The Black Experience @ Durty Durham 5.3.13

The Black Experience, one of North Carolina's most forward-thinking jazz combos, took the stage at The Pinhook Friday night at the Durty Durham art collective's "Hyperspring" fundraiser.

The Black Experience likes to jam long in an open-ended way, pushing canonical jazz through a prism of contemporary and popular references, from Ray Charles to Black Sabbath. What we heard Friday might be the zenith of what they've accomplished so far. Leading one to ask:  Can The Black Experience get any better? I think it's safe to say that The Black Experience will go on and on, getting better and better, with something important to communicate.


Larry "Q" Draughan and Will Darity 


Ernest A. Turner II

Collectively, it's a band with deep North Carolina roots, impeccable musical pedigrees, and a huge reservoir of experience as educators, sidemen and bandleaders at the area's top jazz institutions and venues. The co-founders of the project are William Darity, electric guitar, Larry Q. Draughan Jr., drums, and Ernest A. Turner II, piano/organ. We also heard Brian Horton on sax and flute, and a special drop-in guest, Lynn Grissett on trumpet. (Educated at NC Central, Grissett travels out of town a lot with Prince. Yes, that Prince.)


Prince sideman Lynn Grissett sitting in with The Black Experience.

Here's some video of Grissett called on stage to solo with The Black Experience. Also features solos by Brian Horton on flute, and Larry "Q" Draughan on drums:






Among the local artists and musicians who turned out for The Black Experience: vocalist Kim Arrington, keyboardist Victor Moore and visual activist Luis Franco.

Raleigh Rally: Hopscotch

This was the first year I really applied myself to delve into Hopscotch, which transformed Raleigh into a downtown funzone the second weekend of September. It was really fun to walk the distance between venues and to see a ton of people on the streets, popping in and out of clubs. I'd definitely say (as a Durhamite) that there's been an uptick since in my comfort levels with going out in Raleigh; Spark.con's freebies the following weekend served as a booster shot.

FRIDAY NIGHT @ LINCOLN THEATER: The Foreign Exchange.

SATURDAY NIGHT @ POUR HOUSE: With an all-club wristband, I milled about for awhile seeing various indie phenoms, and slowly figured out (DUH) that I probably needed to go to the Pour House, where it was all horn bands. I didn't manage to see that full lineup, but heard fantastic things about Fight The Big Bull (out of Richmond), and my good pals Peter Lamb and The Wolves. I arrived during the set of D-town Brass, a band with quite a few guys in it I know from thar and yonder, but had somehow never heard before. It was experimental and groove-based, kind of nerd-funky, and reminded me of movie scores. The sheer size of that horn-line is devastating, both as an audio and a visual. Orchestral in scope, the front line was like a Noah's ark of trombones, trumpets, saxophones, and clarinets. I'm not sure what all percussion they had back there, but congas for sure, marimbas maybe. Sonorous and intense.


D-town Brass


Budos Band

It started to really fill up as the clouds gathered for Budos Band. These guys brought an unrelenting Latin fusion groove all night. Hopscotchers pitched glowsticks on stage--landing right in the bell of the bari sax player's horn at some points--and instead of getting pissed, they seemed revved by the friendly dose of aggression. They rained glowsticks, and powerful Latin funk beats, right back at us. I really liked Bobby the conga/bongo player's setup and slap style, idiosyncratic and well adapted. "We're the black sheep [of the Daptone label]," these guys told me later, "but people like us, so they can't get rid of us."




Raleighites raise a beer to Hopscotch

Fantasma at the Casbah, Wednesday (6/22)

Grupo Fantasma stops in at Casbah in Durham this Wednesday (6/22) for a Latin funkstravaganza. From Austin, Tex., its southwestern sound embraces cumbia, horn-driven funk, L.A. Latin rock, and classic New York salsa. (There's even a little Cuban chaos in there: its fourth album, the Grammy-nominated Sonidos Gold, features an Irakere cover.) Fantasma's funk credentials are in order: In 2007, Prince handpicked the band to headline his Vegas club.


Its fifth--and most recent--CD, El Existential, was recorded in a home-built studio in Austin, and features guests from the Meatpuppets as well as the Fania All Stars--Larry Harlow plays electric piano on a gangster cha-cha.

I will be there on Wednesday, wearing headphones: DJ Santa Salsera spins old school salsa from 7 pm until showtime, and again after the live set. It's been awhile since I've deejayed a live party for dancers, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 door. To be compliant with NC state law, Casbah has a membership policy which involves a one-time, $5 fee; the door is CASH ONLY, so come prepared. You can buy drinks with credit at the bar.

Event link:

GRUPO FANTASMA with DJ Santa Salsera @ Casbah, June 22

Deep Blues in Durham

Aaron Mills Project @ Broad Street Cafe

Came across this by chance at Broad Street Cafe: former Cameo bassist Aaron Mills with his Project, playing the Cafe's no-cover Sunday Night Jazz Series. Here's a snippet of their nice jam on a Bill Withers classic:



It is amazing how the original, just a two-minute blues, has proven so memorable and so durable:



Thanks, Bill.

