Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue put on two soul crushing shows at the brand new 500-person capacity Brooklyn Made stage to start this week. The club just opened on September 30 and this was the band’s third and most intimate New York show this year, having performed in Rochester at Manhattan Square Park in August and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in September.
photo by Russell Mangicaro III
New Orleans legend Tony Hall told NYS Music in August about Troy Andrews. “We have known Shorty since he was young. Coming up he’s always been extremely bad ass. In the beginning he used to do some shows with us and then did his own shit. Then blew up. He’s the man and puts on a hell of a show. Phenomenal player on the trumpet and trombone. It’s like nobody can touch him. But he also plays everything else like drums, keyboards and sings.”
The Orleans Avenue Band – guitarists Pete Murano and Joshua Connelly, sax-men Dan Osteicher and BK Jackson, drummer Joey Peebles and bassist Mike Ballard, and vocalist Tracci Lee – all took center stage at Brooklyn Made on top of the speakers throughout the show. They made the new Bushwick club feel like the historic Tipitinas in New Orleans.
Shorty opened the show asking for assistance in getting his heart back on “Where it At?” “I tried to find you, baby, did my best, But love don’t come with any GPS.” They brought it from the East River to the Mississippi with a Meters cover of “It Ain’t No Use” and Allen Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down.” Trust me when I tell you their approach on these tunes was truly an explosive expression on funk classics. The Shorty original “The Craziest Thing” is another call out to the lovers in the crowd. “Ask me to bring you the moon, I’ll put the sky in your room, I’ll die trying.” The highlight of the night occurred during the Ernie K. Doe New Orleans classic “Here Come the Girls.”
photo by Russell Mangicaro III
Mid-groove on “Uncle Potato Chip,” sax player Dan O took the song to another galaxy and back on baritone before the closing verse. “Fire on the Bayou” helped keep the Cajun sounds sizzling.
Trombone Shorty first took the stage at four years old with Bo Diddley at the 1990 New Orleans Jazzfest. 31 years later he was bouncing his solos off all the other band members like a true front man. It also came as no surprise that sax player BK Jackson used to play with Prince. Joey Peebles took his only break of neo soul drum beats for the night, with Mike Ballard and Shorty sharing syncopated bass and trumpet solos on stage that took you back to Birdland.
Vocalist Tracci Lee’s backing soul helped bring every song full circle exchanging tambourines throughout. Guitarists Joshua Connelly and Pete Murano electricity was directly plugged into your head on the Brooklyn Made stage. Tuesday night’s show had a Red Hot Chili Peppers musical intro as a nod to his tour with the group in 2016 opening for them at Madison Square Garden and Buffalo’s KeyBank Center. He brought the crowd back to his first record Backatown with the track “Suburbia.”
Ray Charles’ classic “I Got A Woman” on Tuesday night was a standout as well. In true New Orleans fashion, they closed both nights with Shorty’s “Hurricane Season” mixed with “When the Saints Go Marching In” that sent the crowd strutting back into the Bushwick scene.
A Monday and Tuesday night with Trombone Shorty at Brooklyn Made like this really made his tune “Long Weekend” resonate – “Cause you never know what could happen on a long weekеnd…” Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue head back to New Orleans on Monday, October 11 for his first ever “Shorty Fest.”
Opposites come together for a harmonious result on the first collab album between classical music composer, Michael Vincent Waller (MVW) and multi-platinum hip-hop producer, Lex Luger. Together, the duo combine to release a one-of-a-kind project. The 8-song LP sees them explore a sub-genre that has yet to be saturated and could possibly be the foundation for a brand-new wave of innovation.
The combination of course is the fusion between elements of classical and trap music where the former, which is considered formal, traditional and tedious, meets the laid-back, seemingly careless and braggadocious sub-genre of trap music.
I want to take the same attention to detail associated with classical and chamber music and apply it to one of the most viable, listenable, and casual genres, i.e. trap. It’s got freshness and energy, but there are a whole bunch of nuances and details you don’t typically hear in modern rap. I’m trying to take the best of both worlds.
