Xavier Rudd 5/15/11 Toads Place

Aussie Rudd has an unusual twist on the one-man-band, a digeridoo. Mix one part Keller Williams, one part Michael Franti, one part Dr. Didg one part Paul Simon and you have Xavier Rudd. Sometimes played acoustic guitar and didg and others with drumkit and didg. A frantic stagehand helped line him up for each tune. Songs had a quiet folk start then ended with didg-fueled frenzy. Packed house really enjoyed Xavier.

T.S. Monk Sextet 5/7/11 Woolsey Hall

My dynamic daughter has a dynamic TAG teacher named Marcella Monk Flake. The Monk in her moniker comes from her uncle, Thelonious. As a benefit for 8th grade TAG, T.S. Monk played a benefit at Woolsey Hall for the TAG program. After a warmup by the local H.S. jazz band, Monk's sextet took the stage. Soprano sax, alto sax, trumpet, bass, piano, and Monk on drums breezed through some standards: Song for Ray, Evidence, and Think of One. Must have been great to grow up in a house with a piano and Thelonious. T.S. said that his job was to answer the door when Coltrane, Miles, Diz , and Bird came by....a dream job for a jazz fan.

Guitar Chamber Music 5/4/11 Sprague Hall

I always look forward to Benjamin Verdeery's direction of classical and guitar work that he showcases at the beautiful Sprague Hall. Ben teaches modern classical composition and this program was a series of duets, trio, then an ensemble piece. The duet pieces included works by Bartok, Joan Tower, and Toru Takemitsu. The violin-guitar duets of short Bartok works were great. A trio of drums, electric guitar, and electronics performed Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman Suite. The final piece was Terry Riley's In C. Twenty-four musicians played 52 "modules" of the note C. Only at Yale could one view this production. Oboe, bass clarinet, flutes, piccolo, national steel slide guitar, guitars, bass, violin, viola, percussion all played the note C at various speeds and octaves for 40 minutes! Riley would have been proud of that performance. Verdeery cracked up when one audience member yelled "encore". What's next In D?

Amir Elsaffar 4/29/11 Firehouse 12

An extension of Elsaffar's work Two Rivers a jazz-middle east blend paying homage to the Tigris and Euphrates. This group consisted of Elsaffar on trumpet, percussion, and voice, sax, bass, drums, and a percussion duo with oud and dumbek. Compelling tunes with Elsaaffar and Ole Matheson on sax. There was no explanation or solo given to the percussionists which detracted from the blending of a traditional jazz quartet and the exotic sounds of Iraq (no carpet-bomb percussion!). I love the Firehouse and the breadth of sounds they display, but not all listeners are familiar with what's happening on stage, it is incumbent on the performer(s) to briefly describe their angle.

Mike Watt w/ Northampton Wools 4/5/11 Daniel St.

Arrived for the last tune or tune from Thurston Moore's drone duo Northampton Wools. I'm always amazed at the segue from punk-spew to drone happens. Thurston is an icon and the hipster crowd would have gladly paid to watch him sudoku. Mike Watt takes the stage with standard punk outfit: guitar, bass, and drums. As leader and bassist for the Minuteman, Watt is like the Thomas Jefferson of punk. The band charged through Watt's new release The Hyphenated Man, a concept album about Heironymous Bosch paintings he viewed while in Spain touring with the Stooges. Watt can certainly play and spiel, the sound was Beefheart meets Black Flag, or show tunes for the criminally insane.

Vetiver w/ Sara Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion 3/26/11 The Space

Made the last few tunes of Sara and Johnny. Daughter of Arlo, this pair had good stage chemistry. Able to rock the folk tunes with the help of some Vetiver musicians. Andy Cabic and Vetiver have been to the area several times in recent years and I was glad to have caught them at the low-jey Space. Have been listening to their 2008 release Tight Knit from which some tunes came. Things of the Past album was an exercise in covering little known tunes from the 70s and 80s. Cabic says new record to come out in June.

Keller Williams 3/24/11 Toad's Place

Standard Keller show: Shakedown Street, Runnin on Fumes, Blazeabago> Dear John> Blazeabago, Tell Me Somethin' Good (by Rufus W/ Chaka Khan), Glory and Consequence (by Ben Harper. Good crowd for a Thursday. While groovin to a Keller concert staple, David Bowie's Golden Years, I mentioned to a nearby Freeker that I had seen Bowie and Tin Machine on that very stage. " You saw Keller with Tin Machine?" No dude, just another fragmented pass-it-down in Keller-land