Thursday, October 27, 2011
Fela The Musical Shubert Theater New Haven 10/22/10
Original Broadway Cast comes to New Haven for three days. With Aaron Johnson of the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra on trombone and musical direction and Bill T. Jones on choreography, this show packed a punch. A musical biography of Fela Kuti was full of Fela hits. A bevy of wives/dancers completed the visual. After Fela introduced us to the Shrine his famous Lagos nightclub, Fela urged the predominantly white crowd to explore their "clock" of rhythm. Followed Fela's journey to England then LA then back to hostile Nigeria. The ending dance sequence to the orishas was truly memorable.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Harriet Tubman 10/14/11 Firehouse 12
Harriet Tubman a downtown supergroup formed in the nineties and dormant until recently boasts Brandon Ross on guitar, Melvin Gibbs bass, J.T. Lewis drums, Graham Haynes on electronically processed cornet, DJ Val Inc. and DJ Logic on turntables. The new project takes Coltrane's Ascension as a jump off point to futuristic funkjazz. Unfortunately, DJ Logic was stuck in Japan the night of this show. Ross seemed to have some sound issues on set 1 and stomped off momentarily leaving Gibbs to show off some explosive 5-string bass. Haynes always the extraterrestrial coaxed weird sounds from the processed cornet. The highlight was DJ Val Inc. with her Sinead O'connor hairdo offered excellent song-bending percussion which played well with Lewis. Sadly, we are left to imagine this project with DJ Logic in attendance
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Erik Friedlander's Bonebridge 10/7/11 Firehouse 12
Friedlander's recent project Bonebridge is an homage to bluegrass camp. Friedlander on cello, Doug Wamble on guitar, Trevor Dunn on bass, and Mike Sarin on drums. The cello plucked and bowed was front and center with Erik looking as comfortable as with John Zorn's atonal Masada projects. Warm song structure with little improv made for an enjoyable listening experience which would have appealed to a wider than F-12 audience. Erik's extensive and varied career is worth digging in to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)