The Buffalo News - Music

Listening Post: Black Sabbath, Morton Feldman, The Yellowjackets and the Emerson Quartet

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:07:01 -0400

Black Sabbath, “Thirteen” (Vertigo/Universal). As the first studio album to feature a Black Sabbath fronted by singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978’s “Never Say Die,” the new “Thirteen” had an awful lot to live up to. Add the fact that original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward opted out of the reunion due to contractual disagreements – pronounced “money” – and the pressure mounted. Could the band still deliver the mighty, meaty doom and gloom, particularly without Ward’s Ginger Baker/Mitch Mitchell-inspired leaden swing in the timekeeping department? The answer is a resounding yes. Not only is “Thirteen” not an embarrassment, it’s damn close to a masterpiece. Produced by Rick Rubin – very minimally, and thus, extremely effectively – the album underscores the fact that Sabbath is both the progenitor of heavy metal, and the band that perfected the genre. As ever, the quartet’s cornerstone is guitarist Tony Iommi, the master of the monster post-blues riff. Iommi, despite undergoing chemotherapy during the recording of the album, delivers some of his most visceral playing here, in terms of both sinister, walloping riffs and decidedly otherworldly soloing. Bassist Geezer Butler defined metal bass playing with the release of the band’s 1970 debut album, and he’s still the man to beat in this department. Teamed with Ward’s replacement, former Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk, Butler lays down a terrifying wall of low-end doom here. (Wilk, by the way, accords himself remarkably well throughout. Hardcore fans will never forgive him for filling in for Ward, but that’s silly – the drumming on “Thirteen” is uniformly excellent and genre-appropriate.) Oh, and that Ozzy fellow? I have no idea how this is possible after all the man has put himself through over the years, but his performances here are very, very strong. The lyrics, consistently concerned with some sort of existential battle between good and evil/god and devil, are a bit silly, but really, that’s the sole criticism that can be leveled against “Thirteen.” It’s a headbanging tour de force of an album, but it’s also a dynamic and (in metal terms, at least) deeply musical affair. Sabbath fans, you won’t want to skip over a single tune. ΩΩΩΩ (Jeff Miers)The Yellowjackets, “A Rise in the Road” (Mack Avenue). This revered and long-serving jazz fusion outfit took a serious blow when it lost bassist Jimmy Haslip last year, but with “A Rise in the Road,” the democratically led outfit comprised of saxophonist Bob Mintzer, keyboardist Russell Ferrante and drummer William Kennedy has rebounded with remarkable strength. Credit the arrival of new bassist Felix Pastorius, whose last name may ring a bell – he’s the son of iconic bassist Jaco Pastorius, quite possibly the greatest electric bassist in the history of the instrument. Felix is his own man, though, and has been for some time, proving himself to be a serious player capable of carrying on his father’s work while adding his own ideas to the mix. The Yellowjackets celebrate their new lease on life throughout “A Rise in the Road,” embracing the buoyancy provided by new blood while simultaneously honoring their 30-year career. Highlights include “Can’t We Elope,” a giddy and witty takeoff on Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”; Mintzer’s tribute to both Felix and Jaco Pastorius, “I Knew His Father”; and Ferrante’s appropriately titled harmonic study, “Longing.” The band has always worked creatively inside the niche it created for itself within the broader jazz world, and this new album suggests that the creative well within that niche is far from dry. ΩΩΩ½ (J.M.)Morton Feldman, “Violin and Orchestra” performed by violinist Carolin Wildmann and the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emilio Pomarico (ECM). Notater Jurg Stenzel has this to say about Morton Feldman’s large (50-minute) “Violin and Orchestra” from 1979, which marks the early stage in his life as the Varese Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo in which he was beginning to investigate the concept of scale in music: “it is certainly not a concerto for violin and orchestra, even though the solo violin part is at least as demanding as those by virtuosi such as Pietro Locatelli and Niccolo Pagaini or composers such as Brahms, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Berg. Feldman’s piece has no “brilliant” passages, no melodies to hum along with, no trace of acrobatics. In fact, the soloist should sit in the orchestra, not stand in front of it and even when apparently forgotten, must repeat short, microtonal lamenting phrases.” It is, he says, “like music from a distant star, like an echo sounding from unlimited spaces – or else engendering echoes from the orchestra itself.” All very true and well put besides. But for those of us who became quite knowledgeable about Morton Feldman’s minimalist sound world during his UB professorship and singular local presence, “Violin and Orchestra” sounds almost tumultuous. It is, by Feldman standards, almost packed with musical event and incident – even dramatic ostinati. The piece was premiered by violinist Paul Zukofsky (virtuoso son of poet Louis; their last name is misspelled in the notes) in 1984, five years after its composition in the same city whose orchestra performs this recording. Its volume level is at Feldman’s accustomed level, but in its dreamlike quietude there is an unmistakable agitation about the piece which makes it rare indeed in his life work. As might be guessed from the performing forces here and the commercial patrimony, this is a truly superb performance of music that is often lucky to be presented at all, let alone so elaborately and well. One of the most important Feldman discs in years. ΩΩΩ½ (Jeff Simon)

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Conrad Tao, “Voyages” (EMI Classics). Conrad Tao is just turning 19 and already he has a hip new music festival rolling in Brooklyn. He also not only plays piano extremely well but he plays violin, too, extremely well. Plus, he composes. He won eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards between 2004 and 2011. He looks great on paper, and you have to admire his success. On the other hand, there is no doubt that he is being overpraised and overindulged. The New York Times, for instance, hailed him as some kind of genius for simply rearranging a bunch of Rachmaninoff preludes to form “an emotionally charged narrative arc.” I love Rachmaninoff, but give me a break. This CD shows Tao looking mean, staring the buyer down through a shower of squares of something, possibly glass. The repertoire is openly pretentious. Tao opens with “Railroad (Travel Song)” of Meredith Monk – repetitive, minimalist and forgettable, but it’s cool to play Meredith Monk, and apparently no one else has ever recorded this. Then come the rearranged Rachmaninoff preludes. Later comes Ravel’s dark “Gaspard de la nuit,” a show-offy offering, with nothing special about the performance. In between come Tao’s own “Vestiges” and “iridescence.” Tao is lavishly credited with helping bring back the era when virtuoso pianists would compose, but his compositions sound like the same pointless ramblings you hear everywhere. In “iridescence,” he sets an iPod to play a monotonous riff, and he plays riffs over that on the piano. There is a video on YouTube that looks like a joke, with Tao wearing ear buds and a dead-serious expression as he turns from piano to iPod and back again. He might be onto something. Debussy and Ravel would have loved this technology. But Tao has to learn to use it in a way that touches your heart. Time will tell if he will grow into an artist with something genuine to offer or just another academically spawned grant-consuming, Bjork-loving overpraised composer of stuff nobody really wants to hear. ΩΩ (Mary Kunz Goldman)

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Emerson String Quartet, “Journeys” (Sony Classical). The great Emerson String Quartet is transitioning. The group’s longtime cellist, David Finckel, left to pursue other projects (his second-last concert with the quartet was in Buffalo, a few weeks ago) and is being succeeded by Paul Watkins. This recording is, I am guessing, the last to feature the old configuration. It also features two additional musicians. Violist Paul Neubauer and cellist Colin Carr join the group for Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence” and Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht.” The musicians’ energy hits you right off. Much of it is attributable to Finckel, although I am sure his successor will do as well. Finckel digs into that cello and gives the music drive and momentum. Violinist Phil Setzer, with his expressive tone and generous use of portamento, gives Tchaikovsky’s wonderful fantasy a romantic sheen. Though both pieces could be considered warhorses, they’re warm and arresting, and the whole ensemble, going full tilt, draws you in irresistibly. Violinist Eugene Drucker plays first violin in the transparent Schoenberg, and the music’s beauty shines. Music students should have to listen to this disc. It’s a clear and listenable display of marvelous and heartfelt ensemble playing. ΩΩΩΩ (M.K.G.)

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Great Wagner Voices, the Munchner Rundfunkorchester (BR Klassik). Here are 10 great Wagner singers who were big in the 1960s. The resonant bass Theo Adam, heard in the cathartic “Wotan’s Farewell” from “Die Walkure,” is still among us and remembered. So is the great African-American soprano Martina Arroyo, magnificent in a brooding excerpt from “Lohengrin.” Other singers in this collection are almost forgotten. It is a pleasure to hear Josef Greindl, whose recordings I’ve admired on YouTube, singing “Goetterdaemmerung.” Basso cantato Franz Crass – the notes explain nicely how his approach to Wagner differed from Adam’s – is heard in Hans Sachs’ famous “Wahn! Wahn!” monologue from “Die Meistersinger.” (It would be nice to have heard him in “Wotan’s Farewell,” too, to compare and contrast.) The sustained, rounded tones of Elisabeth Grummer and the exuberance of Ingrid Bjoner are thrilling in “Tannhauser.” Catarina Ligendza, famous for Wagner and Strauss, ends the disc with the “Liebestod” from “Tristan and Isolde.” Translations would have been welcome. Wagner fans probably don’t need them, because these are well-known excerpts, but newcomers might. There are good notes and pictures of the singers. ΩΩΩ (M.K.G.)

