Category Archives: Jazz

Great news: As predicted, Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival returns to MASS MoCA in 2011

Posted on December 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

When Wilco arrived at MASS MoCA last summer, the band even took over the museum's sign. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Fantastic festival can only get better

We don’t like to brag (well, okay, sometimes we do), but Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? predicted that Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival would become an annual event — even before this year’s inaugural gathering wrapped up.

Wilco HQ announced the news with an email this morning:

Greetings and Happy Holidays. We’ve got a last bit of news before heading home for the break. The big story here is that Solid Sound 2011 is officially ON and happening the weekend of June 24-26, once again at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. if you were there last year, we know you’ll be back. If not, well, this year you should know better. Ticket information and more will be announced on January 18. So keep an eye and ear out.

Safe travels and sweet holidays to you all. Thanks again for another great year in Wilcoworld. We’ll see you in 2011 with what will undoubtedly be a whole bunch of news regarding Wilco tours, records, the festival and so on. Cheers.

the HQ Staff

This years three-day event was held  in mid-August. It gave thousands of fans of all ages the run of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in the Berkshires town of North Adams, Mass. Participants got to hear lots of music from Wilco, the side projects of band members like Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, their friends, and got to sample comedians and films along with the spectacular art on the gritty former factory campus. It was well run, well curated and surprisingly chill.

The music was great, the scheduling tight without being overwhelming, the facilities were superb and the food and drink never seemed to run out. Everything worked together to make it one of the best and most memorable festivals around.

Wilco perfoms on the main stage in Joe's Field at MASS MoCA.

Museum management was thrilled to have as many as 5,000 well-behaved patrons on site at once, and obviously saw the festival as something worth bringing back. Museum Director Joe Thompson was singing the praises of the event all weekend, and made no secret of the fact that he supported the idea of doing it again in 2011.

And Cline brimmed with excitement about the festival when we spoke with him at Joe’s Pub in New York City, where he and fiancee Yuka Honda were checking out Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl‘s new project, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

Next year’s festival is earlier in the summer — June instead of August. So save the date and stay tuned for an update in a month.

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Posted in Art, Blues, Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Country, Folk, Humor, Jazz, Music, News, Opera, Pop and Rock, Punk, Recordings, World Music

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Nellie McKay vs. Christmas trees

Posted on December 11, 2010 | 2 comments

A trippy light show for a trippy artist: Nellie McKay and her quintet at New York's Highline Ballroom. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Nellie McKay never disappoints. She did a spirited show at the Highline Ballroom on Saturday night, Dec. 11 with a full band that was as sharp, charming  and entertaining as any Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? has seen.

Quirkiness is big part of Nellie’s shtick, but sometimes it hinders enjoyment of her amazing ability to interpret timeless pop songs and make important points with her own tunes. But at times, especially in her solo shows, Nellie’s seemingly absent-mindedness can overwhelm the show a bit.

Nellie McKay and her band.

At the Highline she was organized, focused and well-rehearsed. While there were a couple of false starts, there were no long, awkward pauses while she tried to remember the next song, or find a battered cheat sheet in her homemade fakebook. It was clearly a benefit of working with a band. With bass, guitar, drums, trumpet and trombone all depending on her for cues, there was less room for stumbling.

Nellie McKay duets with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Nellie never pulls punches when addressing things that are important to her: the environment, animal rights, the horrors of fur. But even when she goes a bit too far, she never loses her charm. She performed an anti-Christmas Tree song, with lines like “please don’t chop another Christmas Tree” and “please don’t ax another evergreen.”  Okay, I can see the moral problems with Christmas Tree production and reasons not to support that system, but she lost me with the line “please don’t kill another living thing.” I don’t want to get political about it, but something has to die for every meal — even a vegetarian or vegan repast.

Click through to the jump for more photos and details.

Vince Giordano joins Nellie McKay.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Concerts, Folk, Humor, Jazz, Music, Pop and Rock

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Legendary Ronee Blakley to play her first New York City gig in 20 years

Posted on September 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

Ronee Blakley in Ropbert Altman's "Nashville."

 

TICKET UPDATE: $25, CLICK HERE

Showtime update: Starts at 7:30, Marie Gabrielle opens

We just got some amazing news in our inbox. It was in the form of a note from the great singer/actress Ronee Blakely. She’s returning to New York City to perform next month — for the first time in two decades.

She writes:

I’m coming in to NYC to play the Bitter End Oct 13 … I hope you’ll come to the show.
Thanks.
Ronee

How awesome is that?

