The first time I saw Norah Jones was the summer of 2002 when she was riding the tsunami of her mega hit album Come Away With Me. She performed like a shell-shocked child – she appeared overwhelmed by her fame – she had success she never set out to achieve.
Fast forward 10 years and Norah has grown into her career – she has found her place in pop music – playing what she wants, a who’s who of guest appearances, and a nice little devoted audience that allows her to fill 2K to 3K seat theaters worldwide.
This is the 3rd or 4th time I have seen her and this was by far the best band and the most diverse and solid performance I have seen. It helps she is touring on her strongest album since her debut (Little Broken Hearts produced by Danger Mouse). She pretty much played the album in its entirety. That album allows here to play very hip contemporary pop without selling out or becoming someone she is not. The Norah/Danger Mouse collaboration is genuinely inspired.
Norah likes diversity – tonight she played alternative rock, jazz, country, and pop. She is not you standard chanteuse. She played her repertoire and spiced with covers by Tom Waits, Hank Williams, The Grateful Dead , and Gram Parsons. Rather than pander to the crowd she twisted her Come Away With Me selections into clever new arrangements..
The delight of the concert for me was the encore where the band gathered around a single mike for a short hootenanny. It showed Norah as her most relaxed and most confident. Her voice sound better to me not so tightly miked.
Overall a very pleasant show – it is great to see an artist not become overwhelmed by winning the pop music lottery, but instead leverage it into a dream career.
See StarTribune review. See City Pages review.
Setlist
Good Morning
Say Goodbye
Take It Back
It’s Gonna Be
Chasing Pirates
Little Broken Hearts
Long Way Home (Tom Waits cover)
Black
It Must Have Been the Roses (Grateful Dead cover)
All a Dream
Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams cover)
Out on the Road
Painter Song
Don’t Know Why
Sinkin’ Soon
Miriam
Happy Pills
Hickory Wind (Gram Parsons cover)
Encore
Sunrise
Creepin’ In
Come Away With Me
I have been a big fan of the Wheedle’s Groove series from Light in the Attic records. Over several records Light in the Attic exhumed Seattle funk and soul between 1965 and 1979. Now Minneapolis’ own Secret Stash Records has done the same thing for my home town.
The Minneapolis funk and soul sound is Prince. This collection discovers bands the predate Prince breakout by 15 years and bring you up the moment he arrived. So the premise of this collection is that he did not appear out of thin air. There had to be a history. Sure enough the Secret Stash team was able to find a very cool scene. I have lived here my whole life and was unaware of most of the artists Secret Stash found. But that is not a surprise as this music was predominantly played by and for the African-American community. Prince did not organically create a Minneapolis scene – he exploded nationally and then retroactively created a scene via his movie Purple Rain. This collection shows the fertile ground he replanted his seed.
A few names on the compilation are known to me, but not for funk and soul:
- Mojo Buford and Willie Walker, but for their blues
- Morris Wilson, but for his jazz
- Willie and the Bees – who had crossover local success in rock and roll bar scene
The funk and soul of this compilation would be unknown to most TC music fans except for the most ardent crate diggers. So this is quite an amazing discovery.
So can you find some of Prince’s DNA here? I can’t, but maybe on repeated listens I will find a whiff. The music on this collection is pretty diverse and follows the edges of what was happening nationally. So there is nothing as revolutionary as Prince, but it is not pure imitation either – it was local cats trying to put their own stamp on things that were happening nationally. So maybe that is the Prince connection – that you have permission to deviate from top-40 pop funk and soul conventions and mess with your genre. Prince was able to experiment with basic funk and soul to the point he was able to invent a unique sound.
If you are local Twin Cities music fan or if you are a fan of Prince this album is required listening. If you are into the more current Rhymesayers scene – which has its foundations in crate digging – it is also required listening for you too!
Also the team at Secret Stash did a very nice job of packaging too (hurry while the first 500 purple vinyl editions are still available):
Rodriquez was on loan from pop culture to the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Museum this past Sunday night for an invitation-only event.
Rodriguez songwriting is a cross between Bob Dylan and Smokey Robinson – soul folk. He performed solo: voice and guitar, yet if you closed your eyes you could imagine Motown arrangements sweetening the songs. His voice, despite his 70 years, was as fresh and youthful as it was on his LP Cold Fact in 1970.
When Rodriguez sang he was spellbinding, but his between song noodling sometimes turned the performance into a well attended sound-check. Occasionally this between song ritual was punctuated by deadpan commentary.
Yet Rodriguez’s overall performance was awkwardly engaging and rewarding.
Rodriguez pop cultural resume is downright bizarre and would not be out place in a Michael Chabon novel. It is celebrated in the award-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man.” The story is summarized better other places like the movie’s trailer (below) or this City Pages blog entry.
