News

America’s favorite mind-bending, hallucination-inducing jazz trio from Tulsa, OK, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, gets back to business in February 2006 with a string of tour dates on the Left Coast, a run of high profile appearances on the East Coast and a jump over the Atlantic for a stretch of shows in Europe. The European leg of the treck will be JFJO’s first official tour of the continent, including performances at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Turku International Jazz Festival in Turku, Finland. All of this in support of their latest release, The Sameness of Difference, on HYENA Records.

JFJO’s west coast tour dates in the U.S. will include special guests, The Dead Kenny Gs, who are comprised of JFJO’s own Brian Haas on keys, the irrepressible modern tenor giant Skerik on saxophones and the multi-dimensional big beat master Mike Dillon on percussion. The Dead Kenny Gs tour sparingly, so every show is a rare opportunity to witness their very own rendering of musical madness. JFJO drummer Jason Smart will also pair with freestyle poet Al Howard for a collaboration dubbed, Echoes Consciousness.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s Winter 2006 tour dates are:

February 14 / Winstons / San Diego, CA
February 15 / The Palmer Room / West Los Angeles, CA
February 16 / Moe’s Alley / Santa Cruz, CA
February 17 / Cafe Du Nord / San Francisco, CA
February 18 / Cafe Du Nord / San Francisco, CA
February 19 / Six Rivers Brewery / McKinleyville, CA
February 21 / Mobius / Ashland, OR
February 22 / Luna Jazz / Eugene, OR
February 23 / The Goodfoot Lounge / Portland, OR
February 24 / Tractor Tavern / Seattle, WA
February 25 / The Nightlight Lounge / Bellingham, WA
March 8 / Casadesus Hall / Binghamton, NY
March 9 / Regatta Bar / Boston, MA
March 10 / Blue Note / New York, NY
March 11 / Blue Note / New York, NY
March 17 / Lantaren / Rotterdam, The Netherlands
March 18 / Sugar Factory / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 21 / Stadtgarten / Cologne, Germany
March 22 / Bimhuis / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 24 – 27 / Dates TBA / Italy
March 29 / Rytmihairioklubi @ Juttutupa / Helsinki, Finland
March 30 / Turku International Jazz Festival / Turku, Finland
April 7 / The Parking Garage / Norman, OK
April 8 / Cain’s Ballroom / Tulsa, OK

Today Langerado announces a Friday night “Sound Check” onsite at Markham Park. Starting at 3:30 PM until 9 PM, the pre-party event will feature six bands -Perpetual Groove,the Benevento Russo Duo, Buckethead, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Theresa Andersson and Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes. Tickets are only $15 advance / $20 day of show andFREEfor those who purchase Langerado weekend VIP or Camping Passes. For more information visit:
www.langerado.com/soundcheck.html

Langerado has also announced their late night club schedule in Ft. Lauderdale. Shows are as follows:

3/10 -The Disco Biscuits @ Revolution / 18+ / doors 8pm
3/10 -The Drive-By Truckers with Rose Hill Drive @ The Culture Room / all ages / doors 8pm
3/11 -Umphrey’s McGee @ Revolution / 18+ / doors 9pm 3/11 -MOFRO with the New Mastersounds @ The Culture Room / all ages / doors 9pm
3/12 -Conspirator with Brothers Past @ The Culture Room / all ages / doors 9pm

All late night shows are $18 advance / $20 day of show. A presale will begin on Saturday January 14th at noon EST for those who have purchased tickets to the festival. (Music Today will be emailing access codes to those who bought tickets to Langerado so they will have the first chance to get tickets to the late night shows) General on-sale is Friday, January 27th. More information at:
www.langerado.com/late.html.

The reviews are in: Diamond Dave, it appears, is not forever. David Lee Roth

Leeds 3-piece Black Wire are excited to announce their first visit to America this February in support of their debut self-titled album, which will be released in the US on Chicago-based indie Giant Pecker Records. The band will be making stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York over 3-weeks for performances and special club appearances.