Danielle Bradbery, 16, wins Season 4 of “The Voice”

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:57:23 -0400

By Amy Reiter

LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES – Danielle Bradbery beat out rivals Michelle Chamuel and the Swon Brothers to emerge as the Season 4 winner of “The Voice” on Tuesday night, giving coach Blake Shelton his threepeat. For the third straight year, and in three out of the four seasons the show has been on the air, a contestant mentored by Shelton has taken the show’s top honors.

“I don’t give a crap, honestly, about a threepeat,” Shelton had said early in the night, long before the results were revealed, insisting he was focused only on this year, when he again had two contestants in the final three.

After two hours filled with performances – by contestants current and returning and visiting celebs who ran the gamut from break-taking “Voice” coach Christina Aguilera and Pitbull to Bruno Mars to Bob Seger to Cher in her first live TV performance in years – and with only five minutes left in the show, Carson Daly finally gathered the Top 3 to hear the news they’d been waiting for.

Who would take it? Would it be Bradbery, the silky-voiced, silky-haired 16-year-old from Cypress, Texas, who Shelton said was destined for big things in country music, and whom Levine had already tipped for the win?

Would it be Massachusetts native Chamuel, whose big heart, solid vocals and bendy knees had won her many devoted fans? Or would it be the fraternal duo from Muskogee, Okla., the Swon Brothers, whose good humor and charm are on full display every time they appear on screen?

Going home third, Daly said, were the Swon Brothers. That left Chamuel and Bradbery. They clung to each other. Shelton and Usher briefly reached across the chasm between their red chairs and clasped hands.

And the winner was … Bradbery. Bradbery had vaulted straight to the top. She had sung with one of her favorite musicians, young Nashville star Hunter Hayes, during the long lead-up to the results. Asked for her reaction, the newly minted winner, stammered, “I don’t even know … I’m thankful,” before adding, “I’m sorry. I’m speechless.”

She tried to sing Sara Evans’ “Born to Fly,” but when the confetti dropped, she simply had to stop.

REO Speedwagon delights Artpark crowd

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:39:38 -0400

LEWISTON – Rocking and crooning mightily since the ’70s, REO Speedwagon, led by vocalist and guitarist Kevin Cronin, shows no signs of road weariness.

The band’s songs have long been a staple of booze-fueled karaoke nights, couples dances and hearty singalongs. Tuesday night, REO presented one power ballad after another to the delight of a huge Artpark crowd.

The Artpark concert series spectacle showcased a rollicking set by REO, a band with an ardent and longtime Western New York following.

The band opened with the distinctive, driving drums of “Don’t Let Him Go,” a jaunty tune about a hard-to-snare bad boy, before heading into ’70s-era “Music Man,” not one of their more catchy melodies but one showcasing the guitar chops of Cronin and Dave Amato, along with bassist Bruce Hall of the ever-flowing rock ’n’ roll mane.

Then onto the evening’s first big happy singalong moment, “Take It on the Run.”

The set veered from revered hits to lesser-known songs from the vast REO archive, which showcased the band’s musicianship but did not inspire body-swaying moments. Energy on the stage remained high-to-frenetic throughout (with occasional front-line pauses for photogenic moments for cameras in their midst), but the crowd’s energy waned.

When the power ballads emerged so did the cameras, fists and beers – held aloft by arms alongside beaming faces.

The band, noting that the Midwestern salad days of yore formed it into the cohesive rock ’n’ roll machine that it is today, referenced being a mere “bar band” playing in Champaign, Ill, their hometown.

“It’s our goal,” Cronin shouted, “to turn a big beautiful place like this into a big skanky-... bar.”

Cronin led off “Like You Do” with a story about the band’s ’72 green Chevy Impala station wagon. Nostalgia was in the air.

Cronin sermonized a bit before launching into “Golden Country,” an interesting protest song from the same vintage as the band’s aforementioned classic car.

Noting the venue’s proximity to Canada, he spoke of his gratitude for being able to express his “intellectual beliefs.”

The song, again not a foremost REO favorite, showcased more of the band’s guitar mastery.

Encores “Keep on Lovin’ You” and “Ridin’ the Storm Out” followed by a rollicking rendition of “Gloria” did indeed turn that geographic music venue alongside the Niagara Gorge into one big barroom singalong, which was what Cronin, and REO devotees, had wished for all night long.

Among the Tuesday night throng were Buffalo tax adviser Colleen Talty Feyko and her ex-pat sister Maureen Talty Lowery, who jetted in from Valencia, Calif., for the show. Due to the twisting road of fate, the sisters hadn’t had a chance to see REO, a rock favorite, together before. A plan to see the band in the ’80s didn’t happen.

“We never got to go together, so now is our time. She flew in to go with me. This is awesome, a beautiful night, a great concert,” said Feyko, who danced and sang the night away with her sister and nearby concertgoers.

Opener the Nick Moss Band was a visual and aural contrast to the taut and strutting rock of REO with its solid attack. The Chicago blues-rock quintet aced a set that had crispy Southern overtones, no lyrical competition for REO.

Sea of cowboy hats brimming with enthusiasm for Taste of Country

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:51:41 -0400

The sheer variety of cowboy hats out there is astounding. There are hats with glitter, with rhinestones, with flashing LED lights and with feathers gracing their bands. There are pink hats, straw hats, Confederate flag hats and even some hats made out of beer boxes.

All those and many more were on display in Buffalo Friday night as 25,000 country music fans from all over Western New York – a record-breaking number of people gathered for a one-day event in Buffalo, according to WYRK’s Clay Moden – flocked to Coca-Cola Field to take in the 2013 Taste of Country.

The biggest draw of Taste of Country is just how many performances you get for the ticket price. Although former Hootie and the Blowfish front man/current country sweetheart Darius Rucker shared top billing with pop-rock-country queen Sheryl Crow, Rucker was the unquestioned star of this show. Newcomer Jana Kramer, the group Gloriana and crowd favorite Rodney Atkins rounded out the package.

As a glorious bonus to the diverse and impressive lineup, the breezy 70-degree evening melted into a cool and comfortable night, a welcome contrast to last year’s rain- and wind-soaked spectacle.

Kramer was a delight, clearly ecstatic to be there. Though much of the crowd was still waiting in line for admission outside and filtering into the park, that didn’t stop 2013’s ACM Top New Female Artist from charging through a brief and energetic set that included her chart-topping single, “Why Ya Wanna.”

Next up was Gloriana, a band that makes good use of the complementary sounds of its trio of lead vocalists, Rachel Reinert and upstate New York natives and brothers Tom and Mike Gossin. Their half-hour performance included their first hit, “Wild at Heart,” and their most recent and first platinum-selling song, “Kissed You Goodnight.” Though Reinert’s voice seemed overpowered and was hard to hear in a few songs, the crowd shouted and clapped its approval after every song. The group ended with a fun cover of The Lumineers’ “Ho Hey.”

Following a between-sets intermission in which one overjoyed member of the audience won a Ford F-150 pickup truck, the good ol’ boy charm that is Rodney Atkins took the stage. His songs are the stuff of classic, honky-tonk country sound, and the audience roared for more. He fired through some of his most popular hits, including “Farmer’s Daughter,” “These are My People” and the lighthearted “Cleaning This Gun.”

He also included some of the older favorites that rocketed him to country music stardom, such as “If You’re Going Through Hell” and the adorable “Watching You,” which both amassed widespread sing-alongs in the audience. All the while, Atkins looked like he was having a blast, and the crowd returned that enthusiasm right back.

Next up was Sheryl Crow, who was solid, if not spectacular. Although her set was enjoyable and her voice as youthful and strong as ever, her performance felt a little out of place sandwiched between all of the traditional country sound the other acts embody. The genre-defying singer-songwriter looked comfortable onstage, offering the crowd a smorgasbord of her most well-known work, including “Easy,” “Favorite Mistake” and “Real Gone,” which was featured on the sound track of the animated movie “Cars.” She finally got the crowd response she was looking for with “First Cut is the Deepest” and brought Gloriana back on to accompany her in “Strong Enough.” Crow ended with “If It Makes You Happy” and “Soak Up the Sun,” the latter of which provided a fitting, summery conclusion to her set.