MVW
Hailing from Staten Island, MVW has always been a hip-hop enthusiast and he developed a passion for classic hip-hop such as Wu Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G. and A Tribe Called Quest. As a classical composer, his music filled venues such as Carnegie Hall, ISSUE Project Room, Rouleee and Palais de Tokyo Museum. At the same time, he often listened to Biggie and Wu Tang for inspiration while composing.
When he began making his foray into the world of hip hop, he recruited Lex Luger to play his counterpart. Although the “Round Of Applause” producer is diversified in his own right, his production still contains trap elements (such as his distinctive snare drum and ihats) that make his presence on CLASSIC$ invaluable.
Working on this project was definitely a little challenging. Being in a comfortable zone is cool, but nothing ever grows there. That being said, working on this project helped me try new things and ultimately, I feel like it just made me a better producer.
Lex Lugor
The album is curated with artists that not only correspond with the suis generis blend of styles but thrive on it. Jamaican artist, Shanique Marie, brings much-needed energy. Southern Songstress, Jaydonclover — whom MVW discovered from a WIRE Magazine review — is featured on three of the tracks and since the classical instrumentation already perpetuates a solemn feel, her soulful croons become one with the music. Trap connoisseurs Duke Deuce and Lil Gotit also make appearances, while Good Music artist, Valee — who is featured throughout the album — is the missing link that connects everything, effortlessly riding each beat as he maintains the California cool of a long beach surfer with each luxurious idiom he drops.
I’ve been composing for 15 years, but I’ve been listening to hip-hop for 20 years. Somehow, they inform each other in my head. This project was a long-time brewing. I’m coming full circle
While I was driving up Route 17 to attend the Chris Stapleton “All American Road Show” at Bethel Woods, the rain was coming down like cats and dogs and squirrels and rabbits. With my windshield wipers on high, I started thinking of August 1969. Back then the heavens had opened up on a little music event at this same location. Maybe this was a good sign.
Chris Stapleton
The “Road Show “, which started in July, has been fluid with its opening acts. On this night Kendal Marvel, a gray bearded Honky Tonker, greeted the early attendees. He and his band delivered a short and driving set. “Low Down and Lonesome” had you moving your feet while “Gypsy Woman” took it down a notch reflecting on a transient love.
Kendal Marvel
Grammy nominated Margo Price followed. Price reached out to all in the house and took control of the stage. As she moved seamlessly between vocals, guitar, and percussion, Margo maneuvered from one end of the stage to the other in her knee-high black suede boots. Price’s set included “Tennessee Song” from Midwest Farmer’s Daughter and a cover of Leslie Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.” Backed by a full band, including a three-guitar army and pedal steel, her execution was top notch reinforcing her well-deserved musical status.
Margo Price
Stepping out from the wings with a flashlight directing his path, Chris Stapleton centered himself on a dark stage. A man and his guitar. Then, a single spotlight illuminated him from behind setting the tone for his set. This was not about him, but about the music.
Stapleton opened with “Whiskey and You,” a raw look at the struggles of the heart. His full band then joined him on an elaborately constructed stage, which was not pretentious but built to enhance the journey. To his left and lending vocals, was Stapleton’s wife, Morgane. Randomly through the show, she would snuggle up close to Chris and caress the tall Kentuckian’s beard bringing about a joyful glow.
No BS. No fireworks. Just Chris Stapleton and his songs.
The two-hour set maneuvered through Stapleton’s catalog, and included songs from his 2020 Starting Over album.There was not a lot of banter from the singer songwriter enabling each song to resonate fully before the next began. Throughout the night a continuous flow of guitar changes and band configurations afforded each song the opportunity to shine brightly.
You could feel the depth of Chris’s deep, raspy timbre as he shared the challenges of the common man. With Stapleton’s encouragement, the house joined in on “Starting Over” giving this audience of sixteen thousand the opportunity to be one with the artist. At one point, Chris teased the crowd with a snippet of Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” before breaking into “The Devil Named Music.” Taking creative license with the iconic “Tennessee Whiskey”, Stapleton melodically introduced his band and brought the set to a close.
Chris Stapleton
The night concluded with a two-song encore. Beginning with the title cut from his debut album Traveler, citing “this was where it all began.” To close Stapleton chose “Outlaw State of Mind.” The song built up in intensity while performed. As it concluded, each musician with their instruments feeding back put them down on the stage floor and walked off. Sending the music into the ethos.
