Philly-Paris Lockdown - A Review

?uestlove of The Roots
featuring Karen Ann plus special guests
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts - Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, April 17, 2011

?uestlove

From the minute I heard that this concert was happening, I knew I had to be there.  It didn't take too much convincing to get my wife Heather to go with me either.  Here's the premise: early 20th century French composers' music reinterpreted to modern hip hop/funk style termed as the Philly-Paris Lockdown.  Tell me that doesn't at least pique your interest.


Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson is the drummer for the hip hop group The Roots.  You may have seen them on TV - they're the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  But they've had a long career before being picked as Fallon's house band.  I'm not a huge fan of most hip hop.  I think it's often not very musical and the theme of the lyrics is often not something I can relate to.  The lyrics are also something I wouldn't want kids listening to or trying to emulate.  We can have the hip hop debate later.  My point, however, is that despite my general dislike for hip hop, I've always enjoyed The Roots.  They are very musical.  In fact, they are a BAND, not just a pair of turntables and a rapper.  I would argue that ?uestlove is one of the best drummers I've personally seen perform.  I have seen him play drums in a "superjam" with jazz legend Herbie Hancock.  That was an incerdible musical experience to say the least.  So knowing that ?uestlove was putting this show together made it very intriguing.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The venue for this show was Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the home of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.  If you have never seen a concert there, you must do so sometime.  It is a beautiful venue for music with great acoustics.  We were going to see a "hip hop" style show, mixed with some classical music, in a place where classical music is the predominant performance medium.  My first question to Heather was "uh, what should I wear?"  I went with khakis, button down shirt, and sportcoat - leaning more toward the classical music attendee attire.  It turns out that was a pretty good choice.  Now on to the music.


?uestlove came out first to give a brief background of what we were going to hear along with introductions of the musicians.  Here's the full line-up:
?uestlove - drums
Karen Ann - vocals
Andrew Cyr - conductor
David Murray - saxophone
D.D. Jackson - piano
Pallavi Mahidhara - piano
James Poyser - keyboards
Anthony Tidd - bass and keyboards
Derrick Hodge - bass
Daniel Felsenfeld - arranger
Larry Gold - arranger
Amber Coffman - vocals
Haley Dekle - vocals
Susanna Waiche - vocals
Kristin Lee - violin
Becky Anderson - violin
Joanna Franke - viola
Hiro Matsuo - cello


The instrumentation was interesting, and I was very excited to hear how it was all going to come together.  Each piece was first performed in its original context as the composer had intended.  Then they would seamlessly morph into a modern twist of that song.  Composers that were covered include Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, and Erik Satie.  Pallavi Mahidhara would perform the original form of each piece on the piano, and then D.D. Jackson would take over piano duties for the "updated" versions.  The whole concert sequed from piece to piece without breaks, as if it were a DJ mixing songs in a club.  That format alone gave the performance a very "modern" feel.


I was moved by the hauntingly beautiful original versions of the songs and mesmerized by the piano playing of Ms. Mahidhara.  The string quintet often accompanied the piano for the original part.  The strings were also used for the modern hip hop versions as well, which helped segue smoothly.  By the way, I keep referring to the modern versions as being "hip hop," however I am using that term very loosely.  Your average Jay-Z or Eminem fan would probably not "get it."  Some of the versions were more avant-garde than anything.  Karen Ann and the back-up vocalists were actually used pretty sparingly.  Karen Ann spoke some poems in French on top of the beats, and occasionally "sang" some poems.  I could have done without the vocals in general, but it didn't totally detract from the performance either. 


Highlights included the tenor saxophone and bass clarinet playing of David Murray.  Yes, bass clarinet.  Weren't expecting that were you?  Me neither.  Nice surprise.  His playing sounded a lot like John Coltrane's later modal and avant-garde material.  His interaction with the rhythm section was just out of this world.  Again, the average hip hop fan would not have enjoyed it.  But I did.  Another highlight was the virtuosic piano playing of Pallavi Mahidhara.  If you've heard any of Debussey's piano works, you know it is not written for the amateur pianist.  She played each piece with precision and such a pristine musical ear.  She may have been the MVP of the band. 


?uestlove said before they started that he was more nervous about this gig than any other he has performed since he was playing for his dad's band at Radio City Music Hall at the age of 13.  Well, he had nothing to be nervous of.  The audience gave a rousing standing ovation and I would agree that it was an absolutely phenominal concert.  It wasn't exactly classical.  It wasn't exactly hip hop.  It wasn't exactly avant-garde.  It was just awesome music.  As I continue to reflect on the concert I witnessed, I am blown away by how amazing it was.  Five stars.  Two thumbs up.  A+.  It was supposedly taped by WXPN to be aired sometime in early May.  Give it a listen if you can.  I truly hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

100 Classic Songs Everyone Should Know

I think there are certain songs that everyone should know.  Here's my list - how many do you know?