And then – the moment the crowd had been waiting for the entire night. The stage background turned bright blue, with a fluorescent green lifeline, like that on a heart monitor, pulsing across it. As the seconds ticked by, the line’s pulse grew louder, stronger and more frequent, and the crowd’s buzz of anticipation grew with it. And as the band made their way onstage and Rucker picked up his microphone and launched into “Heartbreak Road,” the crowd – as they say – went wild.

Rucker, clad in a simple red T-shirt and a camouflage baseball cap, looked simply delighted to be in front of his Buffalo fans. He didn’t give them a chance to slow down, continuing right into his hits “Alright” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” and then into a surprising but immensely well-received cover of “Space Cowboy” by the Steve Miller Band. He slowed it down just a bit with the cleverly written “Come Back Song” and a thoughtful, soulful performance of “It Won’t Be Like This for Long,” which he dedicated to the victims of the recent Oklahoma tornado.

He took a shot onstage for “country radio, for giving me a new life,” while the crowd cheered him on. Rucker then offered the audience some of his Hootie and the Blowfish hits to great applause before bringing the rest of the evening’s lineup back onstage for a rousing rendition of the rowdy Hank Williams, Jr. classic, “Family Traditions.” The call back onstage was obviously unexpected for the other acts, but they looked like they were having a ball.

Rucker ended with his immensely popular cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” which sent the crowd into a sing-along so enthusiastic that it almost overpowered the band. It was a perfect end to what, for a country fan, was one heck of a night.

At Seneca Niagara Casino, Go-Go’s prove the going is still good

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:51:50 -0400

NIAGARA FALLS – Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock might have shocked Seneca Niagara Casino officials Saturday night.

During a break in a fast-paced Events Center set by the 1980s all-women band, Schock elicited a lackluster response from the crowd when she asked if anyone was having success gambling.

“Wow – does that tell you something?” she said.

Perhaps Schock and bandmates made up for it by playing for just 70 minutes before sending the seemingly satisfied crowd back to the slots.

The casino circuit is a welcome haven for post-heyday acts happy to just rehash the hits, which the Go-Go’s did in fine form over 17 songs.

Schock proved she and the band still had the beat from the get-go, with a rumbling tom-tom intro to “Get Up and Go” – answered by guitar bop from original bandmates Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey, with Belinda Carlisle sweetly singing and shouting to the crowd to clap along.

The band followed up with its 1982 Top 10 ten hit “Vacation,” quickly and convincingly reaffirming the brilliant balance between the band’s relentless beat and Carlisle’s candy-coated melodies, harnessing the closed-fist energy of punk while bypassing its fury in favor of good, clean fun.

Absent from the band, however, was bassist Kathy Valentine, co-author of many songs, including “Vacation.” She is currently suing the band, having parted ways with the group in March – and that’s not the first in-band lawsuit in Go-Go’s history. However, fill-in Abby Travis proved plenty able to lay down the low line.

Though she appeared strained at times, Carlisle’s unmistakable voice has largely withstood the test of time, carrying songs such as “Tonite” and her “Go-Go-fied” solo hit, “Mad About You,” as she traversed the entire stage with a hop in her step. Caffey’s switch to keyboards brought out the new wave in “Automatic” and “Fading Fast” – complete with a flub or two and a few laughs from a group that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously – before a loyal cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint in Black.” During another cover, of the Capitols’ “Cool Jerk,” at least 25 members of the crowd were called to the stage to dance like no one was watching.

Closing with one of their greatest hits, “We Got the Beat” – complete with a midsong segue into Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” – and “Our Lips Are Sealed,” before a two-song encore, the Go-Go’s successfully gave the crowd and casino what they wanted and got gone with gusto.

Manson, Cooper fill outer harbor venue with darkness, drama

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:06:27 -0400

Seeing Marilyn Manson in the daylight was certainly both strange and unexpected. Manson, after all, has earned his stripes as the king of goth by courting the darkness, both musically and visually.

But at the Outer Harbor Concert site on Friday evening, Manson and his band of twisted outsiders took to the stage while the sun was still shining brightly over the water, and we could see what we might have only wanted to see beneath the forgiving atmosphere of dim light.

So it was. Manson himself seemed shocked by the arrangement. He arrived dressed in black, his face heavily made up to appear like a cross between a ’70s glam rock idol and a creature from some twisted vision of hell. Flanked by longtime compatriot Twiggy Ramirez on guitar, Fred Sablan on bass, drummer Jason Sutter and keyboardist Spencer Rollins, Manson delivered a strong set of his industrial-goth-metal-alternative “hits,” if we can call them that.

At the outset, he seemed blurry and bleary, as if just waking up. “No Reflection,” for example, found the singer hoarse, rambling about the stage like a reject from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

“The Dope Show” was better, but not by much. Manson seemed befuddled by the daylight, frankly. Opening for Alice Cooper was surely a dream of his, but it certainly meant taking a knee for the elder eminence of shock rock.

By the time Manson and the band fell into a take on Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” things had started to click. The master of twisted alternative rock grotesquery was suddenly on his game. His voice was warmed up and had settled into its ominous baritone nicely. “Mobscene” marked the full arrival of the Manson of old, as a massive schoolroom-type chair was rolled onto the stage, and Manson sang the song as he formed various contortionist poses on the chair, like a particularly naughty schoolboy from hell.

From there on out, things went very smoothly, as Manson led the band through a very well-received interpretation of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams are Made of This,” and then fell directly into the set’s strongest performance, “This Is the New Sh--,” which seemed to be a particular favorite of the crowd.

After an encore of “The Beautiful People,” Manson was gone, and too soon.

Alice Cooper took the stage at the stroke of 10, opening with an on-point “Hello Hooray,” before jumping straight into a slightly less-creepy “House of Fire,” and then falling rather eerily into “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

Alice was, as ever, a sinister master of ceremonies, ringleader of a fabulous band that included the virtuosic and lovely Orianthi Panagaris on lead guitar. The band was simply outstanding throughout the show, sinking its teeth into Cooper’s blend of high drama, metal and seminal glam rock. The set list covered all the bases, from the early androgyny – “Billion Dollar Babies” offering the most torrid example of this period-to late-period cheese metal (“Posion”) and the Bob Ezrin-produced prog-glam of “Go To Hell” and “Welcome To My Nightmare.”

It was all pretty awesome, and the marriage of ’90s industrial-goth (Manson) and ’70s shock-rock (Cooper) seemed to satisfy the large and enthusiastic crowd. Once again, the sound, the sight lines, and the massive production at the Outer Harbor Concert site brought the majesty of major arena spectacle to downtown Buffalo.

email: jmiers@buffnews.com

Edward Sharpe brings summer to Canalside

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:55:18 -0400

Thursday at Canalside is back!

Well, OK, that technically happened last week. But if you were one of the few brave souls who weathered the cold and rain of the summer’s first show, you surely remember that it wasn’t the ideal start for the Canalside series.

With Thursday’s early downpour, there was reason to worry that week two would be another dour affair. But when the music started at 5 p.m., the sun was shining, the ground was mostly dry and the harbor was already teeming with more people than there were at the end of The Hold Steady’s incredible but unjustly under-populated show last week.

Throughout the evening, hundreds of concertgoers happily strayed from the music to amble around the harbor, chat by the water, play Hacky Sack and share drinks and pizza far from the stage. The free-floating festival atmosphere, the hordes of dancing teenagers, the beer-fueled enthusiasm – all the Thursday staples were back in full force.

It also certainly helped that tried-and-tested Thursday favorites Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, a 10-to-14-piece group (depending on the night) that is as much a hippie mini-commune as a band, returned to Buffalo for the third time in four years. When the band played Thursday at the Square in 2011, it was cultivating a small following from its 2009 debut “Up From Below” and its cherished single “Home,” a puppy-eyed duet that every 20-something couple in America has probably imitated.

Since then, the band released its even-better follow-up “Home,” prepared a self-titled third album due in July and amassed a new cult of fans through its free-loving, free-spirited live shows. Judging from the scores of people wearing vintage sun dresses and tie-dye T-shirts Thursday night, Sharpe’s return was welcome.

The opening band The Room unfortunately shares a name with one of the most infamous bad movies of all time, but their songs are solid, and they got the night off to a vigorous start. This seven-piece group has two guitarists and three drummers, and they left their songs open to the whims of their communal spirit. Their short set mostly comprised lean, straight-and-narrow blues, but many of the songs slowly morphed into longer, looser jams, with the band ditching conventional song structures after a few minutes to jump into more freewheeling playing.