The deluge leading up to the show did not deter the sold-out audience. What they experienced was a well-constructed night of musical purpose. No BS. No fireworks. Just Chris Stapleton and his songs. Unadulterated for all to consume.
We Are Scientists have just released their seventh studio LP, Huffy, via Masterswan Records. Their first effort in three years shows the NYC based band continuing to hone their distinct brand of catchy, guitar driven indie rock. Soaked with anthemic hooks and dance floor guitar grooves, the album is an extraordinary consistent addition to the band’s catalog that will instantly win over the hearts of their long held fanbase.
Huffy Cover Art Variations
Listening through the album is meant to evoke feelings of pure fun. Much needed in our lives these days, an approach to an album like this is a welcomed change of pace. While some of the songs detail crazy scenarios (and gory endings), the delivery and presentation is all about joy and individuality. Fans who ordered physical copies of the album receive a bare cover complete with sheets of stickers featuring We Are Scientists and Huffy, plus an assortment of characters and shapes to arrange on the cover however they please. Not to mention, the vinyl edition comes in your choice of 10 colors including “earth scoop,” “seafoam spritz,” or “dog tongue.”
“You’ve Lost Your Shit” by We Are Scientists, via YouTube
The fourth (and last) single previewed from the record is lead track “You’ve Lost Your Shit.” Accompanying the song is a music video showing lead singer Keith Murray waking up in a bathtub after having some organs stolen from his body. The song opens with a driving punk guitar riff surrounded by Keith’s soaring hooks and punchy vocal style. Much of the album continues in the same fashion, including personal highlight “Fault Lines,” which consists of an infectious guitar track and easily the catchiest hook on the record. “Bought Myself a Grave” features a somewhat country vibe both in guitar style and storytelling. The records closes with another indie sing along “Behavior Unbecoming,” solidifying the record’s prominent place in the catalog.
We Are Scientists at Elsewhere, 8/10/21. Photo by Buscar Photo
We Are Scientists ended a tour back in December of 2019, right before the world would abruptly change due to the pandemic. It turns out, that the songs for Huffy were already largely written and the guys would use the time in quarantine to focus on all the other aspects of producing a final product.
All of the songs for our new album, Huffy, had been written and production for the record had begun just before COVID brought the world to a quarantined standstill. Fortunately for us, that little head start meant that the record largely avoided manifesting any of the sense of gloom or claustrophobia that might have infused the music, had it been fully written and recorded under lockdown. If anything, the fact that there was nothing else we could possibly be doing beside watching full seasons of old TV shows meant that we were able to pour even more attention into the making of the record. It became a refuge, for the first few months of lockdown — escaping to our little studio sanctuary became a relief, rather than a chore. We tend to hate the tedium of the recording process — messing with microphone placement, testing out every possible snare drum tuning, etc. — but that kind of thing became somewhat more appealing in quarantine. I think it made us a little more playful in our production approach, and the result, to me, is perhaps our liveliest, most exuberant record, to date.
We Are Scientists
Once concerts started to make a comeback in New York City, We Are Scientists announced a warmup show on Elsewhere’s rooftop. Unfortunately, the show never took place as a severe thunderstorm right as doors were opening forced the show to be postponed to September. However, fans that night were treated to an excellent surprise; never allowed on the roof to begin with, the people who showed up early were told to shuffle into the empty main hall and await an appearance from the guys. A bartender came in to open the bar, and shortly after We Are Scientists came out onto an empty stage armed with an acoustic guitar, a snare drum, and three voices.
We Are Scientists at Elsewhere, 8/10/21. Photo by Buscar Photo
Neither the audience, or We Are Scientists for that matter, knew what to expect from this moment, but the guys performed acoustic versions (with a chorus of backup vocalists from the half-filled room) of several of their hits as well as a couple tracks of the yet to be released Huffy. For a last-minute, impromptu performance, the fans who were there that night witnessed a truly memorable show from one of their favorite artists. The rooftop concert would eventually be made up in September, with a full blown performance, but the 20 minute show inside the empty Elsewhere Hall will stick in those fan’s minds for a long time.
