Live Music (and More): Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion at the Greek Theatre

By Mike Finkelstein

On Friday night Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion descended upon the Greek Theater ostensibly to record the latest installment of their delightfully entertaining radio show for public radio.    It was a beautiful evening as the sun started to set over Griffith Park.   You couldn’t imagine a more intimate feeling in a gathering of thousands.

As I headed to my seat, there seemed to be some commotion in front of me…and this was because Keillor had made his entrance by sauntering up in song from the stage and arriving all the way at the top of the theatre to savor the view.

A Prairie Home Companion is a unique slice of radio entertainment these days.  The show’s format is a throwback to old time radio variety shows.   It relies on the engaging voices of its host and cast to bring cleverly worded scripts to warm life.  True to the old radio tradition, listeners can’t help but let their imagination run with it to concoct their own vision of what they hear.   That’s a lost art in these times of nonstop video gratification. But the sound of it was vintage radio, even with the modern references.   How would it be with no need to imagine the proceedings?  I’m happy to say the results were thoroughly entertaining.

The Cast of A Prairie Home Companion

The rear of the stage had, naturally, a life size façade of a narrow two-story Minnesota prairie style house, as well as the logos of several of the mock sponsors of the show.    The 7-piece Shoe band, led by pianist Rich Dworsky and guitarist Pat Donohue, sat in several layers in front of the house.  Whether they were featured or setting up the atmosphere with background music, their blend of jazz, folk, and boogie was a perfect fit with the rest of the program.

To the side of the stage we had the fascinating table of gizmos and knick-knacks that Fred Farrell uses for sound effects.   His crop duster impression was perfection, as were his one-man cocktail party, flushing toilets, breaking branches (Styrofoam plate) and flapping wings.  Next to Farrell stood Tim Russell and Sue Scott.

Garrison Keillor

At center stage there was Garrison Keillor, moving the whole thing along so very smoothly.  The guests for the night included Martin Sheen reading scripted characters, Lily Tomlin reading scripts and making conversation, Paula Poundstone doing standup and also reading scripts and conversing.

It’s fun to watch actors and comedy artists do something formatted like reading a radio script as you can see their personalities leap forth while they read.  Ah, the lost art of simply reading aloud with panache.   Lily Tomlin got to deliver the line, conversationally, “What is reality but a collective hunch?” and Tim Russell got on a roll with his impressions of George W. Bush, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Tom Brokaw, and even Henry Kissinger.

The musical guests included semi-regular PHC members, the singing sisters Jearlynn and Jevetta Steele.   They gave the music a gospel feel when they sang, very up beat and just as joyous.  Colin Hay, formerly of Men at Work, performed solo.  He is an engaging storyteller, a man with different guitar for each song, and he has a big, rich voice.  It’s been a while since I’ve heard “Overkill,” but I remembered how good the lyrics were when I first heard them.

Between the skits, monologues, musical numbers, and mock ads, one becomes aware that there is a prodigious amount of material and coordination that goes into putting these shows together on a weekly basis.   Whoa!   In one monologue Keillor told us about the descent into LAX and filled us in on fine details of places like Whittier, Southgate, and who is buried in the Inglewood Cemetery.  Speeches like this take a fair amount of research every week.

There was so much beautiful rhyme woven into the night’s dialogue.   It was also there in the lyrics of the songs, the ads, and even in a touching poem that Keillor wrote for a neighbor’s cat (“they are God’s beauty”).   Well, the show was sponsored by P.O.E.M (the Professional Organization of English Majors).

“The Adventures of Guy Noir”

No PHC show would be complete without an episode of Guy Noir, private eye.  This installment featured erudite flirtations between Keillor and Tomlin, plenty of alliteration, and an amusing dissection of the lyrics to doo wop songs like “Who Put The Bomp,” and “Who Wrote The Book Of Love.”   The actors were clearly enjoying the humor in the written words and riffing a bit with it, too.

During this two and a half hours show there were a whole lot of ideas touched upon.  Many times we noticed how little time it took to get a pretty deep observation about people over to the audience.  Near the end of the show Keilor told us about the time he was asked to give the commencement speech at his high school.  He went on to describe how he didn’t speak about the lifelong bonds that we make with people from our youth (that they are our tribe), but about instead about success.   It turned into a heartfelt reminiscence of his youth — and then the principal mentioned how hard it is to get a good graduation speaker.

But I’m guessing Garrison Keillor actually gave a great speech at Lake Wobegon High School.

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Photos courtesy of the Prairie Home Companion.

To read more reviews and posts by Mike Finkelstein click HERE.

Photo Review: Sally Kellerman at Vitello’s

Studio City, CA. Sally Kellerman is such a musically dynamic performer that it almost doesn’t matter what she’s singing.  Whether it’s the Great American Songbook, the blues, a country tune or a rock classic, she brings it vividly to life.

