-tix@uiuc.edu), or in person at the Krannert Center ticket office (open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily).
*****
Originally Published Nov 11, 2004, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)
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Concert DVD Review: Stevie Ray Vaughan Live at Montreaux
The genre of the pop-culture concert film has an interesting history. It initially emerged in the late 1960s, with such early festival documentaries as Woodstock and Monterey Pop, and became a genre in its own right in the 1970s (for example, Led Zeppelin's Song Remains the Same, despite its lengthy forays into the band members' fantasy scenes, is comprised primarily of concert footage), and has really taken off in popularity since the advent of the DVD system, with its higher-fidelity audio-reproductive capabilities. The most intriguing element of the concert film is surely that of a social document, and it almost becomes, in its way, a sort of quasi-time travel. Although one cannot experience many of these events firsthand, one can at least witness them and get a feel for what they were like at the time they were recorded.
With this frame of mind, then, consider that with guitar icon Stevie Ray Vaughan's Live at Montreux two-DVD set, one can witness, almost firsthand, one of those "What the hell?!" moments in music: a young SRV playing a burning set, only to get a chorus mainly consisting of boos from an unresponsive audience after each number. Of course, this performance on the Blues Night of the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival would be the shot in the arm of Vaughan's career; David Bowie was impressed enough with the performance to secure Vaughan as guitarist on his Let's Dance, and Jackson Browne provided the group with free-of-charge studio time to record their first album.
As for the music, the first disc especially stands out as a particularly good show (despite the boorish audience). The subtle texture shifts and imaginative manipulations of harmonic vocabulary are imaginative and exciting, and the nascent stage presence of the group is fascinating to watch. The incredible amount of energy put forth in the performance comes across very vividly, keying up the viewer just from watching the people on stage playing their guts out. The group is very good at building up excitement and audience anticipation without overkill, and Vaughan's solos-especially in the earlier 1982 show-evince a particularly tasteful sense of climactic buildup and repose. His style, even at this early date, is already highly refined.
Admittedly, the visuals leave something to be desired; they are not particularly high-quality, but considering that the films are themselves 22 and 19 years old, this is hardly surprising. And considering the fact that in 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a relatively unknown artist, we are, perhaps, lucky that a film was shot of his first Montreux performance at all.
Concert film recordings do provide certain benefits, as well, particularly when it comes to actually being able to see some of the stage tricks (for example, Vaughan plays with the guitar behind his back during one song, and sounds great). Of course, the interpolation of the occasional camera shot of some hippy-looking character or other in the audience gyrating almost to the beat of the band's searing set is a welcome-albeit cliched-visual to any concert film. Fans of electric blues and fans of concert films will not be disappointed in this DVD, but those not yet acclimated to the genre of concert film probably ought to steer clear of it, opting instead for the two-CD recording of these performances.
*****
Originally Published Nov 11, 2004, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinios)
Article Link
With this frame of mind, then, consider that with guitar icon Stevie Ray Vaughan's Live at Montreux two-DVD set, one can witness, almost firsthand, one of those "What the hell?!" moments in music: a young SRV playing a burning set, only to get a chorus mainly consisting of boos from an unresponsive audience after each number. Of course, this performance on the Blues Night of the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival would be the shot in the arm of Vaughan's career; David Bowie was impressed enough with the performance to secure Vaughan as guitarist on his Let's Dance, and Jackson Browne provided the group with free-of-charge studio time to record their first album.
As for the music, the first disc especially stands out as a particularly good show (despite the boorish audience). The subtle texture shifts and imaginative manipulations of harmonic vocabulary are imaginative and exciting, and the nascent stage presence of the group is fascinating to watch. The incredible amount of energy put forth in the performance comes across very vividly, keying up the viewer just from watching the people on stage playing their guts out. The group is very good at building up excitement and audience anticipation without overkill, and Vaughan's solos-especially in the earlier 1982 show-evince a particularly tasteful sense of climactic buildup and repose. His style, even at this early date, is already highly refined.
Admittedly, the visuals leave something to be desired; they are not particularly high-quality, but considering that the films are themselves 22 and 19 years old, this is hardly surprising. And considering the fact that in 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a relatively unknown artist, we are, perhaps, lucky that a film was shot of his first Montreux performance at all.
Concert film recordings do provide certain benefits, as well, particularly when it comes to actually being able to see some of the stage tricks (for example, Vaughan plays with the guitar behind his back during one song, and sounds great). Of course, the interpolation of the occasional camera shot of some hippy-looking character or other in the audience gyrating almost to the beat of the band's searing set is a welcome-albeit cliched-visual to any concert film. Fans of electric blues and fans of concert films will not be disappointed in this DVD, but those not yet acclimated to the genre of concert film probably ought to steer clear of it, opting instead for the two-CD recording of these performances.
*****
Originally Published Nov 11, 2004, Buzz Weekly (Champaign-Urbana, Illinios)
Article Link
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