For those you don’t remember, Ronee produced two amazing albums, Ronee Blakley and Welcome, for Elektra in the 1970s. They were rereleased by Collector’s Choice in 2006. She’s also revered for her acting — particularly her portrayal of Loretta Lynn-esque country singer Barbara Jean in Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville. She also recorded the duet “Hurricane” with Bob Dylan for his 1975 album Desire, and was part of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, which also had its genesis in 1975.

Her October show will celebrate the release of two new albums, The River Nile, a pop record, and Grief Holes, an experimental collection in tribute to her mother, who died last year. Both are available from CD Baby.

This show is not to be missed. It’s a one-time-only event that’s slated to happen at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at The Bitter End, 147 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia), New York City. No ticket price has been announced, but call the club at (212) 673-7030 or email info@bitterend.com for more information.

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Ethel Fair Launches Lincoln Center Out Of Doors

Posted on July 28, 2010 | 3 comments

Crews were making the final preparations to Damrosh Park on Tuesday night for Wednesday's premiere of the 2010 edition of Lincoln Center Out Of Doors. (Copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

The fabulous Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival starts Wednesday night with a bit of Civil Rights Movement street theater at 6:30 at Barclays Capital Grove (the sponsored name for the plaza between Lincoln Center Theater and Avery Fisher Hall and moves into full-bore music mode at 7:30 in Damrosch Park with Ethel Fair: The Songwriters.

Ethel is Ralph Farris (viola), Mary Rowell (violin), Dorothy Lawson (cello) and Cornelius Dufallo (violin).

Ethel is a string quartet like no other string quartet you’ve seen or heard. These four skilled players, who are quite active together and separately on the international contemporary music scene, have been working in collaborative mode over the past several years. Their latest project, which has its world premiere at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival,  features the quartet yoked with songwriters who are quite well known on their own. Pop tunesmith Adam Schlesinger (a member of pop bands Fountains of Wayne and Ivy and composer of Broadway’s “Cry Baby”), assisted by Mike Viola (Candy Butchers), has created a work with Ethel. Other collaborators include folk-blues dynamo Dayna Kurtz, punk-New Wave pioneer Tom Verlaine (Television) and folky Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina.

Ethel always pushes boundaries with its work. This collaborative effort appears to reach for a broader, more mainstream appeal than some of the band’s more left-of-center efforts, such as its ongoing TruckStop project, which takes the band on the road to work with and celebrate indigenous cultures. But it’s certain to provide a richly entertaining evening.

No Snakes In This Grass is the title of the theater piece, written by James Magnuson and directed by Mical Whitaker, that kicks off the evening. It’s a comedy set in the Garden of Eden that deals issues of race and the Fall.

This is just the first night of a jam-packed schedule of fabulous free music and performance art that runs through Aug. 15. For the full Lincoln Center Out of Doors schedule, read the press release after the jump. Continue reading →

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Posted in Blues, Classical, Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Country, Dance, Folk, Free, History, Jazz, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Punk, Theater

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Beirut and WOOM play The Music Hall of Williamsburg

Posted on July 6, 2010 | 1 comment

With his rotary valve flugelhorn (no, it's not a trumpet!) slung jauntily over his shoulder, Beirut frontman Zach Condon is a devil-may-care showman. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

If you felt old at last night’s Beirut show at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, there was a reason. Elise, a fan in the crowd at my side pointed this out, saying that she felt like the oldest person in the room, even though she appeared barely older than the band’s 24-year-old frontman Zach Condon.

The boys of Beirut.

The explanation is simple: The first night of the two-night, sold-out stand at Beirut’s home venue was essentially designated youth night. Beirut’s record label, BaDaBing, arranged for Monday night’s show as an 18-and-older gig and a block of tickets was sold at the box office only for the bargain price of $9.99 to give young fans a chance to see what one critic has dubbed “the best indie rock band of the 19th century.”

BaDaBing head Ben Goldberg, explains:

Hey everyone, the first show on July 5th is an 18+ show, the second is 21+. We wanted to make sure all those of you without credit cards of your own or superspeed internet connections are able to potentially get tickets, hence why the $9.99 is only available at the box office and won’t carry any handling fees.

Looking forward to seeing all you pale skins’ post-Independence day sunburns!

–ba da ben

Last night’s show was simply amazing. Beirut played a solid 90-minute set, kicking things off with “Elephant Gun” and romping through a sing-along set of all the band’s best-loved songs. It seemed far too short, but satisfying all the same. (And selling out @MusicHallofWB for two nights in a row seems like quite an accomplishment for a band that hasn’t released a proper album since 2007 and probably won’t have the next one ready until Spring 2011!)