Since the UK release of their album in June, the band has been all over British radio and television. Touring relentlessly, they have quickly gained a big following in England

Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu has announced his 2006 tour dates. The tour starts off February 4th in Phoenix and concludes March 12 in Phoenix. Stay tuned for Matisyahu’s first studio release in 2006.

Sat/Feb. 4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre
Sun/Feb. 5 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
Mon/Feb. 6 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Sat/Feb. 11 – Waterville, ME @ Colby College
Sun/Feb. 12 – Cambridge, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
Mon/Feb. 13 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
Wed/Feb. 15 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Thu/Feb. 16 – Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
Wed/Feb. 22 – Reno, NV @ Reno Hilton Theatre
Sun/Feb. 26 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Tue/Feb. 28 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
Wed/Mar. 1 – Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Club
Thu/Mar. 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Sat/Mar. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
Sun/Mar. 5 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
Sun/Mar. 12 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live

Ben Harper has married his long-time girlfriend, actress Laura Dern on December 23rd. Us Weekly magazine reports that the nuptials took place at an altar decorated with Christmas trees and candles near a white tent at the mansion formerly owned by late actor Gregory Peck. The ‘Jurassic Park’ star and Harper began dating in 2000 and got engaged in September 2004. They already have two children, Ellery, 4, and Jaya, 1.

Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen will release his third solo album, Morph the Cat, in March. Whereas his 1982 debut The Nightfly viewed the future from an adolescent’s eyes, and 1993’s Kamakiriad viewed it from middle age, Morph, says Fagen, “is looking toward the endings of things.”

“It’s the album that’s closest to my vision of how [death] would sound,” says Fagen. “I don’t know if I could do much better.”

Fagen will support the record with his very own theater tour — his first solo show since high school. “I’ve never done it before,” he says. “I might do a few Steely Dan things that I particularly like, but it’ll mainly be my stuff.”

Source: rollingstone

The constant rotating cast of Mike Rivard’s Club d’Elf will perform tonight with a first time ensemble. Adam Sturtevant will be joining the core on drums, and Gavin Castleton will take over on keys. Gavin plays with the band Gruvis Malt, as well as his own solo projects, and Adam played drums for years with the trio Color and Talea.

Show details:
Tues Jan 3, 2006
club d’elf feat. randy roos ( guitar ), gavin castleton ( rhodes, synth, effects), mike rivard ( bass & sintir ) & adam sturtevant ( drums ).

matt murphy’s pub, 14 harvard st, brookline village, ma. 617-232-0188. 21+. 11 pm – 1:30 am. free.
mattmurphyspub.com.

Belle & Sebastian and the New Pornographers are planning to hit the road together. According to the Matador Records Web site, the multitudinous ranks of the labelmates acts will tour North America early in the New Year, although no dates are yet confirmed.

B&S have a U.K. tour slated to open Jan. 15 in Glasgow and run through a Feb. 10 gig in London. As previously reported, the group is also due to perform in March as part of the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

The group is touring around the release of “The Life Pursuit”, due Feb. 6 in Europe via Rough Trade and a day later in the United States through Matador.

The New Pornographers have just two shows on their schedule at deadline, including a New Year’s Eve gig Saturday (Dec. 31) at Chicago’s Metro. The other, a Feb. 22 show with Matt Pond PA and dios (malos) at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wis., is a makeup date for an Oct. 21 show at the venue that was postponed when bassist John Collins suffered an appendicitis attack and required emergency surgery.

In May, the band will take part in the United States of ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties) festival in East Sussex, England, on a bill curated by the Shins.

Source billboard.com.

Snger/songwriter/one-man-band Andrew Bird is planning a two-week February tour, following a busy year on the road supporting his latest full-length album, The Mysterious Production Of Eggs.

Two weeks of shows are planned, starting in Milwaukee February 2 and moving through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa. He’ll wrap back in Wisconsin February 17 at Madison’s High Noon Saloon.

Bird has evolved from his days fronting his Bowl of Fire band into a creative solo performer, working with pedals and other looping equipment to build his songs live.

This time around, he’ll be accompanied onstage by another artist known for his one-man-band antics – drummer/electronic musician Martin Dosh. The two performed together at several fall shows.

Source pollstar.com.