We Are Scientists at Elsewhere, 8/10/21. Photo by Buscar Photo
We Are Scientists is about to kick off a lengthy European tour, beginning this Saturday in the UK. The first leg runs through early December with a second leg throughout April 2022. Check out all the tour dates HERE, along with links to order the highly customizable record as well as a slew of colorful merch. More photos from the impromptu acoustic show in the gallery below.
Key Tracks: “Fault Lines,” “Contact High,” “You’ve Lost Your Shit”
Yo La Tengo helped bring Central Park’s 2021 Summerstage Free Concert Series to a close on Friday October 1st. Despite having to reschedule this performance from one month prior due to sever weather, fans were treated to perfect weather this time around. Fans enjoyed the first night of Autumn with plenty of fleece sweaters and a great lineup of performances.
The show opened up with three short films as a part of Rooftop Films’ Summer 2021 Summer Series. Next up, Amanda Nazario played a brief but energetic DJ set just as the sun began to set over Manhattan. And then Mountain Movers pumped up the crowd with their unique blend of drone and noise rock.
As Yo La Tengo took the stage, applause and cheers became screams when they opened with a cover of Velvet Underground’s “Who Loves the Sun.”
Their 90 minute set included several fan favoritessuch as “Autumn Sweater” (a natural inclusion) and “I’ll Be Around,” which they dedicated to Yoko Ono. Frontman Ira Kaplan brought his mother onstage to close out the concert with their cover of Anita Bryant’s “My Little Corner of the World.” The crowd ate it up, and the show ended on a high note.
Ira also announced at Summerstage that Yo La Tengo would once again be playing a series of eight Hanukkah shows at Bowery Ballroom from November 28 through December 5, coinciding with the eight nights of Hanukkah, which starts on November 28 and runs through the evening of December 6. Tickets will be available October 8th. You can find out more on Yo La Tengo’s website.
Ira Kaplan shared this note with fans on the Yo La Tengo Facebook page:
Shammash-ing Time!
Hi everybody, here to tell you that Hanukkah is just around the corner. (No kidding–it’s early this year!) And that we are going to return to the Bowery Ballroom and play all eight nights, just like we did before life got in the way. Comics, opening acts, whatever other nonsense we can cobble together, and the money will be given away. I’d consider writing more, but it still feels a little unreal to be contemplating this. And yet here we are.
Hanukkah starts on Sunday, November 28 and continues through Sunday, December 5. You must be fully vaccinated to enter the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are $50 each and will go on sale on Friday, October 8 at 12 pm (noon) EDT. OK, gotta start practicing!
Throughout his 40-year career, guitarist Marc Ribot has defied expectations and genre boundaries at every turn. He’s been the go-to guy serving up a singular fusion of rootsy Americana meets outré noise jazz meets Cubano swing with everyone from Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Nora Jones and Diana Krall to John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, the Black Keys and the inexhaustibly productive John Zorn. Now with Unstrung: Rants and Stories of A Noise Guitarist (Akashic Books), Marc Ribot is stepping into the spotlight with his literary debut. And it is one as fresh, fiercely focused, unpredictable and delightfully disorienting as his masterfully knotty guitar work.
First off, this is not a musical memoir per se. It is a collection of darkly funny stories and essays that, in good part, touch upon his thoughts on guitars, amps, touring, composer’s rights and iconic musical partners like punk guitar icon Robert Quine, free jazz legends Derek Bailey and Henry Grimes and producer extraordinaire Hal Willner. But this is a collection that spreads its wings far beyond the world of music. It is a razor-sharp playlist of far-reaching modernist literature, one that puts a Dadaist spin on everything from iPhone failures to treatments for absurdist films that will only ever exist in Ribot’s fevered imagination.
