 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Show Review
I don’t know of any better way to spend the weekend than enjoying hours of inspired improvisational music with the likes of Phish’s drummer extrordinare Jon Fishman, Garaj Mahal’s outstanding and ever impressive bassist Kai Eckhardt, avant guard banjoist/ guitarist Tony Furtado, guest speaker and widely respected environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill, as well as the dynamic Everyone Orchestra Core-Tet, whose own solo shows are a complete musical journey into themselves. And that only is naming a few of the many incredibly talented musicians, who entertained and inspired the masses this past weekend. Although I am a self-diagnosed music junkie who tends to rate my show going experience strictly on the virtue of the musician’s interplay alone, I instead find myself looking back at these shows in a completely different light. By no means am I saying that the interplay was lacking, in fact these various musicians created a improvisational musical landscape that brought forth every aspect that I look for in my music, but rather that these shows went far beyond simply playing music. These shows brought world-class musicianship, local and global community enhancing philosophies and projects, political activism, and spiritual enlightenment into a single experience, and I am still feeling the afterglow from these incredible communal experiments. To top it off these are shows were conceived with a higher purpose; to raise money to benefit the Pangea Project, which is a non profit organization driven by the desire to engage disadvantaged urban youth into international philosophies and cultures, as well as a reflected focus in finding ways to benefit the student’s own home communities. As Pangea’s co-creator Deb Delman describes it, “The Pangea project is a year long cross cultural experiential service learning program.” The project gives these students an incredible opportunity to travel and explore the world beyond our borders, with the long term ambition of having these young leaders return home with a more defined global perspective, and thereby enhancing their own communities through social action. The Pangea project is a non-profit organization formed by co-creators Deb Delman and Stephanie Tolk, whose three phased objective is to take inner city teenagers from low income families from the Portland area, and lead them through an in-depth training course for 5 months as a cohesive team, where they will learn all different aspects of the international culture and communities that they will be living with, as well as a deeper understanding of the larger specific global issue that will be in focus during their excursion. After the training is complete the second phase of the program would begin, where students would then spend the summer in the country that they have been researching, and they would become involved in a social project designed to help their host community in a variety of ways. For the initial trip the group will be visiting Mali. After their stay abroad is completed, these students would then return to their own communities with a more defined understanding of the world around them, and with a newfound respect of the importance of community action. Once the students return from their international experience, they would return to their neighborhoods in Portland, where they would in turn become the leaders and teachers of tomorrow. The final phase of the program has the students taking what they have learned abroad, and engaging in social action projects to benefit their own communities in the Portland area. Students will also be holding presentations in their neighborhoods detailing their experiences through a variety of creative techniques. To me this seems like a win/win situation. These students get to represent this nation abroad in non-westernized nations in a positive light (which we all know we need at this time) and they would also return with a more defined understanding on far reaching universal global perspectives to then enhance their own neighborhoods. Having a blast and doing our part to better both the local and global communities is a great way to spend a weekend in April. It is a guilty pleasure, that I have no qualms in embracing.