On Wednesday night at Vitello’s, backed by the Andy Langham trio, she sang a program of songs reaching easily across various genres.  And we decided to try something a little different: a set of photos illustrating Sally in action, bringing a panorama of rich emotions to a far-ranging set of songs.

 Photos by Bonnie Perkinson.

“I Feel Good”

“Say It Isn’t So”

“I Believe the Lies of Handsome Men”

“A Spooky Boy Like You”

“Damn Your Eyes”

“Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”

“How Sweet It Is.”

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Live Music: Rita Coolidge at Catalina Bar & Grill

By Don Heckman

Hollywood, CA. There was a distinct feeling of time warp in the air Friday night during Rita Coolidge’s performance at Catalina Bar & Grill.  “Nostalgia” couldn’t quite describe the experience of hearing her embracing voice singing “Superstar,” “Born Under A Bad Sign,” “You’re Love Takes Me Higher,” and more.

Rita Coolidge

I first heard Coolidge in the very early ‘70s, when I reviewed her for the New York Times.  Can’t remember if it was at the Bitter End or the Village Gate, but I do recall Kris Kristofferson coming on stage and dueting with her in very intimate fashion.  I’m guessing it was during the romantic build up to their marriage in 1973.

Rita Coolidge and Lynn Colter

Nothing like that took place in her performance at Catalina’s.  Except, that is, for a cozy duet that Coolidge sang with her drummer, Lynn Coulter, on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.  Not exactly the song one would expect on a warm spring night in Hollywood, but well done, nonetheless.

Beyond the time warp (and the nostalgia) Coolidge offered a memorable set of tunes that included a standard or two, as well as the ‘70s songs most closely associated with her early career.  She opened her set, in fact, with “Come Rain or Come Shine,” sung with gentle rhythms and the sort of warm, communicative musical story telling that is at the heart of her interpretive style.

Describing her affection for Peggy Lee’s singing and songwriting, Coolidge also included such Lee-associated classics as “I Don’t Know Enough About You” and the incomparable “Fever,” delivered with a distinct rock edge from her versatile four piece band.

Rita Coolidge and Her Band

Other tunes, tracing to different periods in her career, demanded different approaches, and Coolidge handled them all with ease.  Among them: Allen Toussaint’s “Basic Lady”; a version of “Amazing Grace” (sung in the Cherokee language) that she described as a song she heard in her Cherokee childhood; “We’re All Alone”; I”d Rather Leave”; and “How Sweet It Is.”

There were more high points, all of them the product of the warm, engaging professional entertainer Coolidge has become in her mature years. She has, after all, had hits on the pop, country, adult contemporary and jazz charts.

And what made this evening special was the seamless way in which Coolidge moved from one style to another, from one song to another, while maintaining the stylistic integrity of each.  The “Delta Lady” described by Leon Russell in the song he wrote for her, has been transformed into an interpretive musical artist of the first rank.

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Rita Coolidge photo by Bob Barry.

Rita Coolidge and Lynn Colter photo, and Rita Coolidge band photo by Faith Frenz.

A Twist of Doc: The 2013 NAMM Convention Performance Highlights

 By Devon “Doc” Wendell

The 2013 NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) convention took place in Anaheim California between Thursday, January 24^th and Sunday, January 27^th. Despite throngs of inebriated metal heads roaming the Anaheim streets, instrument booths in the convention hall, and thousands of music merchants packed into the Anaheim Convention center like sardines, there were several stellar musical performances by some legendary names and innovators in the music industry, especially in the jazz and blues categories.

Here are some of 2013 NAMM’s many concert highlights:

On Friday night, Hammond Organ presented its two-plus hour “Hammond Soul Summit” Concert at The Anaheim Marriot, which featured some of the instrument’s greatest and most influential practitioners.

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Kicking off the show was the legendary jazz and funk Hammond B3 pioneer, Dr. Lonnie Smith performing with the incredible Chester Thompson (Tower Of Power and Santana) and Larry Goldings (Al Jarreau, Maceo Parker, John Mayer).  The three organ titans performed a loose and funky rendition of Smith’s classic “Keep Talkin’.”  Backed by a dynamic rhythm section (Jay Didimo on drums and Jack Maher on electric guitar), Smith and Thompson began swapping bluesy organ licks, trying to upstage one another, pushing the exchanges to ecstatic heights. The energy was electric and took the predominately rock loving NAMM audience back to school. Goldings soloed on an acoustic piano preset on his electric keyboard, playing jazz-fueled gospel chops while Thompson and Smith comped rhythm changes and walking organ bass lines behind him. Unfortunately, they were only allotted time to play one number.

Marty Grebb

Up next, Marty Grebb (Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Etta James) took the stage, backed by some of the greatest session players in the world (Reggie McBride on bass and Alvino Bennett on drums) with special guest, 12 year old blues guitar virtuoso, Ray Goren.  After a Jimmy Smith-esque blues shuffle showcasing the young Goren’s fiery electric blues guitar runs and Grebb’s down-home B3 style, another guest was introduced — Marty Grebb’s old musical partner from the Buckinghams,  Dennis Tuffano, on vocals.  Together, Tuffano and Grebb sang The Buckinghams’ 1967 hit “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.”

