Gillian Welch Concert at the Wilbur, Boston

My post about Gillian Welch concert in Boston on Dec 13. http://www.chrisreckling.com/?p=161

Chris

Julian Lage at Club Passim

I was browsing through the Boston Phoenix paper yesterday and saw that Julian Lage was playing at Club Passim. How did I miss this? Anyway, I went to the Passim website and there was only 1 ticket left for the 7 pm show, so I snagged it. (I didn't realize until later that he was playing a 10 pm show as well as Sunday night at 8 - the front page of the site only listed the 7 pm show!)

Anyhoooo...on with the show. I arrived at 6:40, having secured my usual secret free-parking space near Harvard Square. Club Passim, or as most people call it, Passims, is a basement venue in Harvard Square. Mostly they have folkie acts, so having a jazzer appear was a bit unusual. It's a great place to hear music because 1) it is quite, um, 'intimate', meaning that you are practically sitting not only on the person next to you, but also on top of the performers; adn 2) the sound is really good - not too loud and a mix where you can actually hear everything. Add to that, the aforementioned intimacy, where you can hear the acoustic nature of the instruments blending with the sound system, and it makes for a good room.

The Julian Lage Group this time is a quintet, adding a cello and tenor sax to the usual guitar, bass, drums trio that I saw at the Beantown Jazz Festival in Sept. You can see how crammed they are on the tiny stage. This was the CD Release party for Gladwell, available on April 26, although they had them at the show. They played a lot from that album, as far as I could tell. The show was excellent and ran from about 7:10, aka "jazztime" to 9 pm.

I'm pretty sure the opening number was "Listening Walk" from Gladwell, due out on April 26. Talk about a workout on the left hand! No wonder at the end of the night Julian said that he's been having to take care of his left hand due to overuse (I can relate, but he's only in his 20s!). For the most part the cello and sax were a calming counterpoint to the frenetic picking and percussion of that tune; they seemed to play that background role quite a bit throughout the concert - more like texture backing the trio rather than being on equal footing as soloists on every song. They did get some extended solo turns later in the set. I liked the way it worked. The band was tight, able to shift on a moment's notice from loud to soft, from quiet introspection to frenetic jam - this is the stuff that makes for a great night of music making.

Other tunes they played from Gladwell included However, Cocoon, Telegram, and probably more, but I'm just judging by the clips on amazon.com and what I remember. :) I can hear in his playing a ton of influences as well as his own unique voice. Sometimes, I hear the Pat Metheny lick or harmony, but he doesn't stay there long. Like Metheny, it sounds modern and rooted in tradition at the same time - whether that tradition is jazz, rock, folk, country, or something else...I think it's all of those. Just watch some of the videos on his site or youtube and you can also see that he is really having a good time. Having complete command of your instrument doesn't hurt, either.

Speaking of tradition, the trio did one of their trademark tunes, the standard Lil Darlin'. This was not your typical Berklee practice room jam session! Go listen to Joe Pass play it first (or this big band arrangement is good and unctious). Then come back and listen to this version (coincidentally recorded at Passims last Aug). Hear the difference? That's how you modernize a classic and make it your own. At one point, Julian played a new song he was working on where he said he wanted to make something like a traditional jazz tune, but also make fun of it. Making fun of it isn't exactly what he meant; I think it was more about being ironic. Maybe it was just taking a traditional form and extending it for the 21st century - yeah, I'm going with that last one. :)

That video of Lil Darlin' kinda sums up the group aesthetic. The tune is a jumping off point for an extended improvisation. The interplay among the musicians is awesome, as they almost go into a free jazz section for an extended period before bringing it back home. You can do that if you 1)know the tune inside out; 2) have chops for days; and 3) listen closely to what is going on in the moment.

You can also see in that last video the unusual technique of the percussionist, Tupac Mantilla - using mostly his hands to play. Last night when they played Lil Darlin, he stood up and mostly played by clapping, snapping fingers, hitting himself in various places (knees, face, chest, etc) and even reached over the drum set to bang on the bass for a bit (and on the bass player too, for that matter).

The encore number was, in his words, "well, you'll know what it is" - i.e. Freight Train. The first part was the way I learned it, but not after that!! His right-hand technique is something to behold on this one, as he played with a pick and was all over the strings with ease.

A great ending to a spectacular night of music.

