Ryan Dembinsky

The jazz standard cover is an interesting animal. To a band, the jazz standard is a direct reflection of a musical education, an homage to a master, a change of pace, a view into a particular time in history and a chance to shake loose and get weird. Unfortunately, to many a fan, it’s a bathroom break.

The roots of a great deal of our favorite jamband, progressive rock, funk, hip hop, vocal, and bluegrass artists are steeped in jazz, so it’s no wonder that so many of the bands we talk about ’round here enjoy breaking out a jazz standard from time to time, but as a collective fanbase, we could perhaps pay a little closer attention. So, today we celebrate some great jazz standard bust outs across the board.

“When the music changes, so does the dance.” – African Proverb

Derek Trucks Band – My Favorite Things

At its core, the version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s My Favorite Things that John Coltrane popularized, isn’t a complex jazz standard. Yet, the modal nature of the song – using notes within the mode as the basis of the song rather than specific chord progressions, thus essentially making any combinations of those notes all fit the harmony (or something) – allows the musicians to essentially go bananas, making it particularly interesting to compare various versions. Derek and his band take their version here to new heights, adding soaring leads and colorful note combinations to the famous melody.

READ ON for more jazz standards interpreted by jambands…

Given it’s Friday, we kick things off with a couple of tunes that fit just ambling along with no particular place to be, except maybe happy hour for some suds.

Sorry Vanessa Carlton, but after a long stint in the premier league, you’re being relegated to the grapefruit league of dreamy female musicians. It was a solid run and as much as I liked the video where you drove your piano from the suburbs into Manhattan like the beginning of the Naked Gun (or Police Squad if you’re old school); the last straw was dating the singer from Third Eye Blind. Well, I still have hope for you given the Pink Floyd and Zeppelin influences and the Stevie Nicks’ vouch, but for now it’s down to the minors.

Taking your place in the elite class alongside heavyweights like Gemma Hayes, Grace Potter, Neko Case, Jenny Lewis and Lisa Hannigan is Marissa Nadler. After seeing Marissa live in action at Joe’s Pub on March 4th, it’s clear that she is super weird and undeniably awesome. Adorned in a flowy red dress, Nadler really played the role of the temptress siren in the intimate confines of Joe’s Pub.

A good way to sum up Marissa Nadler is via a pretty good joke she told. Playing to her slight nervousness and greenish stage presence during a key moment in between stupefying vocal performances, she stepped to the microphone and announced, “This next one is a song about going back into the womb.” Given that she is easily peculiar enough to make every single member of the audience wholeheartedly believe this as truth, after letting a long 30 seconds go by, she quipped, “Just kidding, it’s a song about cars” and rifled into a song about an El Camino.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s review of Marissa Nadler at Joe’s Pub…

With the 2009 festival season right around the corner, it’s time to get the investigative reporters at the Fox 2 Problem Solvers on the horn and talk about an issue that has been drawing more attention lately. Inevitably, everybody has noticed at one point or another the so-called “talent searches” that come with the announcements of festival lineups each spring.

These talent searches are generally responsible for rounding out the smaller stages at the festivals and comprise many of those bands that you may have heard of, but never actually heard. You know, the ones tend to get added to the lineup a month or so after the initial release?

Here’s the thing; after hearing complaints on multiple occasions about the way these searches get conducted, I contacted six different bands to assess their thoughts. The results were alarmingly similar and the reviews were all mixed… and definitely less than glowing.

As three of the bands requested to comment off the record due to the fact that they are still participating in these searches for the upcoming festival season, I decided to keep all of the band’s names off the record, so as not to throw anybody under the bus. Regardless, the results were pretty interesting.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s editorial on festival talent searches…

Between the anticipation, excitement, and the nerves, this week has been a roller coaster ride. I knew the emotions would be crazy, but between thinking through travel planning, avoiding missteps with tickets, hotels, traffic and wondering who we might run into from the days or yore, coordinating meetups, and so on; it’s freaking hard concentrate and man, I’m nervous.

I’m sure we’re all in the same situation this week; clicking mercilessly from emails, to message boards, to YouTube, to blogs, and back to emails. The waiting is getting unbearable and working is getting tougher by the minute. We’ve hashed over every topic to the point of even having discussions about what various friends will wear to the shows (that’s easy, Quadrophenia shirt). Don’t lie; I know you’ve thought about it too.