The gig had an odd vibe, perhaps due to the unusual mix of the venue, the audience and the performer. Looking at Rodriguez current tour itinerary finds that he is mostly playing music clubs in the 500 to 1000-patron size. The performance space at the Weisman is designed for receptions and lectures. The audience (estimated at 200) seemed designed for upscale charity events vs. your typical rock club audience (yet they were well-informed on the Rodriguez legend). And the performer, as I said above, was awkwardly engaging.
All the same I am grateful to have witnessed this now legendary performer. How many unknown pop music geniuses have been lost? Rodriguez is the proverbial needle in the haystack.
If classic rock radio stations dared to play new music this album would totally fit in their rotation. It has a bit of CSN, Jackson Browne, Big Star, Neil Young and at times even beatlesque. But those stations never play anything new – so this will go unheard by an audience that would love it. Too bad.
I have been a Band of Horses for a while now and it is nice to see them with a subtle shift in their sound. This album rocks more than anything they have done – now we are not talking Slayer rocking – more like Neil Young rocking. The vocals are more prominent and front and center. The arrangements are less compressed – not so foggy and jangly. It is like the boys are no longer afraid to come out from behind the curtain.
How much of this is maturity vs. the influence of legendary producer Glyn Johns I don’t know. But I like it. I have always felt like Band of Horses are a poor man’s My Morning Jacket. With this release they come into their own and they find their own voice – yet it is a friendly sound that should resonate with youthful jam band fans to middle age classic rock fans.
I am so backed up on reviews, but the new Chris Robinson Brotherhood has muscled its way to the front of the pack demanding a first listen response. It was just the beginning of the summer that the first CRB album Big Moon Ritual came out. It has been in heavy rotation ever since and will clearly by on my 2012 best of list.
I was more than satisfied to just be digging the 3-song promo EP of covers I received gratis at the RockNRoll music sale recently. So I was shocked to learn there would be a follow-up to Big Moon Ritual just a few months after that release. I quickly jumped online and ordered the vinyl edition from Best Buy.
Side note: I am embarrassed to cheat on my local record store, but I can’t resist hometown corporation Best Buy – who for now – has free shipping (along with great prices) on all music. They don’t deserve the business – but when you are music addict like myself you will turn tricks with a mega retailer to get your fix.
I was pleasantly surprised when the album arrived today that it was in the 45 RPM format – bravo Silver Arrow Records! Very nice packaging and given the 45 RPM format it is spread across two platters: one white and one black – so cool it forced me to make a unblogged tweet!
So how does it sound? A lot like Big Mood Ritual, but slightly looser. Same band and again produced, engineered & mixed by Thom Monahan. The first platter is taut blues-rock and the second platter is much more ponderous (that is a complement) stoner jam band music. So actually it is a nice combo-platter: side 1 and 2 to get up and side 3 and 4 to get down. I was so blown away by Big Moon Ritual that it will be hard to beat it. This is like just finishing a great novel only to find the sequel is already out – dig in! With Big Moon Ritual it was “the first cut is the deepest,” but The Magic Door is opening that second bottle of wine – your are just now in the mood to enjoy it.
Dylan has been on a slow boil since 1997’s Time Out Mind without a stinker in the bunch. But with Tempest I think he may have minted yet another masterpiece. Dylan has sculpted his phlegmatic growl into a beautiful instrument – think of Satchmo with a sense of irony.
I am really digging the album. It has a wonderful old-timey feel to it. Dylan has absorbed so many forms of folk music that many of theses songs seem like covers. By folk music I mean a very broad term: “old” songs, with no known composers, including jazz, blues, tin pan alley, etc.
I don’t have time to pull together a coherent review – but this has it all: great musical arrangements, great lyrics and then there is the voice. The voice is perfect on this album. The voice is not for amatures – it is like a an Islay Scotch – this better not be your first drink.
The Dakota is yet another legendary Minneapolis music venue that I have somehow managed to avoid. I was at the old location to see McCoy Tyner over 20 years ago. I confessed to owner Lowell Pickett that this was my first visit to the new location (the Nicollet Mall location is going on 9 years) and he dryly responded “It is good you gave us a chance to work out the kinks before attending your first show.”
I first saw Pat Metheny at the Children’s Theater in 1978 (my best guess on the year) and I have been a major fan ever since. Until this week, the Children’s Theater show was the smallest venue I had ever seen him in – this is a large theater kind of artist. So it was an absolute thrill when I heard he was booked at the Dakota.
I love Pat’s latest band dubbed the Unity Band. I also loved 80/81 and the common theme of these two albums is a sax player. When Unity Band came out earlier this year it went into immediate heavy rotation. Pat is for my money the most adventurous, yet accessible jazz artist of his generation. So it is actually a rare treat for him to present his music is a conventional quartet. Pat’s guitar and compositions are so perfect for a horn player it is crime he has cuts so few sides with horn players.
Pat started the show solo with his 42-string pikasso guitar. He played a long introduction to “Come and See” (from the Unity Band album) and after a few minutes the full band joined in. Reed man Chris Potter played a bass clarinet which is an amazing instrument. The rest of the night it was pretty much tenor.
