Isn't it funny that Hayes called himself the 'Black Moses'??? Come and=20
save me soul bro. Hallelujah!!!!
Saw DIG last night. They played at the Metro Theatre, an old cinema=20
converted into an inimate 1000 person venue. Their set was primarily=20
material off their latest album Speakeasy with a couple of songs off=20
their first album. The show started really well. They played a whole slew=
=20
of songs off the latest albums with new arrangements and some wicked=20
brass arrangements, given they have a young horn player blowing the=20
trumpet and the flugel horn. Their live arrangements were blowing away=20
the recorded version without losing any of their melodic and rhythmic=20
richness.=20
However an extended bass and drum solo which went on for around 10 - 15=20
minutes saw the show slide into a morass of musical self indulgence.=20
Where the first half of the set saw an extension of the songs while=20
retaining a focus on what was important (ie. the song), they decided to=20
get into extended instrumental jams. Know I have no problem with jazz=20
musicians improvising, I know that successful improvisers are able to=20
take their improvisation to a conclusion. They are able to extemporise=20
and explore ideas and to develope some form of structure. However this=20
was boys playing to show off their chops. They soloed and soloed and=20
soloed to no visible effect. The soloing was not only boring but they=20
also lost a good half of their audience in the space of 1/2 hour.
It descended into mindless jazzy dooodling.
This is a recent phenomena for the band. Now that they have gained a=20
modicum of musical credibility and stability they seem to have taken it=20
upon themselves to add displays of chops and musicianship to their=20
repertoire. When they first started they were jazz inspired musos who=20
played wicked grooves, haaad a keyboard player who rapped a little, a sax=
=20
player able to wail and had a great reputation for getting people bopping=
=20
and rocking. They were a dance band, popular with the retro 70';s kitsch=20
trendy acid jazzer inner city crew. However over the last year they seem=20
to have had problems playing to their strengths: their ensemble work,=20
their wicked grooves and their ability to play to the limits.=D3=CB=20
Oh well. Life goes on. I look forward to their coming through this phase=20
of reckless self indulgent soloing. Hopefully they will emerge a much=20
stronger musical unit once they get the endless soloing out of their=20
system=20
Better shoot.
> > > Hey now,=20
don't forget- >=20
> love him or hate him, my man _Barry_White_ wasn't a slouch at gettin' dow=
n
> to it... :)
s=A6Reflecting on why they are=20
=B1d=B2=DD_=AB >=20
> Y,:Y/=E1/=A7=DAfTravis
> ******************************************************