P.S. That guitar he plays is a Linda Manzer "Blue Note" that he's had since he was 11 yrs. old. There was an article in the Fretboard Journal about him I read again last night. It can sound really acoustic or really electric depending on how he plays it. He does set up with both a Fender Twin amp (I believe) and a mic in front to get the acoustic sound.

Pat Martino - Scullers 2nd Set

I almost forgot that we had tickets to Pat Martino, until Mr. Johnson rang me up to confirm a meeting time. 10 pm set on a Friday is risky due to the lack of sleep during the week, but we went anyway. I'm glad I did! It was the first time I'd seen him and I don't think I ever listened to him too much, but obviously knew about him. He was playing his Benedetto signature model guitar, a solid body model with 2 pickups although he only used the front one.

Seating was general admission so we got a decent table a few "rows" back. It's a small club anyway, so not a bad seat in the house. The classic trio consisted of Pat, Tony Monaco (B3 organ) and Jason Brown(drums).

When they started to play, it was kind of a shock because the guitar was really loud and muddy - I always wonder whether the sound person has lost their hearing because it is so obviously wrong. Would it hurt to add a little treble into the mix?

The music itself was great! They came out smokin' with a boppish tune which I didn't know, followed by a blues which he seemed to call on the fly to the organ player (ah, just found that blues on youtube here), and a latin-ish tune. I think Blue in Green was next, with many liberties taken with the melody, but the signature tune intact.

The odd part of the night came when Pat called up his wife, whom he is clearly smitten with, to play 2 Wes Montgomery inspired songs with him - Heartstrings and Bock to Bock (also on a Derek Trucks album, btw). She's been playing "for a few years - 3 or 4, i think" and it looked like a student/master recital where the student plays some medium difficult chord changes while the master does his thing and makes it sound good....only in the first song, she couldn't find the beat to save her life. I just tried to concentrate on what Pat was doing instead.

Thankfully, the band returned and they killed another Wes Montgomery tune: 4 on 6. Tony Monaco is a sight! His facial expressions are priceless and animated - you could read the emotions (mostly joy) in his face and clearly he was enjoying himself at the B3 - relishing in the cheesiest sounds possible, then laying out a monster dissonant chord for emphasis. This was a highlight of the night for me.

They finished the night with Oleo, but it didn't seem like they were playing the standard thythm changes - I think it was more open than that (a la So What or Impressions) which gave the soloists more room to maneuver.

After the show, J somehow ran into Pat and shook his hand and gave him a few bows of worship. When we asked what his hand felt like, all he said was, "Boney."

Red Molly Concert

On Sept 26 we went to the Homegrown Coffeehouse, in Needham, MA at the UU church to see Red Molly, an excellent group who we saw the past summer at Club Passim. Before the show, we went to eat at Sweet Basil, around the corner, a place that does not take reservations! Therefore, while we were waiting the 20-30 minutes, we went over to the church to see if we had to pay or what (Emily had ordered tickets online awhile ago).

While trying to figure out where the entrance was (on the side), I saw one of the group (Abbie) in the window and gave her a vigorous wave, to which she replied with her own wave. Then we went in and up the stairs to see the place and Abby and Laurie came out and chatted us up a bit. The guy in charge let us go in and put our coats on some seats in the front, which was fortuitous because when we came back to go in there was a big line, even at 7:30. The church is so small that there really wasn't a bad seat.

Of course, I can't remember the entire set list...but at the end, when we went up to the stage to chat them up some more (J had questions about the dobro - a Scheerhorn Wechter - and I wanted to get a closer look at the acoustic bass guitar - a $400 Dean), they said they had 16 songs over the 2 sets. Some of the songs that they did were, in no particular order:

Caleb Meyer (first song - Abbie in lead)

Summertime (by Carolann)

Wayfaring Stranger

A solo by Carolann

Long Ride Home (Patty Griffin)

The Mind of a Soldier (winner of the John Lennon songwriting contest)

It's Good-bye and So Long to You

A Tim O'Brien learned song I don't know the name of...

May I Suggest (a stunning a capella song that they did as an encore and in the center of the church with no mic's...a religious experience right there!)

Jud Caswell, of Brunswick, ME, opened the night with an excellent set. He sat down front without amplification to do "Blackberry Time", which made it all feel so cozy. He also came out in the middle of the Molly's set to sing the song that gave them their name, by Richard Thompson.

Red Molly comes up to the Boston area a few times a year, so make sure you go check them out when they do, before they get too famous and you won't be able to get close to them!

Chris