In response to my sloppy comparison, Charlie had this to say:
>Whoa, Matt Darriau vs. Dave Brubeck!?! Um, I've known Matt Darriau
>for a lot of years, and I can tell you - Dave Brubeck is no
>Matt Darriau :-).
Never one to keep to one train of thought, this may explain how I brought
Matt Darriau into the thread:
1. Both Dave and Matt have made accessible records which spotlight some
very exotic (by Western European standards) rhythms.
2. I was also thinking about points of entry to the global jazz scheme for
newbies - for me that point of entry was the Knitting Factory scene (by
which I don't mean to exclude a lot of related musics happening in other
places and on other labels).
>Matt was on the scene here in Boston for many years, playing
>with "Orange Then Blue" (a great small-big-band, led by
>George Schuller - check them out, there on Gunther Schuller's label),
>and with Les Mierables Brass Band (with me on drums/percussion).
>LMBB record 2 things - one on Global Village called "Om-Pah",
>the other on Northeaster Records, called "Manic Traditions".
>The band also did a soundtrack for kids video producers
>Rabbit Ears productions - "Pinocchio" before breaking up.
>Matt then split for NYC, where 1/2 of LMBB already lived.
I only knew of a track by LMBB on a Knitting Factory comp, something like
"Downtown does the Beatles" (Definitely not a Beatles fan, I've avoided
this one.) But of the two albums (discs) which to start with?
>BTW, many of the cats in LMBB are now found in other bands -
>Frank London, was the leader of LMBB & is now the leader of
>the Klezmatics, Marcus Rojas (tuba) is with Threadgill's
>Very Very Circus (check that out! - 2 elec. guitars, sax,
>2 tubas (!) French Horn, drums), Vinny Nobile is with the ska
>band Bim Skala Bim....Matt is working the klezmer & downtown scene
>in NYC.
I haven't heard any of the Klezmatics' records, but Frank London's
soundtrack for "The Shvitz" is awesome! In my top five for 1994 (which is
when I got it - I think it may have come out in 93?), without a doubt.
Klezmer meets everything on this disc, from traditional to (Yiddish) rap,
with hot jazz and some charged noise guitar romps inbetween.
Alexander