Concert Review: Andrew Green’s Narrow Margin CD Release Show at the Cornelia St. Cafe, NYC 9/20/09
Sometimes knowing a jazz group’s latest album before seeing them play from it is a complete waste of time. This time, it was like being handed a key to the secret back room where the party is always happening. A few years ago, guitarist Andrew Green spent some time on the disabled list with a busted wrist and he put the downtime to good use: he watched a lot of vintage film noir and wrote a lot of killer horn charts. The result was the album Narrow Margin (very favorably reviewed here recently), which is more of a homage to noir jazz from the 50s than it is an attempt to completely replicate the style. It’s full of mysterious twists and turns and catchy phrases, the kind of jazz album you find yourself humming as you walk down the street. And if you’re in the shadows, and it’s 4 AM and misty way over on the west side, all the better. Sunday night Green assembled most of the supporting cast who played on the album for a magical run through most of it.
Joining Green were his albummates Russ Johnson on trumpet and JC Sanford on trombone plus Noah Preminger subbing on tenor for Bill McHenry, with an inspired rhythm section of Kermit Driscoll on bass and Mike Sarin on drums. A lot of the songs slunk along with a latin pulse, and they nailed it. Watching the songs – and they are songs in the purest sense of the word – take shape was an apt reminder how cleverly and ingeniously Green composed them. Trumpet and trombone would weave and bob around each other while Green worked variations on the theme, often with a bracing tinge of natural distortion. Preminger got the chance to establish plenty of contrast against the suspense and occasional outright menace of the rest of the band and did it with a stunningly nuanced attack and an unassailable calm: as good as McHenry sounded on the cd, Preminger took it to the next level.
One of the oldest compositions, Miro, featured Driscoll working a finely honed, minimalist solo fleshed out with similar judiciousness by Green, sounding like an unconstrained, ballsier Joe Pass. Short Cut, with its wickedly catchy, four-note central riff was a clinic in the use of echo between horn players, Johnson’s trumpet perfectly evoking a blithe obliviousness as Green sputtered and threw off big dirty sparks underneath. Best song of the show was Midnight Novelette, a cinematic number if there ever was one, Green letting loose with a stinging volley of sixteenth notes after Johnson and then Sanford had built an indelibly nocturnal tableau. It was as if Bogart had been overheard at the bar, murmuring, “Play it again, guys.”
Concert Review: Hazmat Modine at City Winery, NYC 9/18/09
The New York Gypsy Festival‘s decision to scatter shows throughout the year, beginning in the spring, was an ambitious choice but ultimately a successful one. Although the past ten days or so were especially gypsy, with the Gypsy Tabor Festival out in Brooklyn and a whole bunch of similar bands playing the rock clubs, there was a full and enthusiastic house at City Winery Friday night for Hazmat Modine and Hungarian sensations Little Cow. The Hazmats opened and pandemonium reigned, no great surprise: there are few other acts in town who bring as much intensity and pure unadulterated fun to the stage. Frontman/harmonica player Wade Schuman wasn’t as completely gonzo as he can get, but the band was. This is a wild, extroverted crew: Pete Smith and Michael Gomez on electric guitars, Pam Fleming (back from the disabled list) on trumpet, Reut Regev on trombone and other horns, Steve Elson on tenor sax and other reeds, Rich Huntley on drums, Joseph Daley on tuba and Erik Della Penna of Kill Henry Sugar guesting on vocals on a couple of numbers.
The set list was characteristically eclectic. The blues standard Something You Got, an uncharacteristically major-key tune for this band, was elevated to the level of an ecstatic New Orleans second-line march. Irving Berlin’s tongue-in-cheek Walking Stick became a racewalk and got the crowd in front of the stage twirling just as crowds of the thirties must have done in the old vaudeville theatres. Gomez used it as a launching pad for a particularly ferocious, offhandedly raging solo, Fleming further cementing her reputation as the Human Crescendo – in this case, it was the flying lead-in to her solo, out of one by Schuman, that was the high point, but it sent the intensity level to redline in a split second as Huntley led the charge with a relentless volley of rimshots.