Though it was hard for Tuffano to come close to topping Grebb’s soulful, Ray Charles- inspired vocals, he proved to still have the fire. This was the most nostalgic and exciting moment of the convention. Goren played some tasteful B.B. King style licks with the maturity of a musician 3 times his age, proving that he’s definitely someone to watch out for.

Larry Goldings

Larry Goldings returned to the stage with his trio (Jack Maher: guitar, Jay Didimo: drums), performing a brilliantly original arrangement of the Sonny Rollins classic “Doxy.” Golding’s imagination, fluidity, and inspiring skills incorporated many of Rollins’ saxophone lines in his organ solo and made it look easy.

Although many hard-rock acts dominated the main stage throughout the convention, Nick Smith And Friends performed a set of pure jazz at 4:00pm on Saturday.  Tonight Show keyboardist Smith was joined by an all-star band consisting of Marvin “Smitty” Smith: drums, Cory Jacobs: keyboard, Trevor Ware: Upright bass, James Manning: Electric bass, Antonio Julius: trumpet, Ray Fuller: guitar, and Kamasi Washington on tenor sax.

Nick Smith

Performing a set of hard-bop originals such as “Alternative Way,” “Slow But Surely” (a masterful tribute to Thelonious Monk), and “Tony Williams” (a salute to jazz drum legend Tony Williams), Nick Smith And Friends proved to be one of the most consistently brilliant jazz bands around today.  Amazingly (believe it or not), Nick Smith played with the syncopation and humor of Monk and virtuosic energy and fluidity of McCoy Tyner in what I can already predict will be among my top ten performances of 2013. Marvin “Smitty” Smith’s bombastic drumming pushed the entire band to play beyond their comfort zone, which is what true improvised jazz is all about. And Kamasi Washington’s playing brought to mind the adventurous spirit of a young Wayne Shorter or mid-60s Joe Henderson.

Even the band’s final tune, “Yeah” (which was a slight venture into funk/fusion) felt fresh and fun without the typical clichés of those genres. Nick Smith And Friends’ too short set was filled with an understanding and love of the history of hard-bop, modal jazz, with just a hint of fusion.  Later that evening Muriel Anderson’s “All Star Guitar Night” was presented by Yamaha guitars, and a benefit and silent auction for The Music For Life Alliance took place at The Anaheim Marriot’s Platinum Ballroom.

Though the big name acts like Stanley Jordan, Robben Ford (who received The Guitar Player Certified Legend award at the event) and host and performer Muriel Anderson were the big name draws of this “exclusive” event, it was some of the lesser known names who were the most interesting of the long showcase.

Mimi Fox

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Jazz guitarist Mimi Fox performed elegant and thoughtful versions of Wes Montgomery’s “Four By Six” and Chic Corea’s “Five Hundred Miles High,” using open harmonics and sweeping arpeggios, all while playing lead and rhythm simultaneously. It was easy to see why Fox has been sought after by Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, and Branford Marsalis, among others.

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Ian Ethan Case

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Ian Ethan Case is a young guitarist with a style that is both sonically and visually original and unorthodox in all the best ways. Case’s performance at this showcase surely had many six-stringers rethink the possibilities of the guitar. Case plays a double neck acoustic guitar in a unique and percussive manner, strumming the six string side of the guitar with one hand, while fretting chords and lead sequences on the 12 string side with the other hand, over the neck of the guitar while occasionally thumping his fists on the instrument’s body, creating polyrhythms. One must see this to believe it. His ideas were endless, playing a style that had elements of country, acoustic rock, and bluegrass, but is a completely unique sound nonetheless.

Case’s ballad “Anthony’s Lullaby”, dedicated to his infant son, had a dream-like, dissonant yet dark, melodic quality to it. It was refreshing to witness a guitarist who has created his own style and is not emulating a host of other players.

Vocalist Toots Hibbert and guitarist Carl Harvey are know for their work in the prolific reggae band Toots And The Maytals, but their acoustic, Delta Blues renditions of the Maytals’ classics “Reggae Got Soul” and “54-46 Was My Number” was a brilliant departure for these two men from the reggae world.  As both men strummed acoustic guitars, with Harvy playing an occasional piercing lead, Hibbert’s vocals sounded like a cross between the late Reverend Gary Davis and Richie Havens.  Their country blues arrangements gave the songs new fire and soul. This was pure blues without any of the affectations that many guitarists of other genres who try to conquer the blues are often guilty of falling back on.

James Hill

Ukulele master James Hill and bassist Bakithi Kumalo (bassist on Paul Simon’s Graceland album) brought some much needed humor to this event, performing a witty reading of Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean,” with Hill singing and playing the chord changes on ukulele and Kumalo playing the funky bass line on a small, short scale bass.  The sound of Hill playing those syncopated minor ninth chords on a ukulele made his performance one to remember for a long time. Although Hill is a skilled musician, it’s rare and refreshing to see an artist at an event like this who doesn’t take himself too seriously and isn’t afraid to show it.

