Derek Trucks Band, June 27 at the Centre

The Derek Trucks Band took to the Centre’s stage Saturday night amid a constant outpouring of dry ice clouds and played a powerhouse two-hour set that sent us back to the heyday of the Allman Brothers. Indeed, as the nephew of Allman Bro drummer, Butch Trucks, and having toured with the Allman Brothers as a guitar prodigy, many of the songs had whiffs of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.

Trucks is a true guitar god and his level of virtuosity – especially slide guitar - is astonishing for someone so young. Yet, despite his commanding playing, Trucks remained verbally mute through the whole set, leaving drummer Yonrico Scott to do the introductions.

Few of the songs were introduced, though we assume they are contained on the new CD, Already Free. Midway through, Trucks played an extensive version of My Favorite Things – video shown here – which featured B-3/keyboardman Kofi Burbridge playing flute. It’s hard to not think of Will Farrell as the Anchorman when we think of jazz flute, but in this case, the rendition was not laughable. Burbridge’s use of the B3 Hammond organ only increased the audible association with the Allman Brothers that made us time trip to the early 1970s.

The encore included two cover songs, with Mike Mattison doing an eloquent job on vocals. The first, a blues song, sounded very familiar, but for the life of me I can’t place the title. The last number had the whole audience singing along to Anyday, from the album Layla by Derek and the Dominos. It was a great way to end a memorable evening

Trucks Band also included Todd Smallie bass/vocals, Count M’Butu congas/percussion.

Alas, no video of opener Steve Dawson and his band who played an eclectic mix of blues, roots, and rock, including a countrified cover of Dylan’s, Leopardskin Pillbox Hat and a Hawaiian-style steel guitar version of An Orange Grove in California by Irving Berlin.

-Mari

Lucas Niggli and Zoom, June 27, Performance Works

One of the joys of volunteering at this festival over the years – and particularly at our “home” venue, the Performance Works on Granville Island – has been the opportunity to encounter a variety of artists to which our generally straight ahead sensibilities would not normally lead us. Such was the case yesterday with Swiss percussionist, Lucas Niggli, and his band Zoom. Along with German trombonist(and melodica and nose player!), Nils Wogram and fellow countryman Philip Schaufelberger on guitar, he created an afternoon of compelling music, which, for the sake of simplicity, could be described as a mixture of the new and the traditional, the composed and the improvised.

The band played two sets of approximately 45 minutes of length. In general, pieces began with either slow, piannisimo interplay between the players, often more sonic than melodic, followed by a series of mood and tempo shifts finishing in a composed unison ending, or they began with the well paced composed melodic sections and continued with various portions with a series of crescendos and diminuendos. This is not to overly simplify the effect of the music, but to state that each piece had its own arc in terms of mood, meter, and dynamics. In the first set, on the second song, Super Blues(which may have had a bit of a bluesy feel to it at times but was far from being anything close to a standard blues- and that’s OK!), Niggli displayed some attributes which make him a creative force. He was observed surveying his nearby piano chair of various cymbals and other percussive “toys” with the eye of a painter to see just which one would fit for him at that moment. And, for that moment, the particular small cymbal that he put on his tom-tom worked just right. Later, he used his hands to play the traps set as if it were a set of congas. Beautifully done. The final piece of the first set was actually two pieces, “Brain Ballad” and “Celebrate Diversity”. Diversity indeed. Numerous tempo and mood shifts. From fast and free to slowly descending ½ notes to a drum solo with liberal use of the rims to a nose solo by Wogram using his pointer finger to alter the sounds, it had a bit of everything. The fast paced unison ending provided a rousing ending to the first set.

-Bill

Karin Plato Trio, June 26 at O'Doul's

The opening night of Jazz Festival found us first at a wine tasting at Everything Wine and then at O'Doul's for the second set of the Karin Plato Trio.

I don't know if we'd ever caught one of her shows. Karin has a swinging style and a sweet voice, but at moments she was the girl with the far away voice. Constantly drawing her microphone away from her face sounded, from the back of the bar, like the FM reception was fading in and out. Up close they sounded tight playing lots of standards, such as Fine and Mellow. Lisa Miller backed her up on piano, with Doug Stephenson on bass.

This is our first day on the job at Performance Works, today with Lucas Niggli Zoom. Hopefully, we'll get into Derek Trucks tonight.

-Mari

Wayne Horvitz Coming to Jazz Fest

One artist who will be appearing at the VCMI Student Faculty Showcase at Performance Works on July 3 is Wayne Horvitz. He'll also be "competing" in the Ice Hockey: Canada Vs. Sweden featuring François Houle And Mats Gustafsson +12 at the Roundhouse on the 28th.

I shot this clip of Wayne and his band at a House Concert in Sonoma County last February, and yes, that is Willie Dixon's Spoonfull he's quoting.

Hot news! Jeannette Lindstrom cancelled her show at Performance Works on Saturday, July 4th. I thought, that lets me off the hook from working then. But just yesterday we learned that Ndidi Okuwala has been programed for that evening, so my Fourth o' July shift is happening after all.

-Mari

Jazz Festival Schedules

Here's a clip from one of my favorite shows of the 2008 festival: Charley Haden and his Quartet West at the Centre.

This year we are once again assigned to the Performance Works on Granville Island. I'm a crew chief again, so I get to be the boss of Bill. Here are our dates:

Afternoon-

June 27 - Lucas Niggli Zoom

June 28 - Urs Leimgruber/Joëlle Léandre

July 3 - VCM/Student Faculty Showcase

Evening 

June 30 - Joyce

July 4 - Ndidi Okuwala

See you at jazz fest!

-Mari

Jazzcouver Now

The Vancouver Jazz Festival is the reason I moved to Canada. Well, it was one incentive anyway, but a very big one. On vacation in 2002, my hubby and I happened upon an afternoon show at the Performace Works theater on Granville Island, and digging the cool patio scene, I thought, this the place I want to live. So, after we moved to Vancouver in 2005, I signed us up to volunteer for the 2006 festival. Our assignment? At Performance Works, where I first fell in love with Vancouver. Four years later, I'm a Crew Chief there.

Vancouver's Jazz Festival has been running for 24 years and repeatedly wins the National Jazz Award for best Canadian jazz festival. I'm not surprised. This year, over 1800 Artists will play 400 Performances at different 40 Venues between June 26 and July 5. If the music were food, the festival would be a smorgasbord. For ten days in June there is jazz everyday, everywhere in this mountain-hugged city and the air crackles with synchronous energy. Jazz of all styles - blues, funk, Latin, fusion, electronica and world music - is there for immediate consumption. Most of the shows play downtown and around False Creek, and if the weather continues to be mild, venue hopping is not only easy, but a great way to see the city.

Bill and I will endeavor to attend as many shows as possible and post whatever happens. The festival starts next Friday but over the next week I'll post videos of past shows.

Dig it.

-Mari