Catching Up: Closing Out 09

Before my forthcoming 09 in review post, thought I would just round out the year with some shows I didn't miss but didn't get around to reviewing either.

First up was Neko Case at the Harro East back in early November, more timely and descriptive reviews here and here. I enjoy her live much more than her albums believe it or not, but this show will always be remembered by some of the strangest and most persistent stage banter I have ever heard. Neko and Kelly Hogan went on and on about being on a first date with Rochester and took the joke to a lengthy and awkward level. No video offering for this one.

Toward the end of the month it was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at Water Street. They played a lot of new ones including the one below and I've got a good feeling their forthcoming album is going to be just as good as the last two. They also played "When the Saints Go Marching In" and then down the road at Abilene the Po Boys played it less than an hour later. Didn't feel like Fall in Rochester. The Po Boys acted as quite the connector actually as they then played Good Times Bad Times which I would see Phish play the next night.


Just a few days later I made a last minute decision to check out Camera Obscura at the German House on hype alone. Glad I did, they were great. Simple but lush. And the seemingly quiet lead singer Tracyanne Campbell completely ripped into the crowd during this quiet number. Haven't seen a crowd eviscerated like that since Charlie Hunter in his early years.


Closing out what turned out to be a very diverse group of leading ladies here was Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs who I caught at the Bug Jar. Just a duo, Holly on guitar and vocals, and Lawyer Dave on guitar (extremely tasty slide guitar that is), vocals, and the most unique drum setup I've seen, all simultaneously. He drummed only using pedals, not even completely sure what was going on there but it was damn good. Felt bad that as a literal one man band he didn't even get billing in the band, but oh well.

Rochester International Jazz Fest - Night Eight

Started night eight with Pat Martino at Kilbourn Hall. I wouldn't have thought that this show would feature the best B3 trio I saw at the fest, but it did. I have always loved Martino's playing, both his tone and his style of picking and strumming simultaneously. He plays some rapid fire notes but in a very unshowy way, it always makes sense and always sounds perfect. His band was quite good too, I especially enjoyed Tony Monaco on B3, he KNEW how to get the right sound out of that thing, really holding the right notes and for the right amount of time, sounded great. Martino told a great story that started with him a teenager playing 7 40m sets a night in the city under the tutelage of Les Paul, and ended with him eating an early morning breakfast after a night's work with Les Paul, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green. WHOA...

Passed through briefly to hear Norma Winstone sing with only a piano accompaniment. Great voice and interesting style, which I dubbed Mr. Roger's jazz, and I don't mean that as a slight. Rewatching that show with my daughter I found a new appreciation for the music behind that show, especially when they pulled back the curtain on one episode and revealed that the music was all played live in the studio while they recorded. Anyway, Winstone's music was very visual and carried a lot of feeling.

Grabbed a quick bite over the sounds of Po Boys Brass Band who I have previously really enjoyed, but the short segment I caught here was a cover of Carry On Wayward Son that was played WAY too close to the original and sounded kind of silly I thought.

Next was Arve Henrikson. It will be tough to do these guys justice in words, I have no idea what exactly was going on up on stage, but it was freakin amazing. Just two guys, Henrikson played trumpet and sang into two different mics hooked into some major effects, and another guy with a keyboard, multitudes of pedals, and what appeared to be his own soundboard type thing, I just say he was the electronic facilitator since he really didn't "play" anything. When Henrikson sang what came out was very jarring at first, a beautiful high-pitched woman's voice, not unlike the voice of Sigur Ros. That was most of the time, other times it was very low, like a throat singer almost. The other guy would loop and manipulate what Henrikson was playing and create new sounds and rhythms. At one point Henrikson played his trumpet in short percussive blurts that were then used as the beat for the song. In one of the final pieces they got the crowd to sing in two part harmony and recorded and looped it and kept us singing over the top of it all. I know it is against the rules of the RIJF, but I couldn't help but get a quick video of this, just too cool. In announcing the "band" Henrikson introduced the soundman, meaning either they travelled with their own soundman and he was integral to the music, or they just really wanted to thank the guy running the boards for the RIJF.


Then I headed down to see Robert Randolph do his thing. I was hoping to make it back and see some more jazz to end the night, but damn that stage is far, once you're out there there's no coming back...

I haven't seen the Family Band in a few years and have done a pretty poor job of keeping up with them. Though as I would come to find out, nothing much has changed in their act, still doing and teaching The March, still inviting oodles of young ladies up on stage to dance during Shake Your Hips etc etc. There were a couple of new tunes I had never heard, but for the most part it was old hat, and as good as it ever was. Fairly early into the set they got Phil Campbell from the Campbell Brothers to sit in on guitar which was good. But later they got Chuck to sit in on pedal steel and that was AMAZING. They were really going at it. Add to that Susan Tedeschi and Ryan Shaw on vocals and we had ourselves a good old-fashioned throwdown that was reminiscent of some of the first times I saw RRFB when they would play with anyone and everyone for a chaotic and crazy time. I had said earlier that there weren't enough sit-ins at the RIJF, leave it to Robert Randolph to fix that problem.

A fantastic night of music in downtown Rochester.

UPDATE: Robert Randolph recording up on LMA

Gettin' HIGH Part II: Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band @ HIGHland Park

Early afternoon Saturday I headed over to Highland Park for the My Big Rib BBQ and Blues Fest. It was a ribs competition that also featured a pretty damn good music lineup. And it was a beautiful hot and sunny summer day, what could be better? Wait a minute, is it about to rain? I arrived after the Reverend Peyton and his band, I mean, and his Big Damn Band of three, were already underway. I scanned the BBQ vendors, all sporting lengthy lines, and walked straight up to the small stage where the band was playing to about a dozen or so people. This was their early set, they had one more set later in the day after a couple of other bands, and then played another set the next day. I would be missing the later set to go catch Phil and Friends who also happened to be playing at the Highland Park just down the street.

So you've heard of freak folk right? Well, this music was hick folk. Total backwoods get down and get dirty music. They're the type of band that replaces the tom with a pickle bucket. They're the type of band that has a full time washboard player. They're the type of band that can tell a story about seeing their cousin on Cops and you believe every minute of it. And it was a song too, with the oh so clever title of Your Cousin is on Cops. Great song. Reverend Peyton leads the band with his wife on washboard, and his brother on drums and pickle bucket. He plays guitar and harmonica, and (eat your heart out Charlie Hunter) he plays bass lines with his thumb. He shows off his guitar playing prowess in this clip: (not sure why this came out so damn dark)

Then the rains came and they came hard. The small crowd all huddled in as close to the stage as possible to get in under the tent as best we could. But the rain came in sideways and the crew scrambled to get their stuff covered. "Washboard" Breezy got shocked from her mic while Reverend Peyton worked out some technical difficulties. They eked out one more tune before calling it a day, or at least a set. I totally dug these guys, keep an eye out for them for sure.

After that I went to check out the BBQ. I sampled 3 different rib offerings, all pretty tasty. I was partial to Willingham's personally... the other 2 were heavily doused in their too-sweet-for-my-taste sauces. In between rib gorging I caught a little of the local outfit Po Boys Brass Band. They sported a four trombone attack on the frontline which is their trademark. They ripped through a bunch of New Orleans favorites including Cissy Strut and a Blues for Ben. Pretty sweet having such a good New Orleans-style brass band so close to home. And with my belly full I set off to get my Phil. (and Levon...)

Stay tuned for Gettin' HIGH Part III