Zach exudes a charm and confidence that belies his age. He appears comfortable onstage and has the swagger of a latter-day Sinatra. He’s not so much electrifying as he is charming and seductive. His warm style and the band’s tightness won a lot of love from the audience.

If I had ever imagined that flugelhorn and trumpet would someday become this hip, I might have thought twice about giving up playing brass after high school. Zach and his bandmates are among a number of influential young musicians who have managed to make the rock world safe for old-school instruments — French horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, accordion, ukulele and trombone.

We didn’t shoot any video last night, but lots of other concertgoers had video cameras. Here’s one of “The Penalty” posted by a fan known on Twitter as @projectnrm. The sound quality doesn’t really do the performance justice, but no matter, the enthusiasm is there:

WOOM is always in motion. The band's scrappy, bare-knuckled sound is irresistible.

Openers WOOM, a silly but joyous husband-and-wife band, charmed the crowd with a nice set of DIY beats coupled with Sara Magenheimer‘s vocals and Eben Portnoy‘s scratchy guitar riffs.

In addition to their usual repertoire, they debuted their version of Elizabeth Cotten‘s folk tune “Freight Train” last night. Though it had some rough edges, it was an intelligent and entertaining deconstruction of a song that’s been covered by many artists over the years, including Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead and even Laura Veirs, with the highly recognizable chorus: “When I die, Lord, bury me deep/Way down on old Chestnut Street/So I can hear old No. 9/As she goes rolling by.”

WOOM’s first full-length album, Muu’s Way, is out today on BaDaBing. It’s available from Amazon.com and other music outlets.

Click through to the jump for more photos from last night’s show. Continue reading →

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The Bill Murray Experience: No, not that Bill Murray, but quite an experience!

Posted on June 26, 2010 | 1 comment
Britney Spears

The Bill Murray Experience at The Cupping Room Cafe on June 25. (Copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? knew nothing about The Bill Murray Experience until a couple of days ago, when the old-timey New York City based band was featured in this New York Post video about Play Me, I’m Yours, the art project that has put 60 pianos — available for anyone to play — in public places around New York City.

But it was love at first sight — and sound! Singer Jessy Carolina has an amazingly bluesy voice and her bandmates — Horatio Baltz on lead guitar, Jay Sanford on upright bass and the irrepressible Blind Boy Paxton on banjo — provide the perfect setting for it. It’s a new generation tackling early American roots music, jazz and pop standards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s repertoire that has been a rich source over the years for artists like Leon Redbone, with tunes like “My Melancholy Baby” and “I Ain’t Got Nobody.”

How we’ve missed them is a mystery. They are fantastic, and proved it last night in performance before a small and not entirely attentive crowd at The Cupping Room Cafe at West Broadway and Broome streets in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.

Peter Stampfel, of Holy Modal Rounders fame, knows a thing or two about this kind of music. And he sums up the band’s primary appeal quite well — it’s Jessy’s emotive and engaging singing. “She doesn’t sing songs as much as she embodies them. Her singing and moves are both about as good as it gets,” Stampfel says.

But Jessy needs the rest of the band to pull it off. Her interplay with the players — especially the jovial, overall-wearing Paxton — is charming adds so much to the overall feel of the performance.

BME plays around NYC quite a bit, at places like the “secret” Shanghai Mermaid, 893 Bergen St., Brooklyn, where they play at 9 tonight, June 26 and at the Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia St., Red Hook, Brooklyn, where they’re performing at 8 p.m. Monday, June 28.

Here’s a clip of the band that gives you great sense of its joyous, freewheeling style at a June 20 show at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction, Vt.

Of course any band that takes Bill Murray’s name in vain has to evoke Murray’s spot in Jim Jarmusch’s 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes. Remember “Bill Groundhog Day, Ghostbustin’ ass Murray”? How could you forget? We’ll leave you with that:

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Posted in Blues, Folk, Jazz, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Theater

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Kelly Flint’s fourth act

Posted on May 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

Kelly Flint

If you remember the great NYC lounge band Dave’s True Story, you know Kelly Flint, the flame-haired singer, who doubled as the band’s smoldering sex symbol (apologies to frontman Dave Cantor and bass player Jeff Eyrich).

Late in DTS’s history, Kelly, who’s married to Jeff, gave birth to Ben, their beautiful son. Then she started performing as a singer-songwriter, moving into a very simple, confessional sort of performing — just girl and her guitar, sometimes with bass backing — which was something she has told me she had wanted to do for years.

But now comes the lovely Kelly’s fourth act, as an actress.