So that’s it for my NAMM 2013 highlights. At a huge event like this, it’s quality over quantity as there were hundreds of performances during the four day convention.

Like most of the NAMM attendees, I’m exhausted yet already curious about next year’s lineup of showcases and events.

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To read more reviews and posts by Devon Wendell click HERE.

Live Music: Steve Earl and Allison Moorer in a CAP UCLA Concert at Royce Hall

By Mike Finkelstein

Last Saturday night, veteran folk singer Steve Earle and his wife Allison Moorer played a stripped down show in a CAP UCLA concert at Royce Hall.   They used a short rotation of his guitar, harmonica, and mandolin, with her guitar, accordion, and piano to give us all a reminder of how the essence of any concert is in the draw of the song.   With minimal instrumentation it takes a strong song to hold an audience’s attention. Happily, Steve Earle brings over 40 years of songwriting experience to the table and he trotted out several gems for this show.

Earle was the burly guy onstage, with long hair, a long beard and dressed in faded denim, boots, a bandana wrapped around his strumming wrist…and his glasses.  He initially suggested a biker image, but as the show progressed the writer in him asserted itself.  From the beginning he exuded no nonsense and a very direct delivery, which is right in keeping with folk tradition of telling a straight story in a simple song.  Since folk songs can often get very simple in musical terms, it’s a familiar folkie ploy to use capos up and down a guitar neck to get a different sounding inversion of a familiar chord.  It tends to keep the sound fresh and Earle did move that capo around quite a bit.

Steve Earle and Allison Moorer

The show started with Steve and Allison’s Grammy-nominated duet, “Days Aren’t Long Enough,” a shimmering reflection of finding one’s self right there in love with the one you’re singing with.  Between songs, Earle’s words were stroked along by guitar strums, and he let us in on the wisdom behind some of his song’s subject matter.   If there ever was a medium for someone to get on the platform and share their opinions, it is folk music.  Earle’s banter was pointed, but delivered in such a calm composed way that we heard it conversationally.  One nice segue involved a description of how his son found one of several loaded guns he kept at home and would not divulge where it was.  After making the difficult parenting decision to send the boy to a work camp, it seems the kid ‘fessed up inside a day.  (But that was the end of Earle’s keeping firearms at home).  And then he went into the powerfully resigned gun control song, Johnny Cash’s aptly titled, “The Devil’s Right Hand.” The song is truly poignant and it captures, beautifully, the fascination, danger, and tragedy that are part and parcel of guns.

Earle braced us a bit before singing “Burn It Down.” In this case “it” is the local Walmart and the details of it all didn’t seem to bother anyone that I could see.  It was actually refreshing to see a performer put his perhaps controversial point of view out there honestly in the open.  He also dished on trade unions, reminding us of all the good that they had brought us, and on how we really would be in a much better place if we gave teachers the respect they deserve.

Not all the tunes were political but the sentimental ones could get heavy.  While “Sparkle and Shine,” delivered with the capoed sound and a set of simple but sentimentally affectionate lyrics, Earle also threw in a cover of Woody Guthrie’s legendary and haunting “Deportee,” about the uncertain lives of migrant fruit pickers.  And a Steve Earle set wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of his own “Copperhead Road,” the tale of a Viet Nam vet who grows up around moonshine and takes to dealing drugs on his return.  It’s a rugged, evocative song that puts you right in the middle of the narrative…and he sang it tough as nails, hammering and slicing through the chords with his thumb pick much like chopping his way through a jungle.

The Living Sisters, a local group of girls who sing like the proverbial sirens, opened the show.   Backed by an upright bass and a muted cornet, the girls passed a parlor guitar between themselves and melted our hearts with their four part harmonies – tied ‘em up in “Double Knots,” actually.

To read more reviews and posts by Mike Finkelstein click HERE. 

Live Music: David Grisman and David Lindley at Royce Hall

By Mike Finkelstein

The David Grisman Sextet rambled through a CAP UCLA performance at Royce Hall on Friday night, playing to a warm and delighted reception from a smaller than anticipated crowd.   Still, it was a hugely satisfying night of music with none other than David Lindley opening up the festivities.

David Grisman

Both Grisman and Lindley are good friends, of the same basic hippie vintage, and are longtime keepers of the flame for mastery of their acoustic instruments and fine original acoustic performance.  You can also sense, in their long gray hair and beards, as well as their repartee with the audience, that both have retained their hippie personae.  And it certainly is captivating and reaffirming to see someone so completely in control of their instrument as both men were on Friday night.

There was enough room in Royce that the promoters invited the audience to come as close to the stage as they needed to get the right spot.    And the open space wasn’t only limited to the stage.    There were small and few amplifiers, a small drum kit, flutes resting on a piano bench.  Much of the stage was peripherally left bare and there was no backdrop.   It gave a very stripped down feel to the evening but the music was well suited to the setup.

