Hiroya Tsukamoto w/ Glen Roth 12/23/18 East Rock Concert Series

Local finger style guitar legend Glen Roth has been perfecting his style for decades. Usually a stalwart of farmers markets and pop up happenings, it's easy to let Glen fade into the background. With no vocals and an easy picking style, Glen's sound is tailor-made for his day job. That day job is busking the NYC underground. Glen belongs to a busking collective who are sanctioned to inhabit the veins and arteries that flow through the city. With that much practice under one's belt, you can imagine the ease to which this player runs up and down the guitar neck. On this evening, I jumped at the chance to see him in a strict performance setting. As an opener, in the holiday season, Glen could have easily Deck-The-Halled it through his set. Instead we got a true view of his wizardry. I urge all to Spotify his mammoth Ghostrain, also an amazing take on Aerosmith's Dream On. He closed with a harmonics-laden chestnut Morroccan Christmas.
Glen Roth is so good, he routinely finishes in the top ten of the international finger style guitar championship held annually in....... Kansas. Another finalist happens to be Hiroya. A Berklee grad from Kyoto, Hiroya relies on loops and a more percussive new agey approach. Excellent in his own right, Hiroya sang and hummed through his nature-centric set. One tune was written near a natural stone bridge in Utah, another paid homage to an inn keeper in Tennessee. He closed with the American standard Shenandoah, which was oddly beautiful when twisted through an Asian accent.

Bassoonarama 12/17/18 Sudler Hall Yale

How do you know when Christmas has arrived?  It's when Professor Frank Morelli and his cadre of merry bassoonsters have their holiday recital in Yale's Sudler Hall. The format is similar, they come out and play a few holiday tunes, and then splinter into solos or smaller groups. The theme was the "four Bs", Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and Brazil. The Brazil component was interesting in that it highlighted the compositions of Mignone. The Italian Brazilian heritage came through in the music. One PDQ Bach offering, "Lip My Reeds", had the crew take off their reeds and quack in unison. The bassoon is a very expressive instrument, one student's solo made full use of the large range, from the low end percussive tones to the mournful high register. In one piece, the large contrabassoon, so large that it needed its own chair for stability, fleshed out the low bass notes. The oboe studio, three oboes and an English horn joined the crew for a rousing Hungarian dance. Ended the show with Feliz Navidad and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Haakedepiccioto w/ Eric Hubel 12/9/18 Cafe 9

Eric Hubel's bio has him associated with Glen Branca, a minimalist composer in the style of Philip Glass or Terry Riley. Hubel played this unusual extended thumb piano which was attached to at least seven looping effect pedals and multiple iPods. Each "note" of the thumb piano was comprised of three metal tabs of increasing length. Strumming the notes made an exotic chord sound that was looped and layered with drum and percussion sounds. The thumb piano is usually small, handheld and is often played to color African music. Here, with an expanded size and electronic backbone, the music sounded like a harp or church organ. The percussion drove the sound with many tunes having the psychedelic kraut-rock feel. One song had decidedly Latin percussion which expanded the palate further. Once developing the songs loops, Hubel often picked up a mini 4-string electric guitar and maniacally thrashed at one note, these songs sounded like you were being chased by a swarm of insects or frozen in the climax of some Hitchcock film score. Once his set finished, it took him quite a while to untangle the nest of electronics and power cords..
Haakedepiccioto is the husband and wife duo of Alexander Haake and Danielle DePiccioto. Haake played bass in the second wave Berlin-based krautrock group Einstuzende Neubaten while US ex-pat DePiccioto is a minimalist composer. Haake was an imposing figure who looked like Josef Zawinul was trapped on a goth desert island with a cipher-based tattoo artist. He played guitar, laptop, and a tribal drum. Danielle played violin, zither, and hurdy-gurdy. Both sang simple lyrics, with Haake doing some Tuvan throat singing. Throughout the set, the laptop was programmed to play creepy wind noises. The duo describe themselves as modern day nomads, ditching their Berlin flat and wandering the world offering their brand of ominous music.

Borderlands Trio 12/7/18 Firehouse 12

Final installment of the fall F-12 series has Borderlands Trio. Kris Davis on piano, Stephan Crump on standup bass, and Eric McPherson on drums. Canadian pianist Davis had a lithe beginning with full key runs sounding like a harp. I seem to recall Crump is Harry Chapin's son-in-law, as he is married to NY folkie Jen Chapin. Crump is a staple at the Firehouse, performing with Mary Halvorsen, his own Rosetta group, and holding down bass detail for the wonderful Vijay Iyer. He started with some body tapping before launching into a funk groove backdrop. McPherson abides by the "less is more" ethos, subtly keeping  the trio in time. The second long piece, with prepared piano had a sinister movie score vibe. Crump is a character, with his facial gestures seeming to coax sounds from the bass. First time I have seen Davis, and she expertly veered from Cecil Taylor to Keith Jarrett to the beloved but belated Esbjorn Svenson. It's always sad to pack up F-12s live offerings for a few months, but the joy of perusing the Spring calendar is worth the wait.

Bernice w/ Bud Collins Trio 12/3/18 Cafe 9

CT jamband BC3 has been making the rounds as an opening band for below the radar touring acts. As you may recall, BC3 lived, played, studied? in the Uconn/Storrs area in the 80s. Their brand of goofy lyrics blended with jammy instrumentals was a heady elixir in the proto-Phish days. I give them credit keeping the flame. Would be nice if they stretched or spaced (dare I say noodle?) some songs out. On this evening, the drummer had malaria ( or may have just been really high).
For those expecting a rare glimpse of Abe Vigoda's (Fish from Barney Miller) naggy TV wife Bernice, would have to settle for a young quintet of knob twiddlers from the islands around Toronto. The group consisted of two female vocalists, bass, ergonomic keys/laptop, and drum machine/electronics. The sound reminded me of Stereolab, which the tall vocalist, and granddaughter of the band's namesake, took as a compliment as I kooked her after the show. The mixture of female harmony vocals and electronic effects is unusual and many songs had a child-like flavor. One tune, the acapella "I Hit My Head With My Monkey", was even nicked from a 6 year piano student.