Posts by Doug Collette

On course to attain a position comparable to the great drummer/bandleaders in jazz history, Dafnis Prieto and his band played an imaginative single set at FlynnSpace October 29th. The six musicians were able to display their individual and collective talent through the astute guidance of their precocious leader.

Opening for Bruce Hornsby at the FlynnCenter October 7th, The Wood Brothers won over the headliner's audience. Chris and Oliver's sly humor and understated country blues made an almost immediate connection and remained effective for the duration of an unfortunately abbreviated forty-minute set.

The intimacy of FlynnSpace lends itself to revealing the detail of a musical performance which benefited The David Binney Quartet tremendously the evening of September 26th. It was impossible not to notice how the foursome challenges itself when they play.

While working on the soundtrack to the movie One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur;  Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard decided to develop their collaboration to include more original songs (and some selected concerts) based on the Beat avatar's writings. The CD resulting from their mutual interest, unfortunately, is a mixed bag.

The overall simplicity of approach within Si o Si may be the key: their ideas, whether structured or spontaneous, constitute the crystallization of their individual and collective experience within this group and without (each member has extensive history and current work outside this ensemble). Put this on "Best of 2009' list now!

It was no surprise that The Black Crowes decided that as the basis for their new album, to record themselves live in the winter of 2009, offering all new material to an intimate audience at Levon Helm's barn in Woodstock New York. Is it any wonder either that Steve Gorman can't hardly stop talking about the group?  Talking with Glide's Doug Collette, he sounds tremendously excited about how well the band is doing right now, as well as their future prospects.  From his vantage point at the drums at the back of the stage, and as a charter member of the group, things have never looked or sounded better for The Black Crowes.

Son Volt played a brilliantly paced set at Higher Ground on 9/21, that unlike the group's last appearance at the Vermont venue in spring of 2007 where Jay Farrar and company struggled to gain traction, the quintet leapt into action with "The Picture" and were blazing away by the time they finished roughly two and half-hours later.

Rolling Stone's recent blurb on Lowell Thompson shouldn't build false preconceptions or wayward expectations. The Vermonter's self titled first album with the band Crown Pilot is a remarkably mature, self-assured piece of work.  

If, in their return to this South Burlington venue, The Black Crowes didn't throw the knockout punches as in  the fall of 2008, their performance nevertheless concluded with purposeful finality as they intoned " Oh Sweet Nuthin" with stirring gospel fervor. It was yet another gesture of kinship with the music-lovers populating the ballroom floor, further evidence of a very rare bond  arising from an audience being as enthusiastic as the band playing for them.

Gov't Mule's By A Thread might be the closest thing we ever get to a modern day Warren Haynes solo effort (unless rumors of such a project from the last few months turn out to be true.) Every individual element of style favored by the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter is covered within the album's hour-plus running time, which might make for a splintered sound except that his connection to Gov't Mule as a group is absolutely unyielding. And vice-versa.

Appearing for four nights at Levon' Helm's Barn in Woodstock, New York this past winter, the Black Crowes played sets of mostly brand-new original material which forms the basis for  two distinct  new albums that nevertheless display an unmistakable continuity.

Phish's new album is appropriately titled for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Joy finds the band relishing the challenge of recording their new songs.

It would demean The Duke and The King to say it's an offshoot of The Felice Brothers, but Nothing Gold Can Stay does radiate the same rustic (thought slightly ominous) charm of the Catskill Mountain clan’s music.

Yim Yames’ (nee Jim James’) homage to the late George Harrison, Tribute to, is truly a labor of love. Recorded in 2001 in a moment of inspired grieving upon hearing of the man’s passing, the titular leader of My Morning Jacket channels the spirit of The Beatles’ lead guitarist as he plays an unusual cross-section of his music.

Though it is totally without frills or DVD bonuses, Warpaint Live represents a fine document of the Black Crowes’ progression since their reformation in 2005. Like its double CD counterpart, the DVD version includes all the material on Warpaint, their first studio effort in seven years as well as cover material that accurately reflect their roots.

Never let it be said that Medeski Martin and Wood repeat themselves but the trio's Radiolarians Series, in its ingenious concept of writing touring then recording all new material in quick succession, represents a willful effort to avoid the predictable.

Gov’t Mule tends to pull out all the stops when they play in Boston and their latest appearance, at Bank of America Pavilion July 31st, contained a clutch of memorable moments on a number of fronts, including some truly spectacular.

It may be no coincidence Ian Hunter’s newest solo album precedes a reunion of Mott the Hoople in autumn of 2009. The prospect of revisiting the most-high profile work of his career appears to have elevated him as a songwriter and performer on Man Overboard.

There's been a palpable flow to a couple of the Grateful Dead Road Trips releases, but nothing so tangible as that which distinguishes the latest issue from the summer tour with the legendary “Wall of Sound.” It's no illusion each CD of the triple set segues to the next on the way to a rousing finish.

Given the otherworldly atmosphere of The Church’s recordings, it’s an intriguing prospect to anticipate the Australian quartet in concert and find out how they replicate the density of their music in the spirit of the moment.