Coastal Jazz

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Robert Randolph to Los Amigos Invisibles - Final Weekend at the Vogue Theatre

Robert Randolph & The Family Band +

Los Amigos Invisibles and Basketball

Some Old School Gospel Blues, a Venezuelan Journey Into Space and a Taste of Some Stellar "Out" World Music from Vancouver - A Full Palate of Possibilities for the Upcoming Weekend with our two final nights at the Vogue Theatre.

For those seeking a real deal gospel, blues immersion experience, Robert Randolph’s June 30th show at the Vogue Theatre is going to be a pedal steel revelation.

Randolph’s new album We Walk This Road was produced by T Bone Burnett just after he wrapped up the last Alison Krauss and Robert Plant record. One of the cool things about this album is that T Bone hauled out a bunch of tunes from the 20’s and 30’s to inspire the recording sessions. This heavy vintage material served to inform the creative process for the new album, solidifying the link between the music being created, and the rich history of blues, gospel and rock that paved the way.

The album is fantastic, but truth be told, it is the live experience that people are looking forward to most. Randolph is well known for putting on a killer show, having toured with the likes of the Roots and Pharrell. This is music for your soul, songs that bring the history and future of music into clear new perspective. Those who are fortunate enough to be in the room for their Vogue show should prepare to be reached in a very deep way.

Robert Randolph - Going in the Right Direction

If you are in the mood for a Venezuelan disco, funk, acid jazz freakout - Los Amigos Invisibles are coming to the Vogue Theatre on Sunday July 1. Los Amigos tours have been spanning the globe since the mid 90's, the band is well known internationally for their positively explosive stage presence. Perhaps a little bit of background info on the band will help to whet your appetite for a heavy latin music hit that will be truly unique.

Los Amigos Invisibles - Ponerte en Cuatro

Ok, here we go: Los Amigos were signed to David Byrne's Luka Bop label in 1996 releasing the album Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space. Great album title, sounds quite Sun Ra inspired, which is always cool. This planet is plenty big enough for as many Sun Ra inspired ideas as possible, in my opinion. After their first release on Luka Bop they made the wise choice of starting their own record label, Gozadera Records, and realized their sophomore album Chill Out Venezuela. In 2009 they released their breakout album entitled Commercial, the title for the album was a tongue in cheek reference to their earlier material which was considered to be less globally accessible. Surprise surprise, the Commercial album won a grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. Following the grammy win, they released an album of out takes called Not So Commercial which was nominated for Best Latin, Pop, Rock or Urban album. For some reason the Not So Commercial album didn't win the award, shocker! The Not So Commercial album was clearly way cooler, and for what it lacked in critical acclaim, it easily made up for with amazing live shows gaining rave reviews from audiences around the world.

Los Amigos Invisibles - Cuchi Cuchi:

Vancouver band Basketball will be sharing the bill with Los Amigos at the Vogue, which is a pretty good fit given the fact that their album Suspiros de Chile also draws inspiration from South America. The band provides the following insight into the vision for the release, "Basketball continues their climb up the mountain of ancestral resonance through the jungles of South American cadence. Suspiros de Chile, inspired by the catastrophic earthquake in Chile in February 2010, celebrates the strength and prowess of peoples devastated by natural forces".

Basketball - Andika

Basketball puts on some of the deepest, warped out, unclassifiable, lights flashing, beat laden shows in town. Last time I saw them they were sharing the bill with Omar Souleyman, by the time Basketball had finished their set the audience was a grinning sweaty huddled mess, who miraculously managed rally enough energy to dance their brains out yet again when Omar Souleyman hit the stage, speaking of the prowess of people devastated by natural forces!

Seriously, Basketball are so damn happening that Andy Dixon has even remixed one of their tracks, check out the link below.

Basketball - Andika (Andy Dixon Remix) feat. Slim Thug

(by: Rainbow Robert - Manager of Artistic Programming TDVIJF & ED - Jazz Festivals Canada)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

From Destroyer to Drip Audio by Rainbow Robert

From Destroyer to Drip Audio - Strange and Beautiful Sounds Emanating from the Fertile Crescent of Vancouver’s Creative and Indie Music Scenes

(by Rainbow Robert)

When I first heard that Dan Bejar had a band called Destroyer, I couldn’t wait to hear the music, mostly because with a name like Destroyer I expected the tunes to be ultra heavy, and I happen to have a serious penchant for heavy music. It turned out that the music is far more chilled out than I would have guessed, but it was really easy to find other reasons to be excited about the band. Poignant well-crafted lyrics and deep introspective soundscapes revealing a strong sense of place, make this group an intriguing musical journey well worth checking out.

By the time Destroyer released the album Kaputt, I had finally clued in to the fact the band had completely blown up. Pitchfork had proclaimed the album one of the best of the year, and far more importantly JP Carter had joined the band!

Destroyer - Savage Night at the Opera

Trumpet player and composer JP Carter is the leader of some of BC’s most interesting and diverse groups including Inhabitants, Aeroplane Trio and Carsick. JP also plays and tours with other totally happening BC groups such as Tony Wilson 5tet, Fond of Tigers and Dan Mangan.