Before Edward Sharpe brought everyone back to the Summer of Love, St. Lucia – a one-man project by Johannesburg native Jean-Philip Grobler, who performs with four other players for concerts – gave the evening an ’80s vibe with their throwback dance songs. After an extended sound check, with the band testing synth loops and sound effects over and over again, they finally kicked off with their thumping single “Before the Dive.” Grobler, who looks like Morrissey in brighter clothing, initially tried to get the crowd chanting along to “We Got It Wrong,” with cool results. But as the band continued its array of high-powered synth pop – with a live drummer giving the songs more kick than a drum machine ever could – they gradually won over the minds and bodies of the crowd, which clapped and jumped along to the climatic performance of the single “September.” Grobler, who hasn’t released his long-delayed debut album yet, made the most of his concise repertoire, and the band left the stage after just half an hour – about twice the length of their sound check.

The crowd stretched back to the harbor railings once Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros entered, but true to their bohemian nature, the band still made the show seem intimate. The group – numbering 13 this night – seemed totally, blissfully hazed as they played in front of a starry backdrop.

After their signature opener “40 Day Dream,” bearded frontman Alex Ebert (there is no actual Edward Sharpe – confusing, yes) sat down and muttered, “I just woke up, so that song was terribly appropriate.” After the next song, the ode-to-love “That’s What’s Up,” Ebert looked into the crowd and commented, “This is very, very psychedelic, in a way,” not elaborating. The white-clad Ebert shuffled around the stage and couldn’t resist running into the crowd, as his mild-mannered duet partner Jade Castrinos hung back with her tambourine and ran off-stage during Ebert’s adoring tribute to her, “Jade.”

Every Edward Sharpe song is a call, or a good excuse, for crowd-wide chanting, and the band united its loyal followers in utopian mantras that few other bands could: “I love my God, God made good.”

But they also let their familiar hits wander freely, stretching simple anthems “Up From Below,” “I Don’t Wanna Pray” and, of course, “Home” into 10-minute epics, with the singers whistling and humming for minutes, the backing members improvising new verses and Ebert giving the mic to fans to tell stories and sing their own songs.

The show was part be-in, part playtime. It’s fitting that summer finally came to Canalside this Thursday: As they do for each stop on their magical mystery tours, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros filled the night with their own brand of sunshine.

email: jsilverstein@buffnews.com

Gov’t Mule kicks it high and hard at Artpark

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:48:53 -0400

LEWISTON – Warren Haynes is a busy man. Besides playing guitar in the Allman Brothers Band, the Warren Haynes Band, and with various symphony orchestras in a program of music dedicated to Jerry Garcia (his most recent project), Haynes is the driving force behind Gov’t Mule. This last named group has gone from being a side project to occupy him during those times when the Allman Brothers weren’t on the road to being a major league tour attraction in its own right.

Gov’t Mule has been a musical entity for nearly 20 years now and developed a rabid fan base that knows every song and celebrates every jam-packed riff that the band takes off on. Each member in the quartet has a well-developed set of chops, but Haynes is almost always the sonic focus. It’s hard to miss hearing Matt Abts’ pulsing drum beats and then there’s multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis whose solo keyboard spots are deserving of more space; the new bassist Jorgen Carlsson fits in as well, providing a solid bottom for everyone else to spin off of but really, the audience knows who the group’s real raison d’etre is.

When Haynes whips his fingers up and down the guitar frets, bends a string or picks out an intricate pattern, the results are hard to ignore. The sound roars and whispers at his command, a perfect complement to his voice, a rough hewn instrument in its own right.

Wednesday night found the band in top form with a tightly packed audience in front of the stage, nodding their heads and shaking their bodies as the rhythm soared over them. The folks right up front could focus on Haynes’ hands picking and chording while whoever was shooting the video camera (revealed on a pair of large screens to one side of the stage) caught the action for the folks farther back in the crowd. There were even audience members lucky enough to mount their “mics” behind the soundboard and capture the concert for perusal later.

Long, energetic solos took center stage from the get-go. “World Boss” started off the proceedings before segueing into “Railroad Boy” and “Rocking Horse.” Things slowed down a bit with “Banks of the Deep End” and “Time to Confess,” but that just let Haynes bend the notes further and longer, driving the guitar fans listening to him into paroxysms of joy.

By the time the band whipped into “Broke Down on the Brazos,” Carlsson’s thumping bass lines took center stage and propelled the band ever forward. Louis then led into the next tune, “Steppin’ Lightly,” with a clever, funky little organ riff.

So … the audience was psyched enough as it was, but then it became time for the intermission, a time for the band and the audience to regroup but not before Haynes promised that “We’ve got a long night of music planned for you.” Half an hour later, “Inside Outside Woman Blues #3,” “Any Open Window,” “Bad Man Walking” and “Endless Parade” began to fulfill the guitarist’s promise. Things kept going from there. The fans were sated … for a while.

Three choral groups combine for ‘Prisms of Song’

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:14:55 -0400

Doreen Rao is back on Buffalo’s music scene. The former director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and a celebrated figure in the choral world, is now the music director of a new singing group, the Buffalo Master Chorale. John Fleischman is the associate conductor.

Both Rao and Fleischman will be on hand at St. Joseph’s Cathedral on Saturday, when the Master Chorale presents a concert with three other eminent ensembles: the Harmonia Chamber Singers, the Cathedral Choir of St. Joseph and the Church Choir of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church.

The concert is called “Prisms of Song.” Each choir will perform several different pieces on its own. In an intriguing twist, each will sing from a different place in the cathedral, a tradition known as prism formation. The music ranges from Renaissance composers including Thomas Tallis and William Byrd to intricate choral music of the present day. As a grand finale all the choirs will lift their voices under Rao’s expert direction in the great gospel hymn “Precious Lord,” Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia” and a “Dona Nobis Pacem” by Peteris Vasks.

“Prisms of Song” takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Joseph Cathedral (50 Franklin St.). Admission is free, but a $15 free-will donation is suggested. For information, visit www.buffalomasterchorale.org.

– Mary Kunz Goldman

Roycroft Chamber Music Festival continues

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:14:40 -0400

The Roycroft Chamber Music Festival is in full swing, with chamber music pouring out this weekend over the bucolic streets of East Aurora.

Organized by pianist Eugene Gaub and his wife, violinist Nancy McFarland Gaub, the festival spotlights some of the top musical talent in Western New York. This weekend, the Gaubs are joined by musicians including Rebecca Ansel, Jeremy Crosmer, Rebekah Johnson, Ann Roggen, Peter Szczepanek, Donna Lorenzo and Gail and David Niwa.

Friday evening’s concert features John Fullam, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal clarinetist, in Brahms’ glorious Clarinet Trio. Also on the program is Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3, and, as a change of pace, “Synchronicity in Purple Minor” by Joel Love.

Saturday’s concert begins with Haydn’s Piano Trio in G, featuring the famous “Gypsy Rondo.” It continues with a Prokofiev piano and violin sonata and ends with Mendelssohn’s Octet, music of effervescent genius.

Both concerts are at 8 p.m. in St. Matthias Episcopal Church, on the corner of Main and Maple streets in East Aurora. Admission is $20 at the door. Advance tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the Roycroft Inn, Tops or the Copper Shop in East Aurora, as well as online. For more info, visit www.roycroftchambermusic.org.

– Mary Kunz Goldman

Discs: Queens of the Stone Age, George Benson, Bill Frisell, Piano Titans

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:10:23 -0400

Rock

Queens of the Stone Age

Like Clockwork

[Matador]

Four stars

Forget Robert Johnson for a moment. Josh Homme is the one who went down to the crossroads and traded his soul to the devil in return for an unflagging ability to craft albums that know no rival in their realm.

How else can one explain Homme’s ability to conjure riffs that seem at once familiar and new, and then attach them to songs that somehow flirt with several genres at once? How, after more than two decades in the business, has Homme avoided releasing a single dud of an album, whether fronting Kyuss, the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, or with his main squeeze, Queens of the Stone Age?

OK, so maybe the dark lord is in no way involved in this. That said, a sinister darkness does hang above “Like Clockwork” in the form of a densely layered dinginess that is the very definition of the stoner-rock sound. Homme owns this stuff, and his flair for the dramatic song narrative never fails him here. The song titles offer a hint at the sense of impending doom – or is it merely sexy and alluring danger? – at the heart of “Clockwork’s” vision: “The Vampyre of Time and Memory,” “My God is the Sun,” “If I Had A Tail,” “Fair Weather Friends,” “Keep Your Eyes Peeled.”

