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.

Leeds w/ Bird Street 11/26/18 Cafe 9

Bird Street is an LA-based singer songwriter. He came to the 9 armed with an acoustic and a hat. Caught the last couple tunes of his set. Assured vocals with decent picking and song structure. Final song had him straddling the precipice between singing and yelling, which I find fascinating.
Leeds is Royston Langdon,  a musician from Leeds but based in NYC. He sang and played bass for the 90s-ish band Spacehog. His British accent and banter had me thinking of Bowie or Robyn Hitchcock. Langdon had to be pushing 50, and he told the crowd not to clap for him. This aw shucks style gave the air of a has-been trying to regain (or forget?) his stage presence from a bygone era. It was a pity because I really wanted to clap. Leeds said that Spacehog toured with Oasis and The Black Crowes back in the day. Langdon remained friends with Rich Robinson ( the less baked, axe-wielding brother of the Crowes) and played a tune which they co-wrote. Excellent cover of Grant Lee Buffalo's Jupiter and Teardrop. Closed with a wonderful rendition of Todd Rundgren's A Dream Goes On Forever complete with audience sing along for the acapella bits. I kooked Leeds after the show, " you won't let us clap, but you want us to sing in the Todd register?"

Dom Flemons w/ Kevin Burt 11/24/18 East Rock Concert Series

I recently joined a gym in my neighborhood on Nicoll St. called mActivity that caters to the growing hip young population in this area. New, clean, and easily accessible were reasons to join. A pleasant ( and seemingly targeted at me!) bonus is the East Rock Concert Series, a cache of folk-oriented shows promoted by local scenester Fernando Pinto. The music takes place in the sizable loungey front room of mActivity. Opener Kevin Burt was a big fella blues man who had a penchant for blues-afying pop tunes. He sat playing a gorgeous resonator guitar for tunes like Eleanor Rigby and Smack Dab in the Middle. Closed with an excellent cover of The Doobie Brothers' Long Train Runnin. Burt explained that the International Blues challenge, where hundreds of performers compete in Memphis , had never had a triple crown winner, until he won the honors last year.
Dom Flemons is a self-proclaimed "American Songster", an archivist and historian of the African American music legacy. He was also one third of the now defunct Carolina Chocolate Drops ( note the 11/13/18 blog post). Flemons is a true multi -instrumentalist, on this evening he showcased: rhythm bones, quills, harmonicas, acoustic guitars, and a variety of banjos including one made out of a gourd. Listening to Flemons is like getting a musical history lesson on country and bluegrass. He payed homage to Bill Monroe at The Grand Ole Opry. He scatted through some gospel tunes. He made reference to a collaborative folk project with the legendary British guitarist Martin Simpson. He took the audience on a tour of the south with tunes by Elizabeth Cotton and Ella Jenkins. Flemons gave props to his Carolina mentor by opening with the standard Cindy Gal. It seems fitting that Smithsonian Folkways ( and the legacy of Alan Lomax), sponsored Dom's recent Black Cowboy record. Songs were covers or inspired by Flemons' research into the genre. One striking story was of the Lone Ranger who was an African American US Marshall who spent time on a reservation before embarking on his perfect record of rounding up bad guys.  On the back of his custom gourd banjo, there was a drawing of Dom with his wife and young child with some birds flying forward but their beaks facing back. He explained the bird depiction was from an Ashanti proverb " fetch it back"' where there is power in learning the past past while carrying it forward. Very enjoyable listen at yet another new venue in the area.

Elizabeth and The Catapult w/ Julia Caesar 11/19/18 Cafe 9

Burlington VT quartet Julia Caesar has two female guitarists, female bass, and a young man on drums. They play original rock and seem to have a queer following. Good songs that dabble in some spacey jamminess.
Elizabeth and the Catapult played at Bar years ago. A trio with guitar, drums, and Elizabeth Niman on  vocals/keys and acoustic guitar was the group. NYC native Elizabeth has collaborated with Gillian Welch, Bens Folds, and Richard Swift (The Shins) as well as composing for videos and documentaries. She reminded me of Laura Nyro, both sound and looks. Gorgeous, full singing voice was the highlight of most tunes. Industry experience and years of live dates makes for a confident stage presence. On this evening, a crew of 4 or 5 pro-looking tango dancers shook and sashayed in front of the stage. Elizabeth rolled with this odd crowd dimension, and embraced sharing the visual with the dancers.

Rhiannon Giddens 11/13/18 Sudler Hall, Yale

"Critical Listening Session" with Yale chair of the African American Studies department Professor Daphne Brooks and MacArthur Genius recipient and former leader of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, RG. The talk was a kind of "this is your life" presentation that dabbled in the history of the banjo as it related to minstrel music. Giddens grew up in Greensboro NC, went to Oberlin, worked as a graphic artist, formed the Grammy award winning CCD, and basically sky rocketed to fame all the while mining and resurrecting old time string band music. RG plays a replica minstrel banjo and fiddle. The lecture showcased CCD's "Snowden's Jig", a mournful instrumental with handclaps and foot stomping percussion that is truly haunting. "Julee" a tune inspired from the accounts of slaves depicts an enslaved woman on the cusp of freedom interacting with her female owner. "Black Is The Color" was a big budget video shot on the grounds of Fisk University. RG's tireless effort to unearth this beautiful music borne out of a painful history is compelling. It is worth noting that the trio that was CCD has disbanded, with members Giddens and Dom Flemons forging solo careers while Robinson moved away from the traditional music. Please listen to the podcast "Uncivil" and in particular the episode pertaining to the song "Dixie", where local hero Jack Hitt interviews Robinson to reveal his epiphany as it relates to minstrel music. At the Q and A, a teacher from Bridgeport asked " how he could get his students to listen to anything other than rap?" To which RG replied that her cousin was taking the banjo into the realm of rap, and that the most exciting music and art is happening "at the edges". Capacity crowd to hear from this acclaimed artist even as we seem to be moving backwards with regard to race and culture.

Nathan Bowles w/ Weeping Bong Band and Stefan Christensen 11/9/18 The State House

Local knob twiddler Christensen routinely opens shows of this nature. He uses laptop and effects pad to create industrial machine sounding backdrop and then layers guitar and wordless vocals. The music is oddly soothing, as if the listener is suspended over a factory floor.
Massachusetts instrumental psych rock quartet Weeping Bong Band have some interesting material on Spotify. Young woman in a thrift store dress and crocheted hat played flute and guitar, grizzled leather-clad rocker on bass, man-bunned hipster scratched at a banjo, and a big fella in a tattered Mr. Rogers sweater on mandolin and wooden flutes. The set started with a dueling flute passage, in came a bass vamp and some banjo scratching. The songs seemed quiet, like a movie soundtrack to a slow moving thriller. I was waiting for the group to unleash, but it never came. Perhaps the thriller ended peacefully, the villain was caught and there was no need for a climactic score.
Nathan Bowles played banjo in The Black Twig Pickers, a psychedelic take on Appalachian string music. On this night, he played with a drummer and standup bassist. Bowles percussive style was on display. The first tune, Nathan played an unusual lute-like instrument. He switched to banjo on which he strummed, picked, bowed, and bongoed. Song structure was good, and the capable rhythm section helped to deliver the tunes. Decent crowd and an annoying old woman taking flash photos from behind the band.