Musical Ramblings

Will Bernard Trio Live

Last night I headed out to Paris for the first time since I came out of the hospital for a concert at the Sunside. Will Bernard is a funk-jazz guitarist with a heavy Grant Green influence and I first discovered him on Stanton Moore's III. It was his first time in Paris and I thought it would be worth checking out. Will has just recently released a new album entitled Blue Plate Special which I'm listening to as I write this, and the line-up on that album is stellar with Stanton Moore (Galactic) on drums, Andy Hess (ex Gov't Mule) on bass and John Medeski (MMW) on organ.

The trio he tours with is not quite so famous, but pretty damn strong nonetheless. Will Blades is the young up and coming sensation on the organ, and Simon Lott is a New Orleans born drummer who has played with (amongst others) Charlie Hunter. The music they perform is a mix of straight-ahead funk jazz, more experimental stuff and occasional slow mournful numbers on which Will Bernard often plays slide.

It's a good mix and very groovy music overall. Lott probably impressed me the most during the concert, both because his playing was stellar, always dynamic and occasionally polyrythmic and because his stage presence was electrifying. Check out the photos for a feel of how 'into it' he was. Blades is an excellent backing organist and while some of his improvisations were good, I wasn't as impressed as the videos I'd seen on Youtube suggested I might be. That being said he played on a real tiny keyboard and I suspect that might have cramped his style a little.

Bernard himself is an excellent player, if somewhat subdued, especially compared to Lott. One of the things that I sometimes dislike about jazz guitar is the disconnection with the blues roots. Bernard certainly isn't guilty of that, and that's what pleasant about his playing. I thought he could have been slightly more fiery in his improvisations, but still, it was very good stuff.

The one thing I was slightly worried about was the writing. On Stanton Moore's recent trio albums the playing is out of this world but the writing is not always that inspired. Overall, I was favourably impressed with the compositions here, and a quick listen at the album confirms that this is indeed very solid stuff.

I took a load of photos despite very low lighting conditions, I hope you like them nonetheless... I have a video too. Sound is rough, and it's only 2/3 of a tune, but at least you'll get a feel for the material...

HSC09 #7: Nine Below Zero

The final concert of the 2009 edition of Harmonica sur Cher was legendary British blues-rock band Nine Below Zero with Mark Feltham on harmonica. I hold Mark Feltham in very high regard, but much as I tried I simply did not enjoy this concert. The first reason, I think, is that I didn't for one minute think that these guys enjoyed playing that evening. It felt to me like the absolue bare minimum that a band can do.

Throughout the concert I felt that the musicians were on automatic, there was no palpable feeling. The reason I like blues is for the thrill that starts in your guts when you feel that the guy is not just playing the music, he's living it. The flip side of that coin is that there is no music I find more boring that Blues without a Feeling.

Let's be clear, this isn't a dig on them as musicians, and I have no idea what the reason of their lack of involvement that night is or even if it's a recurring thing with them. But they certainly weren't there for me that night. Having said that, there were people dancing and clearly enjoying themselves, so maybe it's just me. Go figure.

Anyway, I still shot the obligatory video just so you could hear for yourselves. The strange thing is that I still thought that Mark's harp playing was interesting and distinctive, he played very differently from other blues-rock harp player's I've heard. But irrespective of that, the thrill was definitely gone.

You can see for yourselves, the (few) photos are here and the video of Stormy Monday is here:

HSC09 #6: Pédro Kouyaté & Mandinka Transe Acoustique

Much as I enjoyed Gutpuppet's concert at the Harmonica sur Cher festival, it wasn't exactly a discovery since I'd be listening to their music for a good while. Pédro Kouyaté, on the other hand, was totally unknown to me and while I have been listening to Vincent Bucher's harmonica alongside a variety of African musicians, this concert was still an absolute smack in the face for me, and as it ended I only wished it could have gone on for longer.

Pédro Kouyaté plays n'goni, acoustic guitar and calabash as well as a variant of kora with less strings which he named during the concert, but I don't remember the name. He was accompanied by a drummer, a percussionist, a tenor sax and flute player, a bassist and a harmonica player (the aforementioned Vincent Bucher).

I don't have a huge background in appreciation of Malian music, but I love Ali Farka Touré and I've heard a little Toumani Diabaté and Lobi Traoré. I was under the impression that a large part of the charm of this music was a certain tendency towards an apparent simplicity, even rusticity in the musicianship. Perhaps I felt differently during this concert because of the live effect two yards from my face, but this was not at all the impression I got from Pédro Kouyaté. His sense of rhythmic placement was simply astounding, no matter which instrument he was playing and it didn't in any sense feel rudimentary or simple.