A new one sounded like a hypnotic early twenties delta blues number as R.L. Burnside might have done it, casually careening with more blazing fretwork from Gomez. Best song of the night was a surprisingly low-key and extremely effective Schuman instrumental, Grade A Grey Day, with Fleming bringing in the cumulo-nimbus and Elson on sax fluttering through them. After that, they flipped the script with another original that started out with Little Feat exuberance, building joyously to a 60s soul vamp with the horns blazing. They closed with Bahamut, the surreal, calypso-inflected title track to their most recent album, a somewhat surprising choice considering the long, mysterious spoken-word passage in the middle of the song. And when Schuman got there, no surprise, the dancers took a break. But they all got back into it when the song picked up again, Smith fanning the flames with a potently percussive, chord-chopping solo.
And what of the headliner, Little Cow? There were technical difficulties, no fault of the band or the club. And by a quarter to one in the morning, an hour and a half past their stage time, it was sadly time to call it a night – a strategy that paid off the following day throughout a successful, marathon sixteen-hour attempt to help some New York friends pack up and become ex-New Yorkers. Watch this space the next time Little Cow comes to town: they’re reputedly amazing in concert.
The 200 Best Albums of the Decade, or, the 200 Best Albums of the Zeros
We’ve been promising you this for months now, so here it is. Maybe we’ll put up some descriptions after all the disruptive renovations here at Lucid Culture HQ are finished, around mid-month in October if all goes well. If you’re viewing this page prior to January 1, 2010, this list is subject to change – the best album of the decade may not even be released yet…
