Kevin Harris: Roots, Water, & Sunlight 6/17/24 Beinecke Library

 Another Arts and Ideas event billed as a “contemporary wind octet expedition through the expressions of James Baldwin”.  Kevin Harris seems to be a modern classical composer who conducted and played piano and synths. I couldn’t really see the octet, but I could hear French horn, trombone, trumpet, and sax and could see standup bass and drums. For those who have never been in this building, I’ll break it down. You enter across a courtyard behind Woolsey (now Schwarzman) Hall. The library houses Yale’s collection of rare books and manuscripts and current Juneteenth exhibition had a wealthy patrons collection of the writings of Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, and the political cartoons of Oliver Harrington. When you enter the building, you see the permanent collection housed in a glassed-in inner sanctum that stretches from floor to ceiling. A glass silo allows one to see the spines of these ancient texts in a bibliobelisk of sorts. There are only ground floor windows, the mezzanine and upper floors are walled with opaque marble. Yes you read right, marble that allows diffuse light to enter based on the strength of the sun. I assume the marble adds a layer of protection against tome killing UV rays. The musicians were awkwardly placed on the mezzanine and 75 chairs were set nearby obscuring the view. Fortunately the sound was not obscured. The three movements had passages from Baldwin and others, some taped gospel numbers that stretched the music of the octet. It reminded me of the jazzy Blood On The Fields production by Wynton Marsalis back in the 90s. Standing room only for this unusual and challenging music.

The Ebony Hillbillies w/Cecilia 6/16/24 New Haven Green

 First Sunday of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas Started with Québécois trio Cecilia. Accordion, fiddle, and a young woman on organ. Celtic fusion with a French twist, these three were built for speed. The instrumentation allowed for fluid segues among ethnicities. They played an Edith Piaf tune at breakneck speed.

The Ebony Hillbillies are an NYC group of  pickers that appeared to be in their 70s. They started with a Native American invocation to “honor their elders”. Two female singers and a motley crew of guitar, banjo, bass, washboard gave an authentic string band sound. Good version of the Howling Wolf classic, Spoonful.

Will Bernard’s Pond Life 6/7/24 Firehouse 12

 Final offering of the Firehouse spring schedule did not disappoint. Pond Life is a trio with Bernard on guitar, Chris Lightcap on bass, and the omnipresent Ches Smith on drums. The original incarnation of this group included Tim Berne on sax. Bernard’s C.V. has him appearing on releases by Don Cherry and Galactic. In the 90s he formed the Bay Area guitar supergroup T.J.Kirk with Charlie Hunter. Playing the music of Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Roland Kirk, T.J. embodied Will and Charlie’s reverence for the masters in a groove setting. Lightcap is a stalwart downtown presence and seemed unfazed by the pyrotechnics of the guitar and drum interplay. Ches Smith is the best drummer you’ve never heard of. He is tireless, appearing in countless groups spanning free improv to jammy groove settings. His Haitian percussion group, positively reviewed here last year, had him driving the train behind 10 musicians. Happy then, to be sitting right in front of the kit for a close view of this amazing drummer. They played some cuts from the Pond Life release and some older tunes from a Bernard/Smith collab from 2004. Smith seems to be in his 30s which would make him a teenager in 04. The beauty of this group is their telepathic ability to shift from hard driving groove to free jazz at the drop of a hat. Speaking of hats, Will’s star-studded Medicine Hat release from the late 90s still brings me joy. Can’t wait for the fall lineup to come out.

Adam Rudolph’s Sunrise Quartet 5/24/24 Firehouse 12

 Made it to the second set of Adam’s group at the Firehouse. Rudolph on handrumset, electronic processing, thumb pianos, mouth bow, gongs, and percussion; Alexis Marcelo- piano, electric keyboards, kudu horn, percussion; Kaoru Watanabe- taiko, Japanese percussion, noh kan and fue flutes, electric koto and processing; Stephen Haynes- cornets, flugelhorns, trumpet, conch shells, didgeridoos, percussion. Yes, that is certainly a percussive army, but Rudolph and company have a way of weaving these disparate instruments into a sonic tapestry that is best viewed live. The songs ebbed and flowed with the instruments. Arriving early, I listened to Rudolph and Haynes chatting with local DJ and world music aficionado Richard Hill. They were speaking of their schooling and experiences as globetrotting students of trance percussion, Gnawa, Morocco, the Master musicians of Joujouka, I was getting dizzy trying to keep up. Rudolph looks like a beatnik Al Pacino , easily moving from percussion to laptop. Marcelo was the glue, providing the backdrop for the others to work. Watanabe’s instruments were so unusual, at one point he raised a metal pole with three rings dangling from the top and thumped the ground with it sounding like some demented Asian Jacob Marley. Haynes has been positively reviewed in this blog before, usually as a leader, he takes a team player approach in the Sunrise quartet. The trumpet and flugel are augmented with a cigar box didg that sounded like insect buzzing. The music on view was strange and beautiful, the bonus of seeing it live capped a wonderful set.