Listening to “Clockwork” makes one aware of the clock’s incessant ticking, and summons the image of the listener riding a horse across a brutal landscape with a posse of vigilante madmen hot on your heels, noose in hand and murder in mind. It’s heavy, it’s dense, it’s a little bit scary, and it probably won’t leave without a fight once you let it cross your doorstep.

But Homme is a master of melody, too, and his voice is actually quite beautiful, a resonant tenor that can break easily into sturdy falsetto, and is often layered in harmonies that suggest more than a passing familiarity with the early work of Queen, or possibly even Jeff Buckley’s “Grace.” It’s the contrast between the swinging sledgehammer power of the rhythm section, the dizzying deviousness of Homme’s guitar riffs, and the dramatic intensity and deep musicality evident in his singing that makes QOTSA a one-of-a-kind band.

There are more than a few special guests among the album’s credits, but don’t worry, this isn’t some cameo-crazy modern hip-hop album. Dave Grohl on drums, Elton John on piano and vocals, Trent Reznor, Brody Dalle, Mark Lenegan and Alain Johannes on vocals – all add something significant to the music, which in the end, sounds like no one else but Queens of the Stone Age. That’s a testament to the strength of Homme’s vision. However he may have acquired that vision.

– Jeff Miers

Pop/Jazz

George Benson

Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole

[Concord]

3½ stars

You’d be hard put to find one musician’s tribute to another that’s more authentic than this one.

You want proof? Try its first cut – an 8-year-old “Little George Benson” in 1951 recording, as a contest prize, Nat “King” Cole’s “Mona Lisa” in a Pittsburgh recording studio. “Lil’ George” gives you about as much Cole as a quavery prepubescent boy was capable of.

And then, mirabile dictu, what happens from the singer/guitarist so clearly beholden, are some cuts where Benson’s phrasing and even tone quality are so much from Cole’s side of the street that you’d swear, for 20 or so seconds at a time, you’re hearing a fresh, previously unheard alternate take of Cole classics.

But no, it’s Benson, the first-rate virtuoso jazz guitarist who, just like jazz piano virtuoso Cole, became a commercial pop singer with popularity so immense that people virtually forgot instantly how much of a great jazz virtuoso he once was.

So, sure, Benson records vocal duets with Judith Hill and Tony Award-winning Broadway star Idina Menzel, but just to make sure which side of the street he began on (and still feels at home on), Wynton Marsalis is along to back him up on “Unforgettable.” (And, as long as he was in the neighborhood, why not have percussionist Sheila E. around for some fun?)

Any serious attempt at the Cole songbook from a great singer is a pleasure. But when you’ve got a literal lifetime of so much devotion to and influence by Cole, there’s something singular in 2013 about hearing Benson sing the likes of “Unforgettable,” “Walking My Baby Back Home,” “Route 66” and “When I Fall in Love.”

No, there isn’t enough guitar burn from Benson for some of us, but the arrangements are gorgeous updated Cole. And for its finale you’ve got Benson singing Nelson Riddle’s original arrangement of that first Cole hit that he recorded at the ripe old age of 8 – “Mona Lisa.”

Not just a terrific disc but a terrific pop jazz occasion.

– Jeff Simon

Country

Bill Frisell

Big Sur

[Okeh/Sony]

2½ stars

Take your pick of what genre to call this: Chamber country? Avant barn dance? Conservatory pastorale?

Whatever it is, there’s much beauty here in a musical mode that Bill Frisell has made us familiar with for a long time.

What you’ll have trouble hearing is what this music has in common with Big Sur other than the name of the quintet playing it. Big Sur is the Monterrey Peninsula community that seems to have inspired it, but the magnificent seascapes and forests of Big Sur don’t sound at all like these punctiliously country fantasias. In their major scale simplicity, they’re formal string band cousins of Pat Metheny’s music (or, especially, Frisell’s own “Nashville”). But from a sonority, that’s about midway between string quintet and church social.

The great jazz cellist Hank Roberts is the cellist of the Big Sur Quintet. Jenny Scheinman is the violinist, Eyvind King is the violist and Rudy Royston is the rockish drummer.

Heavier on sonic poetry than adrenaline, it certainly has its moments of stomp and thrum, but in its proper deportment, it doesn’t give us much from Frisell that we haven’t heard before on some of the greatest and least expected guitar fusion discs in our jazz era (“Nashville”).

All Frisell music is worthwhile, but this kind of post-conservatory fusion music (slo-mo Oregon) often seems more decorative than profound or creative.

– J.S.

Classical

Anagnoson & Kinton

Piano Titans

[Opening Day]

3 stars

Bravi to Anagnoson and Kinton for keeping alive the tradition of the piano duo. The piano titans in the title do not vaingloriously refer to the two of them, but to the composers represented: Muzio Clementi, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.

OK, Schubert was far from a virtuoso, but he created some mighty challenging pieces for piano. The Clementi is charming and it is interesting to listen to his music and ask yourself what keeps it from being equal to Mozart or Beethoven. It doesn’t stir you in the same way. But it’s better than you might imagine.

Anagnoson and Kinton play the two Clementi sonatas with 18th century grace, presenting Clementi as one of the links between the Classical and Romantic eras. Three Beethoven marches, Op. 45, are new to me. It’s charming to hear Beethoven not trying be great, filling his marches with military fanfares and rhythms and throwing in wit on the side.

Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor, in contrast, is a great human achievement and Anagnoson and Kinton take an unflinching approach to it. The down side to its inclusion here is that it makes everything before it sound trite.

– Mary Kunz Goldman

Edward Sharpe & Magnetic Zeros will bring uplifting sounds to Canalside on Thursday

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:10:07 -0400

How did Alex Ebert transform from the ironic New Wave-informed frontman of the synth-infused Ima Robot into the barefooted hippie leading the peace-and-love brigade known as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros? Cynics suggest that it’s all a pose designed to erase the past and capitalize on the success of bands like the Polyphonic Spree by casting Ebert as some sort of messianic figure leading an Age of Aquarius-style cult.

Trouble is, the Polyphonic Spree, while often excellent, was never really all that commercially popular. And watching Ebert front Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, you’d have to be pretty hardened to believe his desire to craft uplifting music is anything other than genuine.

If you missed the band the last time it rolled through town to perform during the final season of Thursday at Lafayette Square, you can make up for it tonight, when Ebert brings Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros to Thursday at Canalside. Show time is 5 p.m. and admission is free. Synth-pop maverick Jean-Phillip Grobler, aka St. Lucia, and Welsh alt-rockers the Room will open.

– Jeff Miers

The gruesome twosome: Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper will take over Outer Harbor Concert Site on Friday

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:09:26 -0400

It’s a marriage made ... well, somewhere a little bit south of heaven, let’s say.

Alice Cooper pretty much single-handedly created shock-rock at the end of the 1960s and early ’70s. By taking a page from the Iggy Pop playbook, blending in a bit of a high camp/horror film hybrid, and assembling a set list of hard-rock songs with strong pop hooks, a garage rock underbelly and some sweet twin-guitar harmonies, Cooper emerged as a major influence on ’70s rock. His influence on another major ’70s success story, KISS, can’t be overestimated. ¶ Cooper’s influence on Marilyn Manson, who would emerge 20 years after “Alice” had made onstage faux-executions de rigueur, is equally obvious and vast. Manson brought goth, thrash, techno, glam rock and some sinister blending of all of the above to the table. He made Cooper appear timid by comparison, but Cooper got there first, and thus, his Godfather status remains uncontested. ¶ Putting the twin kings of shock rock together is a stroke of genius. The Cooper/Manson bill will be taking over the Outer Harbor Concert Series (325 Fuhrmann Blvd.) at 7 p.m. Friday. Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 advance, $30 day of show (Ticketmaster, Town Ballroom and After Dark box office). – Jeff Miers

WYRK Taste of Country comes to Coca-Cola Field on Friday

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:06:16 -0400

Each year, the WYRK Taste of Country festival does big business, bringing some of the idiom’s biggest stars together for a mini-festival. The Taste of Country gig always seems to be a sellout, and part of the reason for its success comes down to the diversity of the lineup. For a reasonable ticket price, fans can catch a whole lot of country in one spot, from up-and-coming stars in waiting, to storied hitmakers.

This year’s lineup is one of the most ambitious and diverse to date, with the headlining slot shared by former Hootie and the Blowfish/current country star Darius Rucker and the lovely, elegant and musically diverse Sheryl Crow.

Rounding out the bill will be Taste of Country favorite Rodney Atkins, American Music Award-winning trio Gloriana, and rising country star/former “One Tree Hill” actress Jana Kramer.

