Seattle Friends!

Come warm up a bit with us this Friday, Nov. 26th at Egan’s Ballard Jam House. Its going to be party. D’vonne Lewis on drums, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, and special guest Jeff Grant on voice and guitar. Get your reservations soon, Egan’s is a small place!

Friday, November 26th. 7pm

Johnny Butler Trio
with
D’vonne Lewis (drums) & Evan Flory-Barnes (bass)
with special guest Jeff Grant (guitar, vocals)

Egan’s Ballard Jam House
1707 NW Market Street, Ballard
Admission: $10

To make your reservations, please call (206) 789-1621

Scurvy’s Fracture reviewed in the November 2010 issue of All About Jazz:

“Saxophonist Johnny Butler’s band Scurvy underscores close relationship between punk rock abandon and the freedom of improvised music while also incorporating ambitious compositional ideals found in both progressive rock and modern jazz. With a horn frontline of Butler and Ryan Snow on trombone and the rhythm section of viciously incisive guitarist Adam Caine, bassist Rus Wimbish and ace drummer Jason Nazary, there is great potential to juxtapose multiple sonic elements that would otherwise contrast wildly.

The band’s extensive road experience is evident in the cohesion with which they run through the material. Prog-heavy moments like “Jenny Found a Hole” or “Half-Brain” contrast with the improvisational abandon of “Snow Caine” or “Side A Is Dead”. “Chime In” seems to spit the difference to great effect, sounding something like the defiantly unkempt offspring of Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow and Slayer. The Henry Cow comparison is perhaps most notable on “Inversion”, Butler’s melody floating above a dizzying rhythmic construction, as things inevitably explode into a frenzied free improvisation before returning to the theme.

The lion’s share of the feature spots ends up going to Caine and Snow (often playing a heavily distorted amplified trombone). Butler’s role here is a bit subtle in this very un-subtle music: with a recent superb solo release demonstrating his incredible saxophone playing, in this project he sticks closer to his melodies, allowing the band to put more of their personal voice into the mix. Nazary’s unaccompanied introduction to “One, Two, Three” is a visceral excursion, effectively set up by the preceding introspective drone piece “Irradiance”. Butler’s saxophone solo on “One, Two, Three” floats euphorically above the thicket of pounding bass, fractured guitar chords and propulsive drumming. The maze-like hocketing in the closer, “QNG”, rises and falls, opening up to a great trombone solo, phrases tossed off in various directions as things transition to a blazing Caine/Butler duo. Throughout, Wimbish’s bass grounds things with both structure and fluidity. The entire band gradually fades into the distance, leaving only a reverb-laden melody that ultimately fades as well.”

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds

CMJ Showcase

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

Saturday, October 23rd, 10pm.

FREE

We also have a new website: www.sistersparrowandthedirtybirds.com

I got this little exercise from my friend Nick Millevoi, who lives in Philly and incidentally shreds the guitar in a couple nasty bands. The idea is to list fifteen albums in fifteen minutes you’ve heard that will always stick with you. I felt like to really do this exercise, I had to travel back to my childhood (Michael Jackson “Dangerous” was the first CD I bought), and there’s also a nice dose of Seattle bands I grew up headbanging to. I’m a little embarrassed by a couple of these, but so be it. These are the ones that jumped into my head.

1. John Coltrane – Interstellar Space

2. John Coltrane – The Olatunji Concert

3. Nirvana – Nevermind

4. The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour

5. Soundgarden – Superunknown

6. Pearl Jam – Ten

7. Old Time Relijun – Uterus and Fire

8. Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland

9. Kurt Rosenwinkle – The Next Step

10. Radiohead – Kid A

11. Maktub – Khronos

12. Evan Parker – Lines Burnt in Light

13. Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard

14. Brandi – Full Moon

15. Michael Jackson – Dangerous

Anybody that’s been to my apartment in the last six months has most likely been subjected to this album. Its definitely the best album I’ve found in the last year and perhaps the favorite of my collection. Every single element on this album is insanely good: nasty flute harmonies, killer violin solos, sick acoustic guitar background lines, chugging gemelan accompaniment, and beautiful vocal crooning. When I purchased this album, I thought I was buying a record of gamelan music, but when I came home and listened to it, I was clearly mistaken. The songs sound like somehow-forgotten jazz lullabies from another planet: the lyrics croon, sung beautifully luscious; the flute and violinist frequently harmonize and take incredible little solos; the acoustic guitarist weaves insanely lyrical lines all over the songs in the background.

I just spent a little time looking for a copy of this online to stream and I didn’t have much luck. There are, however, LPs floating around on some online retailers. If I can find a streaming sample somewhere, I’ll post it.

I first heard Mountains one chilly winter night at Oberlin, sitting on the couch at 2am with my roommates, listening to albums brought back from our respective homeward vacations. I was immediately stuck by Mountains intriguingly spacial compositions, lush with both electronic and acoustic instrumentation.

Mountains is one of those now-a-days rare groups whose recordings are hard to find online via file sharing, so I was happy to discover “Etching” (Thill Jockey) at one of my local record stores, Soundfix Records, who specialize in new prints. Apparently, “Etching” was recorded at mountain-man Brendon Anderegg’s home studio in real time with no overdubs. They printed a limited number of hand-stamped LPs and sold them on their subsequent tour.

I took my first listen to the LP right after I got back from the store with one of my home-brewed espressos in hand. The album has but one song, which clocks in at about 38 minutes in total, meaning they had to split up the song on the LP. And, needless to say, it is a beautiful experience to hear in its entirety. It comes babbling in like an opening overture, and using the subtlest variations in sonic textures, it evolves into an ever blossoming field of sounds. The first thought that came into my mind was that it sounds like a Robert Fripp & Brian Eno collaboration, complete with Robert Fripp styled guitar at about 20 minutes in; or like music to a smart tech commercial or yoga studio.

You can stream “Etching” straight from Thrill Jockey’s Website HERE.