Inhabitants, one of JP’s most long standing projects, released their first album in 2005. This stellar group is made of up a number of the key members of the Vancouver creative community such as drummer Skye Brooks, bassist Pete Schmitt, and guitarist David Sikula. Inhabitants have surpassed my musical expectations at every turn, their most recent album A Vacant Lot was released on the Drip Audio label in 2010 gaining a nomination from Western Canadian Music Awards.

Inhabitants - Let Youth Be Served

JP’s other groups, Aeroplane Trio and Carsick are both equally amazing, albeit in completely different ways. You can check out tunes from all three of these groups on the web site for one of Vancouver’s most intriguing labels Drip Audio, run by violinist Jesse Zubot. The Drip Audio web site is a brilliant access point for discovering the depth and beauty of Vancouver’s burgeoning creative music scene.

Drip Audio was founded in the spring of 2005 by Vancouver violin luminary and producer Jesse Zubot. The original idea for this record label was to release albums that did not cater to any specific musical genre and are unique artistic creations. Drip Audio has released 31 albums to date, the root of the recordings stem from Vancouver's creative music scene, although there are musicians from Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, London (UK), New York and Los Angeles involved as well. The catalog for Drip Audio represents a relatively comprehensive offering of some of Vancouver’s most astounding genre defying groups.

All of this to say that the number of amazing creative music and indie buzz bands coming out of Vancouver these days is staggering. It is clear that this stems from the fact that the level of artistry that exists amongst artists in BC is exceptional.

Perhaps the blurring of the lines between indie and creative music in our town is the most exciting thing. The blurring of the lines requires us to focus on the music more closely in order to truly uncover it’s many disparate and rich forms of brilliance.

The perfect illustration - read this NY Times review by Ben Ratliff (June 19^th) of Destroyer’s Brooklyn Masonic Temple gig. The last paragraph is all about JP Carter’s powerful contribution to the music. Probably the first time Destroyer and Bill Dixon have been mentioned in the same review.

Check out Destroyer at the Vogue Theatre on June 29^th, sharing the bill with JP Carter’s Inhabitants. Check out everything on Drip Audio. Be prepared to be alarmed by the many forms of wildly unique, off kilter musical brilliance that Vancouver has to offer.

(Rainbow Robert is Executive Director of Jazz Festivals Canada & Manager of Artistic Programming @ TDVIJF)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Janelle Monae & Kyprios by James Metzger

Hip-Hop/R&B/Soul/Jazz Fusion Explosion at this year’s Festival brought to you by Janelle Monáe & Kyprios & The Chaperones (by: James Metzger @Metzgah on twitter)

Many people can say the first thing they heard from Janelle Monae was the jumpin’, bumbin’ beats of Tightrope resonating out of their TV sets with the latest advertisement from Chevy. I’m not necessarily one who enjoys watching TV ads and say what you will about artists licensing music for commercials, but as Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys said, “Would you rather be surrounded by Nickleback and Fergie...I mean if you’re gonna have to be exposed to music randomly, might as well be our music.”

Personally, I have my brother to thank for introducing me to Monáe and her futuristic dystopia/musical adventure that is The ArchAndroid. For a freshman album, it truly is a work of art, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing it performed live with my brother at Terminal 5 in NYC. Monáe opened for one of our other favourite groups, Of Montreal, who also appear on ArchAndroid (“Make the Bus”). It still remains as one of the best live performances I’ve ever attended.

So when I first heard about Coastal Jazz having the chance to secure Monáe to play at this year’s TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, I ran into Ken’s [Pickering] office, demanding that every corner be cut and every string be pulled to ensure that hell or high water, she would be coming to Vancouver. After several weeks of anticipation, the decision was made and I haven’t stopped dreaming about what her second appearance in Hollywood North would be like.

Still riding high off of the success of ArchAndroid, Monáe recently sold out both shows as a part of a two-night stint at the Sydney Opera House, she is bound to be up to her usual tuxedo-clad antics. At the same time though, with the potential release of two new albums this year, it wouldn’t surprise me to see her break out a couple of fresh new tracks during the show. Either way I’ll be arriving early to the Centre on June 29th, to ensure that I get as close to the soul-stirring, high-flying, over the top good times that are sure to come.

As excited as I am to see Monáe however, I’ve still been waiting in anticipation for what should be another equally entertaining night of Hip-Hop/R&B/Soul/Jazz fusion. Vancouver’s own human rhyme machine, Kyprios, with his groovin’ back up team The Chaperones, will be hosting their first feature performance at the jazz festival. One of the best experiences I’ll be taking with me after working for the festival these past several months, will be when I actually got to go into the studio and meet Kyprios in person.

For someone who’s worked with heavy hitters like The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean & Jurassic 5, he’s one of the most genuine, down-to-earth guys I’ve ever met. He didn’t just say hi/goodbye, he took us on a tour of the entire studio, signed posters for each of us, and let us film him in the process of recording his new album. Just being around him made you feel at home. Someone this secure and generous can be hard to find in the music biz. With a deeper sense of appreciation and respect, I can’t wait to see Kyprios & The Chaperones perform live at the Venue on June 25th, a show that you surely will not want to miss.

By: James Metzger (all star intern at this year's Jazz Festival - resident of Boston)