Where: The Blue Note
When: Wednesday, Sept. 24. Doors at 7:00 p.m., show at 8:00 p.m.
Ticket cost: $20.00
Openers: Master of Ceremonies Dom Flemons, Joel Savoy, Jesse Lége & the Cajun Country Revival, The Tillers, Loot Rock Gang
Do you ever yearn for the past? Have you watched films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and thought, “yeah, that’s for me.” Are you a fan of pinstripe suits, the charleston, and kazoos? Well, Pokey LaFarge has got your dose of jazz swing, and he’s bringing it to The Blue Note.
LaFarge and his five piece band will bring their washboards and harmonicas to Columbia Wednesday, Sept. 24 for their Central Time Tour. The group plays a unique blend of American roots, blues, country and jazz. Live, the group brings high energy to the stage. They need to just to keep up with Pokey.
Pokey LaFarge has five acts opening for his band, including the Master of Ceremonies Dom Flemons. A multi-instrumental “American songster,” Flemons plays a wide range of early jazz and old-time blues. Known for his onstage antics, Flemons says he enjoys keeping the audience guessing what he will do next.
All of the acts on the Central Time Tour keep a similar theme of American roots music, though they branch off into slightly different genres.The Tillers blend bluegrass and folk together to give their trio a traditional sound with a looser edge to it. Husband and wife led band the Loot Rock Gang combine classic elements of blues, jazz and rock n’ roll, and Joel Savoy, Jesse Lége & the Cajun Country Revival play Louisiana cajun tinged country.
If you want to get dapper while listening to some good ole fashioned music, get your ticket today.
Snarky Puppy was a magical show, and, believe me, I don’t go throwing that word around lightly. There are only a handful of concerts out of the 100+ I’ve been to that really stick out as “pure magic.”
Magic’s a hard thing to label; there’s no laundry list for a truly magical show. (Crowd interaction? Check. Inventive cover? Check.) It’s like what US Supreme Court Justice said one time about the difficulty in defining hard-core pornography: “I know it when I see it.”
I know a show is magic when I see crowd members smiling throughout. I know a show is magic when a band plays their last song, walks offstage, and immediately walks back onstage to stop stomping feet from shaking the floorboards. Spontaneous clap alongs, wild cheering for a tenor saxophone solo, the bandleader saying, “This has been the best crowd of the tour,” — magic. I saw all of this and more Wednesday night at the Snarky Puppy concert.
Is it that obvious this is from a cellphone camera?
Grammy Award winning jazz-fusion act Snarky Puppy was straight up magic. My goodness, I don’t think even Snarky Puppy was prepared for how electric the crowd would be at their first Columbia gig, put on by the wonderful people at the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series.
Bassist and bandleader Mike League spent the first few minutes onstage gauging the audience, or so it seemed from my second row spot. He saw the cheering, the giddy laughter at the rising tension created by the sax solo, and the smiles. Oh, everyone in The Blue Note was smiling wide and excitedly. And soon, so was League, giving everyone in the venue a run for their money in the “Most Enthused Face” category.
League played the bass with a Jim Carrey face, elastic and shifting with every subtle action. League’s face moved with the groove of each song, widening a smile while slapping his strings, or giving the crowd a sultry, dare-I-say seductive look as his hand crept up the bass neck. He was feeding off the energy the crowd was giving him, and oh, did they give.
The main theme of the night seemed to be, “What a crowd.” They were simply erupting with enjoyment and energy throughout the show. One man at the front row spent much of the concert dancing with his back to the stage, eyes closed, head grooving to the music. A friend in the crowd asked if he could see the stage dancing like that. “I’m watching it up here,” the man said, tapping his forehead.
Show-goers really went above and beyond in their crowd duties; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd harmonize so well during a sing-along portion of a show. Go figure I would see the best crowd vocals at an instrumental show.
Horn section swagger
Snarky Puppy played a marathon of music, some from their new album We Like it Here, some so old only “OG Snarky Puppy fans” would recognize it, according to League. The band was as tight as can be and followed League’s lead as they moved seamlessly from structured song to improvisational detour and then back again. Each band member got at least one big solo throughout the set, with League introducing each snarky pup before or after their jam.
Each member was on fire Wednesday night, but multi-instrumentalist Chris Bullock really shined with his tenor saxophone and flute work. I doubt I’ll ever see a crowd lose it over a flute solo like they did at Snarky Puppy. Ian Anderson would have been quaking in his tunic.
“Jethro Tull ain’t got nothing on Snarky Puppy!” someone yelled from the crowd once the flute had subsided. Ok, I’ll confess: that someone was me.
If you’re looking to get the funk down, look no further. The Blue Note is happy to announce the upcoming GRiZ show on April 30.
Promoting his second album, Rebel Era, Grant Kwiecinski AKA GRiZ will continue his tour across the states and parts of Canada with a stop at The Blue Note. Rebel Era is the artist’ second album after Mad Liberation and can be streamed for free at mynameisgriz.com.
Kwiecinski, a Detroit native, labels his music as part of the “Mad” genre, attributing his talents to “computers, controllers, and the saxophone,” and states his influences range from funk to “glitchy bass” and “tight grooves.” If your lost in between all the genres, consider his tunes to be a mix of festival techno infused with soulful jazz.
GRiZ is like a one-man Big Gigantic, which is an electro duo that uses sax and drums to get a dance-y, hip-hop-y, jazz-y, EDM-y sound. Big G played The Blue Note back on Oct. 13 last year (watch a video from the stage’s perspective here).
But back to GRiZ. One of the best glimpses into his computer/saxophone mix can be heard in his new song “Hard Times.”
He also does remixes of all kinds ranging from rock to rap. One of his uploaded videos features a redo of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes.”
In all, if your looking for a young, innovative new talent, be sure to come by and check out the show.
Post written by Natalie Maggiore, Blue Note contributing writer.
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