Anyway, I couldn’t really think of anything worth adding to the conversation this week until listening to Harry Hood the other day. I vividly remember trying to listen to Hood after Coventry and feeling really pretty bummed out. I didn’t leave Coventry with a bad feeling at all about the band or foster any ill will whatsoever, but strangely in the few months that followed, it became kinda depressing. That song in particular really struck a nerve and didn’t sit well at all for quite a while and became sort of a symbol of growing up, something I wasn’t really excited to do.

READ ON for a list of 100 Reasons Why Phish Should Reunite…

With the big reunion just a week away, conversations are tending towards guessing the opener. Saxilla nailed this a couple weeks ago with a great post, opening the gates for a wide variety of Hampton opener calls.

In thinking about what the band will open with – no doubt about it, an elusive task – I thought it might be fun to take a quick look back through the annals at some other monumental “theme-based” openers. In other words, in prepping for what will surely be remembered as one of the big moments in the band’s history in Hampton, let’s look back at the times where the band fit their opener to the moment at hand and directly linked their opening song to the surrounding circumstances. Here we go…

Red Rocks, 8/20/93, Divided Sky

For Phish’s inaugural seal cracking of Red Rocks, they kicked off with the geographically fitting Divided Sky. With the gorgeous outdoor venue nestled amidst the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by the Colorado stars, I imagine the Divided Sky opener really fit the scene. They also further hat tipped their surroundings with a Wedge later in the show, where the “Take the Highway, to the Great Divide” also works perfectly as the actual “red rocks” mysteriously sort of pop out of nowhere, are located right along Highway 80, and the audience and stage literally divide the giant rock slabs on both sides.

READ ON for more thematic openers including 1999 and Rhinoceros…

In a totally objective and almost too close to call race, Phish fans placed second in Spike TV’s assessment of the worst fans in all of music just behind fans of Screwdriver, a white supremacy themed punk band from the U.K. in the ’70s. Normally, I would probably take offense to such ridiculous claims (while quietly wondering if we wholeheartedly agree), but I’m pretty sure this guy’s balls are hanging out of his gym shorts and he is holding a ventriloquist doll, so i’ll just shake it off and just piggy back off his idea.

So, instead of letting loose with a defensive Phish tirade, let’s take a look at more crappy fanbases in music. To up the stakes a bit (and refrain from a pointless list about Clay Aiken), i’ll stick to music I actually quite like, but do not always share the same affection for the other concert goers.

Dave Matthews Band – Let’s just get this one out in the open real quick and move on. Dave Matthews’ fans suck the joy out of otherwise good music like a pack of Dementers. And no, Harry Potter references do not detract from our credibility in evaluating the tolerability of music fans. Drunk meatheads, incessant clapping, high school girls and loud yapping are simply not my idea of a good time.

String Cheese Incident – Here’s another one that pains me a bit to throw under the bus, but ever since I met this feller in Denver who told me verbatim, “You don’t know the first thing about the space funk. Why don’t you go back to Michigan you cow f*cker? String Cheese rules the space funk,” I’ve been a little salty on the fan base. Plus, I do not like screaming, be it group or otherwise.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s least favorite fanbases including REM…

If you’re ever in need of a good gift idea, this random assortment of music for this week’s Friday Mix Tape comes from my little brother’s Christmas gift this past

With the square footage at about 1/3 of that of the big brother version in Cleveland and a hefty price tag of around $30 a head ($26.55 in person, $29.55 online), skepticism is taking its toll on the New York City Annex of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

While there has been plenty of publicity and marketing, the place probably opened at the worst possible time: right in the headwinds of a big ass recession. I admit, I was one of these folks who had been dying to check it out since the opening back in December, but kept getting deterred by the price tag. Well, it’s worth the $30. In fact, the price tag helps the experience, because it’s not the least bit crowded. You pretty much get free reign over the place, which really heightens the experience.

In simply looking at pictures and reading reviews of the new digs, you miss two key elements of the Annex. The first is that the technology is jaw-droppingly high quality and really creates more of an experience than simply a memorabilia museum. For starters, the entire tour is guided by a headset provided by high-end audio company, Sennheiser, which automatically senses exactly which exhibit you are near and plays the corresponding music. So, in essence the entire visit is complemented by excellent music selections. You will definitely get goosebumps and very possibly tear up at times.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s review of the R&RHOF Annex…