2009.01.17
Downtown Roanoke Friday night: DJ Williams Projeckt, The Noises 10, My Radio, Pace Brothers Organ Trio
From the "embarassment of riches on a Friday night-Saturday morning" file:
Jazz fusion often gets a bad rap. One of the reasons: Guilty acts are the ones that don't bring some soul to the table. That's not a problem with the DJ Williams Projeckt, which played Martin's Downtown Bar & Grill on Friday night.
Soul was evident from the first horn shots of the band's opening number, "Headphones." As drummer Dusty Simmons percolated and bassist Todd Herrington (of Modern Groove Syndicate) thumped, Williams wrung out the first of a night's worth of lyrical and often nasty licks from his Fender Telecaster.
The band broke into a modified samba groove as keyboardist Brian Mahne summoned Hammond-type organ sounds from a smallish, orange keyboard. Later, he would flip a switch to get a Rhodes electric piano sound. That's my kind of cat.
But back to Williams. He's a quote machine -- one minute, it's a Steve Cropper lick, the next, it's Curtis Mayfield. Jimi Hendrix, John Scofield, John McLaughlin and Chuck Berry all got some six-string shoutouts, too. But Williams, who can make his Tele scream while maintaining a clean tone, has a pretty subtle, very melodic style of his own, with speed to burn. He doesn't overuse the speed, though.
Trumpeter Mark Ingraham -- who has also played Martin's with the aforementioned Modern Groove Syndicate (or MSG, for those not creeped out by a certain type of flavoring) -- was a trilling, slurring beast who, a few songs in, quoted the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive." The rest of the band joined in on the stanky mess.
Unfortunately, sax man Gordon Jones was a little down in the mix, as was Williams' vocal for a good part of the first set. Both sounded good, just overwhelmed by the other instruments.
The songs were infectious, even if most of the crowd of at least 100 was unfamiliar with them. About a dozen were drawn to the small dance floor, bobbing heads and shaking legs.
DJ Williams Projekt -- you can dance to it, or you can just chill and listen to it.
Earlier, The Noises 10 and My Radio had played Kirk Avenue Music Hall. Opening act My Radio, a Roanoke band, was tight as usual. Bassist Jeff Hofmann had been onstage at Kirk Avenue the night before, playing an upright bass with Rootstone. This was a totally different gig from the previous night's jug band action. On Friday, he laid down a rock-solid pulse with his Fender electric bass, all locked in with drummer Hunter Johnson.
This was really My Radio's crowd, and they heard a familiar collection of tunes -- "Turn Up the Radio," "Unbelieveable," and one of my recent favorites, "Another World," and more. Singer/keyboardist/songwriter JP Powell and guitarist Brett Lemon brought plenty of hooks, and Powell's voice was strong as usual, as he pounded his electric piano at the front of the stage.
Lemon said afterward that the band is working on new songs for another album, less than a year after the self-titled CD that contains the above tunes.
Most of the crowd of about 100, which had packed the hall, stuck around for The Noises 10, of Charlotte, N.C. The band provided very atmospheric music with sonic flourishes that still drove the groove home -- big tom-tom drums and dark-toned cymbals in effect.
Singer/rhythm guitarist Jason Scavone, dressed like a cleaned-up Kurt Cobain, was reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, with his warm tremelo and ocassional falsetto-slip. Behind him, the band cooked up grooves that recalled U2 and Coldplay.
The band scored with songs such as "Distance," "Death to Voices" and set-opener "Bad Bad Girl." The martial/tribal drum beats were colored by any number of strange and sometimes gorgeous chords from guitars and keyboards. Scavone and lead guitarist Patrick Boyd are multi-instrumentalists.
A couple of hours later, I headed toward morning at Blue 5 Restaurant, where the Pace Brothers Organ Trio was doing its thing. The had a special guest -- trumpeter Elmer Coles, a Roanoke guy who guitarist Cyrus Pace said has played with the Domino Band and many others in and around the Roanoke Valley.
It always amazes me to hear Pace brother No. 2 (or is he No. 1?) James Pace, who played all the bass notes on his keyboard, while tearing up some organ chords, harmonies and melodies. Drummer Drew Lawhorn grooved nicely behind them.
Altogether, a good night for music fans -- and there was even more going on that I didn't have time to catch.
It's strange to review a review, but I gotta say this is pretty damn good stuff. Some real music writing in Roanoke. That's how you help Roanoke produce some real music. And the region is cutting along impressively in that pursuit. My Radio does the power pop thing really well. Their songs are fun and strong. The other thing to review is the venues. Martin's is the bedrock of music in the region, one because it brings in so many different acts usually without covers (hats off to Jason Martin for accomplishing that incredible feat) and two because it's the best bar in downtown Roanoke, maybe in Virginia, and has to be a top 100 nationally because of all it delivers at the price it delivers. I'm not sure Roanokers really fathom what they have in Martin's. Kirk Avenue Music Hall is a great little addition to the music scene in the valley. Let's hope that keeps chuggin' along. Blue 5 is a little different to judge. It tries to narrowly define music, partly to fit a little genre, partly to feed the ego of the owner/operator. It's not really a major factor yet in building the music scene. Like 202 Market, it has opted for a strong streak of snobbery in its operations. Maybe that works, but right now both seem to be paying a heavy price for that snobbery in their monthly balance sheets. All in all, the Roanoke music scene is brimming with promise, and Tad the Rad is a big part of that.
Yah
Comment by Yah — January 18, 2009 @ 10:10 am