Mark Mulcahy 11/27/17 Cafe 9

Mark Mulcahy moves into the 9 for a Manic Monday. Singer songwriter and frontman of the 80s band Miracle Legion, Mulcahy looks like the hipster dad that rips it up at "bring your parent to school" day. Regional success had ML cross paths with many a new wave act, though I can't remember seeing them back in the day (damn you foggy youth!). Mulcahy's wife died tragically young, and a star studded tribute "Ciao, My Shining Star" is well worth the Spotify search. The National, Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, and Vic Chesnutt all lend their talents. On this evening, I miscued the start time and just caught the encores. Quavering version of Blackbird, REMish Jimmy, then closed with a soulful tune had an almost Robert Wyatt feel. Just Mulcahy on acoustic and a keyboard player showed this lifelong rocker in a perfect setting.

Glen Jones 11/13/17 Cafe 9

Acoustic finger style guitarist Jones played a Manic Monday at C-9. Jones plays the primitive guitar style pioneered by his friend and mentor the late John Fahey. Wordless acoustic 6 string, 12 string, and banjo songs are written in a circular style. Songs start with a distinct melody, meander, then come back around to lend a familiarity that is rare in instrumental music. Jones is a character, and the inter-song banter was great. One tune, "The Last Passenger Pigeon" was written after watching a documentary on man's hand in the extinction of species. "Across The Tappan Zee" was written before the name change to the Mario Cuomo Bridge. Jones told a hysterical story of writing an "un-Christmas carol" and playing it before an audience in Pittsburgh. At the song's lead-in, he sarcastically asked the crowd if anyone likes Christmas? Expecting full well that a crowd of bar denizens would jadedly moan at the specter of the holidays, an 8-year old named Audrey leapt at the question to respond that she LOVES Christmas. Glen did an immediate reflection and about face regarding the sentiment, and has since softened the tune and dedicates it to Audrey upon playing. Jones paid tribute to Robbie Basho and closed with a tune "The Giant Who Ate Himself" that paid homage to Fahey.

Wax Tailor and Friends 11/12/17 Spaceland

French DJ and Beatmaster came to Hamden with a couple of friends to bump on a chilly November night. Wax Tailor operates two turntables and an etch-a-sketch like sampler gadget that spits odd dialog from what sounds like 1950s American film clips. With a trippy video backdrop, WT scratched and sampled his way through tunes. One song had this mournful cello passage, another took clips from a Nina Simone song. His two friends were very distinct. A young female chanteuse ( I've always wanted to use the  word chanteuse, and a young French female coo-er gyrating in front of WTs beats with a name like Charlotte Seviegny seems like the perfect descriptor) sang and bopped to the music. Another friend was a young black male rapper, his rhymes coated the beats in a very different and complimentary fashion as the girl. The singers were never on stage at the same time. These three incarnations of the sound yielded three completely different takes on the music. Recent release By Any Beats Necessary is great. The show ended with WTs patented take on Que Sera Sera.

Iron and Wine 11/10/17 College Street Music Hall

Iron and Wine is a folk pop group fronted by the enigmatic Sam Beam. The group on this evening consisted of Beam on guitar and vocals, cello, female keys and backing vocals, fantastic female drummer and backing vocals, and bass (electric and upright). The early catalog: The Creek Drank the Cradle, Our Endless Numbered Days, The Woman King (ep w/ Calexico)' ,The Shepherds Dog (my personal favorite), all were represented well on this outing. Beam has grown into his popularity evidenced by his confident stage delivery. The songs : Upward Over the Mountain, Boy With a Coin, House By The Sea, Woman King among many others were played not as direct readings but interpretations of these recorded favorites. Impressions of fan favorites are a delight and Beam connected on many counts. The sold out crowd hung on every literate line from this fantastic artist.

