I went to The Stone by accident at 8, thinking that was the Peter Brown set. I was going to do that and then Will Bernard at the Blue Owl, but ended up doing The Stone for both sets.
It was kind of timely to get this folk music since I recently read an interesting article in The New Yorker about the preservation of American folk music. It was 4 people, even though 3 are listed below. They played various banjos, something they referred to as a "banjtar", which looked like a banjo with 6 strings, a guitar at times, and various percussion things. They were happy people. The woman mainly played percussion and sang. I don't think she played strings at all, so I'm not sure if it is the one in the listing.
They were kind of hammy. Peter Stampfel was hamming it up a lot with his singing. I enjoyed for the first half hour and then I thought I had enough. They played for a little over an hour, so I was kind of stuck there. Luckily there was one good instrumental and a blues tune I liked after I got sick of it. It wasn't painful to stay by any means, I just wasn't that into it. I kept wondering what these people were doing at The Stone. It seemed better suited to Banjo Jim's.
Everyone else was there to see this band, and they all enjoyed it immensely.
I looked up Peter Stampfel and see he's well-known and loved in the folk world. I found this interview that I just skimmed. OK, so maybe he is "Stone-worthy" and I just don't like hams. Also, my singer bias is definitely there. I think he should have left that to the girl. Everyone else didn't want them to go, so I was just at the wrong show for me. And, I do want to emphasize at I definitely enjoyed some of it and I would have left in the middle if it was terrible.
5/25 Sunday (MM)
8 pm
Peter Stampfel
Peter Stampfel (strings), Eli Smith (strings), Jeannie Scofield (strings)
The one and only Peter Stampfel holds forth with friends and stringed instruments for a wild set of swinging songs, mournful tunes and real toe-tappers.
I had to go back to see the show I was curious about. It turns out the cd release they were celebrating has William Parker, but he couldn't be there because he's in Europe. They got a good substitute with Todd Nicholson. I could tell the bass parts really were for Parker, though and I know it would have sounded a little different if he was there.
It was great. They were all great. It never got too out there, but it wasn't normal straight jazz, either. That was definitely more to my liking than the first show.
10 pm
Rob Brown Ensemble
Rob Brown (sax) Craig Taborn (piano) Gerald Cleaver (drums) Todd Nicholson
(bass)
A show to celebrate the CD release of CROWN TRUNK ROOT FUNK by the Rob Brown 4tet album out NOW on Aum Fidelity.
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