From: BRIAN (bbaltin_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2003-04-12 08:23:10
Hello all,
Took a hiatus from sending out the e-mail guide (though of course the Gig
listings have still been updated by midday Friday every week on
liquidatorgraphics.com) because, quite frankly, I've been broker than
broke‹if anyone has any graphic design needs or any leads on gainful
employment in Los Angeles, please by all means contact me‹and it was getting
to me that I was having to miss out on so much aural loveliness here in L.A.
But I've decided to press on...
Now for this week's loveliness:
Another week for most of us to wish we were in London: first off, a
sublime bill @ Royal Festival Hall. I slept on Susana Baca for so long,
because I had been hearing the hype, but not any of her music, for so many
years from Giant Step (who I always love just the same), et. al., and much
of what David Byrne has co-opted over the years has been well on the dubious
side, but damn if her voice isn't an ineffably rich, deep, and heady brew in
the Latin flavor! It took the Ananda Project remix to convince me, but I'm
sure as hell a believer now. As for Lila Downs‹I don't know where she's come
from, but anyone who saw her CRUSHINGLY BEAUTIFUL performance with the man
Caetano on the Oscars (who the hell expected that?) knows that her voice is
another like a fine 200-year-aged rum. And I haven't yet heard Yusa, but the
feature in the new Chaser has me well intrigued. Also tonight, the great
Freil‹they of the lovely Kevin Yost-era mellow-houser "Make Me Feel" on
Louie Vega's classic "Mad Styles and Crazy Visions" comp, and the colossally
locomotive Restless Soul reworked Afro-Latin house killer "West of
Motebbe"‹are @ Barrio alongside resident Stuart Patterson.
As if that weren't enough, the achingly radiant and intoxicating Carmen
Lundy is settling in for a two-week stint @ Ronnie Scott's. I'll always love
the man Gilles P. for introducing me to far more lustrous jewels than my
booze-addled mind could ever hope to recall, but I can say that in the top
three is Carmen's sublimely supple
neo-bossa-cum-old-school-acid-jazz-in-a-Working Week-mindset nine-minute
rethink of "The Lamp is Low" from her (recently reissued)1986 "Good Morning
Kiss" LP. One of the most elegant, urbane and just blindingly effulgent
voices in jazz today. Lastly, the man who seems to be dominating the world
at this point, the oh-so-brilliant Quantic is with the equally brilliant
Alice R. (minus the band) @ 93 Feet East. Thank god there's only four more
days to wait until the Quantic Soul Orchestra LP FINALLY hits, because if I
don't FINALLY hear this supposed-to-be-able-to-level-buildings deep funk
rework of 4Hero's "Hold It Down", I think my head might honestly implode.
In Los Angeles, the saintly Nobukazu Takemura arrives tonight @
Spaceland. Now anyone who's ever discussed it wit h me knows that I'm still
rather on the bitter side that Nobukazu abandoned the bafflingly thick,
rich, deep and lustrous polyrhtyms and beats of the Bellissima era to go
minimal and glitch. But I'm finally starting to realize that his fragile,
glacial but not at all sterile electronic excursions of the past five or so
years are in their way nearly as burnished and exquisite (if not remotely as
miraculous) as the Child's View and Spiritual Vibes sides. Also in town this
week, two of New York's true deities, the master, Afrika Bambaata, one of
the men I respect most in ANY musical genre, and François K. As for
François, I'm going to hold onto my money for Danny Krivit and DJ Yellow
(two weeks apart) in June. Also, USC sets off a great condensed jazz series
with, among others, an appearance by Wayne Shorter with the BRILLIANT Danilo
Perez in tow. I won't lie, I'm really waiting for Danilo to return to
leading his own group, but I'd see this man in any context. I've honestly
never heard anyone else come close to culling such ineffably full, warm and
sublime rhythms from a piano. I saw Danilo's trio (for free @ a Borders no
less) years back, and it didn't sound like three people playing‹it sounded
like f**king 18.
In NYC, another mighty lovely week, thanks in large part to the club
that continues to have one of the best booking agents (and presumably still
the rudest staff) in all of the city, S.O.B.'s. First off is Omar. Now I've
never been the biggest Omar fan, but, hell, I do know that he NEVER makes it
to this side of the pond. Plus the base fact that he was among the original
Talkin' Loud stable carries a great deal of weight with me. Better, though,
is one of the mightiest, most storming and straight COLOSSAL orquesta
leaders in any salsa era, the great Jimmy Bosch. Followed the next night by
Peven Everett. Damn. Elsewhere, Jody Watley settles in @ Joe's Pub (been
hearing good things about her recent forays into live house), and Ray
Barreto concludes a week-long Homage to Art Blakey. Mighty fine combination.