She hit the stage of Manhattan Repertory Theatre last night, and will appear again tonight and tomorrow, in a staging of Man on the Moon, a play by William Holland. It’s one of two works in Manhattan Rep’s Spring Play Festival 2010. Kelly’s not giving any clues about her character in the play, but she does have the female lead. I wish I could get there to see her make what surely will be a star turn. But I’m already booked elsewhere for all her performances.

If you go, please let your fellow Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? readers know what it was like by sending in a full report.

Doors open at 8:30 pm and the show starts at 8:45, running an hour. Manhattan Rep Theater, 303 West 42nd St., 3rd Floor. $20 cash. Rservations: (646) 329-6588.

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Tickets for new Wilco indie music and art fest on sale tomorrow

Posted on April 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

Wilco

Adventurous Chicago-based band Wilco has announced it will curate and headline the new Solid Sound Festival, an independently promoted and ticketed festival of music, art and comedy for three days this summer — Aug. 13-15 — at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Mass. Early-bird tickets ($86.50 including fees and parking) will be available starting at 10 am ET tomorrow on the band’s web site.

Jeff Tweedy, center, and Wilco.

Wilco headlines the weekend, giving its only East Coast performance of the summer. Wilco side projects, including Glenn Kotche‘s On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, The Autumn Defense featuring John Stirratt and Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen‘s Pronto.

The Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA also will feature additional musical performances, a comedy stage, interactive installations and exhibits (including the Solid Sound Stompbox Station, an interactive guitar pedal exhibit created and demonstrated by Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, a concert-poster screening demonstration, planned workshops by luthiers and more), plus film, video installations and DJs.

The area is beautiful, with plenty of outdoor activities nearby as well as cultural attractions in Williamstown to the west.

Ticketholders will have full access to the spectacular MASS MoCA campus, which offers 150,000 square feet of galleries. MASS MoCA, a renovated 19th century textile mill, is the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the U.S. Art on display in the galleries during the festival includes the Sol LeWitt Retrospective, Inigo Manglano Ovalleʼs Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned with, Petah Coyneʼs Material World: Sculpture to Environment, Leonard Nimoyʼs Secret Selves and a new installation by Michael Oatman.

Stay tuned to Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? for more details as they become available.

Buy your tickets now, because the price will rise to $99.50 after June 1.

 

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A Klezmer/Funkadelic storm hits (Le) Poisson Rouge

Posted on February 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

David Krakauer, Socalled and Fred Wesley are Abraham Inc.

Klezmer king David Krakauer, the tirelessly inventive clarinetist who leads Klezmer Madness!, trombonist Fred Wesley (whose credits include stints with James Brown, George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic and the Count Basie Orchestra) and frequent Krakauer collaborator Socalled (a DJ whose real name is Josh Dolgin), are coming together at Manhattan’s (Le) Poisson Rouge tomorrow night to celebrate the release of Tweet Tweet, their debut CD as Abraham Inc.

If you’re one of those people who still thinks that the clarinet isn’t cool, and that klezmer is the music of your grandparents— something you’ve worked hard to escape — think again. Krakauer has been at the forefront of a modern movement to make klezmer cool, and he succeeds more every day.

Watch the video below, then check out this show, or get the CD, and you’ll be convinced. Sure, they’re three kinda goofy guys, but when they start grooving, they skillfully weave together elements of klezmer, funk and hip hop to create a really fresh sound.

Abraham Inc. with Girls in Trouble. 7 pm tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 25) at (Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, Manhattan. $25 in advance. Tickets available here.

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Making music on Manhattan’s other island

Posted on September 5, 2009 | Leave a comment
Gloria Deluxe onstage at Roosevelt Live on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. (Photos copyright 2009, Steven P. Marsh)

Gloria Deluxe onstage at Roosevelt Live on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. (Photos copyright 2009, Steven P. Marsh)

What could be better than a beautiful, clear, end-of-summer Saturday afternoon? How about the addition of a fantastic free concert on the Borough of Manhattan’s other island. Roosevelt Island?

Roosevelt Live Lipton and little boy

Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra — and a member of the audience who really wanted to get in the thick of things!

Gloria Deluxe and Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra spent an hour apiece delighting the audience on the island’s Riverwalk from 4 to 6 pm today. Cynthia Hopkins and her Gloria Deluxe compatriots performed their usual blend of quirky cabaret/alt-country/rock, while Lipton coupled a classic lounge musical sensibility with a biting, off-kilter story-telling style reminiscent of Randy Newman.

More photos of this afternoon’s gig, which closed Roosevelt Live’s first season of free concerts,  after the jump. Continue reading →

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