1. Steve Wynn – Here Come the Miracles
2. Rachelle Garniez – Melusine Years
3. Rachelle Garniez – Luckyday
4. Botanica – Botanica vs. the Truth Fish
5. Randi Russo – Solar Bipolar
6. Bob Dylan – Love & Theft
7. LJ Murphy – Mad Within Reason
8. Mary Lee’s Corvette – True Lovers of Adventure
9. DollHouse – Touch the Moon
10. Mary Lee’s Corvette – Blood on the Tracks
11. Black Box Recorder – Passionioa
12. Jenifer Jackson – Outskirts of a Giant Town
13. Coffin Daggers – s/t (third album)
14. Brooklyn What – The Brooklyn What for Borough President
15. Matthew Grimm & the Red Smear – The Ghost of Rock n Roll
16. Dan Bryk – Pop Psychology
17. Bobby Vacant & the Weary – Tear Back the Night
18. Matt Keating – Quixotic
19. Curtis Eller’s American Circus – Wirewalkers & Assassins
20. Paula Carino – Aquacade
21. Erika Simonian – All the Plastic Animals
22. Chicha Libre – Sonido Amazonico
23. The Hangdogs – Wallace ‘48
24. Big Lazy – s/t (2nd album)
25. The JD Allen Trio – I Am I Am
26. Joy Division – Les Bains Douches 12/18/79 Live
27. The Jentsch Group Large – Brooklyn Suite
28. The Mofos – Supercharged on Alcohol
29. The Beefstock Recipes Anthology
30. Black 47 – Iraq
31. Balthrop, Alabama – Subway Songs
32. Steve Wynn and the Dragon Bridge Orchestra: Live in Brussels
33. The Oxygen Ponies – Harmony Handgrenade
34. 17 Pygmies – Celestina
35. Steve Wynn – Burgerhaus Heilbronn 4/3/2000
36. Tammy Faye Starlite – Used Country Female
37. Jay Bennett – Whatever Happened, I Apologize
38. Asylum Street Spankers – What? And Give Up Show Business?
39. Botanica – americanundone
40. Church – Untitled #23
41. Larval Organs – Posthumous
42. Marty Willson-Piper – Nightjar
43. McGinty & White Sing Selections from the McGinty & White Songbook
44. Kelli Rae Powell – New Words for Old Lullabies
45. Ivo Papasov – Dance of the Falcon
46. Amy Allison – Sheffield Streets
47. Erica Smith & the 99 Cent Dreams – Snowblind
48. Marcel Khalife – Taqasim
49. Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider – Silent City
50. Greta Gertler & Peccadillo – Nervous Breakthroughs
51. Aimee Mann – Fucking Smilers
52. Elvis Costello – Momofuku
53. Randi Russo – Live at Sin-e
54. Black Sea Hotel – s/t
55. Willie Nile – Streets of NYC
56. Jenifer Jackson – Birds
57. Aimee Mann – Lost in Space
58. Botanica – With All Seven Fingers
59. The Church – After Everything Now This
60. RL Burnside – Burnside on Burnside
61. The Coup – Party Music
62. Richard Thompson – Semi-Detached Mock Tudor
63. The Wirebirds – Past & Gone
64. Steve Wynn – Static Transmisssion (double album)
65. Amy Allison – No Frills Friend
66. Neko Case – Blacklisted
67. Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts…Now
68. Steve Earle – Just an American Boy
69. Nina Nastasia – The Blackened Air
70. Ward White – Pulling Out
71. Greta Gertler – The Baby That Brought Bad Weather
72. The Moonlighters – Live in Baden-Baden
73. Randi Russo – Still Standing Still
74. Twin Turbine – Jolly Green Giant
75. Mamie Minch – Razorburn Blues
76. Alice Lee – Lovers & Losers
77. Serena Jost – Closer Than Far
78. Radio Birdman – Zeno Beach
79. Rasputina – A Radical Recital
80. Botanica – Berlin Hi-Fi
81. Sharon Goldman – Semi-Broken Heart
82. Ward White – Maybe But Probably Not
83. Elvis Costello – My Flame Burns Blue
84. Richard Thompson – Sweet Warrior
85. Big Lazy – Postcards from X
86. Love Camp 7 – Sometimes Always Never
87. Teslim – s/t
88. Natacha Atlas & the Marzeeka Ensemble – Ana Hina
89. Black Fortress of Opium – s/t
90. Randi Russo – Live at CB’s Gallery
91. Ljova & the Kontraband – Mnemosyne
92. Metropolitan Klezmer – Traveling Show
93. Lee Feldman – I’ve Forgotten Everything
94. Monika Jalili – Elan
95. Linda Draper – Bridge and Tunnel
96. Bee & Flower – What’s Mine Is Yours
97. Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm
98. Randi Russo – Shout Like a Lady
99. Melomane – Look Out!
100. The Moonlighters – Dreamland
101. Matt Keating – Tiltawhirl
102. Steve Wynn – …tick…tick…tick
103. Willie Nile – Live from the Streets of New York
104. Greta Gertler – Edible Restaurant
105. Carol Lipnik – Cloud Girl
106. Willie Nile – Beautiful Wreck of the World
107. Elisa Flynn – Songs About Birds & Ghosts
108. System Noise – s/t (second ep)
109. Satanicide – Heather
110. The Moonlighters – Surrender