In the first section of the book, “Lies and Distortions,” the guitarist turns his attention to his instrument. “My relation to the guitar is one of struggle,” he writes. “I’m constantly forcing it to be something else: a saxophone, a scream, a car rolling down a hill… I bend them and they bend me.” Marc Ribot also pens a great ode to amps and distortion. In it, he claims his need to play amps at peak volume, to a breaking point that risks both his hearing and livelihood, provides to a guitarist “what makeup is to a drag queen.” His love of distortion is also compared to the appeal of “vocal chords eroded by whiskey and screaming” and “the junked-out weakness of certain horn players” like Dexter Gordon or Lester Young. Ribot also pens a moving tribute to his first teacher, the renowned classical guitar master from Haiti, Frantz Casseus. Ribot’s distinct style may have been informed by his early lessons and lifelong friendship with this man, who like Bela Bartok, merged the folk of his native land with European classical tradition. Ribot’s fierce defense of creators’ rights is illustrated in his discussions of Casseus’ hand-to-mouth existence, due to being cheated out of his composer royalties for decades until the literal last months of his life. He also passionately tackles this issue in “The Attack on Artist’s Rights…and Me,” a much socially-shared 2014 essay first published in Talkhouse Magazine.
Some of my favorite pieces in the book are Ribot’s generally observational ones. In “Animal Sounds,” his astute ears dissect a rooster scream, which is not a single scream at all, but a mindlessly repetitive three-part pattern, a sonic cage which is the “opposite of being free as a bird” to the author. He also shares how a poetry exercise in 2nd grade taught him a lesson about both unconscious plagiarism and life losses. There are also flights of fancy about a rocket scientist who dies because he can’t seem to learn how to tie his shoelaces properly and a boy, named Woody, who tries homespun horticulture to graft himself to a tree. There’s also a story where Botox leads to murder. This is all because a husband can’t detect the increasingly aggravated expressions on his wife’s newly treated and immobile face. Like his ofttimes sensibly brief guitar solos, a good deal of the stories here are rendered in a single page or two. They have a darkly humorous, almost haiku style slapstick that brings to mind the work of the great Italo Calvino in works like Italian Folktales and Marcovaldo.
photo by Ebru Ylidiz
The fantasies continue in the third section entitled “Film (Mis)Treatments.” In one, a past-its-prime avant-garde band on tour is not concerned with their performances, only where they are going to eat in each city. When the tour is cancelled after a single disastrous performance, their manager wants to pull the travel and hotel accommodations. So, the band kills him… and continues to eat its way across the Europe! In “The Club Date Musician (Or Saturday Night Nausea),” he lays out the agonizing travails of the wedding band industry, for both the players and the people who hire them. He also observes how all society band leaders seems to take new names that are two first names, and waspy ones at that, like the fictional Nathaniel (Nat) Alexander in his story.
There are also shades of what I assume is Ribot’s personal life outside music, and as a longtime New Yorker, in this brief but enjoyable book. In one story, we learn how a 10-year rent battle with his landlord in the Lower East Side unexpectedly ends in his favor, earning him $170,000 from an escrow account and a move to leafy Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. In “Kaddish for Joan,” we see how the slightly older artist cousin he so admired in his teens succumbs to pressures from her Jewish family – giving up art, the hippie life and going slowly mad in suburbia. A story that especially touched me was “Today I Did Something Remarkable.” In this, Ribot stroll down memory lane and comes to the realization he is entering a new stage of life, as he slowly takes apart the Ikea loft bed his now-adult daughter used throughout her youth.
For some musicians, talent is not limited to the world of sound and lyric. Joni Mitchell, Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan and David Bowie are among the many musos who are pretty good painters. Rob Zombie, George Harrison and David Bryne are among those who have produced or directed acclaimed films. With Unstrung, Ribot is joining this boundary crossing crew, with a collection of diverse, wonderful stories that sing even when they are not about music.
Check out Marc Ribot, as sideman and sideman, on this playlist.
On October 5, 1990, Phish performed at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, an overlooked show that was part of the group’s formative years as they hit college markets across the Northeast. The Skidmore Gymnasium, today a part of the Williamson Sports Center, served as the venue for this all-ages show, which was part of Skidmore’s Oktoberfest Weekend.
The numbered tickets for the show read “Oktoberfest Weekend 1990 Continues!! The Class of 1991 Presents: Phish In Concert with Conjunction Junction,” and cost $10. For $15, you could also see NRBQ perform the next day, along with Projectile of Love, all part of the same week-long event. The fall Friday afternoon brought college students and their friends to Upstate New York for the show.