Songs After the Fact: Yale Art Gallery 11/9/17

Program of continuous music played by six Yale students interspersed with texts that were written in periods of conflict. The installation was styled after Phil Kline's "Zippo Songs" where WWII soldier diary snippets are heard over an Eno-esque backdrop. On this event, photos and video of war torn areas were on display while the ensemble remained unseen within an enclosed booth playing and reading texts. The program felt disjointed, some photos were powerful and the musicians were talented, but the spoken word got lost in the audio translation. I know we now live in a world where one is expected to watch TV, text, check news, weather, and listen to music simultaneously, but let's face it- none of those functions are successfully completed when governed by one fifth of your attention span. This program would have benefited by dropping the spoken word component, but I applaud the students and artists who lent their talents to the show.

Thor and Friends 11/6/17 Cafe 9

Woodworking former percussionist for the group Swans, Thor Harris took his friends on the road for a date at the 9. Harris played this monstrous homemade xylophone. Two other female xylophonists, female violin, and guy on guitar made up the quintet. The music was Philip Glass or Steve Reich like, drones and repetitive mallet work. Swans were infamous for their ear-splitting metal drone live outings, and one can see why Thor was part of the group. Songs ebbed and flowed while Thor added flourish with flute, clarinet, trombone, and even extreme triangle. You might think that Thor was fluent in these other instruments, but I say no, he only had to play two or three sustained notes to color the pieces to his liking. Based in Austin, Thor and friends made truly original sounds.

John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring: A Meeting of the Spirits 11/4/17 Capitol Theater Port Chester NY

It is not a stretch to think Jimmy Herring, a 50-something axe-wielder, to be an acolyte of the amazing guitarist John McLaughlin. Herring opened the show at the Cap with his group The Whip. Herring on guitar, bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Hammond B-3, and Jason Crosby on keys and violin. They rolled through their set, stopping for an amazing Revival (by the Allman Bros.) Herring has been part of Widespread Panic, Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, as well as incarnations of The Dead and The Allman Brothers. Herring's picking is solid, veering from jammy fills to Marc Ribot's downtown skronk. Sipe and Crosby are veterans of the jam scene, and unleashed their chops for the warmup.
English guitarist McLaughlin came to the US in the late 60s to play in Tony Williams Lifetime Unit. He soon became involved with Miles Davis and lent his skills to the seminal recordings Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way. As I read in the recent cover story of Relix, Davis told McLaughlin to "start his own thang" which led to the amazingly under-rated Mahavishnu Orchestra. On this evening, JM played the second set with his group the 4th dimension. JM on guitar, drums, bass ( looked like FatAlbert's pal Rudy and sounded like Victor Wooten), and keys. The final set had a mash of Herring's group and JMs group to play chestnuts from the Mahavishnu catalog. Fantastic set that had "hits" from Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and my personal favorite Visions of The Emerald Beyond ( which I had on 8-track!). This farewell tour from a Titan that connects the Jazz dots to Miles and Trane was a gift to this sold out audience.

Joe Fonda Quintet 11/3/17 Firehouse 12

Bandleader and standup bass player Fonda had to explain that his quintet became a quartet when his female piano player broke a finger and was unable to make the trip to the Firehouse. The unusual makeup of the group was intriguing. Fonda on bass and sometimes flute, drums, French horn, and bassoon were the four. French horn and bassoon are rarely heard in a jazz format, and these two players were capable and worked well with one another. Fonda and the drummer were also simpatico and gave the feeling of a two on two quartet. Bowed bass led into a frantic plucked solo that was buoyed by the interplay of bassoon and horn. The group "unplugged" for "My Song", which was great and gave a good feel for the traditional timbre of both bassoon and French horn. Fonda's deft soloing swayed from gypsy groove to straight ahead workouts. Hugging his bass like an Armenian dad at the first dance of his daughter's wedding, Fonda jumped and rolled through the set. Excellent tune "Cornell" payed homage to the venerable Dr. West was a highlight.