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Jazz Fest 2012 | Weekend One | Highlights | Photos

May 5, 2012 in 10, 11, 12, 2, 27, 28, 29, 3, 50, 9, a, acoustic, age, all, am, American, an, and, Are, around, as, at, attendees, Bad, Ball, ban, band, bands, beach, big, blue, blues, book, Boys, brother, brothers, Bruce Springsteen, Burn, but, by, ca, can, center, City, Clapton, Clarence, Clemons, close, COMPLETE, Crowd, dance, Day, definition, down, en, Encore, end, Eve, fairgrounds, fall, FEAT, fee, festival, fi, First, FOR, Free, friday, Friend, From, front, gag, Genre, get, Ghost, gin, give, Good, great, ground, grounds, Guitar, guitarist, hampton, hi, high, How, ice, in, inspired, into, is, IT, jam, jazz, John, jon, key, Keys, King, know, las, Last, late, leave, Led, Lee, lesson, let, light, lights, Like, LITTLE, live, live music, long, lot, love, MA, Made, MI, mike, Much, Music, My, name, nc, New, NH, night, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, out, PA, Phish, photos, pk, play, Pot, pro, Pt, r&b, rare, recording, rev, rock, roll, rolling, Rolling Stones, row, rs, run, SC, second, set, show, So, Something, song, Soul, sound, SPAC, spring, Springsteen, St, stage, start, state, stone, stones, story, street, studio, tab, That, the, to, tone, Too, track, Tribute, Trip, two, us, va, venue, view, WA, water, we, Wednesday, Weekend, Ween, with, words, You | No comments

Words by: Andrew Bruss | Images by: Scott Fleishman

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival :: 04.27.12-04.29.12 :: Fair Grounds :: New Orleans, LA

Photo gallery below review!

Between the food, the booze, and tunes crafted by American icons, the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival masterfully displayed to attendees, and the world, just how much New Orleans has contributed to the cultural conversation for generations.

The festival has done a good job of booking a lineup that hosts an overwhelming majority of artists from Louisiana while securing enough big names to ensure satisfying attendance figures.

Jambase was on-site, hopping from stage to stage, to get a feel for who gave the best performances and what fell flat.

Highlights

Bruce Springsteen by Scott Fleishman

The Boss: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed out the weekend with nearly three-hour performance that was light on the hits and heavy on the jazzy-side of things. The Boss brought out Dr. John to play an old R&B standard called Something You Got, following a handful of tunes hed performed off his latest studio release, Wrecking Ball. My City of Ruins served as a tribute to the victims of Katrina, 9/11, E Street big man Clarence Clemons, and anyone the audience had lost who the boss said were with us as ghosts. For audience members who were hoping to hear more of a hits filled set, the Boss killed it with an encore of Born to Run, Dancin in the Dark, 10th Avenue Freeze Out and Rocky Ground.

Bon Iver: To many, this may be considered blasphemy, but Bon Iver blew Springsteen out of the water. It was hands down the most powerful performance of the weekend and everyone who was in attendance seemed to agree. While The Beach Boys played a hits-filled set across the fair grounds on Friday, Justin Vernon and his recently expanded ensemble took their audience to a whole other place. New tracks like Holocene and earlier tunes like Skinny Love gave the audience a rare experience where everyone felt as one. The set closed with The Wolves (Act I and II) and the audience yelling along during the songs climax may have been the loudest any crowd got during the entire weekend. Vernons tunes summon more emotions at once than any current recording artist around. During his show couples kissed, newcomers engaged, and complete strangers danced in each others arms. Everyone wore their heart on their sleeve, and to have been at this show and not be utterly moved would be to not have a soul.

Tom Petty by Scott Fleishman

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Petty is one of the greatest American songwriters of the late 20th century and his first performance at Jazz Fest did not disappoint. While the middle chunk of the set seemed to give guitarist Mike Campbell a little too much spotlight, tunes like Free Fallin are the definition of timeless, and his one-two punch of Last Dance With Mary Jane into American Girl, might have been the best two songs performed together the whole weekend.