 As well as writing this review, I was also involved with the non-partisan voter registration movement known as Headcount. Prior to both shows, our team stationed ourselves outside the venue, engaged in spirited discussions on a full range of topics, and was somewhat successful in helping new voters reclaim their voice and vote. One of the more interesting, non-musical moments of the weekend came when Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich made a guest appearance at the Portland show. He was milling about in front of the venue, and talking casually to everyone who said hello. I couldn’t resist the opportunity, so with my voter registration clipboard in hand, I asked him if he was interested in registering to vote. I received a small chuckle from those around him, and we proceeded to have a brief yet engaging conversation. He was in a rush to get inside to speak to the crowd, so I didn’t want to hold him up. Even after his speech, which was warmly received, he was handed a tambourine and he then laid down some beats for us all to enjoy. I wish politics could always be this fun. Anyway back to the music. Both shows had a similar structure to their sets. To begin with the first set started with a Photography/ turntable presentation that was very enjoyable. Both the images from the pictures, as well as the sound from the D.J. were melded into a multi-sensory presentation. Deb Delman and Stephanie Tolk took these dramatic pictures of the human experience in their travels around the world, and the quality of each of the individual pictures was clearly evident. It was almost as if each picture was a virtual window into an untold human story of existence, and my curiosity into the background of all these individual’s life experiences was peaked with each passing image. After this display there was a greeting/meditation/recitation of poetry led by Julia Butterfly Hill that seemed to commence the night’s festivities. There is just something so powerful about her presence, and whenever she spoke the room became completely attentive. It seems to me that anyone can claim to be an activist and recite their chosen dogma, but to truly live your passion and beliefs, and sacrifice your own comforts in the name of a greater good like Julia has done for so many years, earns you automatic respect and admiration. Julia was surrounded in a semi circle by the musicians taking part in the evenings activities, and it seemed to signify a communal belief in the project of all those involved. Julia would also join in sporadically throughout the night to recite her poetry during the improvisational section of the concert, whenever the Everyone Orchestra’s conductor Tye North held out a sign that said called for a poet. After Julia completed her words of wisdom, a few of the vocalists were left on the stage to begin the festivities. I have to say I am not always the type of music fan who appreciates vocal skills as much as I should, but these three singers; Maya Dorn, Libby Kirkpatrick, and Jans Ingber really blew me away all weekend with their collective vocal prowess. Their harmonies were beautiful, their vocal layering on top of the jams seemed to be on the mark, and I was just flat out impressed with their ability to sing within the chaos of all of the instruments, since there were at times 13 musicians on stage. The Everyone Orchestra Cor-Tet then followed by playing 3 songs of their own. I have to admit that I came into this night most excited about the prospect of the special guests performing of the bill, but I left truly excited about all the tremendous musicians that live here in the northwest. Matt Butler, who is the creator of the Everyone Orchestra concept, is a tremendously skilled drummer who is a lot of fun to watch on stage. He really listens well to whomever he shares the stage with, and he ads many dimensions to the collective sound. Matt also handles some of the vocal responsibilities of the Core-tet. Guitarist Scott Law really shined over the two nights. His playing seemed more confident and aggressive since the last time I saw him play, and I loved how his aggressive style translated in fast and tight runs up and down the neck of his guitar. Asher Fulero, who handled the keyboard duties all weekend, really stood out. He was fluid, funky, and really entertaining to watch. It seemed that every time he took a solo, he just had a huge grin on his face, and it looked like he was having a blast out there. That type of positive energy is very contagious from the stage. Damian Erskine rounded out the Core-tet, and he really impressed me with his ability to lay down the some serious bass lines, while still not crowding out the other musicians. For a good portion of the concerts there were two bassists on stage, which at concerts past seemed to be a difficult scenario for the musicians. Very often multiple bassists would trip over each other’s space and step on each others toes, but that was not the case at these shows at all. Damian would step it up and take a funky solo when need be, and cool it down to create the groove at other points.
