We had a great time playing on Tuesday as part of a music series put on by the Charlottesville Jazz Society. We played at a great new venue called Bel Rio, where the Society presents musicians. At least one new song was played, and the first tune (Nero) went unrecorded, but here is the rest of the music presented in all it’s mp3′ish glory!
10.20.09 Bel Rio, Charlottesville, VA
1) Revolver
2) The Silence
4) Up and Down
5) Winterlight
6) Gary Glitter
Just got back from NY, where Fight the Big Bull played an NPR Music Showcase at Joe’s Pub with Steven Bernstein’s amazing Sex Mob, and then a second show with Lee Fields and the Phenomenal HandClap Band. The experience was great, excusing the amazing amount of driving and the $18 cheeseburger I bought at Joe’s. It was great to see the Richmond scene in full networking mode, Matt White, Reggie Pace, Bryan Hooten and myself all talked with many NPR employees and insiders. The best part of doing this, for me, was getting into real conversations with people. Everyone I talked to seemed genuinely interested in the Richmond Jazz Scene, and as a result, I didn’t even feel douchey giving people the Glows CDs! I’m excited for the future of the scene, and I think that great things are in store as a direct result of las night!
In other news: I am currently conducting the next Ten Questions on Twitter with Ken Vandermark. The rules are simple: I ask one of the questions, and he answers in three tweets or less. Follow @glowsinthedark for the questions, and @kenvandermark for the answers. If you get lost in the Twitter-verse, don’t worry, I will be collecting all the questions and answers and posting them on the blog at the end.
Glows was recently featured on RVA Magazine’s new Sonic Cartographer Podcast. Our friend Reggie Chapman recorded us quite a bit on our recent tour, and one of those recordings was used for this show. I will be reviewing some of the collected works for possible release…which leads me to my next point.
The Live Music Archive that you all know and love has not been forgotten, but is being reassesed. We have some great hi-quality recordings on file now, and I’m currently trying to figure out what exactly to do with them. There will be updates from time to time, but I find that the time I spend updating the archive might be better spent, you know, composing and shit! Who knows, I might just reorganize it or something.
I was interviewed, along with Reggie Pace and Matt White, for Dean Christesen’s article on Richmond Music Moguls (Dean’s word, not mine). Dean also mentioned all of us and our bands in his article in the new RVA Magazine.
This blog says Glows is a great up and coming band.
And finally, here’s a sweet video recorded by Lauren Serpa of us playing Through a Glass Darkly in New Haven!
The first installment of the Thompson/Grace Balcony Concert Series went off great and without a hitch. RVAJazz was there and took some sweet pictures here. John Lilley sat in for Jason on this gig, and despite very little rehearsal, managed to get everything together and sound great throughout. Thanks to Reggie and Larri Branch for opening up their balcony to us. And thanks to all the friends that made it out and bought CDs…and drank lemonade.
6.14.08 Thompson/Grace Balcony Concert Series, RVA
2) Winterlight
5) GTO
6) Nero
7) Up and Down
For the past week, I have been threatening to download Matana Roberts’ Chicago Project album from iTunes. After listening to all of the song samples, the exercise in futility became tougher, and then finally last night I bit the bullet and downloaded it. It really does help that the album is amazing.
The group consists of Matana on alto sax, Jeff Parker on guitar, Josh Abrams on bass, and Frank Rosaly on drums. There are also three duos between Roberts and tireless Chicago stalwart Fred Anderson (tenor) that are amazing. The songs are great, and the improvising is great, and the group dynamic is solid. It has been awhile since I’ve heard a jazz album like this. I love the interplay during the improvisations. It’s never about just one person, but the whole group shines. Even the writing brings out the individual talents of everyone involved, and the level of listening going on in the band is incredible on every track.
Roberts has a great sound that seems to be all her own, and it’s been built out of the jazz tradition. It’s great to hear that in creative/experimental jazz, there is still great new music coming out of the tradition. It’s not that the music sounds old (not at all), it’s just that you can tell Matana didn’t reject or ignore the old stuff (something awesome but unusual these days).
Also, it’s great to hear drummer Frank Rosaly. I met him on a trip to Chicago in ’04 with my brother. We went to the legendary Jazz Record Mart, and spent a long time looking through their massive collection of jazz, avant, classical, CDs and DVDs. On our way out, he quickly introduced himself to us when he noticed our purchases. He was cool as shit, and told us (even wrote down) all the cool stuff that was going on in the city that week. He told us about Jeff Parker’s trio gig with Jason Ajemian and Nori Tanaka, Tony Malaby’s gig at the Chicago Cultural Arts Center, and a jam at Myopic Books Basement with Josh Berman that he also played in, and we saw him out at almost all the gigs he told us about. It was that friendly vibe that we really loved about Chicago, and thats the feeling I get from the Matana Roberts Chicago Project album.
Also this album makes me want to grab my Real Book and jump back into the shed!
Now we are gearing up for the CD Release show on Saturday as the first concert in the Thompson/Grace Balcony Series. This show is FREE and ALL AGES, and will feature us playing an hour of music from 2:30 to 3:30pm. It will also feature a lawn for hanging, and lemonade for the masses! The series, started by Reggie Pace and Larri Branch, is all about creating a laid back party vibe for new creative music. B.Y.O.Picnic Basket and come hang out!
Also, our debut CD Music to Listen to Glows in the Dark By will be there for $10 a pop!
So here it is. The complete show in mp3s. We had a personnel change for this show, as Tom Skjei filled in for Cameron on bass duties. I used to play with Tom all the time, and it was great to hear him getting back into playing and improvising. We also resurrected a couple older tunes (Hi There, and Ipanema Weeknight), and we played the original Warren Oates as well. Good times, good crowd, and of course not a lot of money, but we did manage to drink a lot of beer for free, so hopefully our livers got their money’s worth there.
We’ve also added a couple new shows including our CD Release Party, which will be the first in a series of concerts organized by Reggie Pace and Larri Branch that will take place on their balcony at the corner of Thompson and Grace! It will be free and all ages, and there will be a lemonade stand, as the crowd gathers on the lawn below to check out some of Richmond’s Finest. More info on their Facebook Group
5.25.08 Commercial Taphouse, RVA
Set 1
4) Winterlight
5) GTO
Set 2
1) Nero
2) The Silence
4) Up and Down
5) Warren Oates (original version)
and Tom’s last name (Skjei) means “Spoon” in Norwegian. We got confirmation from Paal Nilssen-Love years ago!
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