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| Ain't Nothin' But A Houseparty |
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| :: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., Sep 15, 2012 |
My thanks to Crimhead Lee Huntington for sending me these report on a pair of house concerts last week featuring bassist Julie Slick, guitarist Tim Motzer and visual artist Dejha Ti.
This weekend I had an experience that has changed my life in several ways. My good friends and I had the pleasure of hosting Julie Slick, Tim Motzer, and Dejha Ti in a pair of house concerts referred to as the “House Concert Tour 2012.” I think it’s not going too far to say this trio used time, space, sound, and light to rearrange the listener’s neurotransmitters and bend their minds to their will.
A little background: Julie Slick, many will know, is the young bass player tapped by Adrian Belew for his Power Trio, along with her brother, drum wizard Eric. She has since toured with the ABPT several times and in the past two years has also shared the bottom end of the Crimson Projekt sextet with Tony Levin. She is in the process of releasing her second solo album, “Terroir.”
Tim Motzer is an amazing guitarist, arranger, and producer. He has released a large catalog of discs of a variety of music via his 1krecordings.com, based in Philadelphia. One that has caught the ear of Crimson fans is the brilliant “Goldbug,” featuring Theo Travis and one Eric Slick.
Dejha Ti (pronounced Tie) is a force unto herself. She is a lighting artist, film maker, and photographer, as well as a software developer. Her light sculptures enhance and propel the music into new dimensions. As one audience member said, “This isn’t a duo with a lighting person. This is a trio.”
The trio brought to Central Virginia an interesting mix of tunes. The two nights’ sets largely overlapped with a couple of standout differences. The material was drawn partly from “Terroir,” partly from two weeks of writing and rehearsals with Mr. Motzer preceding the “tour,” and partly from on-the-spot improvisations. And, of course, while the material overlapped, the two nights performances differed because the duo also improvised within the tunes that they played.
One of the highlights of both nights was a King Crimson favorite, “One Time,” beautifully rendered. The duo arrangement of this tune was spacious and yet intense, with both Julie and Tim giving a workout to their sonic palettes, and trading off providing the rhythmic and melodic pulses. This was a theme throughout the evening as I would pull myself out of the reverie that the music had placed me in to find Tim playing the “bass part” while Julie provided the lead. Some of the new material that was developed in their rehearsals – Pity and Slow Roast.
On Saturday night, or maybe early Sunday morning, we were gifted with the Virginia Premier of “Terroir.” It was amazing to hear the difference between this album and Julie’s first. This listening also revealed how much room there is for the songs to breathe and grow. Those that were played over the weekend - Even the Tide Recedes, Pi, and Kismet - while structurally the same, were also qualitatively different, with both Julie and Tim adding nuances to the recorded versions. It was clear that Julie is maturing in her artistry, as even while she releases the new material she is continuing to refine it.
Oh, and did I mention that while she staged an amazing video/light extravaganza accompanying the music, Dejha Ti also recorded a 4-camera shoot? Yes. She did. And video of both nights in Central Virginia will be available as a digital download from 1krecordings and julieslick.com.
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Fripp On The Box
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., May 25, 2013
Robert Fripp is one of the contributors to David Bowie - Five Years screening at 9.20 p.m. on BBC2 tonight.
Digital Spy lists Robert Fripp as one of the reasons as to why David Bowie - Five Years is a must-watch show. "Of all the guys and girls we hear from, The Elephant Man
director Jack Hofsiss and Carlos Alomar ("This was the whitest man I'd
ever seen!") certainly deserve special mention, but the complete
standout is King Crimson's Robert Fripp. There's nothing quite like a
guitar legend who looks (and sounds) like a retired bank manager, calmly
swearing as he recalls Bowie and Brian Eno asking him to play some
"hairy rock 'n' roll" on "Heroes". "What is the difference between pop and rock and roll?" Fripp says gently. "You might get f**ked." Blimey!" You can read the other reasons to watch the show here.
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Marquee Memories
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., May 25, 2013
BBC 4 screened a vintage episode of Jazz 625 - a TV show which Bill Bruford recalls being an avid viewer of in his youth. The episode features Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band and was recorded in the Marquee Club.
Bilk, who had a monumental hit with the lugubrious ballad Stranger On The Shore on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961, has a couple of connections to the world of Crimson.
A young Robert Fripp was swept up in the trad jazz phenomena that was all the rage in Britain during the late 50s and early 60s, queuing up to see bands led by Monty Sunshine, Chris Barber and Acker Bilk. The trad jazz craze was covered in an hour-long documentary also on BBC 4 last night and includes more footage of Bilk in action.
The trad jazz scene also led Ian Wallace to an epiphany. He’d been happy enough picking out tunes while listening to the radio on a guitar his mother had bought for him. However, it was not until he went to a performance of Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band at Bury’s Royal Cinema that his true musical interests were revealed. As he stood queuing for an ice cream near the front of the stage, Wallace looked up and saw the stage lights reflecting of the coloured shells of the drums. Looking at the kit, he underwent an almost religious experience. "The heavens opened up with a choir of angels and something said ’That’s what you’re supposed to do.’"
For those folks who’ve only ever seen photographs of the legendary club (such as this one)...
...the Jazz 625 show with Acker Bilk gives you a much better sense of the room which helped Crimson come to prominence.
The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London played host to a memorable residency by Crimson and on this very date 44 years ago they were sharing the bill with John Surman’s Octet as part of the club’s New Paths initiative which sought to find a common ground between rock and jazz.
The band had first played at the club on May 16th (Fripp’s 23rd birthday) where they were supporting US visitor’s Steppenwolf. After witnessing KC do their thing, Steppenwolf vocalist John Kay was heard to have memorably quipped "Follow that. They sound like a bleeding orchestra."
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Chrysta Bell & Mastelotto In The UK
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., May 23, 2013
Pat Mastelotto is on tour in the UK this week with Chrysta Bell. Check out the dates in Manchester, Leicester, Bath and Ireland here.
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Keeling's Condensed KC
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., May 23, 2013
Andrew Keeling has a new book of musical analysis due out for June 1st. The Concise Musical Guide to King Crimson and Robert Fripp (1969 - 1984) is available from Burning Shed and direct from the publisher Spaceward where you can also nab it as an ebook.
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The TransKcription Of Light
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., May 21, 2013
Ever wanted to see what the track The ConstruKction Of Light transcribed with all the parts written out and then put into a midi file? Gabriel Lucas Gitin Riccio did and set about spending time doing just that.
Trey Gunn linked to the video on his Facebook page commenting "King Crimson's "The ConstruKction of Light" fully transcribed (ALL parts) and re-realized via midi. Unfortunate choices for the drum sounds, and I haven't checked all the notes, but my immediate impression is: "Holy crap! This person really put in the work on this one."
He even has all the double-stops in my right hand part. That is not easy to hear from the recording. And, even I had to put in a ton of work to get my hands back into it for each subsequent tour."
You can see the whole thing here.
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And The Winner Is...
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., May 21, 2013
Congratulations to Syd Blair of Belfast. He was able to tell me that Tim Bowness's regular musical partner in No-Man is Steven Wilson. For that display of in-depth musical knowledge he wins himself a copy of the latest Henry Fool album, Men Singing. Stay tuned for another splendid giveaway later this week.
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Dyble Discussion
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sun., May 19, 2013
Judy Dyble, ex Fairport Convention and one-time member of GG&F, has been discussing her collaboration with Alistair Murphy and their work on a new album. Read it here.
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