We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Ron Carter Foursight Quartet!
It's Jazzy January again here at RtBE, so get ready to kick off 2022 with some different styled shows every Friday. For this series we skew into new (or more recent) jazz lands. Keeping it current proves there is amazing live jazz still being performed no matter what Ken Burns says.
Back to back killer bassists from different generations to kick start Full Show Friday's in Jazzy January in 2022. Today the focus is on the legendary Ron Carter who is still innovating and delivering the goods.
The Foursight Quartet (Ron Carter (double-bass) Donald Vega (piano) Payton Crossley (drums) Jimmy Greene (tenor sax)) gets it done during this live set from a few years ago. Timeless. Pro shot, Pro sound, enjoy.
The last time RtBE checked in on Buckethead was back in 2014 as he was delivering a very emotional farewell to his mother via Pikes 65. Prolific doesn't do the artist justice as Buckethead never stops writing, recording, and delivering his music to his devoted fan base. The Pike series is up to 301 now with the release of The Chariot of Saturn (Pikes 301), and each of these releases display Buckethead's unique twist on instrumental rock and roll.
The Chariot of Saturn is one long outing that runs almost a half an hour and invites the listener into the sonic wandering world of Buckethead. The track starts off ominous and lush with vibrating guitars and shimmering cymbals before clicking into a hard rock expansive sound fairly quickly, then just as easily drifts down again into the spacey abyss. This back and fourth between heavy riffs/crunching drumming to spacey floating is a theme throughout The Chariot of Saturn (Pikes 301) as if the listener is soaring through the cosmos alongside the artist.
Around the thirteen minute mark the hard riffs become scenic and wonderful as they could easily fill up an arena before the chunky grooves come back, dripping once again into the mellowed twinkling. The track continues in the same pattern, a bit repetitively, until the final ebb and flow as the heavy riffs blend with the meditative swirling sections into a contemplative whole instead of a blasting finish.
The elongated piece has a lingering melancholic feel as Buckethead deals with his issues through his music and invites the listener on the never ending ride of his Pikes series, which will take lifetimes to fully absorb. The Chariot of Saturn (Pikes 301) is a must have for Buckethead devotees, but even those new to his bizarre world will easily enjoy this lingering instrumental space rock outing as it cascades throughout the universe.
The Brooklyn, New York based, eight-piece female brass band, the Brass Queens deliver the sounds of New Orleans, where the brass band tradition originated, to the Big Apple via their Royal St. EP. The six song instrumental EP floats by like a paddle wheel steamer on the mighty Mississippi.
The opening "Candy" eases in with tuba and percussion as the horns slowly build up to a cool groove as the full complement of Queens become involved. The bands cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" is relaxed, letting the get-down-groove roll out while their version of The Temptations "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" is looser and funky with slapping percussion and bright horns.
The group pays tribute to their Brooklyn contemporaries The Dap Kings with a fairly straight ahead version of "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?" with stately trumpet, trombone and sax work but better situated is "Mad". The track is the most nuanced on the EP as it ebbs and flows from mellow to strutting, before soaring with blaring power; a well rounded offering that displays the groups talents excellently.
The brief Royal St. EP wraps up with the outfits take on the traditional "Lil Liza Jane" (titled "Liza" here) as the sunshine flows fourth, transporting the listen to the EP's title street in the French Quarter, marching and dancing behind the Brass Queens as they keep the second line tradition grooving.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: Neal Francis Live from 7th St. Entry
Retro rocker Neal Francis is playing 7th St. Entry tonight in Minneapolis at 9:30 EST. RtBE caught Francis last year at Brooklyn Bowl and can attest he puts on a good show. We also reviewed his newest release for Glide.
You can get your live stream tickets from Flymachine. To get pumped for the show, here is some live video from Francis and crew:
The Turkish free form ensemble KONSTRUKT has been conducting live collaborations on stage and they hosted a recent one with guitarist Thurston Moore. No stranger to experimentation Moore easily fits in with the outfit, delivering an engaging set of out there, free form, jazz rock.
The live playing is broken into different themes and things start out a bit rocky with the repetitive entry "Yapayalnız (Gezerler Sokaklarda)" dealing with lots of noisy squeals from Moore and saxophones. The full band (Korhan Futacı: alto sax, flute, voice, loops Umut Çağlar: electric guitar, synthesizer Apostolos Sideris: electric bass, upright bass Berkan Tilavel: drums) kicks in after a few minutes with some driving power and distorted vocal yells before the ending dissolves back into free jazz with the players searching.
Things steadily improve as all onstage become more comfortable. "Sis" uses marching drums and sax before a great swirling, chaotic full band ending. "Kurtadam (Part 1)" peters out after some twinkling from Moore but "Kurtadam (Part 2)" fades back in and amps the ominous noise rock Sonic Youth fans will recognize instantly as Moore rings out strong through the maelstrom.