Chuck Leavell & Friends: Leavell kicked off his celebratory set with a cover of Statesboro Blues and didnt let up for over an hour. Leavells been playing keys for acts ranging from Eric Clapton and The Allman Brothers to The Rolling Stones, so seeing him front a group was a real treat. His band included the boys from Bonerama, and Leavells performance Friday in the blues tent acted as a history lesson on the genre. Seeing him work the crowd from the front of the stage really gave his audience an appreciation of how much he has learned to hold back when playing second fiddle to Mick and Keith.

Bummers

Cee-Lo by Scott Fleishman

Cee Lo Green: This set was a mess from the start. His work as half of Gnarls Barkley made him a star, Fuck You sealed the deal, and now his role on NBCs The Voice has made him a household name. These are all good reasons why he should not have been stuck on the side stage. The audience was so large it literally overflowed into other stage areas, resulting in terrible views and even worse sound. As for his performance, he spent the end of it sitting down because he cant even stay on his feet. Based on his mishaps at other festivals, the promoters of Jazz Fest should have known better than to rely on someone with a reputation for being inherently unreliable.

Bruce Springsteens Sound: The show was great but the sound was poor. The night before, Tom Petty performed on the same stage during the same time slot and had crystal clear acoustics. It may be a result of the size of his band, but the Boss set sounded muffled and was laden with feedback.

Dr John: It may be bad form to give Mac Rebennack poor marks in his own town but a half-assed show is a half-assed show. The Night Trippers pre-Springsteen slot featured a few tunes off his incredible new album, Locked Down, as well as old hits like Right Place Wrong Time, but that didnt save his set from feeling phoned in and uninspired. Even though seeing him sit in with Springsteen was watching history unfold at no point during his Fair Ground appearance did he seem interested in being there.

4/27/12 – 4/29/12 – New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival @ New Orleans Fairgrounds (New Orleans, LA) View Photos

JamBase | New Orleans
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Tags: clapton, Eve, festival, Ghost, images, light, photos, r&b, recording, rolling-stones

Umphrey’s McGee | UMBowl III | Review | Photos

May 5, 2012 in "jim, 12, 2, 25, 27, 28, 29, 3, 30, 31, 50, 9, a, access, after, Again, Against, age, all, am, amphitheatre, an, and, another, Are, around, Artie, as, at, attempt, August, Ball, ban, band, bands, Bass, beginning, Bill, blossom, blue, book, boot, bowl, Boys, Bridge, brother, Burn, but, by, ca, can, cat, Cavern, cc, center, chicago, chris, City, Clan, classic, college, color, COMPLETE, contact, covers, Crowd, dance, DAW, Day, dead, dirt, dog, down, Drop, Drums, Edit, electric, en, Encore, end, Enjoy, eq, Eve, Famous, FEAT, fee, festival, fi, final, fire, First, Foam, FOR, four, friday, Friend, From, front, Funk, gain, game, Genre, George, get, gin, give, Good, goods, grace, grateful, great, Groove, ground, Guitar, Gus, hampton, hi, high, home, Hood, How, ice, improvisation, in, into, intro, introduction, is, Island, IT, IX, jam, Jams, jazz, Jimmy, Joy, key, Killing, King, Labyrinth, lang, Lange, las, Last, late, League, leave, Led, leo, let, light, lights, Like, Limits, live, live music, log, long, lot, love, lover, lz, MA, Made, Marty, mash, metal, MI, mix, mod, mouth, Music, My, Nat, nate, nc, New, News, night, Nine, NJ, no, North, nothing, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, Open, opener, organ, out, PA, Park, Part, Phish, photos, Piano, pk, play, Pop, post, poster, Pot, pro, production, Pt, Quarter, rad, rage, Raging, rain, rare, read, recording, rev, rock, roll, room, row, rs, run, Sand, SC, scent, sci, second, set, Setlists, Shine, show, Shows, Sky, smooth, So, solo, Something, song, sound, SPAC, Spectrum, St, stage, start, Stern, stick, sticks, stone, story, street, string, studio, style, Summer, super, tab, tease, That, the, theater, theatre, third, Thunder, times, to, todd, tone, Too, tour, Traffic, Train, Tribute, Trip, two, underground, us, va, van, venue, Video, view, WA, WAITING, war, Way, ways, we, Weekend, Ween, Weigh, windy, with, words, years, You, Your | No comments

Words by: Bryan Tobian | Images by: Brian Spady (UMBowl III) and Jake Plimack (Martyr’s Show)

Umphreys McGee UMBowl III :: 04.27.12 :: Park West:: Chicago, IL

Umphreys McGee :: 04.28.12 :: Martyrs :: Chicago, IL

Photo gallery below review!