David Lindley

Programs like CAP UCLA (Center for the Art of Performance UCLA, formerly UCLA Live) specialize in presenting performers –such as David Grisman and David Lindley — who depend on subtle acoustic nuances to make the connection with an audience.  Royce Hall is one of the calmest sounding big halls you’ll ever hear a performance in.   At times Friday, you could literally hear a pin drop … or hear a pick rub each wind of a mandolin string.  Remarkable.  So when Grisman and his five band mates hit the stage they were in their element and beaming gleefully.

Grisman’s band consisted of mandolin (Grisman, himself), acoustic bass (Jim Kerwin), guitar (Grant Gordy), fiddle (Mike Barnett), drums (George Marsh) and flute (Matt Eakle).   Basically he took the string foundation of bluegrass music, minus the banjo and, because there is a lot of traditional jazz in his original material, he added flute, too.   His compositions are very chordy but structured and directional.   You couls hear quite a bit of the Django Reinhardt/Stephan Grappelli influence in many of their arrangements — such as “Bluegrass at the Beach.”   The music was structured like traditional jazz but played on bluegrass instruments.

What really impressed was the way the band swatted around the musical focus between them like it was a game of hacky-sack, with Grisman presiding and nodding intensely every turn of the way.  Each player came alive when it was his turn to step out in front and solo.

Grisman himself would lurch into and out of his runs with flying fingers.  It’s quite entertaining to watch a large guy like Grisman work the neck of a little ol’ mandolin like it was a toy.

Gordy flatpicked superbly, and Eakle had a way of grooving to the music and prancing with his flute that at times suggested Ian Anderson.   He also had several great tonal moments with a massive bass flute that lay in waiting on the piano bench.

The rhythm section of Kerwin and Marsh has been with Grisman for more than twenty years and their comfort with the format really showed.   Though their solos were not long, they were melodically meshed with the tune and they always featured tasty dynamics, and contrasted speeds and volumes.   Every player in the band had the sort of soft touch to go with the speed that gives the best acoustic music its appeal.  And they all appeared to be enjoying the moments big-time.

Grisman told several small stories during the evening as he provided personal background and culled songs from a career that now spans five decades.   He alluded to the now old school practice of learning one’s instruments from a.) buying and listening to vinyl records and b.) watching people play live to steal their techniques.   Now, instructional videos on the internet make it all so available.   But seeing the process through organically makes a person that much more connected to the music.   Grisman learned all he could from Bill Monroe in person and from records and he recounted to us that Monroe eventually implored him to work up his own style, which we now know as “Dawg music.”   It turns out to have been sage advice.

David Lindley opened the show with a 45-minute set of deadpan humor and downright amazing playing on stringed instruments ranging from lap guitars to a proper lute.  These instruments were all tuned to beautiful open chords and with a slide in his hands they sounded huge and simply majestic at times.

There was one tune about the virtues and tangential possibilities of Excedrin and Lindley ended his set with a jaw-dropping instrumental workout in which he played gritty, hot shot, country blues on a lute! It made one wonder whether some unknown folks — back in the day when the lute was in its prime — might also have figured out how to make the thing talk this way.  We may never know, but Lindley surely proved it can be done.

To read more posts and reviews by Mike Finkelstein click HERE. 

Photos courtesy of CAP UCLA.

Live Music and Film: Bill Frisell and “The Great Flood” at Royce Hall

By Michael Katz

One of my regrets from the Monterey Jazz Festival was missing guitarist Bill Frisell’s commissioned piece.  So Saturday night’s performance in support of the Bill Morrison film The Great Flood at UCLA’s Royce Hall gave me the opportunity to experience another facet of Frisell’s diverse musical oeuvre

The 75 minute film, presented in conjunction with the newly named CAP UCLA program and the Angel City Jazz Festival, is a documentary about the 1927 Mississippi flood which submerged 27,000 square miles and spurred the migration of thousands of Delta residents, including many of the blues musicians who ended up in northern cities, especially Chicago. Morrison relies on footage from the National Archives and the Fox Movietone Newsreel Archive, dividing his story into visual and musical “movements” with no narrative other than introductory titles.

Bill Frisell

For audiences used to the Ken Burns documentary style – broad themes enhanced by individual stories, narrated by letters or diaries or biographical accounts — Morrison’s overview can seem lacking in focus. Even the Biblical Flood, after all, would be considerably less compelling without Noah. The film’s opening is effective enough, with a map of the Mississippi superimposed on the rising floodwaters. Frisell’s score is ominous with a hint of the Delta Blues. The accompaniment of percussionist Kenny Wollesen on vibes provided an unexpected layer of foreboding. Given the nature of the material, the music was bound to be elegiac, and the main voice through much of it belonged to trumpeter Ron Miles. His playing throughout was graceful, reminiscent of the thematic scoring and performance we’ve often heard from Mark Isham.