Set closer "Zor" is the highlight of the whole album as the kicked up tempo recalls traditional Turkish tunes before fiery playing from all involved pushes the tempo. Squawking sax work and heavy rocking drums keep flexing he tone before the track dissolves in the middle, only to kick back up for a freak out to wrap the set played in front of an appreciative crowd. "Zor" is reminiscent of prime era electric Miles Davis and company as KONSTRUKT along with guest Moore play the best way possible, without a net.
The outfit encores with the pulsing "Uğultular" to close the night, acting as a cool down form the fury that preceded it, but overall the rocking, experimental jazz KONSTRUKT and Moore delivered with Turkish Belly were the sweet sonic goods on this night.
Spoon is getting ready to release their newest album Lucifer On The Sofa next month and the next single "Wild" hits the world today. It follows the excellent first single/video "The Hardest Cut".
Daniel Carter, Tobias Wilner, Djibril Toure, Federico Ughi
New York United, Vol 2
**and1/2 out of *****
The avant-garde quartet of Daniel Carter, Tobias Wilner, Djibril Toure, Federico Ughi return for their second offering of music just on the fringes of waking and dreaming with New York United, Vol 2.
The seven song collection plays with sound and substance as the artists ebb and flow. Daniel Carter (Saxophone, Flute, Trumpet, Clarinet), Tobias Wilner (Synthesizers, Percussion, Vocals, Piano, Guitar), Djibril Toure (Bass), Federico Ughi (Drums) bring a lo-fi jazz style to the recording as clicks and cackles seem etched into the tunes.
Surprisingly the two extended beginning and ending elongated efforts are the least successful on the album. Both opener "New York Flower" and closer "Bronx Night" meander without any real purpose. The opener has an eerie vibe that never fully blossoms while the closer has an aloofness that doesn't lock in.
In-between however there are a few standouts. "The Grind" is a vibrant slice of electro influenced jazz with a digital looped beat augmenting slapping snares and pushing horns in exciting fashion. The combo of "The Corner" and "After The Rain", while separated into two tracks, flow as one successful offering. "The Corner" starts with a swirling sound and strong trumpets which sound as if they were recorded in the rain, only to float into "After The Rain" which continues the motif with improved percussion.
"Day Dream" warbles with electros and horns but stays upright with strong work from Toure and Ughi on low-end while "Sunrise at Brower Park" is a hip slice of get down, but is too brief and could have been flushed out even more. The avant-garde sound crackles as the quartet delivers a downtown vibe with their sparse jazz and bumping beats on New York United, Vol 2.
The greatest punk band of all-times sophomore album Leave Home was released on this date in 1977.
The Ramones are one ofRtBE Personal Favorites and Leave Home is a big reason why. Their debut and Rocket to Russia seem to get all the love when the bands records are discussed with Road to Ruin also getting exalted but it is Leave Home which RtBE's spins the most.
It is like the middle child of Ramones efforts, overlooked but kick ass through and through.
Joey remembers the band being in great shape for this album and it shows. An extension of the original with pop, punk and a smirking sense of play flowing throughout. Right from the drop of opener "Glad To See You Go" the band is locked in their classic four on the floor style, leading to the pogo'ing of "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", a pure blast of punk power. "I Remember You" is a gorgeous slice of singing by Joey and widens the bands scope to include a hard edge ballad of sorts while "Oh Oh I Love Her So" is our favorite track on the record.
"Oh Oh I Love Her So" is pure Joey throwing it back to the 50's doo-wop era and modernizing it just a touch with Burger King getting named dropped backing vocals and sweet guitar riffs. This would have been a killer song in Freddie Cannon's catalog and a number one hit if Chuck Berry got his hands on it a few decades earlier; one of the most underrated songs in the entire Ramones catalog.
The strong songs just keep flowing out with the originally banned "Carbona Not Glue" getting huffed and high while "Suzy Is A Headbanger" and "Pinhead" are classic Ramone songs that the band played throughout their long career with "Pinhead" resulting an outsider anthem for all of the freaks to enjoy.
The band gets melodic and pretty for "Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy" and Swallow My Pride" and "What's Your Game" with Joey really shining, perhaps that is why RtBE connects with Leave Home so much, it seems to be the most Joey-centric Ramones album as the punk/hippie/rock and roller got to meld all of his loves into a strong offering.
Leave Home ends with a wicked run of rockers as the smoking cover of "California Sun" kicks off the progression. DeeDee and Johnny get heavy with "Commando" and closer "You Should Have Never Opened That Door" while Joey sticks one more doo-wop influenced number "You Are Gonna Kill That Girl" in-between.
The record sounds great, has fantastic short tunes and continues the winning streak of their debut. In reality the first four records from the punk gods could be considered one long offering, but as it stands, Leave Home should get a bit more love, especially on the 45th anniversary of the albums release.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by Paris Jazz Sessions Featuring Ellen Birath playing " Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
Jazzy January has invade Mondays! All this month we will check out various artists covering Dylan with a jazz vibe.