Of course, this is transe music, built amongst rhythmic patterns and essential modal. Someone hoping for harmonic or even melodic complexity would be dissapointed. Thankfully, that's not what I was hoping for, and as all good transe, it's hypnotic. I fell into the pattern immediately - drawn into it by Pédro's great introductions to his songs, providing context and sense - and so, it seems, did most of the audience. You could see heads bobbing and after a few songs, a sizeable number of (mostly) ladies started dancing in the aisles.

Truly, it is impossible to resist this stuff. Furthermore, the presence of the drums, electric bass and sax gave a touch of afro-beat to what might otherwise have felt more as a roots thing (not that that would have made it less enticing to me...) Vincent's harmonica playing has a slightly different tole as it emulates mostly the malian violin and therefore feels rootsy. Vincent makes great use of his deep and powerful vibrato when he's improvising, and doubles the melodic riffs the rest of the time.

Pédro and his boys played for a little over an hour and then had to leave the stage to the next act, but I think I was not alone in regretting that they couldn't play longer. I am determined to check them out again in or near Paris, and will probably go along my son Corentin who kept raving about the concert for days afterword.

If you want a feel for it, here are the photos and here is a video of a tune which, as far as I can determine from the record is Seguin Magnydé. I apologise for the video flying around during the first minute, I was trying to get it stabilised on my new gorillapod and it took me a while. After the first minute it's stable:

HSC09 #4: Gutpuppet

Where is the fine line between entertainment and uncompromising artistic endeavour? This eternal question is probably here to stay, but this year the Harmonica sur Cher organisers certainly demonstrated that they would not shy away from difficult music in programming Gutpuppet. Gutpuppet is a lap steel guitar(s) and chromatic harmonica duet formed of Scot Ray on guitars and Bill Barrett on harmonica. If you read this blog regularly, you will no doubt have heard me talk about them as they are one of my favourite bands right now and one of the concerts I was most eager to attend this year.

Bill and Scot are about as unencumbered by ego as it gets, and they came up on stage very humble, even a little too quiet I felt (the language barrier when playing to a French audience can be intimidating, especially since Bill's brand of humour isn't exactly first degree...) Still, the music is what you're really here for, and Bill and Scot certainly delivered on that count.

The thing that makes Gutpuppet potentially "difficult" is that their music is built on non-western foundations to a sometimes extreme degree, especially when it comes to structure. I was talking to Scot after the gig and he told me that more or less no matter what the flavour of the music (gospel, greek, indian, american jazz, etc.), the structure was raga inspired, with a long and swirling introduction that led into the theme and then interweaving of theme references and improvisation. This makes it hard for ears and brains trained to hear the underlying structure and the melody from the first bar to connect.

And indeed, talking to the audience after the concert, Gutpuppet seemed to have evenly split the public between people who absolutely loved it and people who didn't get it at all and thought it was all "chaos", or, more bluntly, "n'importe quoi". Interestingly the people who did get it all mentioned the colour, the texture, the atmosphere of the music, and indeed I think that's where Gutpuppet really excelled: in setting up different moods. In many ways, this is ambiant music, something to be experienced, not analysed, and if you don't get hooked early on then you'll be left by the wayside.

Highlights of the evening for me were their rendition of Medio de Nada, a spanish flavoured tune, a new Gospel-y composition with Bill on Harmonetta, and both of their solo spots. Bill's was mostly (if not all) written, a complex piece full of tongue blocked diads and triads. Scot's was a dreamy slidy thing, very atmospheric.

I personally loved this concert, and was even more thrilled that my guitar beginner eight year old son also loved it despite the potentially difficult nature of the music (but I think he just experienced it without any thought for analysis, although he was looking at Scot's playing intently). This was my first opportunity to see Gutpuppet live and although I did think that Bill and Scot should have tried to connect with the audience more despite the language barrier, especially during the long intervals where Scot was retuning his 22 string indian guitar, the music was just what I'd expected and more.

We had long talks with Bill and Scot that evening after the gig and at the jam, and one thing Bill said struck me. i can't remember if he was quoting someone or not, but essentially what he said was:

"When I'm told we do musician's music, I ask if people would tell a chef that he does chef's cooking..."