Aaron Mills Project's next date at Broad Street Cafe is Sunday, Sept. 5.


Pianist Victor Moore

LINKS:

Events at Broad Street Cafe

Pocket Full of Funk: The Engagement

Blu Thompson and Brevan Hampden jamming @ The Republic

All-around percussionist Brevan Hampden and his fiancee Amithyst Castro celebrated their engagement last Friday night with a great, funky jam session at The Republic in downtown Durham. Members of Brevan's musical family held down the house band--mom Brenda on piano, and dad Ivan on drumset--along with a slew of friends and musical guests dropping in.


Trumpeter Lynn Grissett



Jazz pianist Joey Calderazzo (with whom Brevan plays regularly) was jamming up a storm when I came in. Other musical guests included William Darity on guitar, Pete Kimosh on both electric and double bass, Mark Wells on vocals/piano, and Eric Hirsh on piano. A mighty horn choir waited in the wings, including Al Strong, Lynn Grissett, James "Saxsmo" Gates, Blu Thompson, Eric Dawson, Brian Horton and others.


Brian Horton shakes a tambourine between sax solos


William Darity sits in on guitar, with Mark Wells, piano


VIDEOS

Short form: Solos by Blu Thompson (soprano sax), Mark Wells (piano & vocal).




Long form: Solos by William Darity (guitar), Brian Horton (sax), Brenda Hampden (piano), Eric Dawson (sax).

Groove Shop Returns! LABOR DAY outdoor concert...

For those of us wondering what happened to John Brown's Groove Shop last Thursday night, that outdoor show at American Tobacco was postponed due to rain chances.

Good news: Groove Shop is RESCHEDULED for today, Labor Day, note new time: 5:00-7:00 p.m.

This is no straight-ahead jazz gig (as they're announcing on WUNC), no: This is your chance to see John Brown strap on an electric axe and bounce into the funk repertoire he loves: Stevie Wonder, Sly, Earth Wind & Fire, etc. Still sounds a little jazzy though; hear a sample here.

Free, outdoors, American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham. See our calendar for links and details.

Durham Jazz: DeLovely

Durham is a great jazz city. North Carolina is rich soil for its homegrown roots, nurtured by a canopy of jazz education (and appreciation) that stretches across the state.

Local diva Lois DeLoatch sang a gem of a concert on Friday night at the Hayti Heritage Center to release her new CD of jazz spirituals, Hymn to Freedom: Homage to Oscar Peterson.

Backing her were performance faculty from Eastern Carolina University-Greenville and UNC-Chapel Hill, as well as the deans of both Duke and North Carolina Central's jazz programs. Dr. Ira Wiggins (NCCU) played saxophones and flute, John V. Brown (Duke), upright acoustic bass, Ernest Turner (ECU), piano, and Thomas Taylor (NCCU, UNC), drums.

St. Joseph's Performance Hall is literally a sanctuary. As Taylor notes, the intimate hall has the shape and acoustics of a drum. That natural resonance suits DeLoatch's bluesy, low registers and sweet, pliant highs. Her voice was a dancer on traditional spirituals like "This Little Light of Mine," and melodies she cast lyrics to, making them her own, like Bobby Timmons' "Moanin' (Prayer)" and Oscar Peterson's "Hymn to Freedom."

The ensemble had opened the concert cold with a stunning instrumental, "In a Sentimental Mood." With the ease of dropping change into a jukebox, they instantly changed the atmosphere to an after hours nostalgia, abetted by Turner's Peterson-evoking touches on piano and Taylor's perpetualism on the brush and snare. Although DeLoatch singled out Wiggins' soprano sax playing, it was his flute playing that really captured my attention. Would be interesting to hear his warm, woody tone and intriguing improvisations go head to head with an Eddy Zervignon or an Andrea Brachfeld in a charanga setting.

One by one, DeLoatch conversed with the instrumentalists in a series of duets. This predilection comes, she says, from her background in a rural church on the Virginia/North Carolina border, where musical accompaniment was minimal and strictly come as you are. DeLoatch's family was in attendance, as were members of the many other 'families' in which she plays a community leadership role as a fundraiser and volunteer, among these: top Duke administrators, St. Joseph's Historic Foundation board members, and the 90.7 FM WNCU radio staff.

Concert proceeds benefitted the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation. DeLoatch's CD is available at Amazon and CD baby.

More live gigs featuring the participants of Friday's show are coming up soon: Sunday night (8/24), Thomas Taylor plays with the sax-led Brian Horton Trio at the new 202 Art Gallery Lounge across from Southpoint. And next Thursday (8/28) at the American Tobacco Complex, John Brown takes his Groove Shop out for a walk. Rather than his usual straight ahead jazz, Brown straps on an electric bass with the Groove Shop to play classic funk and R&B, so come prepared to boogie to Stevie Wonder, Sly, The Gap Band and Earth Wind & Fire.

See the Onda Carolina events calendar for more info.