Musical Ramblings

Awesome event... I'm gonna miss...

Greg Szlapczynski informed me of a concert that I would have loved to attend. It's a meeting of what I would call the "progressive blues elite" of Europe, and it's to take place on October 5th in Matignicourt (51) near Reims at the Château de Goncourt. I really wish I could be there. If you go, let me  know how it was!

Struck Gold !

I often scour some of the bootleg sites to find sonic material for the Rambling Podcast. Last night, I found an absolute gem: a complete - superb quality - recording of Hazmat Modine's concert in Bremen, Germany on July 27th, 2007. I'm listening to it as we speak and it's a marvel. This gives me the opportunity to display this superb photo that Wade Shuman sent over in the latest band newsletter:

Heavy moe.

I find this little vid of moe. on some late US Tv show doing Tailspin from their latest album The Conch which I reviewed a couple of weeks back. It's rather heavier than the rest of the album or the rest of moe. for that matter, and 3 minutes of TV formatted airtime diesn't exactly give them time to stretch and do the jam thing, but still, it's pretty damn good...

String Festish...

There seems to be a collective fetish going on about acoustic guitarists with unusual techniques. There are dozens of these guyes (or gals) to be found on Youtube. I tend to find their percussive style of playing a little repetitive, but here's one guy that really interested me:

RIP Gary Primich

I have just learned that wonder-harmonica player Gary Primich passed away last Sunday, September 23rd. I didn't find the reason of his passing anywhere, he was only 49 years old. Gary Primich was one of the most interesting, inventive and soulful modern blues harmonica players. When others rehash old material and/or play the same solos over and over, Gary would take risks and bring fresh material to the musical table all the time. I haven't always enjoyed his records as much as I could have, mostly due to the squareness of his backing bands, but his playing was always a marvel.

I first discovered Gary on a Texas Harmonica compilation, playing the slow blues Sadie. I remember feeling my jaw drop listening to his long solo and thinking how the hell does he do that. After repeated listening, the interrogation became how the hell does he do that and still inject so much feeling. Gary was a one-of-a-kind player who had found his own voice and vocabulary. I can't think of that many more in the blues field today.

I never had a chance to see him live, now I never will. More importantly, he was according to many a great human being and will be missed by all...

Oscar Peterson Trio - The Berlin Concert (DVD)

I have already professed my love for Oscar Peterson here. For my 19th birthday, my friend Olivier who had - and still has - a jazz culture way deeper than mine gave me Oscar Peterson: Live!, a record that in many ways opened my ears to jazz. It swung fiercely, it was deeply rooted in blues, and it featured Peterson's jaw-dropping velocity. I still listen to it fondly. Later on, my collection of OP records increased, with Night Train and Nigerian Marketplace holding a special place in my heart.

When I realised that a DVD of a 1985 Oscar Peterson concert featuring Martin Drew on drums and Niels Hennig-Orsted Pedersen on bass had been released, I had to be on it like a rat on a piece of cheese: this is roughly my favourite period in Oscar Peterson's live playing, and the backing band I find the most interesting (the same one as on Nigerian Marketplace).

I watched The Berlin Concert over a couple of nights, and it's an absolute marvel. The concert opens with the so-called Bach Suite (here called A Salute to Bach). This is a marvelous trio of jazz compositions by Peterson inspired by harmonies used by Bach. It starts with an uptempo piece (called Allegro on Oscar Peterson: live!), then shifts to a more meditative composition (Andante) and ends with my favourite part, a wonderfully deep blues number called Bach's Blues. I already knew all of these, but the interpretations here are superb, with NHOP and Drew forming a perfect backdrop to Peterson's playing. Each of these three pieces (and indeed nearly each on the whole concert) starts with Peterson alone on the piano, and it's a marvel to see NHOP watching over Peterson's shoulder and nodding, or smiling at the improvisational turn these intros take.

After a somewhat deep beginning, the concert takes a slightly lighter touch with a succession of tunes more firmly in the ground of classic jazz. Peterson's playing is still as distinctive, of course, and he manages to remain melodic even at the lightning speeds he sometimes plays at. The rhythm section swings like hell and NHOP's supple sound and precision are nothing short of astounding. I surprised myself staring at the screen in disbelief several times, watching his right hand pluck at the double-basse's strings like a spider running on its web. But NHOP is not just a virtuoso. Indeed his melodic sense matches Peterson's and that's partly why I think they fit together so well. He's more than just part of the rhythm section, he's part of the front line at the same time, playing around the harmonies laid by the piano and soaring when it's his turn to take solos.

