With the end of the calendar year being at hand, it's time to start cranking out The Best of 2006 lists, isn't it? You bet it is.
I'll tee up a few over the next couple of weeks. Let's start with a not so serious topic --- my best live music experiences of the year. Yeah, I know -- I'm getting too old to be checking out rock and roll bands. But we're all entitled to a guilty pleasure or two, and this is mine. Besides, getting out of the house now and then is a better lifestyle choice than the stay-at-home alcoholic phase most of my contemporaries have slid into!
So, here we go with my Best Live Shows of 2006:
Medski, Martin & Wood (Montreal Jazz Fest): Sure, some of their stuff goes so far out there that I wanted to jump off the balcony, but when they hit the right groove it runs chills up my spine. The interplay between heavy jazz keyboards with a jam-band style rythm section does the trick.
David Gogo (Montreal Jazz Fest): All jazz fests book acts that have nothing to do with jazz -- just look at SPAC's version each year. The MJF is no different, actually devoting a whole stage to the blues genre. Native Canuck David Gogo and his band slashed and burned their way through a long scorching set, thus proving why this guy was the '03 Guitarist of the Year up there north of the border. We'll work on getting him down here in '07 to let you Albany folks see what I'm talking about.
Jim Weider's Project Percolator (The Cutting Room, NYC): Our good friend Mr Weider has played for us locally on two separate occasions, but it was good to be able to actually sit there and catch his whole set without the constant distractions one has when producing his or her own show. This is a small room in lower Manahttan with great sound, and it did the trick. Weider's new "picking up where Jeff Beck left off" guitar-based instrumental progressive-fusion rock is a rare treat in this day and age. His willingness to make such a radical style change from his Americana roots from his stint with The Band is more than admirable--it's the mark of a creative artist. Tony Levin once again played bass along with regulars Randy Ciarlante and Jesse Gress, with Sid McGinnes (from Dave Letterman's band) even stopping in to join the fun on a couple of tunes. Good stuff.
Donna the Buffalo (Peer Impact Tech Valley Music Series @ Washington Ave Armory, Albany): Yea, I know---I'm a little biased on this one, considering that it was our own show. But will anyone that attended be willing to argue the point that this was a great gig? I think not. Jeb, Tara and friends clicked through with their usual mix of rock, reggae, folk, zyedoco, country, and probably a few other styles that I don't even know about yet. The bottom line is that this musical stew they've put together works. Happy feet indeed. Locals The Kamikaze Hearts and Raisinhead added to the festivities. We'll hook you up again with all three in '07.
The Fixx (Revolution Hall, Troy): The Fixx? You gotta be kidding me! That's exactly what I said, too, when a buddy of mine dragged me out on a Thursday night to celebrate the fact that he had just been put on a work schedule that gives him Fridays off. But I'm glad he did. These 80's near-icons are still out there on the nightclub grinder curcuit, somehow completely intact with the orginal members and all of them looking good and seemingly content. And gee whiz, can they still play -- with a suprising passion and freshness. This show was more than just three version each of Stand or Fall and One Thing Leads to Another -- these guys aren't just mailing in the nostaligia ticket the way most of them out there do. Catch them next time they come through town--you'll be pleasantly surprised.
John Hiatt & The North Mississippi All Stars (Alive at Five, Albany): I commented on this show in a prior post, so I won't repeat it here. Botom line: Amercican roots music at its very best.
Umphreys McGee (Higher Ground, Burlington Vt): This was simply a case of looking to get a handle on "what the young 'uns are listening to these days." For a good many of Jam Band Nation, it's apparently Umphreys McGee. A good show, complete with the requisite noodle & doodle sessions but also with a few off the wall surprise guests hooking in here and there, inlcuding the Vermont Youth Orchestra quartet. Some of it worked, some of it didn't--but that's what's so good about the jam band scene: you just never know what you're getting on any given nght.
Gov't Mule (House of Blues, Myrtle Beach) : Just an uncomplicated evening of (very) loud southern fried rock & roll in the middle of a (very) large mob of (very) drunken beach tourists. Reminded me of simpler times ....
Stefon Harris (The Egg, Albany): Vibe man Harris returned to his hometown for an evening of straight ahead jazz that both soothed and elctrified. How come we don't brag more about this native son of Albany?
Jim Lauderdale (Valentines, Albany): What's this honky tonk roots cowboy doing in this normally hard rock venue? I don't know, but it worked.
That's it. Bear in mind, I really dont get out to see a lot of shows, so I surely missed about 200 or so good ones locally, I am confident.
Other than that: here's who I'm listening to these days: My Morning Jacket and Porcupine Tree. Let's look on brining them both in as well.
Stay tuned for more serious "Best of" lists.
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