art of the jam 29
if i've said it once, i've said it a coupla dozen times: you never know what's gonna happen at the wreck room on wednesday night.
for the last go-round in the big room for a spell -- wizard o' sound andre edmonson is heading back to colorado for three weeks with ahummin' acoustical acupuncture, and jam-meister lee allen prefers the li'l room (aka "wreck west") when dre's not behind the board -- it looked like it was gonna be an all-strings evening. on the plus side, violinist steve huber, aka vikingo, aka "mr. dry hump burn," was returning to the jam after a few months' absence (during which his fiddle was heard around town with darrin kobetich and saint frinatra, as well as on his regular fw symphony gig). on the minus side, it looked like we were gonna be without a drummer. joe "drumzilla" cruz was in the process of moving house (he's now a resident of the firestone, and, um, he's single, ladies). damien stewart was out of town on bizness. dave karnes was on a date (and not the musical kind). jam-meister lee put in a call to wyatt from the burning hotels (who spectacularly saved our asses last week) and was prepared to man the traps himself if need be. _that_ would be facilitated by the presence on bass of mr. jeremy hull (collin herring, jason davis, galen jeter jazz orchestra, etc.), who was heading to nashville the next day to make a collin herring record with ex-wilco drummer ken coomer producing, but stopped by the jam to lend his skills on the four-stringed instrument. (jeremy's a player who can cover the whole waterfront, from classical to jazz to rawk to country, and he got to do a little bit of all of it last night.)
in the event, of course, drumzilla showed up to take his place behind the long-suffering house kit, a little beat down himself but still ready to play. then around the time the musos were starting to assemble onstage, who should appear but leo saenz III, ex-latin express and currently gigging with a funk/r&b outfit i haven't seen yet. he'd been playing a church gig all day and had all of his gear in the car, so he decided to fall by the wreck (having briefly visited the jam once before). as there were plenty of bassplayers present, he left his four-string axe in the car and only brought in his stratocaster and fluegelhorn. it was a gas hearing leo laying down funky riddimic jabs and dirty, dissonant solo splatter on gtr (using one of those dunlop jh-1 wahs that sounds like a mu-tron or envelope filter with that real distinct breakpoint right in the middle of the sweep) or blaring brassy blasts of post-bop abstraction over the general racket (and even in between toons, as when he and jeremy busted out a bit "scrapple from the apple").
similarly, it was a joy to hear mr. hull holding down the bottom end, allowing jam-meister lee to solo at will on 6-string bass or gtr (to best effect on an abbreviated "chameleon," intended to give dave karnes an oppo to show off for his date), and displayed impressive solo chops of his own on both stand-up (arco and pizzicato) and electric axes (a vintage kent hollowbody with a dod overdrive zackley like the one i used duct-taped to it -- greatness!). musical high point of the night for me was a version of "maggot brain" (gawd, no matter how many times we play that toon, i never get tired of it, 'cos it's always different, depending on who's playing it that particular week) that started off with an achingly beautiful solo statement from jeremy on bowed bass and worked its way through gtr (mine) and violin episodes before william bryan massey III took the stage, poetry book in hand. massey lit a cigarette and had a woman bring him a beer before beginning his recitativo, pausing dramatically between stanzas (he's getting accustomed to this spoken-word-over-jam thang to the point where he can have fun with it). as massey's intensity built to a crescendo, leo leapt in with a gtr solo that was pure fire. then the band took it out. 'twas neato, as the jam-meister would say.
missed oppos of the night: when i came offstage to make room for paul the left-handed gtrist and saw brian sharp at the bar. brian's lent his trumpet and fluegelhorn to the wreck's wednesday night mix in the past, but not since the summer. "leo saenz is up, and he brought his fluegelhorn!" i told him. "get up onstage now!" unfortunately, mr. sharp was with a lady friend and about to head elsewhere. maybe next time. and dammit, i shoulda said "tomorrow never knows" when lee gave me a chance to call one during the first set. i'd actually thought about that in the car on the way in. oh well. from the bar, i got to hear meredith, the woman who'd brought massey the beer onstage, do a pert credible job of sangin' "simple man" (which jam-meister lee keeps in his back pocket to appease the inevitable calls of "play some skynyrd!" that always seem to follow his invitations to the audience to make requests). she might not have known all the words, but she did a better 'n just o.k. job of hitting all the notes and puttin' some soul into it.
like i said: you never know what's gonna happen at the wreck room on wednesday night.
