dave karnes, clint strong, oaklin bloodworth, eric zukowski
was gonna try and split the difference between dave karnes and clint strong at saloui's and pablo and the hemphill 7 at the black dog last night. in the event, we wound up stopping by the dog (where the dancers were movin' and ph7 was groovin') just long enough to drop off some kids' clothes for the refugees from somalia-via-nola that pablo was endeavoring to help out before running back to saloui's to catch the last set. happy 4th b-day to ph7, and may they have many more. we'll mos def be at the wreck room on new year's eve to help you see in 2006.
now, the karnes-strong pairing is something that prolly shoulda happened a long time ago. these days, clean 'n' sober dave is being more selective about the rawk gigs he accepts (currently working with sunward and rahim quazi). he has half a year of teaching rock camp under his belt, and is booking dave and daver gigs in venues other than the black dog, where he and joey carter have raised the level of performance at the sunday night jazz jams considerably. karnes is saturated with the history of the music, from the whirlwind forward motion of bebop to nawlins second line to '70s funk beats. even when he's phoning it in, he's still the best drummer in the fort, hands down, possessing chops, ideas, taste, and swing aplenty, and when sharing the stand with clint, he doesn't get to phone it in. "with clint," he said, "it's just a matter of letting him go and trying to hold on and swing quietly."
clint strong's a name to conjure with among area gtrists and jazz aficionados in general. cat's played with a long list of jazz and country luminaries and worked gigs in reno and nashville, taught master classes at the university level, and made a coupla instructional vids. playing a parker fly with dimarzios (which he pronounced functionally lightweight and "_almost_ as warm as a gibson or epiphone") through a polytone mini-brute (the amp associated with joe pass, the master of playing-a-gtr-like-art-tatum-played-pianner who scared the ever-lovin' bejeezus out of my 19-yr-old self w/his virtuoso alb), clint demonstrated encyclopedic chordal knowledge and near-supernatural fluidity (and he picks _all_ dem notes, kids), unflagging musicality (no showboating-fer-its-own-sake here), and a fair amount of humor. (besides injecting his solos with the jazzman's requisite number of quotes from other toons, when someone persisted in tinkling on the house piano after the band started their third set with some I-IV-V action, impish clint stopped the music to encourage the background tinkler to "play the blues, play the blues.") listening to these two trade furious fours on toons like "tico tico" (clint likes his sambas _fast_) and "st. thomas" was almost more enjoyment than yr average pair of ears could stand. (so much for "swinging quietly," dave.)
along for the ride were bassist eric zukowski and vocalist oaklin bloodworth. eric effectively served as the anchor between his bandmates' headlong rush and the singer's leisurely lope. it was thrilling to hear him and karnes shifting their accompaniment behind strong's solos. for his part, oaklin's ballads 'n' blues have never sounded better than they do fronting this crew. someone really needs to cut a record on him with this aggro (allowing space for a band barnburner or three), soon. so sayeth me.
this was the third time dave, clint, and oaklin have played at saloui's (altho dave and clint just wrapped up three months' worth of gigs at, um, a strip joint that musta been choice, not that anybody woulda noticed). apparently they've become the new saloui's management's reliable backfill whenever another band cancels at the last minute. hopefully they'll be able to parlay this status into a regular engagement, so that folks will know where 'n' when to go check 'em out. while the room was far from empty, there were notably few musos and jazz aficionados in the house -- a situation that'll hopefully be remedied on future karnes-strong-bloodworth gigs.
(oh yeah -- the pesto-based pizzas at saloui's are pert fine as well. nice to have something tasty to soak up all the alcohol. dave's grandpa tempo, who once owned an italian ristorante in the current benito's location, would prolly approve.)
now, the karnes-strong pairing is something that prolly shoulda happened a long time ago. these days, clean 'n' sober dave is being more selective about the rawk gigs he accepts (currently working with sunward and rahim quazi). he has half a year of teaching rock camp under his belt, and is booking dave and daver gigs in venues other than the black dog, where he and joey carter have raised the level of performance at the sunday night jazz jams considerably. karnes is saturated with the history of the music, from the whirlwind forward motion of bebop to nawlins second line to '70s funk beats. even when he's phoning it in, he's still the best drummer in the fort, hands down, possessing chops, ideas, taste, and swing aplenty, and when sharing the stand with clint, he doesn't get to phone it in. "with clint," he said, "it's just a matter of letting him go and trying to hold on and swing quietly."
clint strong's a name to conjure with among area gtrists and jazz aficionados in general. cat's played with a long list of jazz and country luminaries and worked gigs in reno and nashville, taught master classes at the university level, and made a coupla instructional vids. playing a parker fly with dimarzios (which he pronounced functionally lightweight and "_almost_ as warm as a gibson or epiphone") through a polytone mini-brute (the amp associated with joe pass, the master of playing-a-gtr-like-art-tatum-played-pianner who scared the ever-lovin' bejeezus out of my 19-yr-old self w/his virtuoso alb), clint demonstrated encyclopedic chordal knowledge and near-supernatural fluidity (and he picks _all_ dem notes, kids), unflagging musicality (no showboating-fer-its-own-sake here), and a fair amount of humor. (besides injecting his solos with the jazzman's requisite number of quotes from other toons, when someone persisted in tinkling on the house piano after the band started their third set with some I-IV-V action, impish clint stopped the music to encourage the background tinkler to "play the blues, play the blues.") listening to these two trade furious fours on toons like "tico tico" (clint likes his sambas _fast_) and "st. thomas" was almost more enjoyment than yr average pair of ears could stand. (so much for "swinging quietly," dave.)
along for the ride were bassist eric zukowski and vocalist oaklin bloodworth. eric effectively served as the anchor between his bandmates' headlong rush and the singer's leisurely lope. it was thrilling to hear him and karnes shifting their accompaniment behind strong's solos. for his part, oaklin's ballads 'n' blues have never sounded better than they do fronting this crew. someone really needs to cut a record on him with this aggro (allowing space for a band barnburner or three), soon. so sayeth me.
this was the third time dave, clint, and oaklin have played at saloui's (altho dave and clint just wrapped up three months' worth of gigs at, um, a strip joint that musta been choice, not that anybody woulda noticed). apparently they've become the new saloui's management's reliable backfill whenever another band cancels at the last minute. hopefully they'll be able to parlay this status into a regular engagement, so that folks will know where 'n' when to go check 'em out. while the room was far from empty, there were notably few musos and jazz aficionados in the house -- a situation that'll hopefully be remedied on future karnes-strong-bloodworth gigs.
(oh yeah -- the pesto-based pizzas at saloui's are pert fine as well. nice to have something tasty to soak up all the alcohol. dave's grandpa tempo, who once owned an italian ristorante in the current benito's location, would prolly approve.)
posted by stashdauber at 8:58 AM
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