Phish was slowly making their way out of Vermont and into New York State, stopping in Saratoga Springs for the first time in March of 1990 to play at Aikos, then located on Caroline Street. For those in the know, and perhaps those who caught Phish at Pauly’s Hotel in May 1989, it was becoming obvious that Phish was a band whose reputation was building fast. By the fall, they had begun to play college gyms around the Northeast. And for the crowd of 300 or so fans, they had plenty of room to move around, but still had to deal with the gym getting warm due to to heaters in gym being on – you can hear calls for air conditioning that can be heard after “Stash.”
The door on the right was the main entrance to the show – photo by Mike Hoganphoto by Mike Hogan
While the show doesn’t spark much discussion or replay, there are a few notable aspects to the show. The opener “I Didn’t Know” jumps out as a random opener, but the song would open sets as early as 1988, sometims with Fishman on trombone instead of vacuum. If you were ever looking for the lyrics to “I Am Hydrogen”, the line “I walk awakening on the misty fields of forever” is included in the intro, while both “Ya Mar” and “Alumni Blues” each have extended guitar intros. One lucky fan who was calling the Phish hotline all summer, asking them to play “The Curtain” at Skidmore was rewarded for their persistence.
courtesy of Skidmore College archives courtesy of Skidmore College archives courtesy of Skidmore College archives courtesy of Skidmore College archives
Mike Hogan attended the show, and shares his recollections of the night:
It was a beautiful fall afternoon and some of my friends traveled from various parts of New England to come see the show with me in Saratoga at Skidmore college. The show opened with an oddly placed “I Didn’t Know,” followed by a lively “Mike’s Song/Weekapaug” with the additional lyrics as I always thought they were, ”I walk awakening in the misty fields of Rather,” although the show notes say otherwise. Other highlights included “Fee” and “The Asse Festival” and “Possum.”
Looking back on the setlist, a very solid show that I’ve always enjoyed listening to. A few years back, Kevin Shapiro (Phish archivist) had asked me about this show. He had Trey’s date book and all that was written in it was Saratoga. It had no sense of the venue or setlist. I was able to provide him a bootleg copy.
One final thought on the ticket stub above. They took everyone’s ticket upon entry. After the show they had simply dropped them on the floor next to the door and I reached down and grabbed one. I wish I had grabbed a handful.
Matt Hogan
Just three years later, Phish would be playing their first show at Red Rocks in Colorado.
Phish – Skidmore Gymnasium, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY – Friday, October 5, 1990
Set 1: I Didn’t Know, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen[1] > Weekapaug Groove, My Sweet One, The Landlady, Tela > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, Stash, The Asse Festival, Bouncing Around the Room > Run Like an Antelope
Set 2: Golgi Apparatus > The Curtain > Ya Mar, Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Uncle Pen, Split Open and Melt, Fee > Possum[2]
Encore: Good Times Bad Times
[1] “I walk awakening on the misty fields of forever” lyrics. [2] Charlie Chan and Popeye signals.
The beginning of Hydrogen included the lyrics “I walk awakening on the misty fields of forever.” Possum contained Charlie Chan and Popeye signals.
An interview with Trey (Tray) and Mike from Phish in the Skidmore News, 10/10/90. Courtesy of Mike Greenhaus.
Trey Anastasio Band officially closed out their fall tour with back-to-back shows at Radio City Music Hall over Saturday, October 2nd and Sunday October 3rd. It was the group’s first performance at the legendary venue since 2018’s ” A Concert for Island Relief,” where TAB teamed up with Dave Matthews Band and more to raise money for hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
photo by Rene Heumer
This year’s Radio City shows arrived during a similarly turbulent time for both the world and Trey Anastasio Band. Despite the band’ precautions, the lineup was drastically affected by COVID – 19. First came the loss of Jennifer Hartswick to a mild case of the virus, which put the rest of the brass section in quarantine. Then, shortly before a Columbus, Ohio show, Russ Lawton tested positive as well. Thus, on Saturday night, TAB performed as a five piece, with Jon Fishman again stepping in for Lawton.
As Ray Paczkowski put it:
We thought about it like, half the band is TAB, half the band is Phish. And we want it to sound like something that isn’t quite either.
Though powerhouses like Hartswick and Russ Lawton were impossible not to miss, the tapered-down nature of the band allowed TAB the freedom to improvise. The set stayed playful and experimental throughout, and Jon Fishman’s presence behind the drum kit felt familiar while adding a layer of mystery.