Doors open at 5 p.m. Friday at Coca-Cola Field, and the event starts about 6:15 p.m. General admission access on the field is already sold out, but reserved grandstand seating remains. Tickets are $29 (tickets.com). – Jeff Miers

Tuned In: In the clubs and under the radar

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:05:51 -0400

They’ve been holed up in the recording studio outside of Fredonia with producer Dave Fridmann for many a month by now, but Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Godlwasser – known collectively as MGMT – will take a break to play some live shows this summer. One of these takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Artpark, as part of the Coors Light Wednesdays concert series.

Whether or not the MGMT lads take this opportunity to perform material from their forthcoming eponymous album remains to be seen. But, most certainly, we’ll be treated to a heavy dose of the alt-funk/psychedelic/indie-rock stew that is the “Oracular Spectacular” album, and its follow-up, “Congratulations.”

Tickets for MGMT, with guests Kuroma, are $10 advance general admission, $25 for front of stage standing room, and $25 for VIP seating. After Sunday, general admission tickets are $15 (box office, artpark.net).The Rebirth Brass Band offers a direct conduit to the music of New Orleans. The rotating cast of characters in this New Orleans institution have been carrying forward the tradition of brass bands from the region for several decades. At once a celebration of time-honored tradition, and a manifestation of the here and now, the ensemble’s music is funky like only music birthed in New Orleans can be.

The Rebirth Brass Band returns to Buffalo for a show at 7 tonight in the Tralf Music Hall (622 Main St.). Tickets are $25 (box office, Ticketmaster). Learn more through rebirthbrassband.com.Legendary singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman returns to Buffalo with his faithful drumming companion Tommy Larkins for a show at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Waiting Room (334 Delaware Ave.). Now nearing 60, Richman continues to evolve as a writer and musician, having developed a singular and virtuosic finger-picking technique on Flamenco guitar, and the ability to control a crowded and noisy music club to the point where he can sing off-mic and still be heard. Tickets are $16-$19 (box office, ticketfly.com).Midwest indie-rock/alt-pop outfit Abandon Kansas began life as a nominally Christian rock act, but after growing weary of the pigeonholing common to the genre, has moved into the secular world with its new album “A Midwest Summer.” The group will make its area debut at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Forvm, Maple Entertainment Complex (4224 Maple Road, Amherst). Emmi James opens the all-ages show. Tickets are $8 advance (theforvmbuffalo.com), or $10 at the door. Sample the band through abandonkansaslovesyou.com.

The Go-Gos will present ’80s power-pop at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Events Center in the Seneca Niagara Casino, Niagara Falls. Tickets start at $20 (box office, Ticketmaster).

email: jmiers@buffnews.com

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts deliver just what you’d expect

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:04:47 -0400

LEWISTON – Joan Jett has been proving it all night since she was 16 years old, at that point as the principal songwriter and rhythm guitarist with the Runaways. She struck commercial gold in the ’80s with her own blend of ’60s pop hooks and punk-rock grit.

She and her band, the Blackhearts, haven’t had similar commercial success since, despite the fact that Jett is widely held to be the mother of the Riot Grrl movement, and a significant artist within the realms of punk-pop.

No Jett? No Green Day. Fact.

Why? I’m not sure. Jett, whose biggest hit is “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” a torrid and timeless cover of the little-known original by the Arrows, has never been anything other than what she is – a leather-clad, dyed in the wool punk rocker who does not sing the chorus of “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” ironically. Surely, anyone who decided to go to Tuesday’s concert knew that. And yet, aside from a raucous group gathered in the pit directly in front of the stage, it seemed that most of the folks who’d gone to Artpark were expecting something different. Perhaps a performance from Air Supply, by the look of it.

Jett and her band are nothing if not professionals by this point, and despite the fact that they seemed to realize early on that this was a sedate crowd, they gave not an inch. The band performed what it had come to perform, which was a set framed by the hits, with a middle section stuffed full of new tunes, from a forthcoming album Jett told us will be called “Unvarnished.”

All of these tunes follow the same formula as Jett’s most popular tunes, and are instantly recognizable as memorable. After the band made it through the first chorus, it would not have been hard for everyone to have sung along with the second chorus. Very few bothered, though.

Jett and the Blackhearts opened with three punk-pop classics. “Bad Reputation,” a punker that reveals the singer’s modus operandi, came first, and led directly into a smoking take on the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.” At this point, things were going fine, as the crowd down front did their punk-rock duty, jumping, screaming and letting the band know that the performance would be a two-way street.

Things continued in such a tenor through “Touch,” as the crowd screamed along and Jett did her best to encourage more of such behavior. However, as soon as Jett and the band started delving into a selection of tunes from the forthcoming album, the show lost its energy, at least from the crowd’s side of the equation.

Granted, Jett’s new songs are a touch more ruminative and reflective than her earlier tunes – “Soulmates to Strangers” grieved the fading of love, while “Fragile” dealt with the ephemeral nature of existence, and “Hard To Grow Up” offered its own take on Tom Waits’ classic “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” – but musically, these were hook-heavy punk tunes that should not have been throwing the crowd a curveball.

Yet, an awkward lack of involvement seemed to envelope much of the crowd, which, if it wasn’t near a full house, was certainly full enough to make for an exciting give-and-take rock show.

Jett, backed by longtime drummer Thommy Price, who kicked it hard and heavy all night long, and bolstered by the presence of guitarist Dougie Needles on her left, gave it her all. She returned to more familiar material with “I Hate Myself For Loving You,” and then headed into an encore that included a take on Sweet’s “AC/DC,” as well as a heartfelt and surprisingly lithe interpretation of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People.”

Opening act the Matt Facciolla Band delivered a set of sturdy rock ’n’ roll that moved between Tom Petty-esque singer/songwriter fare and Joe Grushecky-like pub rockers. Facciolla, who spent several years in Buffalo as singer and guitarist with the Electric Bushmen, made his homecoming count. The crowd was receptive to his blend of alternative and classic rock sounds.

Folks, for future reference, when you go to see a punk-rock act, you should not treat the experience as a casual stroll through the free show at the village square. C’mon now. We’d like these people to come back! Do a little research into what you’re going to see.

email: jmiers@buffnews.com

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:39:07 -0400

Get ready, get set, the Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks 10th Anniversary Tour will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 in the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts on the North Campus, Amherst.

Tickets are $37, $52, $67 and $77 and go on sale at 10 a.m. June 14 through the center box office, online at www.tickets.com or charge by phone at (888) 223-6000.

For more information, call 645-2787 or visit www.ubcfa.org.

Goos cement status as hit machine with 10th album

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:17:52 -0400

It’s been an awfully long time since the Goo Goo Dolls truly belonged to Buffalo.

When the band played the Continental regularly, could be seen around town on a consistent basis and seemed poised to fulfill our hopes as Western New York’s own version of the Replacements, we felt like we owned them.

With the release of album No. 10, “Magnetic,” (out today) it’s more than obvious that John Rzeznik, Robby Takac and Mike Malinin now belong to the world. They’re not our scruffy and sweaty bar band anymore. Rather, they are a mainstream hit-making powerhouse. Certainly, bassist and co-founder Robby Takac still makes Buffalo his home as much as is humanly possible, and he has invested in our town’s culture immensely. But the Goos are primarily a Los Angeles band these days, and they sound like one.

That’s not an insult. Survival on a major label these days is not guaranteed, even if you’ve had as many hits as the Goos have. You’ve got to keep cranking out those hits if you want to be deemed relevant. And “Magnetic” is the most potentially hit-filled release of the band’s career. There are 11 songs on the album, and every single one of them sounds like a hit.

The Goos worked long and hard on the construction of “Magnetic,” painstakingly trimming fat, honing hooks and fine-tuning arrangements over a two year period at studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles and New York City. Most significantly, principal songwriter John Rzeznik opted to work with outside songwriting collaborators on nine of the album’s 11 songs. (The other two tunes were penned by Takac all by his lonesome.)

Rzeznik has said in recent interviews that working with outside writers was a liberating experience for him. That liberated feeling pervades “Magnetic,” and makes it easily the band’s sunniest collection.

2010’s “Something For the Rest Of Us” revealed a narrative voice embroiled in turmoil, and Rzeznik has said that the album was written amid trying times in his personal life. “Magnetic” stands in stark opposition to its predecessor, as is immediately apparent from the get-go. Album opener and first single “Rebel Beat” makes a joyful noise, its blend of acoustic instruments and subtly interwoven electronica conspiring in service of a jubilant stomp of a pop tune. This is one of four songs Rzeznik penned with producer Gregg Wattenberg, known for his work with Train, Daughtry and O.A.R., among others.

