{"id":474,"date":"2014-05-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2014\/2014\/05\/20\/buffalo-packed-nietzsches-to-catch-the-genius-that-is-marco-benevento\/"},"modified":"2014-05-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T00:00:00","slug":"buffalo-packed-nietzsches-to-catch-the-genius-that-is-marco-benevento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2014\/2014\/05\/20\/buffalo-packed-nietzsches-to-catch-the-genius-that-is-marco-benevento\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Packed Nietzsche’s to Catch the Genius that is Marco Benevento"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10376338_10152453143923829_6832205283426323405_n\"<\/a>As the weather breaks and nicer temperatures start to become the norm, the residents of Buffalo begin to come out of their winter slumber and explore the city again.\u00a0 This past Friday night, Marco Benevento<\/a><\/strong> was in town and, with mother nature’s cooperation, Buffalo’s music community came out in droves and ascended upon Nietzsche’s for a night of great music.\u00a0 As 10pm came and went, the venue began filling up with all walks of life to catch the jazz experimentalist\u00a0 himself. \u00a0Benevento\u00a0has played Buffalo pretty consistently as of late and it seems as though the scene here is not only appreciative of his visits, but the crowd continues to grow every time he comes back.<\/p>\n

The night started off with local favorites, Lazlo Hollyfeld<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 With a beer in hand, it was actually difficult to try to maneuver to the front of the venue as it was that densely packed for Lazlo.\u00a0 The group, in my eyes, was a perfect fit to open the night\u00a0as their instrumental experimentation goes hand in hand with the type of crowd Benevento\u00a0brings out.\u00a0 With over ten years under their belts, Lazlo knew exactly how to draw a crowd in and keep them entranced with their choice of songs for the set.\u00a0 Without any effort, your ears immediately gravitated towards Matt Felski who has the unique role of Vibraphonist in the band.\u00a0 For those unfamiliar, the instrument is similar to a xylophone and, as you can imagine, stuck out like a sore thumb.\u00a0 That might sound like a slight, but the way Felski utilized\u00a0staccato and\u00a0legato\u00a0couldn’t have been more perfect.\u00a0 I can’t say I’ve ever heard this instrument outside of jazz, let alone in a small band, but these guys made it work and have a truly unique sound because of it.\u00a0 While I would’ve enjoyed seeing some more of them that night, their set was stellar and got the crowd in the perfect mindset for what was to come.\u00a0 Their jamming was dark and exploratory, having almost a heavy metal feel in terms of both tempo and tone.\u00a0 Guitarist Sonny Baker was the visual focal piece for the band as his energy swelled with peaks in the music and forced him to frantically pluck away in certain segments and attack his solos with a fierce tenacity.\u00a0 As they wrapped up their set, the crowd let out an exuberant cheer, letting the band know of their appreciation and enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Marco Benevento took the stage around midnight, which was appropriate for Buffalo as the city is known for its late nights and 4am last call.\u00a0 Midnight is when things start to get interesting here and that would hold true on this night as well. \u00a0Benevento\u00a0started off the night sprinting out of the gate and showing everyone right away why he’s so talented. \u00a0On one song,\u00a0he held the strings inside of his piano, creating\u00a0a similar effect to a muted guitar and adding a layer of texture to his deep overall tone.\u00a0 As he stated in our interview<\/a><\/strong>, he doesn’t go on stage with a setlist in mind; he completely plays to the crowd and feels out what they’re hoping to hear from him. \u00a0Friday night was no different. \u00a0Benevento\u00a0was locked in from the get-go as every change in tempo and every blistering solo only electrified the crowd even more. \u00a0A few songs in, he turned and looked out across the crowd, grinning,\u00a0to let both the band and audience know he was having a good time.<\/p>\n

As we got deeper into the set, you began to question how much his weathered piano could take.\u00a0 Even though it looked like it could’ve been lying around in the back of Nietzsche’s, the tone that was culled from its depths was beautiful.\u00a0 It was definitely an odd juxtaposition of visual ugliness, yet tonal beauty.\u00a0 The use of effect pedals with his historic rig only make his sound that much more\u00a0unique.\u00a0 His tone and approach is literally out of this world.\u00a0 \"The_Persistence_of_Memory\"<\/a>If you closed your eyes, it was almost as if you were strolling through Dal\u00ed’s “The Persistence of Memory” and he was playing the soundtrack.<\/p>\n

While only a year has\u00a0passed since I last saw these guys, they have grown tighter as an overall entity.\u00a0 Dave Dreiwitz (bass) and Andy Borger (drums) have learned how to compliment what Benevento\u00a0does and now play much larger roles within the group.\u00a0 When they would collectively stop, it felt as though the pressure had finally let up.\u00a0 The three were so good at keeping an incessant pace that you felt the need to gasp for air on the short break in between songs.<\/p>\n

Benevento\u00a0himself is a madman behind the keys.\u00a0 You could see it in his face at various points throughout the show that he was really trying to push his musical boundaries.\u00a0 In and of itself, you can respect him for that, but he balances that seriousness with a jovial side that enjoys\u00a0the dynamic between the band and crowd. As a clear example of his playful side, a large wolf mask somehow made its was to the stage and Marco was the first to embrace it, playing through the second half of a song while it was on his head.\u00a0 It was difficult to discern whether the whole thing was planned, but Marco’s eagerness and energized playing said otherwise.
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