Heading to New York for a week for work and not seeing some live music would have been a huge blunder on my part. I was hoping for a simple show... what I got was an insider tour of a unique jazz scene in the capital of the world. In my college days I used to run around with ulu, a jazz band hailing from the Big Apple. I got a hold of Josh Dion their former drummer who picked me up in his massive van for a night of live music. When I got in the van he looked more akin to Jim Morrison than the fresh-faced skin smacker I knew the better part of a decade ago. We drove a short distance to a venue called Joe’s Pub, which unlike its mundane name might suggest, was actually a pretty swanky room. We went inside and found a seat by the bar just as Adam Levy took the stage.
Adam Levy is not a name that stirs up much fervor out in Colorado but he is a well-known jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter in New York City. Having played with Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob and Amos Lee, his solo material is nothing short of stellar. Billed as a CD release show for his new album The Heart Collector, the show became a guest-ridden affair with several sit-ins throughout the set. Utilizing elements of rock, Americana, country, folk, blues and most prominently, jazz, Levy showed a craftsmanship to his playing and song-writing that is rarely seen out here on the Front Range.
His backup band dubbed "The Mint Imperials," consisted of Andy Hess and Tony Mason. Andy Hess is a name I know well given his membership in Gov’t Mule after The Deep End sessions, as well as his playing with John Scofield. He has also performed live with Joan Osborne’s band and done session work for David Byrne and Tina Turner. Tony Mason is a quintessential New York drummer and has performed or recorded with Norah Jones, Cyril Neville, Joan Osborne, Charlie Hunter and many more. The three-piece was a solid foundation for the performance and had a very urban feel to their presentation. The show was so much more intricate than I am used to. The crowd remained almost silent for the duration of the concert except for some eruptions of applause after a solo or the end of a song.
As mentioned above, this could have been an Adam Levy and Friends show because there were several other players who made it to the stage. Chris Masterson sat in on "Placeholder" and Adam did a solo Americana jam with Ana Egge on "There’s A Light." These tracks showed a real dedication to songwriting and a subtlety that I don’t hear in my more jam-fueled endeavors. He went into a song he penned for Norah Jones, which he also recorded himself entitled "In The Morning." This was when my ears really started to perk up. I had heard the version with Jones and his was so much grittier and raw, but with incredibly clean picking. This juxtaposition made for a very enjoyable rendition. Eleanor Whitmore joined the band on violin for a tune about a dopamine fiend before he closed the set with what could be seen as his theme song, "Got My Joy." It became a big sing along as the show ended on a truly positive note.
He encored the show with a track off of his album Washing Day entitled "I Can Promise You That" before The Mint Imperials left Adam alone to sing the title track from The Heart Collector solo, per request of the audience. I have a hard time quantifying what I witnessed with this show. It was a very New York experience even though Levy has called both New Orleans and Los Angeles home. From the little club that charged five bucks for a diet coke, to the stoic crowd, to the inclusion of solid New York players in the band, it just felt like a night out in the city. It was an intriguing experience overall and I want to thank Josh Dion for exposing me to it. If you like well crafted songs and delicate playing, I would highly recommend checking out The Heart Collector and Adam Levy. I often get wrapped up in the scene out here in Colorado, but it’s nice to know that people do it differently everywhere.
Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus
Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least
Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B
Cervantes Other Side Denver, CO Words & Photos by Pavel Gábor Kaplan Two weeks ago, Denver locals Shwarma graced the stage at Cervantes’ Other Side for the second time as headliners, with support from other Denver locals Cloud Catcher (stoner metal/power metal) and Kaepora (metal/funk/fusion). Coincidentally, both this year’s Summer Solstice and the Strawberry Full Moon transpired around Shwarma’s Album Release show, with the full moon falling on the night of the show. Certainly strong energy to power up the night of dancing and raging - from appropriately cosmic occurrences for a cosmically cool bill. It’s rare to have a full moon actually fall on the same day as a solstice. However, something not very rare is an unforgettable performance from Shwarma at Cervantes! I totally enjoyed photographing their Otherside shows last February when they opened for Lespecial to perform to a sold-out Ballroom-side, as well as their performance last Halloween at ‘Oogie Boogie’ alongside Dopapod,
Rancho Del Rio Bond, CO Words by J. Picard Photos by Scott Seifert Gratitude and appreciation have been the foundation of our time at Yarmony Music Festival (formerly, YarmonyGrass). Gratitude for the beauty of the space, Rancho Del Rio, and the mighty Colorado River that flows through it. Appreciation for the experiences, friendships and memories created. Over the span of the fourteen years that we've attended, we have seen firsthand a bonding of a core group of people who have become great friends, characters in each others' stories and in some cases, life partners. Following the incredible energy of the 2019 festival it was announced that Yarmony would be put to rest, to the dismay of many pirates. Though times got strange and folks were pushed apart, there was still a low, slow, pulse beating in the background. We did what we could to keep the spirit of the memory alive until one unsuspecting day, a long five years later, promoter Andrew McConathy announced that from its re
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