 There was just no let up in the quality of the playing all weekend. Everyone on the stage held their own, and contributed their unique skills to the mix, and I only wish they would play out more often. I saw the core-tet about a month ago, and it seems like they are just getting tighter and more fluid as a band. It was also nice to have a little structure to the music before we dove head first into the raging sea of improvisation. After a display of the Core-Tet's musical wares, the special guests came out on stage. For me the triumvirate of Kye Eckhardt, Jon Fishman, and Tony Furtado makes these shows a must see for any fans of jams that exist in wide open musical space. Once all of the musicians took their places the show just raged. Although there were moments of calm that deviated from the complete abandonment of musical rules and structure. For example, Tony Furtado and Jon Fishman played a pretty duet, and there was also a smooth traditional rendition of Stagger Lee played by Tony, all three vocalists, and Scott Law. But for the most part open-ended jams was the flavor for the night. As the set progressed so did the complexities in the jams. That is where the Everyone Orchestra Maestro, and rotating bass player Tye North came in. If you have never seen the Everyone Orchestra, just seeing Tye and his endless energy leading the jam makes it all worthwhile. He is a terrific leader with a tremendous sense of musical direction. Tye really gives us fans the ability to watch the interplay of the musicians on a whole other level. As a fan that is not literate in recognizing musical keys and various chords, it is great to get our mini music lessons from Tye’s signs that clue the band as well as us fans to the direction of the jams. Tye takes his role of conductor very seriously, and he really adds a whole other visual component to the show. It is like Tye allows us have an added glimpse into the musician’s mind. He also includes the audience in the hijinks, by showing us a variety of cards that have us clapping, moaning, shouting, or a whole other slew of creative participation techniques, that allows the everyone orchestra to really include everyone. Tye with his 2-foot long florescent conductor’s baton would jump around the stage, almost as if he is a medium transferring the music through his gyrations. Tye has also added a small erasable white board and markers to his bag of tricks that allows his own conductive ideas to have no limits to the other prewritten cards. As an idea would pop into his head, he would wipe off the board’s previous cue, and jot down the new idea. It makes complete sense that the conductor of a completely improvisational group would have the ability to be creative in the moment as he is conducting. One of the few differences in the two concerts was the addition of Merry Prankster alum Ken Babbs to the mix in Eugene. Adorn with his Groucho Marx glasses, Colonel Saundersesque white suit, and golden trombone, Ken treated us to some of his poetic verses, and horn-blowing skill that added depth and wisdom to that night’s festivities. Two of the most intriguing and musically tantalizing events of the weekend occurred when the Orchestra used ideas generated from Kye Eckhardt and Jon Fishman to have guided moments of improvisation. Kye’s idea was based around a concept of featuring one musician, having them take an extended solo, then once the solo finished the individual would lead the rest of the group into a jam in the direction of their choosing. Once the jam was up and flying, the leading musician would help it land. The next musician in the rotation would then take their own solo, and this process would repeat until the entire orchestra had an opportunity to take a solo and lead the creation of a jam. The Eugene show showcased this concept, and it was one of the best musical moments of the night.
 Jon Fishman’s idea was similar, but had some other stipulations. Jon explained that this was the same technique that Phish uses in their practice sessions, and had the unfortunate name of the terrible midget factory, or the more politically correct version of passing the hey. Being a longtime fan of Phish, I really enjoyed hearing Jon’s insight into their creative process. Basically the idea is to have an individual begin a simple musical phrase, and then the other musicians would add another layer of texture to the jam until everyone was involved. Fishman explained that simplicity was key, so everyone could find their own space in the jam. Once the originator of the jam felt that everyone was locked in, they would yell “Hey” the jam would stop, and the next member in the rotation would begin the process over. Jon Fishman described this process aptly as moving into “Uncharted musical territory, while staying a unit.” I have to say I love this type of interplay, but at times I only wished some of those jams were extended beyond the point of initial interconnectedness. I understand it was the nature of this particular beast, but there were some locked in moments of musical bliss that could have torn the roof off of the Aladdin Theater given another minute or two to develop and grow.What really stuck out to me to be the highlight of the shows was the actual response of the musicians themselves. They all held such respect for their fellow Orchestra members, and whenever anyone stepped up to the spotlight, the rest of the members were as attentive to their performance as the audience. There was no ego here, just musicians doing what they do best. All in all this was a weekend that left me feeling both spiritually cleansed, as well as musically fulfilled. These shows were the complete package, and I hope the beauty of these unique events will have the opportunity to grow and spread across the nation. Until then I just feel privileged to live in the epicenter of such incredible collaborations that extends well beyond any conceptual or musical bounds.
|
|
The ever-rotating lineup of the Everyone Orchestra took its philosophy of improvisational-based collaborations with a diverse core of musicians, combined with a focus on social consciousness on both local and global issues for a small road trip through Oregon, and us north westerners are sure glad that they did. 