Next was a true thrill for me: “James” from 1981’s Off Ramp. This is one of my all time favorite songs and it was great to hear it reinvented with Chris Patter’s tenor.
The group played another one from the Unity Band album: “This Belongs to You.” This song started off soft and contemplative and then veered off into a completely burning hot Metheny solo.
I already mentioned how much I love 80/81 so it was a goose bump rush to hear one of the standouts from that album “The Bat.”
Next the band did what I assume was “Signals (Orchestrion Sketch).” That allowed Pat so show off his very cool Orchestrion stuff. This get up is to hard to even explain – see Pat’s website for more details.
With that the night was almost over. Pat came back for a solo encore. He teased with a little Pat Metheny Group, but quickly pulled back and traveled more down a What’s It All About route.
Overall an outstanding evening. I did not even get a chance to rave about drummer Antonio Sanchez and bassist Ben Williams. Sanchez is wonderfully strong yet sensitive drummer. Williams is new to me and he seems like a very up and coming cat. I just hope this band stays together for a while and releases more material – this is a fantastic line up that should appeal to both the serious and casual jazz fan.
Here is a great review from the City Pages. Best line: The crowd: White, middle-aged, and rich. Tickets run $50 a pop, so what do you expect, a bunch of dirty-looking hipsters running around? That said, the crowd was into it and fun loving. Two horseshoe-haired men in front of us even went as far as spontaneously high-fiving during a couple of the more epic tension-and-release passages. Consider it moshing, Pat Metheny-style.
In the recent issue of Rolling Stone celebrated author Michael Chabon (Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist that is) wrote about his obsession with 70s jazz/funk/soul. As a side bar he noted 4 essential jazz funk albums. Three of which are in the Catchgroove collection. The missing one is unknown to me – but hey that is OK as I am grateful for the tip.
I am looking forward to the new book, Telegraph Avenue, out 9/11/12 (same day as the new Dylan – WOW what a great day). I loved The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
I will try to post a link to the article once it is available online. Classic quote: “By 1980, backbeat jazz was dead, and jazz has never come close to regaining its vanished status as truly popular music. But hip-hop remembered. The DJs of black America, having inherited or reconstructed or excavated from dusty crates, like Schliemann at Troy, the lost kingdom of their father’s record collections, discovered in the CTI and Blue Note back catalogs an inexhaustible treasure.”
I have always been a bit embarrassed by my obsession with 70s jazz/funk/soul. That flame of low self-esteem was fanned by purchasing the whole Grover Washington Jr. catalog on near mint vinyl for never more than a couple bucks a piece. Surely only garbage would go that cheap!
Amen Brother Chabon – I have been vindicated. I now proudly compose this blog with a copy of a near mint vinyl edition of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes spinning in the background (To Be True) recently purchased for $2.
When I heard about this “supergroup” and the name Britt Daniels of Spoon was in it I was sold. Spoon is for my money one of the finest rock groups around. I sampled a bit of this on iTunes and it had a real 80s new wave vibe. The rest of the group is Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, New Bomb Turks’ Sam Brown, and Alex Fischel. I can honestly say that means nothing to me. I don’t know any of these guys beyond the Spoon dude.
I rushed out tonight and picked it up at Best Buy for a mere $7.99. I am on my first listen and it is fantastic. It rocks and it discos. I can see myself dancing to this circa 1982. But is just edgy enough to make you feel not too sentimental. It slithers.
On a side note Best Buy is a hot mess, but they currently have free delivery on music – that includes CDs and vinyl. They pretty much have everything too. I feel bad for Best Buy. As a home town company I want them to do well. I am old enough to have shopped at Sound of Music. The need to figure out how to be a special store again. Unfortunately they are nothing special these days – just a messy garage sale with good enough deals that you can’t avoid them.
In summary : if you like Spoon, if you like skinny tie rock, and you believe that the only bands that matter are Velvet Underground fans than this album is for you. This is my first review of an album that I have not even finished listening to once – but hey I am on song 10 of 11 and I love it. The is real, this raw, this is real raw.
Bob has released a preview of his new album (Tempest) coming out 9/11/12: a single “Duquesne Whistle.” Check it out on NPR. The song opens with faint old-time music and then unleashes into a full band swing arrangement. Dylan’s vocals are a wonderful croak. Not harsh, but Louie Armstrong like. Lyrically it is a mystery, but some kind of heartbreak is in the air. The song is both light-hearted and heavy-hearted . If you really want to be baffled check out the video which mixes comic charm and gangster violence.
If you are familiar with Dylan’s late period revival – this is not at all out-of-place. But it does stand out from the crowd. It is a genuinely catch song that demands repeated listening. I am looking forward to the full release.
Thank you Laura Lee for sending me the link a day before bobdylan.com!
Axl's Catch Groove 