John
Scofield
State Theatre
October 11, 2005
John Scofield
faced a considerable challenge before recording his latest
for Verve, That's What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music
of Ray Charles. Upon shallow reasoning, an album of Charles
interpretations seems like manifest destiny for Sco. After
all, Scofield, like Charles, spent his career molding jazz
intelligence into a more danceable, palatable soul format.
But unlike Charles, who stands as a pinnacle of jazz’s
correlation to the blues, Scofield’s style is far more
idiosyncratic.
How
could the guitarist tackle this classic material in a way
that would maintain the tug-of-war between harmonic comfort
and dissonance that marks his style? After all, this is the
same guy who released En Route just last year, an intricately
swinging trio record that sometimes pushes modern jazz towards
its threshold for free playing.
Scofield
tackled these both on record and at this live date with surprising
ease. This predictably youthful band, including organist Gary
Versace, bassist John Benitez, drummer Steve Hass and Vandross-smooth
vocalist/trombonist Meyer Statham eschewed the DJ-culture
obsessions of Scofield bands past, instead laying down one
contagious groove after another for the largely middle-aged
audience (The lengthy hiatus enjoyed by Scofield’s fusion
act obviously damaged his jam-band following). That's What
I Say was covered in full, with not one, but two versions
of "I Got a Woman." The first swung like a hatchet
with Sco reeling off linear bebop lines when not engaged in
legato phrasing and string-snapping funk fingerstyle techniques,
underpinnings that are untouched by most all of his flatpick-every-note-like-Martino
contemporaries (one caveat of Scofield’s playing is
that he always seem to oscillate from these two modes during
up-tempo swing. One usually has to wait for ballads or groove
tunes to hear the guitarist play with lyricism.)
The second
version of “I Got a Woman” threw down lead-footed
funk in a way that resembled an instrumental mix of Kanye
West’s “Gold Digger” featuring Charles impersonator
Jamie Foxx.
A dynamic
transformation of "Hit the Road, Jack" found Sco
and company flipping from funk to swing like a DJ cutting
from the one to the two. Other treats and rarities included
Scofield playing slide after confessing to study from Warren
Haynes’ instructional DVD (!), a failed looping experiment
that saw Sco tap-dancing on his stomp boxes to achieve transcendent
weirdness, a surprise rendition of the A Go Go era classic
"Hottentot," and the guitarist/leader’s sporadic
spoken-word wisdom.
While
offering an explanation as to why "I Don't Need No Doctor"
guest John Mayer wasn’t present for this modest-venue
performance, Scofield jokingly claimed the mega-star replied,
“F--- that! I’m playing the enormo-dome.”
It was
surely Mayer's loss on this night.
-Evan
Haga
Bjorn
Again
The Birchmere
October 7, 2005
Even though an Abba reunion is highly unlikely,
fans do have something to look forward to. Bjorn Again is
the next best thing - a credible tribute group that amazingly
recreates all aspects of Abba. The cool thing about this group
is their very light-hearted approach to their portrayal of
Abba. While keeping pretty faithful to the songs themselves
the rest of the act is something of a send-up or parody. The
group talk among themselves and to the audience in a faux-Swedish
accent, and have stage names which resemble the group's original
names in a humorous way. Judging from the wide variety of
age groups (10 - 70 year olds) in the crowd, Abba’s
music is a testimony of it’s longevity. Again, the Birchmere
was a great venue to capture all of the essence of the entertainment.
Let’s start the zany festivities! Before
the band hit the stage, an Abba trivia questioning session
appeared on a screen to the right of the stage. Then a brief
introduction was made by their comical tour manager, Lars.
He asked the crowd to clap extra hard for keyboardist/vocalist
Benny Andewear (feeling sad) and bassist Rutger Sunofogunn
(not feeling well). The crowd responded with loud applause
as the band hit the stage. The other instrumentalists to hit
the stage were Ola-Drumkitt (drums) and Bjorn Volvo-us (guitar/vocals).
Andewear & Volvo-us were dead ringers for the original
Abba men Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus respectively,
dressed in the classic Abba 70's attire. They broke into the
high-powered "Waterloo" while Agnetha Falstart (the
blonde) & Frida Longstokin (the brunette) pranced out
on stage with their cute outfits and powerful vocals. These
two women had it going on; the accent, the moves, the seduction,
the looks and the vocal chops!! Wow!!
The group proceeded to triumphantly plow through
Abba’s hit single catalog; some of the 1970's pop music’s
masterpieces. "Gimme Gimme Gimme", "Super Trooper",
"S.O.S." (Including snippets of the Police’s
"Message In A Bottle") and Knowing Me Knowing You.
Falstart & Longstokin got the crowd involved by getting
people sing along with "Honey Honey" and "Ring
Ring". The surprise came when the girls unexpectantly
left the stage and the guys had to prove they could do a song
without them. They proceded with Kiss’ "I Wanna
Rock And Roll All Night" with loud fanfare. Falstart
& Longstokin came back on stage, now dressed in chiffon
outfits. They launched into "Voulez-Vous", "Name
Of The Game", "I Had A Dream" and the fantastic
"Chiquitita". They had the crowd on their feet with
"Money Money Money" and the last tune of the set
"Mamma Mia". They came back for an encore with "Take
A Chance" and the super-catchy "Dancing Queen".
All and all, this concert was entertaining & fun; everyone
was smiling and happy. Personally, I now have a deeper respect
for ABBA and their music. No wonder Abba endorses Bjorn Again;
it will certainly help Abba’s back catalog & CD
sales!
-Kenneth Evans
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