The Rzeznik/Wattenberg team also is responsible for “When the World Breaks Your Heart,” a ballad introduced by a lilting guitar arpeggio, before it evolves into a grandiose slab of arena-pop touched by shades of Coldplay-like grandeur and a hope-tinged lyric. “Slow It Down” boasts richly layered backing vocals, the electric guitars trimmed back in favor of electronic percussion, keyboard strings and acoustic guitars during the verses, before exploding into what by this point in the proceedings we can accept as the Rzeznik/Wattenberg style.

Elsewhere, Rzeznik teams with producer John Shanks (Keith Urban, Bon Jovi, Alanis Morissette, among others) for “Caught in the Storm,” a classic power-ballad, and “More Of You,” which represents the band’s most successful assimilation of electronica into its ensemble sound.

“Bringing on the Light,” the first of the two Takac tunes, starts as a ballad, with the bassist’s vocal layered and heavily produced, but things return to familiar Takac territory with the song’s chorus, a delicious slice of scruffy punk-pop that reveals the band’s roots in that genre. The electric guitars are cranked up nice and loud for this one.

Takac’s other “Magnetic” offering, “Happiest of Days,” is a lilting ballad with a nice string arrangement. The tune commences with some lovely acoustic chordal work, Takac’s charming rasp mixed front and center, and then builds slowly toward its strong chorus hook.

Magnetic concludes with the strongest of the Rzeznik/Shanks contributions in the form of “Keep the Car Running,” one of the album’s most richly detailed productions. This is classic Goos, redolent of the band’s “Dizzy Up the Girl” period, and the blossoming of Rzeznik’s gifts as a pop songwriter. Ultimately, “Magnetic” is a celebration of those gifts. It’s also a testament to the fortitude of this band of survivors.Magnetic

[Warner Bros.]

3 stars

email: jmiers@buffnews.com

Prog-funk faithful turn out for Les Claypool and Primus

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:36:16 -0400

Primus tacked a date onto the end of their current tour to play the inaugural show of the Niagara River Rocks Concert Series at Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda on Sunday evening. It was a free show. Needless to say, the place was packed. Though no official numbers were available, a sea of people greeted Primus as the three-piece avant garde funk and prog-rock trio took the stage.

Though the lengthy tour behind the band’s latest album, “Green Naugahyde,” was slated to end in Toronto on Saturday evening, the band apparently couldn’t resist one more go-round for the faithful. Thousands of them turned out to urge bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane on toward the finish line. The energy level maintained by the crowd during the show was unflaggingly high. And the band did respond in kind, playing a lengthy set of tunes from throughout its 25-year career.

Though Primus’ music defies easy classification, its propensity for killer grooves played in odd time signatures positions it as a prog-funk band. When you add in Claypool’s beautifully bizarre narratives, most of them concerning the exploits of scoundrels, society’s outcasts, capitalist swine and just plain freaks, you end up with a sound that is both idiosyncratic and incredibly powerful.

Since this was a tour-ending show, Primus was uber-tight, and the interplay among the virtuosic Claypool and his bandmates was palpable throughout. The band opened with “Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers,” a slippery, funky affair, and from the outset, the crowd was way into it. Flanked on either side of the stage by massive inflatable astronauts, and with a huge projection screen hung above drummer Lane, Primus appeared as a troop of mildly sinister outcasts. For the majority of the set, the band was backlit only, and shadows abounded, creating a psychedelic atmosphere.

Plenty of “Green Naugahyde” tunes peppered the set, with the prog-funk of “Jilly’s On Smack” – a sad and cautionary tale, but yet somehow, a celebratory tune – and “Moron TV,” a hilarious and on-point condemnation of contemporary American television viewing habits. (“There’s gotta be more on TV/than just moron TV,” spat Claypool.)

“Jerry Was A Race Car Driver,” from the band’s seminal “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” release, earned a rapturous response from the crowd, as did the geographically appropriate “Over the Falls.”

Primus is one of the most consistently inventive bands to have emerged from the early ’90s alternative music movement. The group combines instrumental virtuosity, the inventive arrangements and surprising time-signature shifts of progressive rock and the sardonic brilliance and ascerbic social observations of Frank Zappa in an incredibly powerful way. The Niagara River Rocks venue allowed the band to let its freak flag fly in a major way. A show to savor and remember, then.

Music Review

Primus

Part of Cornerstone’s Niagara River Rocks Concert Series. Sunday evening in Gratwick Riverside Park, River Road, North Tonawanda.

email: jmiers@buffnews.com

Listening Post: Tributes to Woody Guthrie, Abbey Lincoln, Duke Ellington and more.

Sun, 9 Jun 2013 07:40:34 -0400

Various Artists, “Woody Guthrie at 100!, Live at the Kennedy Center” (Legacy, two discs plus DVD, released Tuesday). There are no songs like these anywhere else. There are lines here whose resonance will remain for as long as America continues trying to be a civilization and not just a capitalist version of the wilderness. Rosanne Cash sings “I Ain’t Got No Home” (a perfect song, she calls it in some awe) and “Pretty Boy Floyd” (which observes inarguably “some will rob you with a six-gun/some with a fountain pen/you’ll never see an outlaw/drive a family from their home”). “This Land is Your Land” – American folkdom’s national anthem – gives us as great a quatrain as any: “As I went walking, I saw a sign/It said ‘No Trespassing.’/On the other side, the sign said nothing/That side was made for you and me.” Ani DiFranco sings “Deportee” with Ry Cooder, Donovan – no less – sings “Riding in My Car,” Judy Collins performs “Pastures of Plenty,” Lucinda Williams “House of Earth,” Jackson Browne “You Know the Night,” John Mellencamp “Do Re Mi” and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott does “1913 Massacre.” It’s an elaborate box set, all from the Kennedy Center on Oct. 14, 2012. Granted there’s something anomalous about “official” Washington presenting music whose glory is its stubborn refusal to be “official.” But then it’s music that establishmentarian America is proud of for the simplest of reasons: it has no choice. The other side of the sign, after all, was made for you and me. 4 stars (Jeff Simon)Piia Komsi, “Solaris: Solace in Song” (Proprius). This disc arrived when I was in need of solace, so I got right to it. I was happy to find the haunting, soaring “Pie Jesu” of Lili Boulanger, the tragically short-lived sister of composing pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, is very poignant considering her early death. She wrote it in the last year of her life (she died at 24). It was like Mozart and his Requiem, genuine. Another highlight is the setting by Franz Schubert of the Salve Regina, one of the world’s most consoling prayers - heartfelt but joyous, with none of the sorrow you come to expect from Schubert, another tragically short-lived marvel. Bach’s “Aus Liebe” (“From Love”) from the St. Matthew Passion is comforting in that way only Bach can be, leaving you feeling that the universe is in good hands. I also found Aleksander Raskatov’s “Kaddish,” with its mournful quotes from Jewish folk melody, moving. Aside from the calm, controlled voice of Finnish coloratura soprano Piia Komsi, the disc is not what I consider soothing. It is heavy on the music of contemporary Finnish composers. Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s “Lacrimosa,” though technically impressive with its vocal note bending, hurts your ears. Tapio Tuomela’s disjointed treatment of Gregorian chants, sung robotically by Komsi, sounds weird and mocking. To top things off the liner notes, in English and Finnish, are hard to follow, particularly if you are jangled and in need of solace. 2.5 stars (Mary Kunz Goldman)

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Violin Lullabies, Rachel Barton Pine, violin, Matthew Hagle, piano (Cedille). These 25 tracks all sound pretty much alike, with the same tempos and textures, and after a few of them, I found myself yawning. But then, isn’t that the idea? Violinist Rachel Barton Pine recently had a baby and so she personally selected the lullabies she plays here on her ancient Stradivarius. She includes the low-hanging fruit, such as Gershwin’s “Summertime” (zzzzz) and the lullabies by Brahms and Schubert. You can’t hear the Schubert “Cradle Song” too much, and Pine plays it like a Fritz Kreisler piece, bringing out its Viennese beauty. There are also pleasant surprises, though, lullabies by composers including Ottorino Respighi, William Grant Still and Igor Stravinsky (the Berceuse from “The Firebird). It’s a treat to hear the brooding, sensuous “Oror” by Alan Hovhaness and Ravel’s Lullaby on the name “Gabriel Faure.” The disc ends with the lovely “Wiegenlied” by the great Max Reger. Brava to Pine. She rocks that cradle. 3.5 stars (M.K.G.)Marc Cary, “For the Love of Abbey” (Motema). Marc Cary is his generation’s Mal Waldron. Pianist Waldron’s most famous gig was accompanying Billie Holiday. Cary somewhat incredibly started out as the pianist for Betty Carter and then spent 12 years accompanying Abbey Lincoln. This solo piano disc of Lincoln’s original music, says Cary, “is my celebration of an incredible person – composer, artist, bandleader and friend. The impact Abbey has had on my career and family is just so big that I had to show her music to the world through my heart and soul.” Without Lincoln’s lyrics, then, Lincoln’s music has surprising strength simply as solo piano jazz, even though it’s doubtful any other jazz musician would be likely to adapt even one of these Lincoln originals as part of his or her band book. There is, to be sure, no question of Cary’s devotions to Lincoln and her music, which makes the disc a triumph of emotional conviction over style and even substance. 3 stars (J.S.)