On this philosophical note, you will find my (not very exciting) photos here and below is a video of Medio de Nada:

HSC09 #3: Marko

I've been familiar with Marko's playing for a decade, and although he kind of fell through the cracks for some years, he's been back on the scene, first playing on some tracks with French rock band Café Bertrand and more recently with his own project and album, Mille et Un Réveils. His brand of music has always been heavy rock and the new band is clearly in that vein: Deep Purple is a clear influence, as is the most famous French rock band Noir Désir.

I had never, however, seen him live, so I was quite eager to attend this set, especially since it's not the kind of music that usually gets played in Saint Aigan. In fact, the first few minutes saw about a quarter of the audience (mostly with white hair) leave. The rest, however, really enjoyed the powerful rock sound that Marko and his band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums) delivered.

I was happy with the band's sound and music overall, and Marko's role as a harp player is really an interesting one. He doesn't solo on all songs, but quite often uses the effect-laden harp as an underpinning to structure lead guitar riffs. When he does solo, it's with a fast and furious phrasing, maybe not terribly inventive but quite efficient. As a side comment, what impressed me was his cool despite repeated sound issues with his amplified harp. He ended up playing some solos in the acoustic microphone, to great effect.

I think the band could do with a little more experience on two counts though: first of all, Marko's lyrics could do with a little more cynicism. As it stands, they're a little too "cute" (to my ears) for the style of music that backs them. Another aspect which was a small dissapointment was that despite evident talent the lead guitarist had very few spots in the light. Maybe that was a conscious decision due to playing at a harmonica festival, but in any case he (and the music) would have deserved a bigger solo contribution.

Still, it was a very cool and very heavy set, of the kind that Saint Aignan had never seen until now. I'll be checking Marko's band again in Paris when the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, you will find the photos I managed to make here and below is a video of Sous L'Manteau:

HSC09 #1: Kwak

I've been incommunicado since Wednesday (apart from the occasional tweet, and even that was tough given the patchy mobile coverage in St Aignan...) for a good cause: the 7th edition of the Harmonica Sur Cher festival. I took a metric ton of photos and another half ton of videos which I'll be sharing with you over the next few days.

In addition to the three days of "official" musical goodness this year, the organisers set up a concert where local rock and punk bands opened for French up-and-coming rock band Kwak. It was Kwak's specific request that the bands opening should be amateurs, which I find very cool of them.

Anyway, as soon as I "landed" in St Aignan, I dropped wife and kids at the little country house we'd rented (my wife didn't want to wear out the kids before they'd even got their bearings, so I got to go alone) and headed for the concert hall. Before Kwak's set I got to meet with all the regulars of the festival. But the highlight of the evening was Kwak.

Kwak is a pop rock band on record and a funk-punk rock band on stage. It's the second time I see them and each time I was really astounded at how different they sound live. Guillaume, the bass player, has a huge phat tone and really nails the band's sound. They now work as a quartet (Damien on vocals and harp, Julien on guitar, Guillaume on bass and Xavier on drums) and they're all the tighter for it (although some of the wistfulness contributed by the previous additional guitar player has been lost...)

The thing I love about Kwak gigs is that you don't have time to analyse what they're playing, it's so in your face. The only way to experience it is first degree, primitively. And the audience (mostly constituted of teenagers) certainly did that and more. For the first time in my life I saw a guy jumping up and down like crazy despite a leg cast and crutches!

As usual, it took me a while to find my own bearings as far as shooting photos sans flash goes. You can find the end results here. I'm pretty happy with these piccies.

I shot three videos from the crowd, here's the first. This is a song from their first album called Des Thunes.

Derek Trucks at the Alhambra

Last Thursday evening, I went to a concert by the Derek Trucks band at the Alhambra in Paris. This is the third time that I see Derek and band live, and as usual, they did not dissapoint. The set was very in-your-face, more so - I felt - than on the previous two occasions, but it fit the venue and public pretty well and was, all in all, very enjoyable although I still felt that the Trabendo gig last year was better.

Highlights for me were a stunning and super-long My Favourite Things at the end of the first set and a very very cool Down in the Flood. Mike was in great form, although I did feel, perhaps more than the previous times I went, a certain awkwardness in his being on and off the stage when no one else but him has the natural role of speaking with the audience (and no one does anyway). This makes connecting with the band slightly less evident than the music would suggest.

Still, this is all nitpicking. They played less than two hours though and that was  a major dissapointment!