Umphreys McGee by Brian Spady

Eastbound, the horizon disappears behind the skyline of soaring towers as the Blue Line train charges toward downtown Chicago; like a master chef with a tin can lid slicing gracefully through the heart of Friday afternoon rush hour. A homecoming for some, this sprawling urban-scape is the sweaty underground musical incubator that nurtured a toddling progressive-rock band with jammy tendencies into a fiercely unified musical juggernaut. Chicagoland’s bars, clubs, parks and theaters are the whetstone on which Umphrey’s McGee sharpened their surgically precise chops for years; gaining many fans through word of mouth, open tape sharing, and by consistently living up to the hype in their live performances. It wasn’t all that long ago when, if you couldn’t see them one weekend, you could probably see them the next weekend without having to drive very far. On this cloudy afternoon, however, there are already people lined up outside the entrance of the Park West, excited to enjoy a somewhat rare visit from their hometown heroes.

Umphrey’s still sounds a lot like the band that used to shred up and down the Midwest dive circuit. They still play many of the same songs that they cut their teeth on six nights a week in every shithole bar within a day’s drive of the Windy City. But they have long since graduated from the up-and-comers league, evolved from that unassumingly virtuosic ragtag clan of jokers in a van, then a bus and now, occasionally, jet-setting between festivals. They have germinated a following from their roots in college house parties, dive bars and sweatbox clubs, gaining consistent momentum and blossoming into summer festival headliners, lavish theater stages, majestic amphitheatres and beyond. Everything: the sound, the production, the lights, the venues, the audience has, for better and worse, gradually swelled in respective size, precision and intensity. Above all though, the greatest development from Umphrey’s McGee has been their wizardly ability to cast improvisational sorcery anytime, anywhere, within any song…or while just screwing around during soundcheck.

Umphreys McGee by Brian Spady

In spite of the group’s more than modest success, one of their top priorities has been the accessibility of the band members to the fans. They understand that one of the key factors to their growth has been their keen ability to listen and give the people exactly what they want. The UMBowl series is one of the band’s many attempts to keep in touch with their fans, to listen to what they are requesting, and of course, in classic Umphrey’s fashion, to deliver the goods. And what a grandiose way to deliver: a four-and-a-half hour show that tests the limits of audience participation and on-the-spot musical improvisation taking place at one of Chicago’s most pristine, intimate venues. Now in its third year, UMBowl is a four-set behemoth of a show with audience interaction weaved tightly into its fabric.

Outside, Park West is simultaneously like a spaceship out of both the 80s and the distant future. It is a room that the band has been crushing since their fabled beginnings. The exterior metal shell with red warp-speed letters sticks out like a sore thumb in its quiet near-Northside neighborhood. Hidden within it is the cavernous recital chamber, a musical temple with terraced dance floors, the entire room outfitted to the nines with soundproofing foam walls stretching up into its stratospheric globular dome. Hanging from the dome like Moby Dick’s uvula, a colossal disco ball shines like the North Star. As showtime approached, colorful fans filed in, and the place turned electric.

Umphreys McGee by Brian Spady

Following UMBowl tradition, the evening was christened with a hilarious rockumentary video spoof showcasing the band’s lighthearted, goofy humor with a parody of the movie Almost Famous, UM ribbing themselves as they argue pretentiously over a t-shirt design. Afterwards, the show blasted out from the gates with smooth fury highlighted by covers of Daft Punk’s Voyager, The Grateful Dead’s Help on the Way > Slipknot and bassist Ryan Stasik‘s long awaited attack on Tools 46 and 2, which showcased their range and chameleonic nature. Front Porch featured the most prolific improvisation of the set with an airy jam akin to the Allman Brother’s Blue Sky peaking majestically with dual guitar trills from Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger before launching into overdrive and dropping back onto the Porch.