Still, without the individual stories to hang a theme on, it was hard to separate the   compositions from one movement to the next. About a quarter of the way into the film, Morrison presented an extended look at the 1927 Sears Roebuck Catalogue, which gave Frisell the opportunity to up the tempo and present a diversionary theme,  but there were few such segments in the performance.

The Great Flood of 1927

It’s impossible to view this film without making references to Hurricane Katrina, and it’s clear that, with all the changes in technology and communication, there was precious little difference over eighty years in the treatment of rich and poor. Morrison presents an effective overview early in the film of sharecroppers, working the field with horse and plow. When the floods rise, the evacuations stand in stark contrast: the well-to-do dressed in their Sunday best boarding trains north, while the mostly black sharecroppers huddle in tents like war refugees, watching the waters rise around them.

When the word “Politicians” flashed onscreen for the opening of the ninth segment,  snickers arose from the Royce Hall gathering. That in itself was as trenchant a commentary as what followed: white officials in suits and ties, trolling for photo ops, with looks that suggested they couldn’t wait for these moments of noblesse oblige to be over. You kept trying to read lips, waiting for someone to say “Heckuva job, Brownie.” Frisell again took advantage of the change in tone to present a more sardonic musical accompaniment, augmented by the fourth member of the quartet,  Tony Scherr, working on a variety of electric basses.

The latter part of the film dealt with the Diaspora that ensued. One segment, entitled “Friendship Baptist Church, Chicago,” simply used footage aimed at the front door of the church, as a seemingly endless surge of parishioners flowed out onto the street following a service. It was such an effective metaphor that the following segment, “Migration,” hardly seemed necessary.

The final segments of the film focused on the musical evolution of the blues, from its Delta origins to the urban streets of Chicago and other cities. Close-ups of blues players showed the progression from acoustic guitar to electric, steel and slide. Frisell chose not to mimic the sounds or present a blues digression of his own. Instead he adapted Jerome Kern’s “Ol’ Man River.” The fact that the arrangement worked so well underlined both his own strengths and the overall problems of the film. There was no shortage of passion, but it lacked the individual stories and themes that connect the audience with the material.

Great Flood of 1927 photo courtesy of Movietone. 

To read more iRoM reviews and posts by Michael Katz, click HERE.

To visit Michael Katz’s personal blog, “Katz of the Day,” click HERE.

Live Music: Maia Sharp with AG, Garrison Starr and Linda Taylor at Jonathan’s in Ogunquit

BY BRIAN ARSENAULT

Ogunquit, Maine.   Maia Sharp went “around the horn,” as she said, with AG (Adrianne Gonzalez) and Garrison Starr at Jonathan’s in Ogunquit, Maine Thursday evening, and made a joyous sound to an enthusiastic but too small crowd. More promotion required.

Trading lead vocals and instruments and backed throughout by the wonderful Linda Taylor on guitar, the group — which is what they truly were on the evening– played their last gig in fine style. Maia is now off to open for Bonnie Raitt’s tour.

Maia Sharp

An appreciative audience got samplings from Maia’s terrific new album, Change the Ending, and some core work of the other two ladies.  From Maia’s album we heard most of the best stuff: “Me After You,” “Standing Out in a Crowd,” “Stepping Stone” and, in encore, “Buy My Love.”  I was hoping for “The Middle” as well but, as noted, the three were sharing lead singing so everything wasn’t possible.

They not only make up a great band instrumentally, but the three voices in harmony and in backgrounds for one another were one constant embrace throughout the evening.  “It’s fun to be the band,” Maia said at one point and it truly was for the audience as well.

The surprise treat for me was AG’s reprising of some very early Beatles songs: “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Misery” (a personal all time favorite) and “I Saw Her Standing There.”

AG and Maia both mentioned the gender bending at work but what really mattered were AG’s thoughtful, soulful arrangements and sterling voice on all three tunes. It wasn’t a take off on the Beatles and certainly not a knock off. But it was an homage.

Garrison delighted with “Red Necks and Sailors” and moved the audience and herself with “Broken Headlights,” a Maia composition.  She said that singing or hearing the latter song raised the hairs on the back of her neck and she wasn’t the only one.

As good as it was to hear live so many songs from Maia’s new album, her personal highlight of the evening may well have been an older tune, “Red Dress,” to which she invited  the audience, including “very confident” guys, to sing along. She said she saw a couple but I didn’t, probably because we were all just content to watch and listen as she plowed her way through the almost angry, almost sad, mostly defiant number.

That song now seems the aggressive counterpart to the sensitive, contemplative, all been hurt quality of “Standing Out in a Crowd.”

“Too tall, too short, too smart, too dumb. . .”

An anthem for the adolescent pain that lingers.

I think “Standing Out in a Crowd” stands as an example of one of the  great strengths of the evening, song after song from rockabilly to funk to love song to gospel with songwriting that made you smile, made you sad, made you think and feel.  And I’m not just talking about the craftsmanship of blending lyrics with the right tune.