Furthermore, a smaller band gave newer members an opportunity to shine. Bassist Dezron Douglas joined the band this fall with enormous shoes to fill after the tragic loss of Tony Markellis. Markellis, who joined Trey’s earliest solo project in 1998, was a force of nature and a steady heartbeat within the band. Though Markellis remains one-of-a-kind, Douglas’ jazz roots and dexterous abilities add a new element to TAB. Reportedly, Russ Lawton specifically requested working with Douglas as the band sought a new bassist for this tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KklDY5VjUkI
Douglas, who studied at the Hartford Conservatory of Music with Hartswick, brings the life and freedom of jazz to his masterful electric bass work. A classically trained double-bassist who first heard Phish in high school, he embodies the timeless quality of TAB’s music. No matter how many times TAB has performed a song, it never feels the same. Their music, like their ensemble, grows and changes as the years go on.
With their rendition of “Mr. Completely” thoroughly embodying their ability to rejuvenate old classics. Highlights included Douglas’ perfect syncopation on bass to Cyro Baptista’s insane percussion break, where he built a beat out of bird calls as the rest of the band went silent. The energy in the audience marked a TAB show at its very best; fans of all ages focused on letting a rhythm take them, dancing their hearts out together. For some 20-odd minutes, the harmony rang throughout the audience.
Despite setbacks along the road and the constraints of touring during COVID-19, the TAB live experience was fully intact at Radio City. After their hiatus from the venue, TAB offered a little bit of everything, from a heartwrenching Paczkowski/Anastasio duet of “Shade” to crowd favorite “Twist.” The packed house got a joyous and poignant set that honored those missing and welcomed new (and familiar) faces back again. As Paczkowski said, the goal was to create something a little TAB, a little Phish, but also new and singular. By the time TAB landed on classic closer “First Tube,” the crowd dancing madly in the aisles, it was clear that job was done.
The final evening of Trey Anastasio Band’s 2021 tour was a Sunday to remember. The revolving cast of musicians included Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman’s first time together on the infamous stage at Radio City since Spring of 2000. It’s important to understand the level of composition versus improvisation Trey’s music takes on for whomever joins him on stage. Keyboardist Ray Packzkowski, percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Dezron Douglas were all the right cats to join in the moment at Rockefeller.
A nod to the NYC subways helped the show open with “Get Back on the Train.” Having Cyro add another layer of percussion to Fishman’s grooves all night was reminiscent of Phish’s Halloween’s shows in Atlantic City 2010 with Giovanni Hidalgo and Atlanta 1996 with Karl Perrazo. Dezron Douglas’ bottom end locked in with them served up the funkiest “Moma Dance” to date that clocked in over 20 minutes. “Undermind” also included heavy drum grooves with Jon and Cyro exploring all of the skins in front of them. “Ocelot,” “Set Your Soul Free” and a chilling set closing “Dark and Down” helped wrap up a complete jam heavy 6-song set.
The second set opened the Art Deco venue with Tony Markellis’ infamous bass line to “Sand” This ensemble really had all three mezzanines grooving immediately. Paczkowski’s rig sounded as if it was coming from Radio City’s organ in the main theatre, the largest instrument ever built by the Wurlitzer company. “Everything’s Right” served up the longest layer of improvisation clocking in at over 35 minutes of sound stretching out to the grand foyer. Ups, downs, ins and outs… it was hair raising. Trey returned to his Upper West Side abode for “Lonely Trip” and never “Never Left Home,” recorded solo during his NYC quarantine. Dezron Douglas’ bass line sounds like jelly jam to Trey’s lyrics on this. “Oh, I’ll never be halted, I always shall roam. Oh, scaling the cliffs and enjoying the view” The band then closed the show with a dark and extended “Carini.”
The encore was full of special dedications and moments to TAB members current and past. Trey let the crowd know that members Russ Lawton, Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, Coachema Gastelum and James Casey were all in good health and on the mend despite their absence. A soul Sunday nod to Markellis was sent out to the theater as well. Trey appropriately performed “Strange Design” and “Backwards Down the Number Line” on the acoustic guitar to reference all these friends as part of the tour’s ever changing ride.