Membra 5/24/24 Neverending Books

 Membra is the experimental pop songwriting project of Brooklyn-based composer, sound designer, and filmmaker Ned Porter. Found sounds and tape loops are stretched beyond recognition and transformed into left field pop musings.Small crowd for a Friday at the bookstore watched while Ned had some technical difficulties plying his craft. The music on this evening was supposed to be a triple bill with the headline musician,  Nahadoth. Nahadoth is a project of the American Dungeon Synth revival created by local composer, keyboardist, and accordionist Adam Matlock. Adam has been positively reviewed in this blog as part of his many musical personas. Unfortunately, due to the delay in Membra’s set, Matlock had little time to showcase his music. I will have to keep tabs on the Dungeon Synth revival to get a better view of Adam’s music in this genre.

John Hiatt 5/23/24 Infinity Hall Hartford

 Had tickets to see John Hiatt last fall but he fell while hiking and had to cancel the tour. A concussion and an ankle break in your 70s is not an easy road back. Glad he made the effort and was in rare form at Infinity. This theater is comfortable with good acoustics and sight lines. Hiatt is like a a well worn leather coat, comfortable, familiar, and consistent. Hiatt has been making excellent records at a pretty regular clip since the mid 70s. The extensive catalog is peppered with hits and the hiking injury seemed to have no aftershocks on this troubadour. The setlist delivered: My Old Friend, All The Lilacs In Ohio, Trudy and Dave, Crossing Muddy Waters, The Tiki Bar is Open, Tennessee Plates, Master of Disaster, Seven Little Indians, Weightless In My Arms, The Open Road, Real Fine Love, Lift Up EveryStone,  Drive South, Perfectly Good Guitar, Through Your Hands, Feels Like Rain, Cry Love, Memphis In The Meantime, Thing Called Love, Encored with Riding With The King and Have a Little Faith in Me. Hiatt’s Crossing Muddy Water release from 2000 is a near perfect record and was a soundtrack to my daughter’s young years. The songwriting is impeccable, spinning rust belt tales of everyday lives. He told the story of Seven Little Indians,  a song about his father telling tales to a young John and his six siblings. The music of John Hiatt is entirely relatable and made for an excellent evening of tunes.

Jessica Pavone String Trio w/ Dave Scanlon 5/20/24 Neverending Books

 Nice listing for the book store that is dirty. NEB has ditched the mismatched chairs in favor of 20 black plastic beauties. Don’t worry, the ass- swallowing couch from the 70s still props up the back of the room. When I arrive, JP3 is already playing. Pavone and two other violists pluck and bow to great effect. The viola is an expressive instrument, Pavone can easily switch from improv to chamber sounding pieces. Jessica has had an under the radar NYC career dotted with excellent collaborations with the likes of Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara. She is also a continual presence on the outre marathons of Anthony Braxton. I also notice she guests on a Vampire Weekend record, I guess you never know when a viola is called for. Unfortunately I only catch the second half of the set. Message to bookers and venues, please list the acts and timing in the actual order delivered. I stick around for the apparent headliner Dave Scanlon, a frail balding hipster that I chat with on the way to the bathroom. Dave plays a treated guitar and sing-speaks while blowing a few notes from a harmonica. He states that the one long form piece is about sharks around Greenland. The poetry is obtuse but holds the story line. The guitar work moves from gentle strums to Marc Ribot squalls. Dave has a weird capo on the neck that looks like a wooden leaf press.The harmonica is used to play a single note while Dave turns the sheet music pages and sounds like a distant mosquito. Upon further digging, I learn that Dave is associated with John Zorn’s Tzadik label and is a frequent flyer at the Stone in NYC. Unhappy that I missed most of the set of my intended outing, but happy that I got to view someone new.