I am talking about writing — wordsmithing, composing not just music but genuine poetry at times, short stories at other.  AG even did one about a “hot psychotic mess” when the FBI has the murdering bank robber’s motel surrounded. But she still loves her partner.  A Ken Bruen novel, anyone?

And as to Maia’s writing, when you get her album, the lyrics are included.  You’ll see what I mean.

In the intimate setting of Jonathan’s with a deeply appreciative audience, you just let it  all wash over you.

To read more reviews, posts and columns by Brian Arsenault, including his review of Maia Sharp’s CD, “Change the Ending,” click HERE.

Live Music: A Ray Charles Tribute at the Hollywood Bowl

By Michael Katz

When you consider the arc of Ray Charles’ career – jazz, blues, R&B, country, it’s no surprise that it took a village Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl to pay tribute to him. There was an all-star jazz band, in addition to the Count Basie Band, strings, a choir, headliners from all the touchstones of Charles’ music, plus a loaded version of the Raelettes (Patti Austin!), all tied up in a ribbon by Tavis Smiley. If it only occasionally matched the searing genius of Brother Ray Himself, it did keep everyone on their toes.

Ray Charles’ voice was unmistakable – not just for the raw soulfulness mixed with lyric grace, but for the pain that was never far from the surface. There is a certain courageousness in that for a male singer, and  it’s not surprising that the women on the program seemed to channel Charles’ spirit most effectively, with Dee Dee Bridgewater and Ms. Austin exhibits A and 1A. More on that later.

The first half of he show was anchored by an all-star band led by drummer and musical director Gregg Field. The front line featured Terence Blanchard and Scotty Barnhart (Barnhart also led the trumpet section of the Basie band), with Dave Koz on alto sax, Houston Person on tenor and Tom Scott on baritone. George Duke sparkled throughout the concert on piano and electric keyboards, with Shelly Berg’s Hammond B-3  percolating underneath it all.

R&B singer BeBe Winans was the opening vocalist, smoothly working through “I Got A Woman” and a more expressive “Drown In My Own Tears.” Perhaps that is damning with faint praise, but the raw power of Ray Charles was lurking in the background, and anything short of that can’t help but be noticed. The band had “Them That Got” to themselves, featuring Dave Koz  on alto and Tom Scott picking up his soprano. Koz is a star on the smooth jazz scene and dominated the sax solos during the show — this inevitably left less room for Houston Person, which was regrettable. That big tenor sound, exemplified by the late David “Fathead” Newman, whose name never came up during the evening, was a major part of the Charles sound.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

And then came Dee Dee Bridgewater. Head shaven, clad in a stunning gold dress, she took over the show from the first note. She started with “Hallelujah I Love Him So,” backed up by Houston Person in his one soulful excursion of the night. She followed with “I Believe In My Soul” and the rousing “I Got News For You,” which brought Blanchard out front on trumpet and Duke alternating from keyboards to piano. Dee Dee Bridgewater simply has it all – the booming voice in perfect pitch, the sassiness in her presentation, the hurt and tenderness when she needed to reach back for it. All of it flows naturally, not a note forced. Thankfully she wasn’t done for the night.

Patti Austin

The next section of the show featured Ray Charles’ foray into Country and Western music. It started with a standout version of the Raelettes, with Patti Austin and Siedah Garrett. Garrett led Charles’ smoldering version of “You Are My Sunshine,” then Patti Austin took center stage. Austin is just too much of a presence to keep in the background. Her intro to “Come Rain or Come Shine” seemed effortless, but before you knew it  she had you in her grasp – her version of the ballad stood right there with Ray Charles’s.

Country music singer Martina McBride closed the first half of the program.  If you are mainly a jazz or R&B fan with a tangential knowledge of country, McBride’s voice fits in solidly with the post-Loretta Lynn/Patsy Cline tradition.  Producers Gregg Field and the legendary Phil Ramone  were smart to give her a variety of settings, instead of just covering Charles’ C&W oeuvre. “Bye Bye Love” had the Raelettes behind her, then a combination of strings and the Fred Martin/Levite Camp of Urban Entertainment Institute choir filled up the stage for “You Don’t Know Me” and “Take These Chains.” Finally,  trumpet virtuoso Arturo Sandoval came onstage and joined McBride for the Hank Williams standard “Hey, Good Lookin’.” Cuban Country Soul…you just don’t get that everywhere.

The second half of the show was anchored by the Count Basie Big Band,   featuring the aforementioned Barnhart on trumpet and Reggie Thomas on piano. The main vocalist for much of the set was Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. He’s an appealing singer, his voice pitched a little higher than Winans, but he just doesn’t have the visceral appeal to carry this music. “Let The Good Times Roll” was a good vehicle to start his segment. There were Charles standards to follow like “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Crying Time,” which featured Monica Mancini stepping out in front of the Raelettes.

