Mdou Moctar w/ The Mountain Movers 9/26/17 Lyric Hall

First time seeing a show at New Haven's historic Lyric Hall in the Westville section. You enter the venue from Whalley Ave into a large sitting room, snake through a creepy hallway to a decidedly European room with a bar, another creepy hallway and into the intimate stage room. There was a balcony, but it was unclear if it was VIP or general admission. Local psych purveyors The Mountain Movers warmed up the crowd. Two guitars, bass, and drums filled the hall with sound. The young lady on lead guitar has been positively reviewed in this blog in her other incarnation, Headroom. Sparse vocals with loud guitar shards is the MM m.o. The crowd seemed at capacity and eagerly awaited Mdou Moctar. The group was a trio with Moctar on lead guitar and vocals,  rhythm guitar, and drums. The trio are from Nigeria and wore the traditional Touareg garb. The drummers face was completely obscured. Moctar is the real deal. Nimble playing of trance African rhythms, it looked like he was tickling the guitar. Shades of blues and Hendrix topped with vocals in their native tongue was intoxicating. I was close enough to notice that Moctar had awful teeth for a man that wasn't 30, Bedouin dentists must be few and far between. The trio whipped the crowd into a frenzy,  one revel ler hopped on stage and started throwing money around in a cringeworthy show of adulation. Moctar took it in stride, I even saw the fan give him a hug after the show. This was a fantastic show in a surreal venue.

Frode Gjerstad Trio with Steve Swell 9/22/17 Firehouse 12

Norwegian free jazz trio has FG on alto sax, Paal Nilssen Love on drums, and Jon Rune Strom on bass were joined by American Steve Swell on trombone. After a hilarious story by Swell which chronicled his time with the trio touring the states going from Waffle House to Denny's while nightly plying their brand of Nordic free jazz, before launching into a maelstrom of sound. FG had a Lester Youngian emboucher with a side of Dizzy Gillespie cheek puff. It appeared that Gjerstad's left brain was melting and came out the sax in a torrent of sound. PNL has played with Miles and other jazz luminaries and played in the vein of Scandinavian greats like Han Bennink. JRS was younger than the rest, but held his own with an active, percussive style. Swell was genuinely happy to play with these guys, and brought a jousting complexity to the sound. Swell was able to make wind and weather sounds through breathing and use of a plunger mute. I got a chuckle thinking about this troupe ordering Moons Over Mi-hammy at Denny's, and the waitresses at these joints having no idea the nature of their night job.

The Pixies 9/19/17 College St. Music Hall

The Pixies have been around since the 90s. Frontman singer and guitarist Frank Black, bassist Kim Deal, lead guitar, and drums comprised the quartet. Near capacity crowd at College St. was an unusual cross section of ages. Many fans were in their 40s and 50s, but there also was a cadre of 20 year olds. Did they stumble on their parents CDs? Are there new hits in the mix? Being around as long as they have, the Pixies had some charitable hits, This Monkey's Gone to Heaven, Where is My Mind?, cheeky cover of Here Comes My Man and Neil Young's Winterlong from the fabulous first Bridge School Benefit. Black's screech veered from punk insistence to angry dad with a couple of beers in him while Deal is the real deal. The Pixies seem to be comfortable in their position of rock royalty and occasional touring.

Kath Bloom, Rob Noyes, Alexander 8/20/17 Slade-Ely House

The Slade-Ely House on Trumbull St. in New Haven is an old home converted to a gallery and impromptu performance space. Maybe 30 people in attendance for this folding chair show. First up is local guitarist Alexander. Confident picking on his six string acoustic sometimes veered into new age territory. Next was 12-string acoustic maestro Rob Noyes.  The 12-string in Noyes words is a "beast", but his technique of thumb pick and strum was amazing. I heard Noyes hyped on the WFMU show Shrunken Planet, and he did not disappoint. Speedy, effortless tunes fell out of this beast.
Local freak folk legend Kath Bloom was the headliner. Bloom was joined onstage with another guitarist and a young woman on percussion and backing vocals which gave off a coffeehouse, talent show vibe. Bloom's childlike, homeless woman vocal delivery reminded me of Daniel Johnston. At one point, when the sound was being worked on (by Bloom's partner, Loren Connors), Bloom retreated to her backpack where she produced a pint of Jack Daniels to swig. One tune was written in the Grove St. Cemetery, another commented on her child's battle with schizophrenia.