for the last go-round in the big room for a spell -- wizard o' sound andre edmonson is heading back to colorado for three weeks with ahummin' acoustical acupuncture, and jam-meister lee allen prefers the li'l room (aka "wreck west") when dre's not behind the board -- it looked like it was gonna be an all-strings evening. on the plus side, violinist steve huber, aka vikingo, aka "mr. dry hump burn," was returning to the jam after a few months' absence (during which his fiddle was heard around town with darrin kobetich and saint frinatra, as well as on his regular fw symphony gig). on the minus side, it looked like we were gonna be without a drummer. joe "drumzilla" cruz was in the process of moving house (he's now a resident of the firestone, and, um, he's single, ladies). damien stewart was out of town on bizness. dave karnes was on a date (and not the musical kind). jam-meister lee put in a call to wyatt from the burning hotels (who spectacularly saved our asses last week) and was prepared to man the traps himself if need be. _that_ would be facilitated by the presence on bass of mr. jeremy hull (collin herring, jason davis, galen jeter jazz orchestra, etc.), who was heading to nashville the next day to make a collin herring record with ex-wilco drummer ken coomer producing, but stopped by the jam to lend his skills on the four-stringed instrument. (jeremy's a player who can cover the whole waterfront, from classical to jazz to rawk to country, and he got to do a little bit of all of it last night.)
in the event, of course, drumzilla showed up to take his place behind the long-suffering house kit, a little beat down himself but still ready to play. then around the time the musos were starting to assemble onstage, who should appear but leo saenz III, ex-latin express and currently gigging with a funk/r&b outfit i haven't seen yet. he'd been playing a church gig all day and had all of his gear in the car, so he decided to fall by the wreck (having briefly visited the jam once before). as there were plenty of bassplayers present, he left his four-string axe in the car and only brought in his stratocaster and fluegelhorn. it was a gas hearing leo laying down funky riddimic jabs and dirty, dissonant solo splatter on gtr (using one of those dunlop jh-1 wahs that sounds like a mu-tron or envelope filter with that real distinct breakpoint right in the middle of the sweep) or blaring brassy blasts of post-bop abstraction over the general racket (and even in between toons, as when he and jeremy busted out a bit "scrapple from the apple").
similarly, it was a joy to hear mr. hull holding down the bottom end, allowing jam-meister lee to solo at will on 6-string bass or gtr (to best effect on an abbreviated "chameleon," intended to give dave karnes an oppo to show off for his date), and displayed impressive solo chops of his own on both stand-up (arco and pizzicato) and electric axes (a vintage kent hollowbody with a dod overdrive zackley like the one i used duct-taped to it -- greatness!). musical high point of the night for me was a version of "maggot brain" (gawd, no matter how many times we play that toon, i never get tired of it, 'cos it's always different, depending on who's playing it that particular week) that started off with an achingly beautiful solo statement from jeremy on bowed bass and worked its way through gtr (mine) and violin episodes before william bryan massey III took the stage, poetry book in hand. massey lit a cigarette and had a woman bring him a beer before beginning his recitativo, pausing dramatically between stanzas (he's getting accustomed to this spoken-word-over-jam thang to the point where he can have fun with it). as massey's intensity built to a crescendo, leo leapt in with a gtr solo that was pure fire. then the band took it out. 'twas neato, as the jam-meister would say.
missed oppos of the night: when i came offstage to make room for paul the left-handed gtrist and saw brian sharp at the bar. brian's lent his trumpet and fluegelhorn to the wreck's wednesday night mix in the past, but not since the summer. "leo saenz is up, and he brought his fluegelhorn!" i told him. "get up onstage now!" unfortunately, mr. sharp was with a lady friend and about to head elsewhere. maybe next time. and dammit, i shoulda said "tomorrow never knows" when lee gave me a chance to call one during the first set. i'd actually thought about that in the car on the way in. oh well. from the bar, i got to hear meredith, the woman who'd brought massey the beer onstage, do a pert credible job of sangin' "simple man" (which jam-meister lee keeps in his back pocket to appease the inevitable calls of "play some skynyrd!" that always seem to follow his invitations to the audience to make requests). she might not have known all the words, but she did a better 'n just o.k. job of hitting all the notes and puttin' some soul into it.
like i said: you never know what's gonna happen at the wreck room on wednesday night.
posted by stashdauber at 5:47 PM
1 Comments:
aaaahhhhh.... the jam. one of the week's most looked forward to reads. 'tween your eyewitness accounts and those CDs, i feel like i've been there in person.
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