Posts by Chad Berndtson

If you've ever watched and heard Sonny Landreth at his most intense — where he gets really, deeply vested in a solo, gets on that game face that's not quite mad scientist but of a learned tinkerer who knows truths mortals can't comprehend, and conjures the kind of slide guitar sorcery that puts him in league with the instrument's greatest; you know that it isn't his spare, inoffensive singing that packs rooms at Landreth shows throughout the world.

Billy Martin discusses his duo with Wil Blades, the future of MMW and more.

Rob Barraco tells us all about how he became a member of Dark Star Orchestra and more.

Keyboardist Rob Barraco tells us about reuniting with Phil Lesh and the rest of his “Q” band mates.

Steve Kimock talks about embarking on his first full-scale band tour in three years and more.

The Motet’s Dave Watts talks to us about the group’s funkify-the-Grateful-Dead concept.

Chad Berndtson shares his take on Bill Evans’ Soulgrass project in NYC.

You need just a few more adjectives and addendums to nail all that is Evans, who cut his teeth playing jazz lofts in New York City starting in the late 70s, logged time with Miles Davis and many others throughout the 80s, remained a core member of the adventurous group Elements well into the 90s, and has over the past 20 years or so made armfuls of fascinating records in a wide variety of contexts and combos, jazz and non. This is the same Bill Evans who’s equally comfortable sitting in with the Allman Brothers Band – as he did, again, during this year’s Beacon run in New York – as he is with Herbie Hancock or Bela Fleck.

We chat with Duane Trucks about his latest project – Flannel Church.

Chad B. lists ten things he’d like to see from the Allman’s Beacon Run.

Say this for the Heartless Bastards: they know what their strongest asset is, and on Arrow, their latest, they leverage the absolute crap out of it. Erika Wennerstrom is a powerhouse front-woman under any definition, and here, she's full-fledged and aggressive, just sweet enough to keep from sounding acidic, but someone who can power her way through a weak song on the strength of her vocals and make a strong song positively explode.

It's hard to describe Taylor, nominally a bluesman but, like James Blood Ulmer or another inscrutable picker, he;s more a mutant of the genre. He' won't get lost in something primal — a repeated phrase, worked to the point of exhaustion like Richie Havens singing "Freedom" — or keep things even-paced and laid-back, yet he finds himself pocketed with menace and portent.

Chad talks with Jenny Scheinman about her Mischief & Mayhem project.

Chad B. reviews a recent The Civil Wars show in Austin.

Drummer Matt Abts Talks Planet of the Abts / Gov’t Mule with Chad B.

Kevin Russell of The Gourds chats with us about the band’s new album, their cover of Gin n Juice and much more.

Old 97’s @ Lincoln Hall, July 19

It’s unfair, when you think about it, but I’m also kind of glad the Old 97’s aren’t as beloved as many of their musical peers. Then, they’d be your band, in addition to my band.

We all have “my” bands. The band you hold tight and celebrate for your depth of knowledge and their consistently winning live experience. The band for which you’re more of an apologist than you should be when they don’t deliver. The band you spend a hell of a lot of time evangelizing and dragging less enthused pals to see in concert just because then they might finally get it.

Most “my” bands seem to have certain characteristics: a critical darling, perhaps, languishing in that concert space between rock clubs and theaters, too big for the former and not quite ever ready for the latter. You spend less time worried about whether they’ll ever make it over that hump, however, and just enjoy that they are. Rare do “my bands” ever seem to get there, anyway, unless, of course — like the band most often discussed on Hidden Track — they ascended on grassroots popularity and the wondrously shared experience of a whole lot of people who saw a true “my band” in formative years in Vermont.

READ ON for more on Old 97’s at Lincoln Hall…

Galactic @ Brooklyn Bowl feat. Warren Haynes – June 22

Words: Chad Berndtson
Photos: Robert Chapman

For many years, Galactic was a two-in-one band. On one side, an intense, massively funky instrumental group, and on the other, a rock-, soul- and R&B-soaked backing ensemble for the great Theryl “The Houseman” deClouet, who before he was waylaid by health problems, prowled – nay, owned — the stage for large sections of Galactic shows. Being that two-in-one gave Galactic a split personality, but the New Orleans-associated sounds it’s always been known for provided a common denominator, and gave its concerts natural flow.

[All photos by Rob Chapman]

Since the end of the Houseman era – about 2004 or so – Galactic’s been a lot tougher to define, and not because they’ve branched out farther in other musical directions, notably hip-hop. They’ve always been eclectic. It’s just that these days, a Galactic concert is more of a variety show: a core group of musicians that defines the band, but draws on an extended family of collaborators to fill gaps in some areas and augment Galactic in others. Are they welcome additions? Absolutely. Are they necessary? Depends. With so much emphasis placed on those guests, Galactic limits its repertoire, and also, it can be argued, muddles its identity a bit.

But what guests. Rebirth Brass Band trombonist Corey Henry is firmly in the fold now, essential to the Galactic fabric when a jam gets cooking. Living Colour singer Corey Glover, who punctuates Galactic much like the Houseman used to, is another compelling addition — a seriously capable rock, soul and R&B vocalist with a theatrical streak a mile wide.

READ ON for more from Galactic at Brooklyn Bowl…

Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall, April 29

Max Creek’s wearing 40 well. Or, to put it another way: you’re not regularly seeing shows by 40-year-old bands that were as effortlessly enjoyable and musically nourishing as the band’s two set monster at Sullivan Hall – the middle show in a three-night anniversary swing through Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island – and that don’t feel like canned revues coasting on nostalgia.

[All videos by NYCJamGal]

Max Creek is a curious institution. It never hit the big time or got much close to it, but it was a jamband before jambands were jambands: established long before Phish, Panic and the generations of improvisational rock acts since then, and really, a near-contemporary of both the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band, though with the tiniest fraction of the fame. It pulled back on touring just as the late ’80s/early ’90s jam seeds were sewn and the scene mushroomed, morphed and moved into the popular, yet fractured state it’s in now. But Creek still has particular renown, especially in New England, and its tri-state fans were out in force at Sullivan Hall.

Bassist John Rider is technically the lone original member, but guitarist Scott Murawski and keyboardist Mark Mercier have been around almost as long, and the band’s drum chair is now occupied by one- and two-man configurations of its various drummers since the mid ’80s: Scott Allshouse, Greg Vasso and Greg DeGuglielmo. Bands with such long-established chemistry are sometimes hindered by that comfort, and Max Creek, too, can sound workmanlike. But shit, can they still motor when they’re feeling good. It’s a well-stocked repertoire of originals and covers both well-worn and less-remembered, so often opened up with jam segments that are hearty, brilliant and powerfully expressive.

READ ON for more on Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall…

It probably would have been enough to let the cameras roll, do some tight close-ups of Alan Evans, Neal Evans and Eric Krasno getting all funky and dirty as only they know how; pan the sweaty Brooklyn Bowl crowd a few times and let the intensity of the music just carry the thing. But the Bowlive DVD is only partly about Soulive in concert; what you’re really getting with this abundantly pleasant release is two stories in one.