Bebe Winans

But the real fireworks came as the program concluded. There was BeBe Winans reaching back for a little extra on “How Long Has This Been Going On?” Then Dee Dee Bridgewater came back out and tore the place up again with “Busted.” Before the final numbers, the video screens flashed a clip of Ray Charles as a guest on Saturday Night Live, Year 2, with Murray, Belushi, Gildna Radner et al playing a cover group, “The Young Caucasians.” It was at once hilarious and a reminder of how far Ray Charles’ music had brought us. It set the stage for “Georgia On My Mind,” which brought back Babyface as well as Patti Austin and the Raelettes, and then the whole production returned for “America The Beautiful.”

Despite the effort to sprinkle the program with all sorts of pop stars, the attendance was only around 10,000. Which makes me wonder, since it is supposed to be a jazz series, why not just give the microphone to Dee Dee Bridgewater, Houston Person, Patti Austin et al and let them try and fill the place up instead of relying on retro themes? I don’t think Ray Charles would have objected.

To read more iRoM reviews and posts by Michael Katz, click HERE.

To visit Michael Katz’s personal blog, “Katz of the Day,” click HERE.

Live Jazz: A Celebration of Miles Davis at the Hollywood Bowl

By Don Heckman

There was a lot to like about the opening program in the 2012 jazz schedule Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl.  Start with the fact that it was conceived as a tribute to Miles Davis.  Add to that the simultaneous release of a commemorative Davis USPS stamp. And top it off with a program of music celebrating three of Davis’ most memorable recordings.

Herbie Hancock, the L.A. Philharmonic’s Creative Chair for Jazz, opened the evening with an introduction of Jimmy Cobb’s “So What” Band playing the complete set of works from Davis’ much praised  Kind of Blue, reportedly the best selling jazz recording of all time.  Cobb, who performed on the original recording, has been touring his Band, emphasizing his connection with Kind of Blue. “So What” is the title of the first tune on the album, and it was first on the program.

Here, as elsewhere in the performance, the evening’s trumpeters – Jeremy Pelt (with the Cobb band), Nicholas Payton (with the Miles Electric Band) and Sean Jones (with Marcus Miller’s “Tutu Revisited”) – had to confront the question of how to take the role of the inimitable Miles Davis in the midst of the legendary trumpeter’s highly influential outings.

To his credit Pelt captured some of the Davis sound and flow without abandoning his own creative identity. So, too did alto saxophonist Vincent Herring and tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson move convincingly within their assumed roles of Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane.  But ultimately, a good part of the appeal of Kind of Blue traces to the way the soloists worked from the amiable sounds of modal harmonies, rather than the complex, often chromatic chords of hard bop.  And it was the pieces themselves – “Freddie Freeloader,” “Blue in Green,” “All Blues” and “Flamenco Sketches” in addition to “So What” – that made the Cobb band’s set appealing.  (This, despite the fact that the audio engineers needed at least two tunes to find a sound balance that did not heavily overweight the bass and piano in the mix.)

The program’s second portion was devoted to Davis’ so-called electric bands, which actually were among the ‘70s and ‘80s’most convincing blends of jazz and electric rock elements.  Performed by an eleven piece band featuring Payton’s trumpet, the saxophones of Antoine Roney, the guitar of Blackbyrd McNight and high energy percussion from Mino Cinelu, Munyungo Jackson and tabla player Badal Roy, such classic Davis outings as “Jack Johnson,” “Nefertiti” and “In A Silent Way” came vividly to life.  Up to this stage it was clearly the high point of the program.

But it remained for Marcus Miller’s “Tutu Revisted” to climax the evening with a set that would surely have made Davis proud of the encouragement he gave to the bassist/composer/bass clarinetist when he was an enthusiastic young player.  Pieces such as “Tutu” (from the Davis recording of the same name, produced, composed and arranged by Miller) along with newer Miller works such as the deeply atmospheric “Goree” were underscored by remarkable emotional intensity from the players.  Trumpeter Sean Jones and alto saxophonist Alex Han were especially impressive, delivering some of the evening’s most emotionally compelling musical moments.

All that said, the tribute raised a few questions as well.  One wonders, for example, why – given the timely issuance of the  stamp — Miles Davis wasn’t included, five days earlier, among this year’s group of inductees into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.  Maybe next year?

It also was odd to see Herbie Hancock, who was a member of one of Davis’ most highly regarded bands, making announcements without going near a piano.  That band, the Davis quintet of the ‘60s, also included Wayne Shorter, like Hancock a Los Angeles resident.  And one wonders, too, why Shorter and Hancock, with the addition of bassist Ron Carter, a veteran of the same band, couldn’t have been assembled with, say, trumpeter Wallace Roney (who was mentored by Davis) and a drummer with Tony Williams’ skills in an impressively authentic version of an important Davis band, otherwise unrepresented in this gathering.

Those carps aside, any celebration of the life of Miles Davis is a worthwhile celebration.  And it was both the successes and the failures of this ambitious program that reminded us of Miles’ greatness, of the vital role he played in the second half of the first jazz century.