Anyway, I took a ton of photos (with my new camera, which I'm still learning how to use, so don't begrudge me the quality...) and quite a few videos. The photos can be found here, and I will post the videos in the next few days.

Xavier Rudd - Dark Shades of Blue

I first discovered Xavier Rudd through his album Food in the Belly. I quite enjoyed the mix of folk, reggae and aborigenal beats and I still fondly listen to its tree-hugging goodness. The follow-up, Solace, was too much of the same thing for me and hardly ever gets airplay. Dark Shades of Blue is a departure from the rootsy sound, and a very succesful one at that.

Even though Rudd's previous albums were not as sparse as his one-man band solo gigs, they always stayed relatively close to the concept, probably so that the studio and live songs wouldn't differ too much. Dark Shades of Blue cannot be described in any way shape or form as "tree-hugging" music. As the title suggests, it's dark, deep and heavy, much heavier than even I could have suspected coming from Rudd.

The album opens on a slow-beat three minute instrumental called Black Water which really sets the mood. It's heavy, it's sticky, it's underscored by deep digeridoo drones and supported by heavily distorted rock guitar. Rudd's slide guitar is meaner on that track than I've ever heard it. Black Water then segues seemlessly into the title track, Dark Shades of Blue, which is much in the same vein although at a different tempo.

There are quieter tunes on the album, but even they have a dark edge to them. It's like Rudd realised that feelgood music wasn't going to cut it in the face of the world's situation. In that sense, it's a crisis record, even though it was released before we were officially in crisis mode. It's also right up there with my favorite albums of the moment. Warmly (or rather, darkly) recommended.

Umphrey's McGee - Mantis

Last month, I wrote about my discovery of Umphrey's McGee. Good jam bands are enjoyed mostly live, so that's how my exploration started. When their latest album Mantis came out last month, though, I finally let myself be tempted by a studio release. The result surprised me, but in a good way.

I didn't expect Umphrey's circonvoluted jamming to be present on a studio record. As with bands like moe. or even Gov't Mule, what you expect to hear is good songs that double up as good vehicles for improvisation, even if the degree of improvisation is limited on the studio release itself. Mantis is not exactly that.

A few weeks back I had two friends in the car and Mantis was on. As the record started, one of them thought they sounded a little like the Beatles, and it's a fact that Made to Measure sounds very pop-rock and clean. But as the title track Mantis started, my other friend suddenly exclaimed that they sounded like King Crimson. And that's a fair assessment too. Mantis features a mix of catchy rock tunes and more elaborate and/or heavy tunes like Turn & Run. There's a fair bit of construction with in-track instrumentation or tempo changes, characteristics normally associated with the more complex side of prog rock.

And that's a good mix for me. Mantis doesn't dissapoint. I would still love to hear what Umphrey's McGee do with these tunes live, but in the meantime I'm very happy with how the songs sound in the studio. They can live on their own and that's more than I can say of many a rock album I've heard in this last decade!

Blues Traveler - Cover Yourself

The concept of a band releasing an album of covers of its own earlier successes is a little strange. In fact, it might come accross as an admission that your best stuff lies in the past, and that's something that I think most early Blues Traveler fans would agree with.

But I guess, in a way, it might also be a vessel to reinvent yourself. Tap into your roots to try and grow new branches. I probably wouldn't have purchased this album if I hadn't found it second-hand (I didn't even know it had been released!) but I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed their last album Bastardos! (though i'll concede that's not saying much...)

Anyway, Cover Yourself is an interesting exercice. Blues Traveler rearranges some of its classic hits (Runaround, Mountains Win Again...) and some slightly more obscure tracks from their back catalog. There's a genuine attempt here to break the mold of these earlier tunes, either by going for a totally different vibe or by changing the tempo completely. Overall, instrumentations are completely reworked.

And I have to say, at the end of the day, I found it quite pleasant. Songs like Mountains Win Again or 100 Years are very very cool in these new versions, the funky vibe in Hook gives it a very different feel from the high-octane original. Overall, the versions are a lot more keyboard heavy than the original (unsurprisingly, as the band didn't have a keyboard player at the time) but also a lot sparser, which I like a lot. Popper's harp playing, incidentally, is not all over the place and shines all the more as a consequence.

So, in summary, not the album of the century for sure, but a pretty cool Blues Traveler album. If you know the originals, you'll be in for a refreshing experience, if you don't, then they're pretty good songs anyway!