Jan. is an especially good month for The Stone schedule, so I’ll be there often. I went last night to the 10pm set:
Terry Adams (celeste) Marshall Allen (alto saxophone) Bobby Previte (drums)
I had never heard of Terry Adams. I love Bobby Previte in all the guises I’ve seen him in the past couple of years. I know of Marshall Allen, I have several of the Sun Ra Arkestra cds and I saw them at Summerstage before. I never did make it to Zebulon or The Stone when they’ve been there, though.
Terry Adams! I never heard of NRBQ, but that’s his band, a rock band from the 60s. It stands for New Rhythm & Blues Quartet. He kind of lead the set. He played the piano and a very old looking clavinet with a very new sounding sound. He mainly played the piano, and the foot, he was stomping his feet in awesome rhythms for a good part of the show. He also sang “Express Yourself”
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/rememberthetitans/expressyourself.htm
They started with the theme from Batman and Marshall Allen won me over immediately. He’s got something very special. I can’t believe he was born in 1924. He’s probably still continuing to develop. His sax playing made me melt for a while during this one sappy love song I can’t think of at the moment. They also did something that sounded kind of like the Bunny Hop and something that sounded like When you Wish Upon a Star. While they did all these covers, and you could tell what all of them were, they also charted into completely different avant-garde territory.
Marshall Allen is just amazing. He is a true virtuouso with the sax, and he made it look effortless. I loved it when he did a solo with his E.V.I (Electronic Valve Instrument).
That was one wonderful hour well spent. I laughed, almost cried, melted, and just had an amazing time. I’m also thrilled to get turned onto another completely different musician. It seems like he has his own genre in a way. Well, actually, I hate to admit it, but it seemed kind of niche pop to me. Entertaining, pop songs, played incredibly well by great musicians. I won’t let that stop me from exploring further.
Oh, and Bobby Previte was as amazing as usual. It was hard to even acknowledge that aside from the drum solo given how great the whole thing was.
Marshall Allan AAJ article
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15024
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Adams_%28musician%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRBQ
Interesting liner notes about Terry Adams and jazz:
http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80473.pdf
I might have to check out some of his rock shows:
http://www.nrbq.com/live.html
NRBQ: The History and Discography
http://www.puremusic.com/nrbq.html
Mix tape:
http://www.artofthemix.org/FindAMix/getcontents.asp?strMixID=24009
I’ll have to check this out later, but I think I’m gonna like it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzzOlwAVoTw
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The other instrument besides the piano that Terry Adams was playing was a celeste, not a clavinet. The celeste sounds like the upper register of a xylophone, but it has a keyboard, like a piano. There are many famous recordings that use one-- including "Pannonica" by Thelonious Monk--but if you've ever watched Mister Rogers Neighborhood, you've heard the celeste there.
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