Saturday, October 13, 2007

Last Night: Fri 10/12

I first went to Parkside Lounge for Afroskull's 10th reunion. They were a little late coming on because 2 saxes, 2/3 of the horn section were late. They had to start without them. Luckily the baritone sax showed up just as they started. It was a bass, guitar, keyboards, drums, awesome bongo/percussionist, trumpet, and the baritone sax. The percussionist is definitely really good and makes it worth going. However, I kept thinking something was missing. I realized what it was when they finally brought up Dan, the last bass player they had, and it went to a whole new level. I wonder what happened to Dan. I used to think it was his band. Dan sat in for 2 songs and then they were going to do 2 more to end the show. I knew I couldn't take the old bass player (or is the new bass, since Dan was the old?), so I ran out to catch the show at Highline. I was the only one dancing at Afroskull, which was disappointing, since it was the kind of thing you dance to.

I got to Highline ballroom in the middle of Chicago Afrobeat Orchestra's set. They were great. I was immediately sorry I didn't go to the whole show. I missed Brooklyn Qawwali Party even though I could tell from the video sample on-line that I would like them. I'll just have to check them out another time.

The Budos Band was phenomenal! I hope they make it over here more often. I think they blow Sharon Jones away. They are actually from Statan Island, not Brooklyn like we all thought.

One thing I realized last night is the baritone sax can be an important part of the funk. At least the aftrobeat influenced funk. Sparked me to do a little googling:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baritone_saxophone
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/8586/
http://www.barisax.com/

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