July 24th Tonight we went to see Smokey Robinson at Coney Island. We arrived an hour early but already there was a long queue but we managed to get good seats about 20 rows back. The New Stylistics were meant to be opening the show but in their absence Smokey performed for nearly 2 hours! From the beginning he had the audience in the palm of his hand. He began with Going to a Go Go and then ran through all his big hits and a few lesser known tunes. The songs that got a huge response were Ooh baby baby, Just to see her, Tears of a clown, Tracks of my tears, I second that emotion, You've really got a hold on me, My girl and Cruisin' his final song in which he had the audience in two sections competing for who could sing the loudest! As is the norm these days he had a ten piece band with 3 backing singers and two dancers. John thought that maybe he would have lost popularity as he's now 68 but I think that there was an even bigger crowd than for Brian Wilson last week and clearly he's a crowd favourite! The weather had improved and it was a perfect night for the concert.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Brian Wilson
There was a huge crowd so we were much too late to get one of the $5 seats in front of the stage but we found a few people we knew and just enjoyed the nostalgia as he played all his old hits plus some new material with a ten piece band. He got a great reception. Some tunes sounded better than the originals! Brian Wilson and his band worked their way through `Wouldn't it be nice' `Fun fun fun' `I get around' `Surfin' USA' `Surfer girl' `Barbara Ann' ``Help me Rhonda' `In my room' and `God only knows' `Kokomo'
`California girls' and ` Good vibrations'. Until you hear all these tunes you forget just how many hits they had and how good this band were.
`California girls' and ` Good vibrations'. Until you hear all these tunes you forget just how many hits they had and how good this band were.
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson
July 17th During the Summer there is so much free entertainment in New York that sometimes it's hard to decide what to do. Tonight there were at least three open air concerts which sounded promising. We decided to try to go to two. At Prospect Park Chicago bluesman Luther Guitar Junior Johnson was performing with his band followed by Dobro specialist from Nashville, Jerry Douglas. Locally at Coney Island Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame was the star attraction. We caught the subway up to Park Slope and caught the set by Luther. Most of the audience weren't familiar with him but he soon won them over with renditions of blues classics plus a few originals. We were able to get a seat right at the front. When the bigger names are playing it's impossible to get a seat without arriving really early which is not what you want to do in the heat. We would have liked to have seen Jerry Douglas but decided to dash down to Coney Island to catch the second half of the Brian Wilson concert.
Jimme Vaughan and Lou Ann Barton
July 14th Tonight we went down to Times Square to see Jimmie Vaughan. We got there early and managed to get good seats near the stage which was lucky as later it really filled up. Everything we go to in New York is like that. there's no reserved seating so its first come first served. For most shows beginning at 8pm it's recommended that you arrive at 6 to get a good seat! All the venues offer dinner and drinks so it seems sensible to spend that time eating and drinking. The only problem is that you end up eating and drinking too much!
Anyway, Jimmie was great. He played mostly his old hits. Lou Ann Barton, a vocalist from Texas who has sung with him for years sang on some numbers . She has a very strong voice and does vocal duets with Jimmie. Usually in New York performers don't sign autographs but I bought one of Jimmie's CD's in case and luckily he did some signings. I bought a cool T Shirt too. He was very friendly and posed for a photo w
Anyway, Jimmie was great. He played mostly his old hits. Lou Ann Barton, a vocalist from Texas who has sung with him for years sang on some numbers . She has a very strong voice and does vocal duets with Jimmie. Usually in New York performers don't sign autographs but I bought one of Jimmie's CD's in case and luckily he did some signings. I bought a cool T Shirt too. He was very friendly and posed for a photo w
Freddie McGregor
July 10th Today we did our shopping and later headed to Prospect Park to see Freddie McGregor, a fantastic Jamaican born roots reggae artist. He had a full band with backing singers. There's obviously a large Jamaican community in Brooklyn and it seemed as if they all turned out for this concert. It was again reminiscent of Womadelaide! Freddie sang for about an hour and covered all his hits including `Big ship'. The lightning bugs were out again in full force and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Les Paul
July 7th Just after 6 we set off for the city to see Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club. Les Paul is of course a pioneer of the electric guitar and inventor of numerous recording techniques, such as reverb and multi-track recording. He is now unbelievably 93 years old (or should I say young?). The club was packed to capacity as so many people want to see this legendary guitarist play. Many famous guests have also appeared at these Monday night sessions. Les has a quartet featuring Aussie double bass player Nicki Parrot, Lou Pallo on rhythm guitar and .John Colianni, piano. Their repertoire is mainly jazz standards interspersed with interesting anecdotes from Les. With song a long career in music he has plenty of stories to tell. On this night his special guest was Steve Miller who played some of his hits with his band. Then Norton Buffalo the harp player showed off his versatility with a beautiful rendition of `Autumn leaves'. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get any autographs as patrons were queuing already for the second performance Apparently after that show Les does appear to sign autographs so next time we'll know. Lets hope he can continue until he's 100!
John Earl with his Les Paul!
Dr Lonnie Smith
July 3rd In the early evening we set off for Smoke, a jazz club way uptown to see Dr Lonnie Smith and his trio. I've been a fan of Lonnie's for many years. We got there early and to our delight Dr Lonnie arrived early and began chatting with the patrons. When he came to our table he chatted to me about his music for a while and we took some photos and he signed an album I'd brought with me. He played with guitarist Peter Bernstein who I'd seen at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1996 and they were really smokin' It turned out to be Dr Lonnie's birthday and the club presented him with a large cake to his (I think) surprise! .