This concert is honestly great from start to finish, but the next highlight for me in the DVD is Nigerian Marketplace. I love that piece, it's intricate yet accessible, the theme is superb, carried by NHOP's funky sounding bass, it starts melancholy but gradually builds up to great intensity. Peterson's solo on this is breathtakingly beautiful. But the highlights don't stop there: the following tune, Cakewalk, is an uptempo swing that tears the place down. Everyone is playing really fast and yet, in the hands of these seasoned veterans, it sounds so easy... Astounding.

The DVD ends on two very fast covers, Perdido and Caravan, the second more interesting - in my opinion - as the first. It's the only time in the concert where you feel that Peterson is a bit of a show-off, but his playing is so amazing that it's hard to grudge him. On Caravan, his long fingers are moving so fast over the keyboard that you can't actually see them, they blur! The final chord is one of those rolling affairs that gradually builds up until you're convinced the piano itself is going to start rattling and then fall apart.

And I have a huge grin on my face. Yes, The Berlin Concert is that good.

Darth Vader's Last Gig...

Talk about a Velvet Voice...

I'm not a huge fan of vocal jazz as a genre. I find that, as in all genres, there's too much me too and too little me. But when the singer has a distinctive voice, when the arrangements are interesting, then you can have something really worthwhile. Holly Cole is such a voice, although I understand that in recent years she's moved away from jazz and - sadly in my opinion - has joined the ranks of the millions of female pop singers that plague our airwaves, only marginally more interesting than the male pop singers ;-)

Old Grumpy comments aside, I didn't find much in terms of interesting live stuff from Holly Cole, so here's a music video of I Can See Cearly Now from her album Don't Smoke in Bed, probably her best album in my opinion. Though there's a touch of strings that I could do without (mostly on this song actually), Don't Smoke in Bed works because of the sparse accompaniment of double-bass and piano, and because Holly Cole's voice is, let's face it, not only divine, but her own. The fact that Howard Levy backs her on a couple of tunes doesn't hurt for the enjoyment either...

Amsterdam Klezmer Band - Son

I think I already mentioned the amuzing circumstances in which I was made aware of the existence of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band: when French comic writer Joann Sfar released his first journal entitled Harmonica, I got in touch with him and we had a nice lunch near Beaubourg. There he mentioned his relative distaste for musics that had to be appreciated with the brain rather than the heart or the guts. We discussed various ethnic musics and he said that the ultimate klezmer band for him was the AKB. Joann has since gone on and published a superb series of comic books entitled Klezmer which I reviewed here and encourage you to read.

Fast forward a few years, I finally managed to locate some of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band albums including the one I want to tell you about, entitled Son. I must preface this review by insisting on the fact that I have practically no other knowledge of Klezmer as a genre, so I can't review this record by comparing it to any given musical tradition. It seems to me that Son travels a little beyond the shores of Klezmer to integrate elements of various eastern european musical traditions and even a litte jazz , but I could be wrong. Consider this as an honest rendition of what I hear and what it does to me, untainted by any intellectual analysis.

The Amsterdam Klezmer Band is a lot of horns and woodwind (I don't think the clarinet qualifies as a horn ;) backed by double bass, accordion and percussions, with the occasional vocals.  Seven musicians altogether, sharing the limelight with various instruments highlighted in the different pieces presented here.

Son opens with a raucous gets-your-feet-tapping instrumental called Opa D. In the first few seconds you realise that there is something absolutely infectious about this music. It makes you want to dance and/or shake your head. The clarinet often soars above the rest, it's just pure joy. It's followed by the slightly less crazy Son, with percussionist Alec Kopyt singing - in Russian - and the whole band joining for the chorus. Spaghetti is another fast instrumental reminiscent of some of the movie musics of Sergio Leone, but with a klezmer bend. With Der Fryske Bulgar, we're back in wild and foot-tapping territory, with the alto sax and trombone playing super fast improvisations.

But it's not just joy all the way, the record shows a more somber side as well. Blue Hora is a slow, dirge-like song, with slow rhythm, the bass and accordion laying down the ponderous rhythm for the clarinet to explore the more tearful aspects that the instrument can evoke. The record also ends on a sad, but quite different, tune called Trieste Droman.

Ethnic musics, whether it be Musette, Fado or even early blues, are often considered repetitive by the casual listeners, requiring a certain depth of understanding to perceive the nuances and variety. Not so with this record. While the stylistic constraints are evident, there's a lot of variety in Son, in terms of mood, instrumentation, singing styles and arrangements. This makes for a great listening experience even if, like me, you have no prior bagage with Klezmer.

Overall, Son is a festive record with a few medidative passages, and I recommend it highly. It wasn't my first Amsterdam Klezmer Band record, but it's one of my favourite. I now hope that the AKB will come through Paris soon so that I can experience these guys live, I suspect it's well worth it!

Bobby McFerrin Trinity

I've always been confused about the concept of the catholic trinity - until I saw this video of Bobby McFerrin. Watch. Then close your eyes. He is three !