I’m just going to keep unleashing my videos from the 2011 Bear Creek Music Festival in hopes that I can get them all released before I head down to New Orleans for Jazz Festival and come back with 10+ more hours of footage.
Medeski Martin & Wood
Friday, November 11, 2011
Live Oak, FL @ Bear Creek Music Festival
We Are Rolling > Pappy Check > Just Like I Pictured It,
Where’s the Music (with Pee Wee Ellis), Think
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Live Oak, FL @ Bear Creek Music Festival Part 1 of 2: A Go Go, Down The Tubes (aka Improv), Hanuman, Little Walter Rides Again
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
November 12, 2011
Live Oak, FL @ Bear Creek Music Festival Part 2 of 2: Miles Behind, In Case The World Changes Its Mind (with Roosevelt Collier),
Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing (with Johnny Vidacovich), Hottentot
AUDIO (on MMW): Schoeps mk22/cmc6 > Audio Magic Excalibur Cables > Sound Devices 788 by Steve Bazley
AUDIO (on MSMW): Neumann TLM-170R (cardiod) > Grace Lunatec V-3 (Analog out) > Sound Device 722 by TaperSteve
VIDEO 1: Canon Vixia HF21 by RLBayers
VIDEO 2 (on MSMW): Zoom Q3 by Adam Firtel of CHeeSeHeaDPRoDuCTioNS
When Robert Glasper arrived at St. Louis’ premier jazz venue, Jazz At The Bistro, he promptly apologized for twice canceling prior engagements at the club (one due to the birth of his child and another due to a call from Maxwell to go on tour). He more than made up for it with 2 sets of his pensive yet blissful piano playing. With him were fellow Houstonian Alan Hampton on upright bass and St. Louis native Mark Colenburg on the drum kit.
Glasper recounted how he met Colenburg back in 1999 at this very club and how he recommended Colenburg to Common for the Like Water For Chocolate tour. Quite expectedly, Colenburg showed and proved in his hometown with two snare drums, plenty of chops, and a heavy nod to J Dilla‘s fluid yet angular sense of rhythm.
With the news of Whitney Houston‘s unexpected passing, Glasper dedicated the first tune to her, beginning the 20+ minute piece with a meditative and lengthy solo piano improvisation. After a short “J Dillalude”, Glasper jokingly name dropped 11 of the 12 guests appearing on his new album, Black Radio, and reminded everyone that the new album drops in 2 weeks. In his words, “cop that”. He closed the early show by taking requests, to which at least two audience members immediately shouted “F.T.B.” without hesitation. When someone asked “what does it stand for?”, Glasper declined to answer, preferring to “keep it off record”. Your guess is as good as mine. Notably, the trio teased The Roots‘ Grammy award winning song, “You Got Me”, as the final notes of the set.
Playing to a totally different, and noticeably younger and whiter, crowd for the late show, the trio stretched out much further. The set began with 30 minutes of non-stop music that shifted from on point jazz changes to open solos to an improvisation in which Glasper took a candle holder from the front table and held it to the piano strings as he played. (In fact, this is the section you hear on the streaming audio, above). After an hour of mesmerizing sounds, as icing on top, the show closed with a vamped out instrumental version of Q-Tip‘s track “You” from The Renaissance album. Completely satisfied, the crowd didn’t push for an encore, content to disperse back out into the cold night.
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Robert Glasper Trio
February 11, 2012
St. Louis, MO @ Jazz At The Bistro
Source: internal mics > Tascam DR-2d > WAV > Cool Edit Pro > FLAC
Location: In my jacket pocket. Early show: 2nd table dead center. Late show: 2nd table slightly to the right.
Recorded by RLBayers for Funk It Blog (http://funkit.virose.net/).
Early Show: 7:30pm
01. Glasper speaks
02. Canvas (Dedicated to Whitney Houston) >
03. No Worries *
04. J Dillalude
05. Drum solo > F.T.B. > You Got Me outro
Late Show: 9:30pm
01. Glasper speaks
02. Rise And Shine > drum solo > bass solo > Improv # >
03. ???
04. Glasper speaks
05. Smells Like Teen Spirit [Nirvana]
06. G & B (inc. bass solo) >
07. I Have A Dream [Herbie Hancock] >
08. You [Q-Tip]
Robert Glasper: piano, fender rhodes (on F.T.B. only) Alan Hampton: bass Mark Colenburg: drums
* My batteries died so about 6 or 7 minutes is missing in the middle. The track fades in and out at 4min43sec.
# Robert asked the audience member at the front table for the glass candle holder (with the small lit candle in it), then Robert held the candle holder to the piano strings while playing.