Ocean Vuong w/ Braiden Sunshine 8/16/17 Hill-Stead Museum Farmington

The final night of the museum's Sunken Garden Poetry Festival started with music by Braiden Sunshine, a young singer songwriter type with some success on The Voice. Sunshine's songs were fairly sunny and full-voiced. One tune about Tennessee whiskey seemed odd because this young lad didn't seem old enough to know where his dad's liquor cabinet was, let alone raid it for some booze.
Hartford native and poet Ocean Vuong is a young Vietnamese-American who has work in many publications. Currently teaching at Umass-Amherst, Vuong was tiny, fragile, and effeminate. His poems came with brief whispered introductions. The poems were read in a different, slightly stronger voice as if he took on another persona. Weighty topics, his illiterate nail salon working mother in "A-B-C", or one about a gay couple being burned alive in Texas. The performance was brief, but heavy in a beautiful location.

Darius Jones w/ Allen Lowe 8/14/17 Bushnell Park

Final installment of the jazz in the park series started with saxophonist and jazz historian Lowe. I have missed his monthly gigs at Hamden's Best Video, so I am glad to have gotten a viewing. Melodic, with a good backing band, lulled the crowd into a false sense of security before the caterwaul known as Darius Jones took the stage. I have seen Darius several times at Firehouse 12, and his music is not for the faint of heart. "Uneasy listening" is how I categorized the sound. Jones squonked and squibbled his way through the set that sent much of the crowd running for the periphery. At one point, there was some stage banter about Marcus Garvey from which Jones touched on pieces of the Burning Spear classic. For most of the set, the crowd collectively scratched it's head wondering if they were listening to a radio station broadcast from the future. Kudos to Hartford Jazz to end the Monday night series with such a talented but difficult listen.

Newport Jazz Festival 8/5/17 Fort Adams, Newport RI

The Newport Jazz Festival has sprung back to life after years of syrupy or moldy fig offerings. Last year's outing included an epic performance from Kamasi Washington. The Saturday lineup went as follows:
Christian McBride Big Band: Bandleader bassist and voice of Jazz Night in America had a crew of Allstars on the main stage gave a taste of Mingus.
Vijay Iyer Sextet: Genius Grant recipient and piano visionary Iyer travels with this amazing piano that exudes a full and varied sound. His runs are speedy and effortless, an excellent modern bandleader.
Dominick Farinacci: Not familiar with this young trumpet player. Came with accordion and had a young singer blow up Screamin Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell on You.
Rhiannon Giddens: Lead vocalist and banjo player for The Carolina Chocolate Drops was an odd choice for the mid-afternoon main stage act. Giddens has chops as shown on her Dylan takes on The New Basement Tapes recording. Her blend of old timey tunes and spirituals was a good break from the straight ahead offerings.
DJ Logic and Project Logic was a no-show, claiming to be "caught in traffic". While I've seen Logic many times in many incarnations, he seems to have a penchant for the no-show. Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer stepped in for a piano-centric fill in for Logic.
Allen, Carrington, Spalding: Geri Allen passed away in June and it seems the festival had time to change the program to a tribute to this excellent pianist. You guessed it, the versatile Vijay Iyer stayed on the stage with Teri Lynne Carrington on drums and Esperanza Spalding on bass. This was a great trio that I would hope to see more of. Spalding soared on the signature Allen tune Feed The Fire.
Antonio Sanchez and Migration: Building on his award winning soundtrack from Birdman, Sanchez' drum centered group rocked the Harbor Stage.
HenryThreadgill Zooid: Threadgill's large unit is not easy listening. Threadgill on bass flute and sax, with drums, guitar, tuba, and cello played to a small but fervent avant grade jazz crowd. Last time I saw this group was in the great acoustics of Wesleyan's Crowell Hall, the sound was swallowed up by the swirling winds of the fort.
Snarky Puppy: A downtown collaborative collective, SN closed the Saturday show with a bang. Multiple drums, guitars, keys, and horns SN seems like summer camp for sidemen. The group reminds me of The Lounge Lizards whose album Voices of Chunk is the namesake of this blog. While Lurie's Lizards had a distinct leader and task-master, SN seemed like the Occupy Movement's answer to downtown jazz. Some leadership is needed in a group that size to make sure that all participants are moving in the same direction. I enjoyed this group because I was close enough for critical viewing. The sound back by the portolets probably was more like a jazz boho train wreck.