(Been glad to hear that Ray seems to be heading at long last back into the
salsa/Afro-Cuban sphere‹check the New York guide on the Liq site for his
Carnegie Hall salsa date during the JVC Fest in June).
Lastly, another week of the perennially odd kaleidoscope of black
musical forms that makes Chicago such a lovely place to be. Sharon Jones +
the Dap-Kings, Al Green, Jurassic 5 (who I have to hate because I'm from
L.A., and they've always been so shoved down my throat daily for so many
years)‹and a benefit featuring Woody Herman and Eldee Young. While I doubt
that Woody Herman will do his can-level-buildings MIGHTY version of "The
Sidewinder," I'd sort of love to see his Big Band. And of course I have to
love Eldee Young. I'll never completely forgive a certain ex of mine for
refusing to travel with me from Chicago to the suburb of Schaumburg to see
Young-Holt Unlimited WITH Barbara Acklin (Sorry D.). But considering the
archetypally muscular and agile sound that Eldee helped forge with the '60s
Ramsey Lewis Trio, I'd really love to see him in a trio context.
Now that I've rambled on for so long, you're probably all wishing I'd
left the weekly posting on hold. But I think I'm back for a while...
Respectfully,
Brian Baltin
Aesthetic Rejuvenator
Liquidator Graphics
For much more please visit www.liquidatorgraphics.com. The newly redesigned
Culture page is now up:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/culture_home.htm
Also now up, the long-promised and lavishly packaged 28-page excerpt from
Babs Gonzales's classic jazz tome, "I Paid My Dues.":
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/ipaidmydues1.htm
Coming in the next week: The Liquidator Guide to Essential DVDs.
*
London:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/gigs_london.htm
SUSANA BACA + LILA DOWNS + YUSA, ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL 4/11
FREIL + DJ STUART PATTERSON, BARRIO @ CARGO 4/11
CARMEN LUNDY, RONNIE SCOTT'S 4/14-26
PLAYERS F/ MICK TALBOT + AZIZ IBRAHIM, JAZZ CAFE 4/15-17
QUANTIC F/ ALICE RUSSELL + JONATHAN MOORE (COLDCUT) + HINT + PEST, 93 FEET
EAST 4/17
*
Los Angeles:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/gigs_losangeles.htm
RANDY WESTON AFRICAN RHYTHMS TRIO, JAZZ BAKERY 4/11-13
NOBUKAZU TAKEMURA, SPACELAND 4/11
SEB FONTAINE, GIANT @ THE PALACE 4/11
FRANCOIS K, WAX @ THE LARCHMONT 4/12
MAURO PICOTTO, GIANT @ THE PALACE 4/12
GONZALO RUBALCABA/CHARLIE HADEN + RANDY WESTON/BILLY HARPER, USC 4/14
CRYSTAL METHOD (DJ SET), MONDAY NIGHT SOCIAL @ LAS PALMAS RESTAURANT 4/14
AFRIKA BAMBAATA, ZANZIBAR 4/16
WAYNE SHORTER F/ DANILO PEREZ, USC 4/16
*
New York:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/gigs_nyc.htm
RAY BARRETO + BENNY GOLSON: HOMAGE TO ART BLAKEY, BLUE NOTE 4/8-13
CLARK TERRY, BIRDLAND 4/10-12
OMAR, S.O.B.'S 4/11
JODY WATLEY, JOE'S PUB 4/11
GROOVE ARMADA + WEEKEND PLAYERS, IRVING PLAZA 4/13
JIMMY BOSCH, S.O.B.'S 4/14
PEVEN EVERETT, S.O.B.'S 4/16
*
Chicago:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/gigs_chicago.htm
SHARON JONES + THE DAP KINGS, EMPTY BOTTLE
AL GREEN, HOUSE OF BLUES 4/12-13
WOODY HERMAN ORCHESTRA + THE ELDEE YOUNG TRIO, PORRETTA'S BANQUET FACILITY
4/14
JURASSIC 5, HOUSE OF BLUES 4/16
*
The new CD by Baltin:
"Bellissima Idyll (Chasing After the Sun)" is now available:
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/cdsbybaltin/bellissima_idyll.htm
*
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/