Thought's on Original: From the first time we reviewed a cover of this tune: This song is so iconic and flat out awesome, even people who dislike Dylan have to enjoy this tune right? Biting and yet not bitter, a toss off of the grandest proportions, "Don' Think Twice, It's All Right" is epic and yet so straight forwardly simple. It easily ranks as one of the bard's best works, truly a classic and has been covered by so many people in so many ways. Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: This is our first time hearing Ellen Birth and the Paris Jazz Sessions. All of the artists in the video are as follows: PARIS jazz SESSIONS - « Don’t think twice it’s alright » (Bob Dylan) Feat. Ellen Birath. The Rooftop Session - recorded live at La Bellevilloise Paris Philippe Maniez - Arrangement Ellen Birath - Vocal Nicolas Blampain - Guitar Bastien Brison - Piano Edouard Pennes - Bass David Paycha - Drums Jeanne Michard - Alto Sax Noé Codjia - Trumpet Mathieu Najean - Tenor Sax Nam Nguyen - Violin Alexandre Pascal - Violin Marie Lèbre - Alto Maude Pagès - Cello Edouard Pennes - Son Hadrien Pennes - Vidéo Thoughts on Cover:
A quick and light cover with lots of instrumentation, but it never gets weighed down by sentimentality, cheese, or anything. Tiny quick string flourishes and brief sax solos are expertly sprinkled in without dragging the pace of the tune down at all. It is covered in the spirit it was written and works wonderfully.
It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.
From the cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen, to the contributions of everyone involved The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do that now.
You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening to my music.
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Esperanza Spalding Quartet!
It's Jazzy January again here at RtBE, so get ready to kick off 2022 with some different styled shows every Friday. For this series we skew into new (or more recent) jazz lands. Keeping it current proves there is amazing live jazz still being performed no matter what Ken Burns says.
The supremely talented Esperanza Spalding leads her outfit through a moving concert at the 2008 Jazz Sous Les Pommiers.
The Lost Bayou Ramblers are teaming up with Spider Stacy and Cáit O'Riordan from The Pogues to deliver Poguetry. Their mix of Cajun folk and Irish punk toured right before the pandemic in 2020 and had events cut short (like all of us) so they are hitting the road again.
They will be playing some select cities and hip venues including Brooklyn Bowl in March. RtBE is very excited for this one.
Father John Mistyis releasing his new album Chloë and the Next 20th Century on April 8th and the first single with accompanying video "Funny Girl" is out today.
Yuo can pre-order the album in a variety of formats on Misty's Bandcamp page.
To celebrate the release Misty has also announced two special shows, the first is at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on February 25 with the LA Phil followed by London's The Barbican on April 7 with Britten Sinfonia conducted by Jules Buckley. Tickets for both those shows go on sale Friday, January 7 at 10 AM local time.
RtBE are fans of Misty having seen him live and ranked two of his albums in our top fifty from the previous decade; God's Favorite Customer even topped our list for 2018. His mix of pathos, humor and honesty is a wining combo as he usually pairs these with orchestral pomp and large soundscapes.
The new tune follows in that style and RtBE are looking forward to hearing the full album. Check out "Funny Girl" below:
The Cookers deliver their post-bop styling with gusto on the group's sixth album Look Out! This collection of originals recall the mid to late sixties heyday of this jazz genre and with good reason, a few players were contributors to the eras sound.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can always check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: Jon Cleary - Quarantini 2 Live from the Maple Leaf
This is a very cool live stream, read the description below from Instagram and peep some video below to get in the mood for Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen tonight from the Maple Leaf.
The master of the djembe, Weedie Braimah has released his debut full length album The Hands of Time and it is a overwhelming success mixing all sorts and sounds, styles and vibes throughout it's elongated run time.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Herbie Hancock & Friends playing "The Times They Are a' Changin'"
Jazzy January has invade Mondays! All this month we will check out various artists covering Dylan with a jazz vibe.
Thoughts on Original: Short and sweet from the first time we tackled a cover of this tune: Well it is his most famous song for a reason, it is one of the greatest ever produced in any genre, ever.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: Herbie Hancock is a jazz legend, and his friends on this track The Chieftains are Irish folk legends. They pair up on this cover and invite even more legends to help out with Toumani Diabaté on kora,as well as Lisa Hannigan - Vocal, Manu Katché - Drums, Larry Klein - Bass, Rhani Krija - Percussion, Lionel Loueke - Guitar. This is one star studded cover, and on a personal note I got a chance to see both Hancock and The Chieftains (separately) with my father over the years, and both contributed to my personal love of music.
Thoughts on Cover:
RtBE is starting the month with one of the best Dylan covers we have covered in this series as Hancock and crew do a phenomenal job re-imagining this classic. The end of this song feels like it could roll on forever with the musicians all talking to each other with Diabaté's Kora leading the way.
Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.
For the last year live music was on lock down (like everything else in New York City). Live streams and old concerts have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are improving on the pandemic front in this city, but live streams will be an option for the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can always check out or weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Live From Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
Ring in the New Year with St. Paul and The Broken Bones. Grab tickets here.
To get in the mood, here is an older tune from the band:
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