I’m going to start my Bear Creek Music Festival coverage with some pre-fest festivities from Thursday, November 10, in Atlanta, GA. I started the evening at the Variety Playhouse with my 47th Medeski Martin & Wood show. The opening act was a blues band called Scrapomatic featuring Kofi Burbridge on vocals as a special guest for the entire show. Kofi has a silky smooth voice and the tunes were playful blues numbers. However, after the first 30 minutes, people got antsy. The vibe was a little too relaxed for the restless crowd that was starting to pour in.
MMW started their all request set with two tunes from their classic 1995 album, Friday Afternoon In The Universe: The Lover > We’re So Happy. Between these two songs it sounded like Billy was teasing Moti Mo (one of my friend Greg and I’s requests for the evening). My video of We’re So Happy starts out a little rough with some heads in front of me, but about 3 minutes in the people in front of me let me step up to the front and film the song with a clear view. You can view the video below.
After a brief acoustic detour into Duke Ellington territory on Acht O’Clock Rock (with an interesting John Medeski mellotron section), the band slid into a third song from the Friday Afternoon album, Last Chance To Dance Trance (Perhaps). This was a very long and expansive version, clocking in at around 18 minutes long including an acoustic piano section and an illyB drum solo. They closed the set with a tambourine and melodica infused version of the old New Orleans mardi gras song, Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing.
Medeski Martin & Wood – We’re So Happy, Feelin’ Good (with Col. Bruce Hampton) 11/10/11 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse:
The second set began with a sit in by Col. Bruce Hampton on vocals, which you can watch above. Next was 25 minutes of sublime, groove-oriented, improvisation. You couldn’t ask for more, but we got more. The improv segued into a drum and percussion solo, which segued into another rarity: Sequel (also from the Friday Afternoon album).
John Medeski then topped off the set with a soft and sweet rendition of Everyday People by Sly & The Family. For the encore, Billy Martin announced that they would be playing a song from their “20” release. When crowd members asked the name of the song, Billy told them they would have to buy it to find out, since there were some “profundities” in the title. The name of the tune: Fuck You Guys.
I never got my Moti Mo or Chinoiserie requests, but I did get plenty of other Friday Afternoon songs, as well as a Duke Ellington fix, so no complaints here (well, except my complaint that Kofi never joined the band for a flute down…). However, I can confidently say that this blew the Chicago show out of the water and has to be in my top 5 MMW shows.
As soon as MMW ended, we headed straight to The Masquerade to catch Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. We arrived just as the opening act, Orgone, began breaking down. I was glad we hadn’t missed Dumpstaphunk, and I knew I would see Orgone the next day at Bear Creek. (Shout out to Sergio for putting me on the guest list!)
Attendance was sparse as Dumpstaphunk hit the stage around 1am, and the band used this show as a warm up for their two upcoming Bear Creek sets. This was my first time seeing them with new drummer Nikki Glaspie and I came away knowing that she is more than capable of filling Raymond Weber’s shoes, while also bringing some added energy to the mix.
They played several new songs: Fame (a David Bowie cover), If I’m In Luck I Just Might Get Picked Up (a Betty Davis cover in which Nikki sings), Blueswave (which has been played only a few times since August of 2010), and Water (a Graham Central Station cover) (presumably this was the first time it has been played live, since they had lyrics sheets out and they had been in the studio days before this show). (FYI, Water was also the set closer Sunday night at Bear Creek with The Shady Horns.)
Near the end of the show, Nigel Hall, Ron Johnson, & Terrence Higgins showed up after their gig with the Warren Haynes Band at the Tabernacle finished. For the set closer, Meanwhile, Nigel Hall joined on keys, freeing Ivan Neville to jump on guitar. And for the encore we got a DumpstaJam prequel: Tony Hall & Nick Daniels sat out. Nigel Hall was on keys and vocals, Ivan and Ian stayed on guitar, Terrence Higgins got behind the drum kit, Ron Johnson took Tony’s bass, and Nikki got on Nick’s bass. They started with a slow and brooding version of Sly & The Family Stone’s Babies Making Babies then segued into Nigel’s Nick Daniels impersonation on Turn This Thing Around, then into a slow and playful version of Put It In The Dumpsta. Clearly these guys don’t take themselves too seriously and were just playing around for their own amusement, as the encore is kind of half-assed and tongue in cheek. It’s still cool to watch though….
DumpstaJam Prequel – Encore (1 of 2) with Nigel Hall, Ron Johnson & Terrence Higgins: Babies Making Babies (Sly Stone cover) > Turn This Thing Around > Put It In The Dumpsta 11/10/11 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade:
DumpstaJam Prequel – Encore (2 of 2) with Nigel Hall, Ron Johnson & Terrence Higgins: Babies Making Babies (Sly Stone cover) > Turn This Thing Around > Put It In The Dumpsta 11/10/11 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade:
