Friday, November 19, 2010

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Live at the Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA October 16, 2010

Fiddles, guitars, banjos, kazoos, bones, jugs, spoons, singing, dancing and an enthusiastic crowd...what's not to enjoy? The old timey string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, brought their show to the Paradise Club, Boston, MA, on October 16, 2010. The trio, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson and Dom Flemons, are riding a well-deserved wave of popularity amidst their recently released second CD, Genuine Negro Jig, and they drew a large adoring audience at the Paradise. There has been a resurgence of traditional music in recent years, call it folk, country, roots or Americana, but most of the performers have not been African-Americans despite their having been a substantial proportion of the progenitors of these genres. Maybe string/jug band music had fallen out of favor in part due to the association with minstrel shows and their unfortunate historical role in race relations. In the beginning the group also faced the challenge that by resurrecting the old string band style their work risked being seen as simply an erudite homage to a defunct historical oddity and not accepted as a revival of a serious art form in its own right with current validity. But Giddens, Robinson and Flemons have succeeded wonderfully in their effort to return this music to popularity and respectability. They are very knowledgeable about the music and its historical importance, but the key to their success is combining instrumental mastery, a love of the music and a passion for entertaining. They enjoy what they do. They breathe life and fresh energy into the music and audiences love it...MORE...

Bobby Avey - A New Face

The ascendant jazz pianist, Bobby Avey, released his debut CD, appropriately entitled A New Face, August 1, 2010 on jayDell Records. While he may be a new face to many, Avey is, like most talented artists, not entirely an “overnight” success story. He graduated from Purchase Conservatory of Music in 2007 and his abilities quickly landed him New York gigs with notables such as guitarist Ben Monder, Phil Woods and another illustrious sax man, Dave Liebman, who is featured on four tracks of A New Face. While Avey was still a student he was approached by Liebman to help arrange and perform a set of 19th century classical or art songs. The resulting highly acclaimed recording, Vienna Dialogues (ZOHO) was released in 2006.  Joining Avey and Liebman (soprano on tracks 2, 4 & 6 and tenor on track 8) is Thomson Kneeland on bass and Jordan Pearlson on drums on all tracks except 6, “Influence,” where Avey and Liebman go duo...MORE...