Author Archives: grnarrow

My plan was to get to the festival to catch some of Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, and man am I glad I went early enough to catch the entire set. The proof that not all Zydeco music sounds the same was right there in front of me. With some funk and rootsy blues sounds, Rosie made the stage a place of appreciation and zest that was easy on the eyes, ears and dancing feet. Anytime Rosie and the Playboys come to town near you, make it a point to bring your smile and dancing shoes, cuz you ain’t gonna be able to control your inside urges. But for me, the cumulation of the entire weekend came when Ivan Neville brought out his Dumpstaphunk and kept it downright D.I.R.T.Y. funk and some seriously bona-fide NOLA goodness. Spinning the tunes on the show doesn’t compare to being a part of the sounds and scene Dumpstaphunk creates, withstands and ad-libs with…when they invited about 10 women onto the stage, apparently the crowd lost count and their ended up being about 60 people up there rocking the wavy stage with the FUNK. You can feel your bones dancing inside your skin with some of those nasty beats. Nick Daniels, Ian Neville, Ray Ray Weber, Tony Hall & Ivan Neville together make up a talent pool that on stage works so well together it becomes a fluid Funkenstein monster getting down with the people like the original Funk-Masters. Take in this scene whenever it can be seen, heard and most importantly felt.

FEEL IT!!!

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk 2008

Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys 2008

The next day of action for me started off with the soothing sounds of Brazzaville, featuring David Brown former Saxophone player of BECK. This group from Barcelona clamped down on the exotic sound hybrid of indie pop, lounge jazz, world music, and noir-ish atmosphere, and was most often likened to Tom Waits or Morphine and created the “atmosphere”. This group has seen some line up changes but one thing for sure is they are always a talented bunch making really cool music. After an intermission that lasted a few shared moments “passing” the time away, the highly anticipated moment arrived. Dengue Fever unleashed a sound that made me feel as if all of the worlds psychedelic rock had been held captive and put into an amazing rock-n-roll trance. With a female Cambodian bona fide pop star lead singer who has a beautiful voice that certainly was like the Sirens tempting Ulysses and his men, I too felt captive. They are raw and exciting to watch but most of all they are so damn something solidly different yet reminiscent of the times gone bye with their take on what music can sound like. I invite you to look into Dengue Fever if you aren’t aware and put them on your “MUST SEE” list if you like to find treats not so easy to find on earth. To close off the night was Fallou Dieng and his 12-piece orchestra who are up and coming stars on the afro-beat scene who had the park jumping to their infectious Mbalax beats. This drum-laden dance music was transcendent under the stars, and kept the nights groove bouncing.

Dengue Fever—go get it!

Fallou Dieng

Brazzaville

…After the acts on Friday at La Fete de Marquete, I made my way over to the Terrace and caught Cornmeal. This jamgrass band from Chicago puts a new meaning into the phrase JAM GRASS…..a constant foot stomping tap tap tappin’ and fingers snap snap snappin’ good time. Cornmeal is: Wavy Dave Burlingame-Banjo,Vocals, Kris Nowak-Guitar,Vocals, Chris Gangi-String Bass, Vocals, JP Nowak-Drums, Vocals, Allie Kral-Fiddle, Vocals and the grass they have grown is certainly overflowing with some incredible jams. I mean there were moments of such gratifying sounds that I believe the band made the sky open up momentarily just to cool us all off. While obviously stepping in the history of bluegrass, Cornmeal takes their music to new levels and offers a middle finger of sorts to the boundaries of genres and adds some ole time favorites in all styles to their set. On this night, there were dashes of the talking Heads and some “Franklin’s Tower” riffs bounding in the air, and man that air was feeling and smelling right! This act really caught my attention and I look forward to the return visit from our neighbors.

CORNMEAL..winners of the 2008 New Groove Jammy.

2008 La Fête de Marquette: Thursday – Sunday, July 10th – 13th and at this years new location, the event was filled with fantastic music acts from around the globe. La Fête de Marquette coincides with Bastille Day, the French national holiday. The celebration will provide many opportunities to become immersed in French culture with food, arts, crafts and – especially – music. The event will host musicians from the French-speaking world including performers from West Africa, Cambodia, Quebec and France throughout the weekend and performers with New Orleans/Cajun/Zydeco roots primarily on Sunday. Event organizers anticipate attracting thousands to this one of a kind, free-to-all community event. There was so much happening and I was able to see ALL the acts I truly wanted to check out or re-visit. On Friday I got to witness Les Breastfeeders, a band I have featured on the show numerous times. This is a “DO NOT MISS” show if you are ready for some serious rock and roll Montreal style. This band is steaming hot and will make you butter your bread and ROCK your Roll. You’ll be in store for the sweaty jumps and the wailing chords and HI-boots will be-a-shakin’, when you spend a little time with Les Breastfeeders. I was pumped up for the entire night after that show, and consider my socks knocked off! I also caught the quintessential New Orleans party band, The Iguanas, and how could you ever go wrong with that!!!

Les Breastfeeders

The Baobab is a strong tree…..Orchestra Baobab brought their high-powered world rhythm and afro beats to the Barrymore on Sunday night. The sweat was pouring down the dancers and the sounds from the stage were electrifying. Orchestra Baobab has fused Afro-Cuban rhythm and Portuguese Creole melody with Congolese rumba, high life and a whole gamut of local styles for over 30 years – kickstarting a musical renaissance in their native Senegal, which turned the capital Dakar into one of the world’s most vibrant musical cities. Thats exactly what the Barrymore theater resembled as the crowd rewarded the Orchestra is so many ways, from moneys and watches to smiles and laughter, the fusion of art-artists and audience transcended into a ‘High Life’ scene that is only understood when experienced. Warm, rich lyrical content was splashed over the crowd with elegant precision while percussions led the feet on a march through the deepest landscapes of melody. With dueling saxophone and guitars throughout the set Orchestra Baobab is still challenging themselves to put on a true embodiment of their work. A strong tree indeed.

Friday night brought out a chance to remind myself of my rock -n- roll roots, a chance to have some punk in my rock at the same time. A two piece from Madison calling themselves “the Hussy” made themselves known at the Frequency and man, it didn’t take long to have the beats beating a pulp of real raw rawkkkkk! Armed with a vexing guitar and a banger of earthshaking booms on drums, the Hussy brought back the short catchy hard hitting feeling I first remember when trying out heavy sounding underground sounds. I felt like I was back at CBGB’s getting a taste of what the others have been trying to make happen. While this duo have been involved in music around the Madison scene for some time now, the work of the Hussy should latch on like the mosquitoes biting at your being when you next step outside. Be careful, the Hussy are contagious.

Man can the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey really put the groove on. Oh, in case you didn’t know, JFJO has a new album out…“Lil Tae Rides Again” out on both Hyena Records and 1320 Records. They do in fact play this whole album as their set, which is totally fine with me. The story of a day in the life of an elementary school child translates into music that is essentially a part of all of us. While in Madison, the backdrop was a beautiful lake scene mixing night clouds with the slipping sunset. With a Pink Floyd flavor at times, I found myself memorized with the animal scenes trampling in the backdrop of a movie screen and the obvious innovative spirit that oozed out from under the Spinal Tapped cloaks….this was everything and more than I was expecting and would highly recommend this show to fans of the jams, a good interpretation of our classical whereabouts and the memory of childhood times. The show and the album prove to me that after several years and albums under their belt, JFJO still has what it takes to redefine themselves while never shaking the importance of their music and what it can do to a fresh set of ears.

Check out my conversation with Brian Haas, founder/pianist of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey here.