Carolina Chocolate Drops
June 26th We decided to go to another `Celebrate Brooklyn' concert in Prospect Park. The performers were The Dixie Hummingbirds and the Carolina Chocolate Drops. We thought the Hummingbirds would be on last so we took our time getting there but we just caught the end of their set. However the Carolina Chocolate Drops didn't disappoint. They are an American roots band playing bluegrass and traditional music...but the surprise is that they are black! They are all multi instrumentalists and all took turns at singing. On a few numbers they had a guest from the Ebony Hillbillies on percussion! Not my normal style of music but I can really appreciate the great musicinaship and authenticity of this band.
John Scofield
June 22nd Today we headed Manhattan and the Blue Note where we saw the John Scofield Trio with the Scohorns. I've been a big fan for many years and have a few of his albums to couldn't miss the chance to see him live. For those who don't know him John has a style that is all his own and very contemporary. He's always changing and hardly ever plays the same thing for long. Steve Swallow, the bass player is a legend in his own right too. The club is very cramped as they obviously like to pack as many people in as possible. I had my back to the stage and got a stiff neck continually turning to watch! I couldn't tell you the names of anything that was played as the tunes were mostly not announced and even though I have several albums by John Scofield it's hard to identify tunes.
Isaac Hayes
June 12th The first concert in the Celebrate Brooklyn series was tonight and featured soul singer Isaac Hayes. Although he is now in his sixties his voice sounded as rich and smooth as ever! He got a big audience response when he sang his big hits `Walk on by' `Do your thing' `Shaft' `Never can say goodbye' and `Joy'. He ended with a great version of Little Milton's `The blues is alright'. The band were great and had a full sound with horns and backing singers. Isaac played keyboard most of the time but played sax on one or two numbers. Unfortunately less than two months after this concert his life ended at age 65.
Little Richard
June 8th Tonight we headed to BB Kings in Times Square to see rock 'n roll legend Little Richard. We recently watched the biopic of his life story which revealed how he was always torn between religion and `the devil's music'. He's now well into his 70's and doesn't perform too often these days. The ten piece band came on first and played some rockin' instrumentals to get the audience in the mood. Little Richard came on stage on crutches as apparently he has sciatica. Once he was seated at the piano he let it rip working through most of his old hits like `Good golly Miss Molly' `Tutti frutti' `Long tall Sally' `Rip it up' `Ready Teddy' `Slippin' and slidin' `Lucille' `The girl can't help it' and `Money honey'. The only slow number was `Directly from my heart to you' which was of course covered so well by Frank Zappa on `Weasels ripped my flesh'. He also did a tribute to Fats Domino with Blueberry Hill. He can't quite reach those high notes the way he used to but still sounded good on most of the tunes and his keyboard skills are still right up there.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Marta Topferova and Phillip Glass
July 25th
Celebrate Brooklyn. The Phillip Glass Ensemble.
The first act was Marta Topferova. The cross-cultural Topferova is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter whose sound weaves together influences from South American folk music and her native Czech background. She sings in both Spanish and Czech. Marta plays guitar and the four stringed cuatro and sings beautifully. She played with her trio, bass and drums/percussion.
Next world-renowned composer Phillip Glass and his ensemble performed Glass' score to avant garde filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's visually stunning chronicle of cultures around the world Powaqqatsi (1988). They were joined in this rare event by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Before the performance Godfrey Reggio (Writer Director), Phillip Glass (Composer) and WYNC's Brian Lehrer gave a pre-show talk concerning the making of 'Powakatsi' and how the movie and the score were put together.
Phillip Glass Glass is best known for his minimalist style of composition. He studied at Julliard in New York and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. After working with Steve Reich for a while he formed the Phillip Glass Ensemble in 1971. He is a prolific composer and has written for opera, theatre. concerti, quartets and solo works but is probably best known for his film scores, three of which were nominated for Academy Awards. My favourite work is his violin concerto no. 1, my favourite modern `classical' work. I'm not normally a fan of the violin but this is a haunting evocative piece. The film score had a similar hypnotic quality and the film itself was a visual treat with beautiful images and exceptional camera work.
Celebrate Brooklyn. The Phillip Glass Ensemble.
The first act was Marta Topferova. The cross-cultural Topferova is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter whose sound weaves together influences from South American folk music and her native Czech background. She sings in both Spanish and Czech. Marta plays guitar and the four stringed cuatro and sings beautifully. She played with her trio, bass and drums/percussion.
Next world-renowned composer Phillip Glass and his ensemble performed Glass' score to avant garde filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's visually stunning chronicle of cultures around the world Powaqqatsi (1988). They were joined in this rare event by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Before the performance Godfrey Reggio (Writer Director), Phillip Glass (Composer) and WYNC's Brian Lehrer gave a pre-show talk concerning the making of 'Powakatsi' and how the movie and the score were put together.
Phillip Glass Glass is best known for his minimalist style of composition. He studied at Julliard in New York and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. After working with Steve Reich for a while he formed the Phillip Glass Ensemble in 1971. He is a prolific composer and has written for opera, theatre. concerti, quartets and solo works but is probably best known for his film scores, three of which were nominated for Academy Awards. My favourite work is his violin concerto no. 1, my favourite modern `classical' work. I'm not normally a fan of the violin but this is a haunting evocative piece. The film score had a similar hypnotic quality and the film itself was a visual treat with beautiful images and exceptional camera work.
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