Tuesday, March 10, 2009

MTO @ LPR 3/7/09

I love the thought of Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra at Le Poisson Rouge. It seems like such a good place for them. I also love that he's playing there so much this month.

It was a double bill with Hazmat Modine. I really wanted to go, and I made it there at about 7:40 and missed about 10 minutes of MTO's set. I got there during "Darling Nicki". It was phenomenal and I was so glad I made the effort to come out so early. For the finish, Doug Wamble gets up and sings the chorus. I really like Matt Munisteri, and MTO is good no matter what the lineup. Still, Doug Wamble actually adds a new dimension of soul to the whole thing. Later he sag "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" (or whatever the name is). That was great.

The other greats were Doug Weiselman, Peter Apfelbaum, Eric Lawrence, Charlie Burnham and Curtis Fowlkes. Ben Allison was phenomenal on bass.

Ben Perowsky! To try to put it in Steven Bernstein's terms, first he mentioned how the bus doesn't go without the bus driver, then he tells us how some Chinese dish, and I think it was Chow Fun, is only as good as the oil you cook it in, the band NEEDS the drummer. While I'm forgetting the words, the sentiment is you NEED the drummer. Ben was amazing, a monster. He really made it as brilliant as it was.

It was so good, I was so enthralled and blown away. I knew I had to schlep out to Brooklyn to see Marco later. I didn't think I would do it, but that show made me want that kind of emotive playing and I've been very interested to check out The Bell House anyway. Thus, I didn't stay for Hazmat Modine. I just wasn't sure if there was an opening band or not. We did get a great sit-in for the last song with Steve Nelson, a trumpet, and sousaphone.

I forgot how great MTO is. It was in my memory, but the feeling when I hear them had been forgotten. They really are IT.

Hazmat Modine meets Millennial Territory Orchestra
Doors @ 6:30 PM
Event @ 7:00 PM

No comments: