live music just performed | live music in preparation | tales of the echo beach band | music from computers | music from the stereo | music at large | as seen and heard on tv |
Monday, October 25, 2004 7:23:19 AM
On Saturday we played at the Danville Falls Crafts Festival on the Prospect Stage. Raindrops outnumbered festivalgoers but we had a particularly good gig anyway. Aaron Germain guested on bass with us, and we had the pleasure of additional instrumentation in the form of ("quatro" or "cuatro") courtesy of Brian's friend from Cincinnati, Nick. This instrument is used in Puerto Rican and Venezuelan music. Nick was playing the Puerto Rican style instrument (picture below). Our setlist was "Place To Be", "Wave", "Corcovado", "Freddie Freeloader", "Killer Joe", "Afro Blue", "Bright Size Life", "Cal's Pals" and "St. Thomas". Festival staff and staff from The Bear country radio, gave us a hand....Thanks! I'll post a couple of pictures from the gig soon.
Last Tuesday morning we played at Laguna Honda Hospital (in Moran Hall) for a group of patients, our second gig on behalf of Bread and Roses. These gigs are very important to us. As we play it's apparent how positive and powerful the experience of live music can be for people. We're fortunate to be participants in this art form. I feel fortunate to be associated with Bread and Roses, having been inspired by the social consciousness of Mimi Fariņa and Joan Baez starting many years ago.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 1:12:44 PM
Our setlist yesterday at the site dedication party for FormFactor in Livermore was: "Place To Be", "Bright Size Life", "One Note Samba", "Ironicle", "Freddie Freeloader", "Viva Tirado", "Merengue", "Key West Intermezzo", "St. Thomas", "Killer Joe", "Afro Blue", "So What", "Footprints", "Cal's Pals". Thanks to Cindy Thompson, John Ulloa, Michael Pinkham, Caroline Fritz.
Monday, September 27, 2004 8:25:23 AM
I believe that last week was our busiest week ever for live performances -- Four gigs in seven days. This past Saturday we were on stage in Pacifica at the Pacific Coast Fog Festival which was a homecoming of sorts. The band was founded in Pacifica in 1991, when I lived in Rockaway Beach. Thursday we were on the asphalt at 4th and B Streets in downtown San Rafael for the Farmers Market and the night before that we played at Borders Palo Alto when our gig at the Rose & Crown fell through (too many patrons in the pub to fit a band inside). That courtyard at Borders is a great setting, where I've enjoyed hearing other jazz bands in the past.
Monday, September 20, 2004 10:22:54 AM
David Flores guested with us on drumset yesterday at The Park Chalet on the back patio facing into GG Park, where Tears For Fears was performing (Break It Down Again, Curt and Roland!). Could the weather have been any better at Ocean Beach yesterday? A large enthusiastic crowd (including lots of toddlers curious what those musicians were doing up there) and a good vibe all around. Our setlist was: "Key West Intermezzo", "Bright Size Life", "One Note Samba", Justin's tune "Ironicle" (our first live performance of it), "Freddie Freeloader", "Viva Tirado", "Merengue", "St. Thomas", "Tune Up", Jobim's "Corcovado" (my first performance of it on marimba), "Killer Joe", "Afro Blue", "So What", "Blue Bossa", "Bright Size Life" (repeated for a Pat Metheny fan who didn't hear it at the top of the day), "Footprints", "Alone Together" (first band performance), "Cal's Pals", "Wave".
On this past Saturday we played in the morning at the Sausalito Relay For Life on behalf of the American Cancer Society.
Live music in preparation
Sunday, October 31, 2004 12:21:07 PM
The vibes are in good repair today and in the garage this morning I began working up "Spooky", written by Mike Sharpe and made a hit by the Classics IV. The tune is quite adaptable to jazz (with its intriguing chords, evocative breaks, and distinctive guitar riffs), as I'm sure has been done by many musicians. I didn't get the arrangement far enough along to perform at our gig today, especially since the band hasn't rehearsed it together. Maybe next Halloween!
Speaking of vibes and guitar, Gary Burton brings his band to the SF Jazz Festival next week. That will be a great show for sure. Every Burton performance and masterclass I've seen has been outstanding. Julian Lage, a local guitarist, has made a great reputation for himself in this group, and he's not even 17 yet! I was interested to read Burton's comments in the SF Chronicle today that the abilities and techniques of guitarists mystify and astound him. I think that's a great statement about Burton's soul as a musician, given his technical prowess on the vibes and his recently-ended tenure as Executive VP of the Berklee School of Music. The admiration he gives to other musicians is definitely reflected back at him and has been for a long time.
Monday, September 20, 2004 10:28:21 AM
My vibraphone is off stage and "in the shop" until I replace the drive belt which connects the motor to the rotors. The belt broke in performance Saturday.
Friday, September 10, 2004 5:29:56 PM
For a while (I haven't decided how long) I'm going to perform, compose and practice on vibes instead of marimba starting this weekend. For most of the first ten years of Echo Beach's existence I played marimba, alongside a vibes player (first Les Perez, then Phil Williams). Earlier this year I played a solo gig on vibes, and it convinced me that I've been missing something! I'm going to explore more of what I have been missing, for a while. I hope that the audience and the whole band enjoys it, I am certainly going to do so.