111. Tandy – To a Friend/Did You Think I Was Gone
112. Dina Dean – 4 songs (ep)
113. Mary Lee’s Corvette – Love, Loss & Lunacy
114. Jenifer & Julian Jackson – Together in Time
115. Black Box Recorder – The Facts of Life
116. Patricia Vonne – s/t (first album)
117. Elvis Costello – When I Was Cruel
118. Eleni Mandell – Afternoon
119. The Hangdogs – Beware of the Dog
120. Mavrothi Kontanis – Wooden Heart
121. Barbara Brousal – Pose While It Pops
122. Laura Cantrell – Not the Trembling Kind
123. The Stagger Back Brass Band– s/t
124. The Dog Show – Hello, Yes
125. Rosanne Cash – Black Cadillac
126. Graham Parker – Songs of No Consequence
127. Douce Gimlet – s/t
128. Mascott – Art Project
129. The Dixie Bee-Liners – Ripe
130. Devi – Get Free
131. The Roulette Sisters – Nerve Medicine
132. Rev. Vince Anderson – The 13th Apostle
133. Champagne Francis – I Start to Daydream
134. Steve Wynn – Crossing Dragon Bridge
135. The Auteurs – How I Learned to Love the Bootboys
136. Hazmat Modine – Bahamut
137. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
138. Everything Is Illuminated soundtrack
139. Eric Ambel – Roscoe’s Gang/Loud & Lonesome/Knucklehead box set
140. The Moonlighters – Enchanted
141. Ninth House – The Eye That Refuses to Blink
142. Patty Ocfemia – Heaven’s Best Guest
143. Mark Sinnis – Into an Unhidden Future
144. The Roots of Chicha compilation
145. Gogol Bordello – Gypsy Punks
146. Moisturizer – Moisturizer Takes Mars
147. Rachelle Garniez – Crazy Blood
148. Mark Steiner – Fallen Birds
149. Florence Dore – Perfect City
150. Dead Prez – Let’s Get Free
151. Peter Tosh – Live and Dangerous Boston 1976
152. Sounds of Taraab – Zanzibar, NY
153. System Noise – Give Me Power
154. The Go Go’s – God Save the Go Go’s
155. The Slackers – Peculiar
156. Sally Norvell – Choking Victim
157. 9th Wave – Hurricane
158. Amanda Thorpe – Union Square
159. Barbara Dennerlein – Spiritual Movement No. 2
160. Nick Cave – B-Sides and Rarities box set
161. Leslie Nuss – Round 3
162. Rasputina – Cabin Fever
163. Big Lazy – New Everything
164. Salaam – s/t (7th album)
165. Les Chauds Lapins – Parlez-Moi d’Amour
166. Zach James – Album 3
167. Linda Draper – Patchwork
168. The Church – Uninvited Like the Clouds
169. The Jack Grace Band – The Martini Cowboy
170. Matt Munisteri’s Brock Mumford – Love Story
171. The Yayhoos – Fear Not the Obvious
172. X – Live in Los Angeles
173. The Dirty Three – She Has No Strings Apollo
174. American Ambulance – Streets of NYC
175. Roxy Music – Live
176. Pink Floyd – Is There Anybody Out There [live album from 2000]
177. Laika & the Cosmonauts – Laika Sex Machine Live
178. Demolition String Band – Pulling Up Atlantis
179. Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 – Live at Big Mama
180. The Lost Crusaders – Have You Heard About the World
181. Burning Spear – Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival 2001
182. Sade – Lovers Live
183. Los Straitjackets – Damas y Caballerros
184. Angie Pepper & the Passengers – It’s Just That I Miss You
185. Tom Warnick & World’s Fair – May I See Some ID
186. Jan Bell – Songs for Love Drunk Sinners
187. Penelope Houston – Pale Green Girl
188. Luminescent Orchestrii – Neptune’s Daughter
189. The Bedsit Poets – The Summer That Changed
190. Martin Bisi – Son of a Gun
191. Linda Draper – Ricochet
192. Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band
193. The Dog Show – Demo
194. Revlover – On Ordinary Days
195. Tinariwen – Aman Iman: Water Is Life
196. Secretary – Secret Life of Secretary
197. Pinataland – Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 2
198. Maynard & the Musties – So Many Funerals
199. Si Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Vol. 2
200. Jenifer Jackson – So High
Song of the Day 9/22/09
Every day at least for the next few days, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Tuesday’s song is #309:
The Rolling Stones – Citadel
Where Sgt. Pepper was a quintessentially British, somewhat satirical slap at conformity, the Stones’ rejoinder, Their Satanic Majesties Request was unabashedly savage. In this frequently covered riff-rock masterpiece, Jagger has been taken prisoner by the enemy. Candy and Cathy, wherever you are, if you ever existed at all, this one’s for you. The link above is an intriguing alternate take in a slightly more folk-rock vein.