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Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway, “Duke at the Roadhouse: Live in Sante Fe” (iPo). The creaminess of Eddie Daniels’ sound on clarinet and his instrumental fluency make him the greatest living jazz clarinet virtuoso by far (Don Byron and Anat Cohen seem to be musicians first, clarinetists second). It’s the very nature, though, of Daniels’ clarinet virtuosity, that makes it so exciting that he plays as much tenor saxophone as he does these days. It’s also what makes this particular disc with pianist Roger Kellaway so exceptional. If ever there were two jazz musicians on the same wavelength, it’s Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway. As if that weren’t enough, cellist James Holland joins them on four tracks. The repertoire is solid Ellingtonia, beginning with “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and moving on to a gorgeous “Creole Love Call” over a rocking piano part by Kellaway. By that time, you’re aware that there isn’t going to be a single bar of this duet and trio music (which was a benefit performance in Santa Fe) that isn’t completely fresh, if not sometimes wildly original. It’s chamber jazz for the pure pleasure of it all – both in the playing and the listening. 4 stars (J.S.)

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John O’Gallagher, “The Anton Webern Project” (Whirlwind). The lunatic jazz disc of the year, by far. What could possibly be nuttier than a disc of fusionish electric jazz based on the music of Anton Von Webern, the original serialist and, by any inherent assay, probably the least assimilable composer for jazz purposes of any in the 20th century? So it’s O’Gallagher’s effort to imagine “what would Webern’s music sound like if he were a jazz musician living in New York City today?” In essence, it’s more or less conventional jazz improvisation on serial themes (serial improvisation being, no doubt, more of the “blip blop” aleatoric variety). It’s certainly adventurous by conventional jazz standards but it’s not, in any way, truly Webernian in any way that the composer would have recognized. On the other hand, you can bet your week’s allotment of coffee and strudel that he’d have gotten a bit of a kick out of it. 3 stars (J.S.)

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Nick Sanders Trio, “Nameless Neighbors” (Sunnyside). A young multicultural jazz pianist from New Orleans, Sanders is produced here, on his first trio disc, by pianist Fred Hersch, no less. Sanders, at this stage, sounds like a reasonably interesting academic pianist except for one rather wonderful exploration of jazz repertoire that ought to be far more familiar than it is: Herbie Nichols’ “Orse at Safari.” Don’t let Monk’s “Manganese” fool you. It’s not a seldom heard Monk tune at all but rather the familiar tune commonly known as “We See.” 2.5 stars (J.S.)The Piano Guys, “2” (Portrait). The Piano Guys is actually a duo from Utah with only one pianist, Jon Schmidt. His bandmate is Steven Sharp Nelson, who plays a variety of cellos and “cello percussion.” A few other people pitch in on vocals, percussion, whatever. Their music is on the quiet end of the New Age spectrum, the loud end being the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They are tremendously popular. The Piano Guys, who made their name on YouTube, are capable of some elegant and moving performances. One popular video has them performing “O Come O Come Emmanuel” in a biblical setting, with a simplicity that plays up the grace of the ancient chant. (“We are all spiritual guys,” the Piano Guys say on their website.) This disc, aside from a lovely “Nearer, My God, To Thee,” is on the lighter side. The Piano Guys lose originality points because they take tunes many others have seized on before. “Begin Again” has bits of Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze,” and “Rockelbel’s Canon,” of course, comes, yawn, from Pachelbel. “Mission Impossible” involves Mozart’s well-known students’ sonata, K. 545. I get the idea that most musicians of this type, though classically trained, never bothered to listen to much classical music outside of class. There’s also a cute Charlie Brown medley; a kind of Irish reel called “Waterfall”; an original cello take on “Happy Together”; and a twinkly “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The longest track is a five-minute meditation on Howard Shore’s music for “The Lord of the Rings.” The Piano Guys are coming to UB in October. I’m already planning on going. 3 stars (M.K.G.)

Jazz great Miller brings out his best

Sun, 9 Jun 2013 07:27:48 -0400

“Well well, Buffalo. Y’all don’t mess around, do ya?”

This was Marcus Miller addressing the sold out Bear’s Den at the Seneca Niagara Casino on Friday night. The revered jazz bassist, composer, bandleader and producer was simultaneously acknowledging the enthusiastic response of the audience, and giving our town some serious props – Miller told the assembled that audiences in Buffalo bring out the best in his band, and rate as highly among the musicians as do crowds in major markets like Los Angeles and New York City.

Miller was not simply dishing empty platitudes here. He knows of what he speaks, having made Buffalo a regular tour stop for decades, with his own band and as a member of other touring ensembles. His Buffalo gigs are always energetic, deeply musical and celebratory affairs, but Friday’s show at the Bear’s Den upped the ante considerably. Leading a young group of players representing the vanguard in modern jazz, Miller took us by turns to church, to the funky gin joint on the corner, and into the heady atmosphere of his beyond-genre-classification work with Miles Davis. Offering standing ovations after each tune seemed the least we could do.

Miller is touring behind his most recent release, “Renaissance,” and the majority of Friday’s stellar program comprised tunes from that album. This was good news for the audience, as “Renaissance” ably encapsulates the uber-hip blend of funk, soul, R&B, and the harmonic construction and ensemble improvisation of jazz that Miller has been perfecting since he was hand-picked as a core member of Miles Davis’ band in 1980, at age 20.

Miller was much more than a sideman for Davis – he composed and produced the jazz giant’s final great works, the Grammy-winning “Tutu,” the film score “Music from Siesta,” and the oft-overlooked “Amandla.” These were, in essence, Miller albums with Davis performing as featured soloist, and all three have aged incredibly well.

After opening with a torrid take on Weldon Irvine’s seminal jazz-funk chart “Mr. Clean,” which featured a vibrant solo from trumpeter Lee Hogans, Miller led his band – Hogans, saxophonist Alex Han, pianist Brett Williams, guitarist Adam Agati and drummer Jay Williams – directly into the “Renaissance” material.

The in-your-face funk of “Detroit” came first, and this offered a showcase for Miller’s sophisticated slap technique, a virtuosic and percussive attack that is a hallmark of serious funk. Miller is the reigning master of this style, but part of his brilliance as a composer rests on his ability to bring significant dynamic shifts to the music. “Detroit” moved from aggressive funk into a lyrical theme for trumpet and saxophone that revealed Miller’s love for the late jazz arranger Gil Evans, and then broke out into some sublime soloing from Han and Brett Williams. The audience seemed particularly moved by the playing of saxophonist Han, who was a jazz prodigy at the tender age of 13, was winning awards from Down Beat by 15, and is considered today, at the age of 24, one of the leading lights of his generation of jazzers.

“That was ‘Detroit,’ ” Miller said at the song’s conclusion. “For the next album, we’re gonna write one called ‘Buffalo.’ ” Nice!

“Redemption” followed, beginning as a ballad, giving way to a beautiful head theme for sax and trumpet, and then erupting into some inspired soloing. It was here that guitarist Agati, who’d been offering subtle chordal washes and funky comping up to this point, got the nod from Miller, and took off into a dramatically structured solo built around broad intervalic leaps, staggered arpeggios, and rapid-fire legato lines. The solo itself was a masterful composition within a masterful composition, and at its conclusion, the people freaked, myself included.

The haunting and emotion-soaked “Goree” found Miller abandoning the bass for another of the several instruments he plays fluently, the bass clarinet. Backed at first only by pianist Brett Williams, Miller played the tune’s graceful theme, before breaking into variations on that theme. Han and Hogans entered then, Miller returned to bass, and drummer Jay Williams evolved the tune from ballad to funk celebration. This was simply masterfully done.

Miller gave each member of his band ample spotlight time, and he praised them between songs.

“These are some brilliant young musicians,” he said at one point, “but on top of being brilliant players, they know how to listen to each other and to the music.” Indeed.

email: jmiers@buffnews.com