The second set was an hour of Stew Art, where the band improvised on open-ended themes selected from real-time texts sent in by audience members. Indian Metal gave the band a chance to open up their world music catalogue, giving a refined crunch to a very flow-y Middle Eastern jam. The second installment of the Uplifting Soaring Jam offered an overdriven addition to its majestic predecessor, which caused an uproar at least year’s UMBowl. Drum demigod Kris Myers and his rhythmic counterpart Ryan Stasik used Drum n Bass as a launching point for a jazzy dance assault that had the crowd pumping. Yacht Rock Jam was basically a cruise through George Benson’s Breezin,’ while Hip Hop Tribute began as a half-speed, down and dirty rendition of their original funk instrumental Tribute to the Spinal Shaft which soon morphed into a mash-up of Warren G’s Regulators, Snoop Dog’s G’z and Hustlas and Dr. Dre’s equally smooth Xxxplosive. The set ended on Take Us to the Disco Tech, which starred light designer Jefferson Waful as he used the gargantuan disco ball to pump effervescent galaxies throughout the room.

Umphreys McGee by Brian Spady

In the third set, the band offered a series of choose your destiny multiple choice selections of original songs, which again left it to audience vote to direct the band in real time to the winner, everyone sculpting a truly unique set through the general will. The result was a beast of a hybrid where the first half of All in Time bookended parts of Glory, Linear and August, capped off by the explosive outro of Bridgeless. This was followed by a sandwich of Mantis and Nothing Too Fancy smashed over a molten hot Making Flippy Floppy Sloppy Joe center. However, being so late in the game, many fans in the audience seemed sluggish at the polls. As the drinks flowed and the sweat poured, votes only dribbled in, perhaps suggesting that this will be the next set revamped for future UMBowls.

Finally, the most exciting quarter, the all Jimmy Stewart set, arrived. A Stew, their term for a structured improvisational jam, is meant to sound more like an instrumental song than an open ended solo-fest. These structured progressions become the canvas the band paints its vast array of labyrinthine soundscapes – spanning every genre from rock n’ roll and metal to funk and jazz, techno, country and every mutant in between- upon. Over time, with more than a decade of live recordings, they have collected a catalogue of these jams, many of which have been the basis of actual songs, and many that have just made for some truly inspiring moments when originally played. For this final set, the band pre-released seven hours of recordings containing some of the most acclaimed jams of their career, and of course, allowed everyone with an UMBowl ticket to vote for their favorites for the band to revisit. What resulted was one of the most spectacular hours of live Umphrey’s to date.

The band opened with the grungy prog of Liberty Echo, but soon gave way to a laid back White Pickle. This tune gave Joel Cummins a chance to strut his super smooth West Coast synth contrasted against a straight-ahead, swirling B-section podium for Jake Cinninger’s skin-to-steel, six-string masters seminar. The ending smashed right into Den, a poppy four-to the-floor over Cummins’ breezy piano. Cinninger’s flanged guitar, run through an octave pedal, produced a pingy tone reminiscent of steel drums, which gave the piece a momentary island feel over the happy, majestic, sunshiny groove. As Cinninger locked in a repeating riff, Bayliss latched on in harmony and their guitars drove a hummingbird war to a raging peak before relenting into somber Bayliss ballad The Better End. The rousing 9:30 evoked feelings of a sinister chase scene before the band explored some metal with Lift and Separate.

Umphreys McGee @ Martyr’s by Jake Plimack

As expected, the band nimbly treaded through a full spectrum of musical styles. Moreover, they showed they are no longer just happening onto the spark, the catalyst that starts their improvisational fires. They now clearly understand the science behind making their brand of magic. Still, Team UM is constantly experimenting with the music, the show, their approach to promotions, and fan connections. And, while an emotional Divisions encore seems to wind this story down, it turned out to just be the introduction for a new chapter. The next night, just down the street at Martyr’s, another historic Umphrey’s stomping ground, the boys beta tested their next level of the band-to-fan interaction paradigm through an all request private show, organized completely by one diehard fan for 200 of his diehard fan friends.

This was a relatively under-spoken part of the promotional release of last year’s Death by Stereo album, where fans could purchase days with the band in the studio, hanging out on the bus, buy the old tour van, or remix the album. And, while the ticket on this event was a hefty $250 per head, a limited edition poster, top shelf open bar, and laminated pass were among the perks. However, the intimate club, the handcrafted setlist, the excitement of being able to reach out and touch the band, the small group of zealous Umphreaks who all knew each other through less than a couple degrees of separation, and of course, the extreme level of playing that these circumstances encourage, well, all these factors made the experience truly extraordinary.