He then invited special guest James Casey to the stage in hand with alto soprano sax for backing vocals on the last three songs. “Evolve” “Rise/Come Together” and “Life Beyond a Dream” Casey’s sax blew like Branford under the great proscenium arch that sits above the stage. All three songs’ message is saturated in positivity and optimism towards whatever life can throw at you. Love is the message here. “We’re all looking for a little more love to shine a light and lift us up,” “Don’t give up hope. Keep on dreaming.”
Trey Anastasio Band – Radio City Music Hall, New York City – Sunday, October 3, 2021
Set 1: Back on the Train > The Moma Dance, Undermind > Ocelot, Set Your Soul Free, Dark and Down
Set 2: Sand, Everything’s Right, Lonely Trip, I Never Left Home > Carini
Encore: Strange Design [1], Backwards Down the Number Line[1], Evolve [2], Rise/Come Together [3], A Life Beyond The Dream[3] [1] Trey solo acoustic. [2] With James Casey on saxophone. [3] With James Casey on additional vocals and saxophone.
On October 2nd, Janet Evra performed her concert “A Night in Paris” to a sold out crow at the Seneca One Auditorium in Buffalo. This was a big moment for JazzBuffalo as it was their first use of the auditorium.
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki
Janet Evra along with guitarist Will Buchanan, sax and flutist David and drummer Tim Moore created a wonderful night of jazz that took the audience to Paris. Evra’s voice was soothing and pure. Plus, her ability to play the bass was equally as flawless.
With this performance, the audience at Seneca One was taken on a beautiful journey through songs by Miles Davis, Édith Piaf as well as Janet Evra originals. Those originals, Evra has been eager to play since pre-pandemic times. Tony Zambito, Executive Director of JazzBuffalo, said it best “The future of jazz is in good hands.”
Janet Evra and company provided an amazing night of music that was just what Buffalo needed.
Setlist: Comment te Dire Adieu, C’est Si Bon, Que Reste-t-il, Baila, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Solar, Paris, La Vie en Rose, Koop Island Blues, La Mer, Zou Bisou Bisou.
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki Photo by Samantha RychlickiPhoto by Samantha Rychlicki
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki Photo by Samantha Rychlicki
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki
Photo by Samantha Rychlicki Photo by Samantha Rychlicki Photo by Samantha RychlickiPhoto by Samantha Rychlicki Photo by Samantha Rychlicki
New Orleans bounce artist, Big Freedia, performed with her usual thunderous energy at Brooklyn Steel on Monday, September 27th. Bounce music is known to be raucous and high energy and Big Freedia did not disappoint, as she showed up with her signature aplomb.
As with my other musicians, Big Freedia’s touring schedule had been on hiatus for the better part of two years. Many in the crowd mentioned that they had been looking forward to this show for quite some time and it reflected in the crowd’s atmosphere, as their eagerness to witness the pioneer of bounce music was palpable.
A 20-year veteran of the bounce music scene in New Orleans, Big Freedia rose to mainstream prominence with vocal cameos on Beyonce’s “Formation” and Drake’s “Nice For What“, two massive hits that exposed her to a wider audience. But, unbeknownst to many is that Post-Hurricane Katrina, Freedia has been known as one of the biggest voices in the regional bounce music scene and maintains and extremely devoted fanbase.
Despite not performing regularly for almost two years, her stage presence has not waned. Right after getting on stage Freedia immediately began flying through several tracks across her several EPs & albums at bone-rattling volume, as she performed nonstop for several records. All the more astounding as she, along with five backup dancers, frenetically went though their choreography. It’s rare to see a performer with such intensity across any genre, but Big Freedia exemplified the spirit and movement of bounce music for a hungry audience. She didn’t let up and neither did the crowd.
Big Freedia is undoubtedly tied to her home state and her success only means more exposure for the region. What was once considered to be a niche regional sound is now being performed for large audiences in major markets. And Big Freedia displayed why it deserves its recognition, and why New Orleans is still a city to be reckoned with musically.
This was not a one-off show for Big Freedia, she will continue touring throughout United States, with more information on her upcoming tour dates available here. Be sure to take a look at the full photo gallery down below!
