Club D’elf 9/23/22 Broad Brook Opera House

 First time at this historic venue, situated in a hidden section of EastWindsor. Built in 1892, this wooden structure has had a recent facelift complete with a sidewall mural depicting rock legends John Lennon, Bob Marley and others. Club D’elf is a loose collective of groove masters that have been wowing audiences with their original blend of Moroccan-dub-electronica-trance-fusion for the past twenty years. I’m pretty sure they are based in Cambridge MA, as I see them listed as the house band of The Lizard Lounge. Constant member Mike Rivard plays bass and Moroccan sintir a 3-string lute was joined onstage by Dave Fiuczynski on double neck electric guitar, Dean Johnson on drums, Paul Schultheis on organ mellotron and clavinet, and a character named Mister Rourke on turntables. The quintet weave their trance improv tunes over computer breaks and beats to produce this unclassifiable music. You know I listen to a lot of music when I was able to spot the drummer’s wordless vocal intro as a cover of Trilok Gurtu’s 1-2 Beaucoup from his excellent The Glimpse release. Club D’elf’s new album, You Never Know is great and pays homage to some influences, notably In A Silent Way/It’s About That Time by Miles Davis and King Kong by Frank Zappa. Unfortunate that more people didn’t attend this show.

Sugar Hill Gang 9/23/22 Harbor Park Middletown

 Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang is arguably the Rosetta Stone for rap and hip hop. Released in 1979, the song has sold over 8 million copies and has birthed countless careers. So it was with glee I trekked to Harbor Park to get a glimpse of history. On this evening, original gang member Master Gee is joined by relative newcomer Hen Dog, another rapper on loan from Grandmaster Flash, and MC T Dynasty on samples and beats. The crew has a fleshed out set that doesn’t disappoint. They play secondary hits like Apache and a great rendition of Grandmaster Flash’ The Message. Master Gee hops into the crowd for some fan karaoke of funk and soul chestnuts from the past, James Brown, The Jackson 5, Public Enemy all had the fans singing. Next up was a tribute to fallen rap heroes with tunes by the likes of Biz Markie. A Prince tribute offered a nice take on Purple Rain. The diverse crowd, in age and ethnicity, erupted when Rapper’s Delight emerged. This concert was a free show put on by Manic Productions and was well attended for an unseasonably chilly evening.  As I was taking in this show, my mind drifted to the polarization in this country. At Harbor Park, there seemed to be no polarization, in fact peace, unity, and tolerance were in full view. Maybe we should swap out our national anthem, it’s boring, unsingable, and dated and replace it with Brick House by the Commodores.

Twiddle 9/15/22 Old State House Hartford

 First off, I want to apologize to Twiddle. I’ve “seen” this band countless times at the Vibes festival over the years. Not sure if it is the jam tapestry they weave or the heady scene associated with the show, but I rarely pay attention to the music being generated. This is by no means a knock on Twiddle, the Vermont based quartet has been steadily growing in popularity over the past decade, with hairy front man Mihali doing some interesting side projects. Whether it be the lack of “hits” (no pun intended), or the front and center jam improv of the group, their shows feel like more of a gathering than a concert, again, not a bad thing. Seems that some in Hartford governance want to make the city hip, and gave the Infinity Hall crew some cash to put on free shows behind the Old State House. A blocked off street with the stage and up front dancing area, food trucks and beer tents, a tree lined green space, and relaxed police presence, made for a comfortable venue to exist, with Twiddle playing in the background. The “Hartford Live” series has hosted Burning Spear and Dinosaur Jr., acts that are very worthy of a no cost viewing. I’d like to say that the next time I see Twiddle, I’ll be up front giving them their undivided attention, but I won’t. I’ll be in the back chatting. If I was in a room and confronted by Twiddle about my inattentiveness, I’d say that I often come to their shows…..for the feeling, which is a good thing.

Elkhorn w/ Drifting North 9/12/22 Neverending Books

 This is an open letter to ANYONE posting concert times on a website. Elkhorn was listed on the NEB website as starting at 6pm on 9/12. I appear at the venue at 610 only to learn that the music starts at 7, and there is an opener! To give y’all a picture of NEB, it is a dusty,musty, used bookshop selling water damaged copies of The South Beach Diet. The “performance” space is a glorified hallway with a small stage and twenty used office chairs picked up on the side of the road, not the type of venue to be 2 hours early.

Drifting North is group of local music nerds that do a pretty good angular guitar rock sound. Lead man on guitar/vocals, keys, lead guitar, bass, and excellent drumming. How did they fit you ask? Well, not really cuz the singer was in the doorway. It would have been a fire trap, but the diet books were probably still wet making for more of a smolder than a fire. Singer gave off a hint of Tom Waits. You know the band is local when they tell you their song “Up Around The Corner” was written for the “sketchy all-night Shell station”  on Willow St.

Elkhorn is the Philly duo of Drew Gardner electric guitar/keys and Jesse Sheppard on 12 string acoustic. On this evening, they were joined by a drummer who helped propel the sound. The rotten space was perfect for viewing this trio, and I was glad I stuck around. Gardner led the jams, while Sheppard and drummer shaded the background. The 12 string could  serve as bass, rhythm, or percussion depending on Jesse’s use of the effects pad. The wordless music was captivating and veered from Americana-ish passages that gave way to an almost Grand Funkian choogle. Look into this duo’s regular and acoustic “Storm Sessions” recordings, worth the wait.

Oliver Wood 9/11/22 CT Folkfest Edgerton Park

 If CT Folk had their fest in the woods and no one came, would it make a sound? The answer on this day is a definite “yes”.  Oliver Wood is the singer songwriting guitar playing brother of the Wood Brothers. With his bass playing brother Chris, TheWood Brothers have steadily increased their stature in the jam rock world. CT Folk was so excited to get Oliver to play the Fest, they were nervous about overcrowding and had him as TBA until 10 days before showtime. Sunday afternoon time slot, sketchy weather, and the fact that it was just Oliver, resulted in a lucky hundred music fans catching this great artist. Joined on stage by a bass player and drummer who also played keys, they were capable in support of the decidedly Wood Brothers set list. I’m a fan, and the songs didn’t disappoint. Tunes included: One More Day, Postcards From Hell, Luckiest Man, Chocolate On My Tongue, Atlas and closed with an excellent Buckets of Rain and Get Out My Life Woman. Oliver’s voice is like a broken in leather jacket, comfortable, familiar, and stylish.

The Mauskovic Dance Band 9/10/22 Cafe 9

 While driving down Orange St to this show, I passed an odd looking quartet of young men. Something about them, their clothes, their hair, just made clear they weren’t from around here. They weren’t, they were the Mauskovic Dance Band, an Amsterdam-based dance groove collective. The brainchild of Nikola Mauskovic, MDB consisted of drummer, guitar/bongos, bass, and synths/vocals. The music was a stew of Afro- Carribean rhythms mixed with dance dub disco beats. The vocals may have been Dutch, or gibberish, it didn’t seem to matter. The tunes ebbed and swelled with bongos and percussion, with squiggly synth lines and huge muscular bass. The bass player wore a Prince shirt which was apt. Nikola does double duty as drummer for the Turkish psych groove outfit Altin Gun. It became clear that no one in MDB spoke English, as it was tough for them to even eke out a Thank You. I marveled at the drive of four young men trotting the globe sharing their hypnotic groove, good show to an underwhelming crowd.