Heading westbound towards O’Hare Airport, the traffic was momentarily absent as the Sunday sky hinted at dawn. Chicago is no longer home for a lot of folks who began here, including most of Umphrey’s McGee, and while they may not come back to town again for a while, it’s never been clearer that when they do they will always bring us something to write home about.

Setlists below gallery.

4/27/12 – UM BOWL III @ Park West (Chicago, IL) View Photos

UMBowl III Setlist

First Quarter: Flamethrower > Night Nurse > Voyager > Front Porch, Comma Later*, Help On the Way > Slipknot!, 46 & 2

Second Quarter: Stew Art event

Third Quarter: All In Time > Glory > The Linear > August > Bridgeless, Preamble > Mantis > Making Flippy Floppy > Nothing Too Fancy

Fourth Quarter: Liberty Echo > White Pickle > Den > The Better End, 9:30 > REW > Lift & Separate > Dream Team > In the Kitchen

Overtime ivisons

For detailed notes for this performance pop over here.

04.28.12 Martyrs Setlist

Set One: Wappy Sprayberry > Space Funk Booty, Last Man Swerving* -> Out of Order, Down Under, The Weight Around, Robot World > “Jimmy Stewart”% > 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover > Puppet String**

Set Two: Utopian Fir > “Jimmy Stewart”%% > Utopian Fir, The Trooper$, Baby Honey Sugar Darlin’, Hurt Bird Bath -> The Other Side of Things^ > Hurt Bird Bath, The Good Times Are Killing Me$$, Nopener&, The Triple Wide, Hangover -> La Grange > Hangover

Encore: Two Dips&&, Wizard Burial Ground, Waiting Room

Private show put on by fans billed as “Bill Graham for a Day”

* with Thunderkiss ’65 (White Zombie) jam
% with lyrics
** with In the Kitchen teases
%% with “Zsa Zsa Gabor” theme, followed by lyrics
$ debut, Iron Maiden
^ verses only, no chorus
$$ debut, Modest Mouse
& lounge style
&& debut, Brendan, Wade Wilby, and Clayton Halsey

Umphreys McGee Tour Dates :: Umphreys McGee News

JamBase | Chi-town
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Tags: chicago, DAW, dog, Enjoy, festival, killing, Lange, League, love, mouth, Park, pop, shows, venue, view

New Monsoon | Mill Valley | Photos

May 3, 2012 in 12, 2, 28, 29, 3, 9, a, age, all, am, an, and, Are, as, at, Bass, black, book, Burn, but, by, ca, cat, Day, down, Drums, en, Eve, fee, fi, First, FOR, friday, From, get, Guitar, hall, hi, How, in, is, IT, jam, Jr, key, Keys, las, Led, let, live, live music, MA, MI, mod, Music, nc, Neil, New, News, NH, night, NJ, no, of, on, one, op, PA, Part, photos, play, pro, rare, Road, rock, rs, set, show, Shows, So, solo, St, step, string, the, to, tour, Tribute, us, USA, va, Valley, velvet, venue, view, vocal, WA, water, we, with, You, Young | No comments

Images by: Susan J. Weiand

New Monsoon :: 04.20.12 :: Sweetwater Music Hall :: Mill Valley, CA

Catch New Monsoons Jeff Miller (guitar, vocals) and Phil Ferlino (keys, vocals) as part of The Contribution this Friday, May 4, at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA in a rare West Coast appearance of this side project with Railroad Earths Tim Carbone (violin, guitar, vocals), String Cheese Incidents Keith Moseley (bass, vocals), Everyone Orchestras Matt Butler (drums), and the Black Swan Singers Sheryl Renee (vocals).

New Monsoon Sweetwater Setlist

Set 1: Sweet Brandywine, Next Best Thing, No Reservations, Elephant Steps, Don’t Do It (tribute to Levon), Gel Stream, For One Night, Otherside, Country Interlude

Set 2: Double Clutch, Velvet Pouch, Modus Operandi, Castles Burning (Don’t let it bring you down) (Neil Young), Naked Truth, Alaska, Montana (first time played from Jeff Miller’s solo album Ancient Wisdom), Greenhouse, Bron y Aur ( Led Zep), En Fuego

4/20/12 – New Monsoon @ Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley, CA) View Photos

New Monsoon Tour Dates :: New Monsoon News

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