Josh Ritter w/ The Low Anthem 8/18/13 Toads Place

The good thing about a double bill where both acts are solid, is that you look forward to an entire evening of music. On paper, that should have been the case on this night. Unfortunately, opener The Low Anthem exhibited little resemblance to the band that got a good review in this blog a few years back at the Green River Festival. TLA has a couple of excellent recordings (Oh My God Charlie Darwin, and The Smart Flesh) with a knack for quiet>>>loud songs. On this evening, with a new female violinist and harmonica player, TLA seemed to plunge straight into cacaphonous squall omitting the song structure entirely. While this plan of attack may work in the jazz world, it seemed silly in the alt. americana landscape. The song about Ozzie Smith was humorous, but their set left not much else.
   Josh Ritter has had a couple of releases since I last saw him. Armed with a tight band, tight songs and a permasmile, Ritter burned through much of his catalog. Band consisted of bass, drums, keys, lead guitar, with Josh on guitar and vocals. Large crowd for a Sunday night. Josh has also been through a marriage breakup recently which seems to have energized his stage presence. Josh seemed genuinely excited to play Toads, a fabled venue he read about in Rolling Stone as a child in Idaho.

Wayne Escoffery Sextet 8/17/13 New Haven Green

Closing out New Haven jazz week, local product Escoffery and company took the dwarf stage at the green. The green was well attended, they should have sprung for the real stage. Escoffery studied at ECA and has evolved into a "young lion" of jazz. Channeling Coltrane, Wayne played tenor and soprano sax. College chum Jeremy Pelt on trumpet. Unusually dressed Rachel Z on keys, laptop, and atmospherics. Orrin Evans on piano, bass, and drums rounded out the group. With a ten year catalog. Escoffery had plenty to draw on. Tune about a bay on the Red Sea was beautiful. Glad to see so many people able to come out and enjoy some straight ahead jazz on a nice August night.

Vinegar Creek Constituency 8/12/13 Cafe 9

Band picture looked like a four piece bluegrass unit. I arrived late to two guys, mandolin and guitar and vocals so I may have missed the lineup change explanation. Good chops and songwriting for the five or six tunes I caught. Ended with a nice Psycho Killer. What is it about bluegrass and the Talking Heads, YMSB do an awesome Girlfriend Is Better, which I happened to view close up back in the day.

Chuck Prophet 8/7/13 Cafe 9

Annual viewing of Chuck can be like paying a royalty for writing and playing Summertime Thing, which is one of my beloved songs. Packed house for a Wednesday was to the delight of Chuck and Paul (C-9 owner). Temple Beautiful, White Night Big City were good. The Left Hand and The Right Hand off recent recording we learn is about the Mitchell Bros. club owners in Frisco with the distinction of having Hunter Thompson as their doorman for a while. One Mitchell bro killed the other in a coke-fueled frenzy.....whelp. Sings the Willy Mays song, "it's not another episode of CSI people, it's baseball...who knows what will happen?". Encores with Who Put the Bomp?

Gathering of the Vibes 7/25-28/13 Seaside Park Bridgeport

Another year another Vibes. Always a treat to see beaucoup music in a short period of time. Good thing I waited a couple of weeks to make the post. Probably a little foggier than I'd like but here goes.
 Thursday 7/25: Start with Borboletta a Tim Palmieri amalgam doing the music of Santana. Local minstrel and Bar mainstay, Palmieri has hard earned chops. He plays somewhere nightly, and it shows. Bowing to the altar of Carlos, this was a great start. Ryan Montbleau is another area and Vibes regular. His hip latin funk vibe has really evolved. Jason Crosby offered some lame vocals to some originals and a Floyd cover. Dark Star Orchestra filling their regular Thurs night slot had some highlights: Bertha>Peggy-O>Loser>Sugaree>>Dancin In the St.>Cosmic Charlie>Scarlet>St Stephen>Not Fade Away>Sugar Magnolia> encore Samson and Delilah. Late night was Kung Fu. Tim Palmieri's rock shred outfit was a nice end to the day.
  Friday 7/26: Railroad Earth put on a lackluster set. Newer stuff seemed pretty tame. Nothing as good as their first two records. Newcomers The Revivalists were rockin the second stage. Charismatic singer was great. Revivalist singer moves to main stage to help front Galactic with two awesome covers: Who Do You Love, and Gimme Shelter. John Scofield hosted the Uberjam with late-arriving John Medeski and Avi Bortnick. Sco effortlessly peels through some jazz licks, the guy played with Miles for goodness sake. Next up was the Tedeschi-Trucks Band. Husband and wife fronted big-jam-band was full of sound. Covers included; The Sky is Crying, Angel From Montgomery, Sugaree and a great Bound For Glory. Phil and Friends played Scarlet Begonias, Crazy Fingers, Friend of the Devil, Uncle John's Band, Shakedown St., with an encore of Ripple. Latenight Friday slot obligated to Deep Banana Blackout. Jen, Fuzz and company threw down a lengthy Get Up Offa That Thing.
   Saturday 7/27: Local latin heroes Cosmic Jibaros start the day. Funky Meters play some of their classics. The Roots put on a good set. Guitar player scatted his way through a funky Someone That I Used to Know (the popular Gotye song). Closed up with the funky The Seed from an early record. Second stage had Steve Kimock and Bernie Worrell. Grace Potter has come a long way since I saw her in a field in Niantic with a crowd of a 100 just a few years ago. She scorched Nothing but the Water, Your Time is Gonna Come (with Warren Haynes), and a great tribute Cocaine in honor of JJ Cale's passing. Government Mule was next. The Shape I'm In>Getaway/Jungle Boogie (with George Porter Jr.)>Since I've Been Loving You>I'm a Ram>Love Me Do>Working Class Hero>encore After Midnight. Phil and Friends played Cumberland Blues>China Cat>Birdsong>Watchtower> I Know You Rider>New Speedway Boogie>Dark Star/Other One/Dark Star> encore Box of Rain. Latenight had dj sets from Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation that led into James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy made good use of Neil Young's Harvest Moon, and T Heads Slippery People. Latelatenight saw regional jammers Papadosio bring the sun up with their frenetic groove.
   Sunday 7/28: Start the day with Blues Traveller reaching back to some of their hits. John Butler Trio hit hard with Revolution (not the Beatles),Used to Get High, and a rousing Ocean. Black Crowes played Jumpin Jack Flash, She Talks to Angels, Jealous Again, Remedy, Hard to Handle, and Deep Purple's Hush. Closed up shop with Fishbone. So-cal rockers still got it. Lead singer is still hopping off stage and into the crowd (he'll break a hip that way!). Another great weekend of music. Mind the glittersnot and....stay thirsty for live music my friends.