I second everything said below. The show was phenomenal.
Ludovic Navarre (st germain) was situated in the back of the stage with
what looked like a full blown studio around him - a large multitrack
mixer, rackmounts galore, and high-end monitor speakers. He provided for
all the basslines and heavy beats in the arrangements, while the rest of
the band - flute, trumpet, guitar, keys, percussion, & drum kit - played
out ridiculously fat solos and accompaniments. All the instrumentation was
virtuous and so so funky.
As a live performer he took full advantage of what the studio producer has
to offer to a live show: generation of sounds not produceable on
traditional instruments, and a master-control over all the
musicians' levels & FX.
To hear him rock his own beats (on an incredible sound system) is to hear
them in a new way - the bass was deeper, the drums more massive, and the
overall effect was to rock & sway the crowd in hypnotic bliss.
They performed a very bold arrangement of Alabama Blues - the flute lick
at the beginning of the song was played by Navarre on the sampler,
while the live flute player stood at the front of the stage holding the
flute up to the audience like a nationalist holding up a flag. Then he
made like he was about to
throw the flute out to the crowd, but held it back at the last instant,
and held it close to his heart. At this point I interpreted this as a
statement that 'you cant take away the sound that I produce, even if you
play a fat flute lick on your sampler'... after this he seamlessly took
over the flute loop that was being played by Navarre and started playing
it himself, and proceeded to twist and turn it around into an incredible
solo. It was like watching a still painting come to life. Incredible.
All in all I would highly recommend that you go see this show if it comes
to your town. It is a testimony to the fact that acid jazz is alive and
well, and what's more, that you can rock a packed house with jazz grooves,
that it doesnt need to be some 4-t-the-floor progressive house kaka.
Now playing: Tosca Suzuki Dubs - gosh this album is just one buttaz after
the other
peace
Nat
On Sat, 9 Dec 2000, joni . wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Went out to Irving Plaza last night to see St Germain and what can I
> say...Damn these guys are good! In reference to the discussion on
> instruments a few weeks back, these guys score a ten. It was a perfect
> mixture of beats and live jazz. Each musician was incredible on their own
> but put it together and...WOW! The crowd was very cool too. Everyone
> happy, dancin, and a hootin' an a hollerin'. The only glitch was an
> occasional outburst of feedback but even that wasen't too bad. They did all
> the runaway hits and some I didn't know about, but that's b/c I don't have
> both of thier albums yet (I know, what am i waiting for?). So Flute was
> intense live. They opened and closed w/ rose rouge and the crowd was just
> as excited to hear it the second time around. The keyboard player was also
> playing James Brown licks, from Make It Funky, interwoven w/ the main theme,
> which I thought was interesting.
> It was the best show I have seen in quite some time and I highly suggest
> that if they come near your town, GO!
>
> Joni
>
> ps thanks for all the info about or relating to the Buena Vista post =]
>
> _____________________________________________________________________________________
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