Friday, September 10, 2004 4:59:34 PM
Through the laptop from the CD Burning For Buddy produced by Neil Peart: "Dancing Men" with Simon Phillips, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" with Dave Weckl, "Lingo" with Bill Bruford. It's a bit hard to believe this CD was made a decade ago. So many people remember Buddy, his drumming, his various bands, his fire, and with the help of this CD and other evidence, Buddy will be long remembered as a galvanizer, organizer, fire-lighter, stick-burner and tub-pounder. All that, and silky finesse and a feather-light touch when it was appropriate ("I'm In The Mood For Love" as recorded by Bird with Buddy on drums being one example). That dynamic tradition goes on in great, great players now (Lewis Nash, Gadd, Weckl in various contexts, "Tain" Watts for example) and I feel very confident that the tradition that Buddy and Elvin and Tony and Buhaina and Gene and Papa Jo and Philly Joe and Chick and so many more laid down will always be renewed and present in a handful of drummers, forever, for us to enjoy live in the moment when we wish to avail ourselves down at the club or in our music collections. As a bonus some of this CD's tracks have a big, open sound on the drumset (the opening bars of Bruford's track is an example) that is just fantastically exciting. Bruford is one drummer who to my ears sounds best when he's playing rimshots with ringing toms and bass, and this album has a good amount of that kind of playing throughout. When you play Buddy's charts, and with Buddy's band no less, you gotta kick it. I also listened to the iPod/iTrip in the car and to iTunes at home to many great tracks today by Paul Weller, Love, Dizzy, The Pretenders, Jane Siberry, Christine McVie, Jethro Tull, Wesla Whitfield, Brian Hyland (Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman" what a great version; someday I'd like to find out who arranged it) and Caetano Veloso (his new CD is killer and I guess I might call him the "Arthur Lee of Brazil" for his staying power, blending of genres, respect for songwriting, and sly vocal interpretations and use of chords. As a corollary, Arthur Lee is "The Caetano Veloso of North America". Few people would care about these titles (they know who they are) but these titles amuse me as I listen to these cats. I admire creative longevity and the effective synthesis of musical cultures.
Friday, September 03, 2004 2:26:35 PM
iPod playlist for a road trip yesterday: "When Jesus Left Birmingham" - John Mellencamp; "I'm Holdin' On To Love (To Save My Life)" - Shania Twain; "Junior", "Human Wheels", "Case 795 (The Family)", "What If I Came Knocking", "French Shoes", "Check It Out" - John Mellencamp; "Fuego" and "Los Tobillitos" - Babo Jimenez Y Su Banda; "The Ballad Of El Goodo", "In The Street", "When My Baby's Beside Me", "Watch The Sunrise", "O My Soul" - Big Star; "Come As You Are" - Caetano Veloso; "Tumbao" - Cal Tjader; "In My Mind" - Dave Mason; "St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast" - Frank Zappa; "Lost a Number" - Grin (Nils Lofgren arranges guitar parts like a painter and the lyrics in the last verse lift the song to a new plane); "Back to Get Ya" - The J. Geils Band; "Mississippi Summer", "All Tomorrow's Parties", "Dark Eyed Sailor", "Pain Or Paradise" - June Tabor & The Oyster Band; "The Daily Planet" - Love; "West End Girls" - Pet Shop Boys.
Sunday, October 31, 2004 12:19:56 PM
Wynton Marsalis takes chances and risks controversy. May it always be thus.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:10:05 AM
British DJ John Peel will be greatly missed around the world, and without him I would have not heard a lot of music which influenced me as a younger lad (esp. in the '70s and '80s). British rock continues to influence my taste to this day, and Peel's belief in heralding new music and new forms of music opened a lot of ears for decades. Same is true of the music entrepreneur Greg Shaw whose passing last week leaves a history of promoting great rock (much of it British-influenced as it turns out) including The Flamin' Groovies, a whole lot of acts on United Artists Records in the '70s, and also his wonderful magazine Who Put The Bomp. One of Shaw's "causes" was Brian Wilson and his music and his future potential, in Wilson's long musical silence beginning in the '70s. That faith has been redeemed in the current time as Wilson triumphantly performs around the world on the "Smile" tour. Without people like Peel and Shaw our musical culture would be significantly less deep, interesting and vibrant.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 1:35:37 PM
Currently providing heavy musical inspiration and motivation for hard work (via iPod and otherwise) as I multi-task through composing, Echo Beach website redesign using Dreamweaver, practicing, performing and numerous work and personal tasks: Paul Weller, June Tabor, Brian Wilson, Jose Neto, The Bangles (how great to hear "Here Right Now" on the sound system at Whole Foods last night), Richard Thompson, Gary Burton, Dave Holland (Carmel's Jazz and Blues store has some rare Burton and Holland CDs which I discovered this past weekend), Elvis Costello's two new albums, and my friends in Percussive Arts Society. Bonus: I have repaired my vibraphone and will be back to playing it live starting this Sunday in Los Gatos. Yeah!
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