Led Zeppelin

1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
2. All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan (also Jimi Hendrix version)
3. Come Together - Beatles
4. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
5. No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
6. Chameleon - Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters
7. Voodoo Chile - Jimi Hendrix
8. Take the A Train - Billy Strayhorn (made famous by Duke Ellington)
9. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Ludwig von Beethoven

11. Fifth Symphony - Ludwig von Beethoven
12. Summertime - Geroge Gershwin
13. So What - Miles Davis
14.  Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
15. Imagine - John Lennon
16. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
17. Misty - Erroll Garner
18. Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
19. Great Balls of Fire - Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer (Jerry Lee Lewis)
20. Georgia On My Mind - Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell (made famous by Ray Charles)
21. Take Five - Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck Quartet

22. Pinball Wizard - The Who

23. Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) - Igor Stravinsky

24. Birdland - Joe Zawinul (Weather Report)

25. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

26. Crossroads - Robert Johnson

27. Layla - Derek & the Dominoes

28. Cissy Strut - The Meters

29. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder

30. Salt Peanuts - Dizzy Gillespie

31. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

32. Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin

33. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Billy Joel

34. Piano Man - Billy Joel

35. Thriller - Michael Jackson

36. Blue Train - John Coltrane

37. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
38. Tom Sawyer - Rush
39. Stars and Stripes Forever - John Philip Sousa
40. Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
41. Strawberry Fields - Beatles
42. I Know You Rider - traditional
43. Roundabout - Yes
44. New York, New York - Frank Sinatra

45. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

46. Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison



Billie Holiday

47. Money - Pink Floyd

48. Use Me - Bill Withers

49. Benny and the Jets - Elton John

50. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - Aretha Franklin

51. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

52. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
53. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
54. Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
55. Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
56. Looking out My Back Door - Credence Clearwater Revival
57. Imperial March - John Williams
58. For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
59. Up On Cripple Creek - The Band


The Band

60. American Pie - Don McLean
61. Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley - Allen Toussaint

62. Moondance - Van Morrison

63. Also Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss
64. Black Water - The Doobie Brothers
65. Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin

66. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

67. We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel
68. Jessica - Allman Brothers Band

69. Straight No Chaser - Thelonious Monk

The Beatles

70. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Beatles

71. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

72. Lean On Me - Bill Withers

73. Foreplay/Long Time - Boston
74. Green Onions - Booker T and the MG's
75. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
76. Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead
77. Appalachian Spring - Aaron Copeland
78. Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival

79. Another Brick In The Wall (Parts I, II, and III) - Pink Floyd



Bobby McFerrin

80. Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone
81. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
82. Slippng Into Darkness - War
83. Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
84. Watermelon Man - Herbie Hancock
85. Mustang Sally - Sir Mack Rice (Wilson Pickett)
86. Burning Down the House - Talking Heads
87. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
88. La Grange - ZZ Top
89. Proud Mary - John Fogerty
90. Rockin' in the Freeworld - Neil Young

ZZ Top

91. Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

92. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees

93. Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) - Louis Prima

94. Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 - Johann Sebastian Bach
95. My Girl - The Temptations

96. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson (Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye)

97. Blue Skies - Irving Berlin

98. Kokomo - The Beach Boys

99. Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
100. Claire de Lune - Claude Debussey

Well, there you have it.  I actually found it very difficult to put these in order.  I'm still not totally convinced I got it exactly right.  I also began making this list with the intent of listing 50 songs, and that very quickly and easily grew to 100 songs.  I would challenge you to come up with your own list of songs that you think everyone should know.  Are there any songs you think I missed?

Happy listening!

Gone Phishing

One of my favorite bands is Phish.  I have only been listening to them for a small fraction of their career, yet I feel like I've been a fan forever.  Unless you are one of my college buddies (hey guys!), you may not know much about them, and you probably haven't heard their music.  So I'm here to tell you why you need to give them a listen.

Phish played their first gig at the University of Vermont at an ROTC dance in 1983.  That was the year I was born.  So they've been around awhile and they have a history.  I'll try and keep it concise and focus on their music.  Basically, you need to know that they've gone on "hiatus" twice, one of which was supposed to be a permanent break-up in 2004.  So the current era is considered to be Phish 3.0.  I attended my first Phish show on New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden in 2002, which was also their first show back after their first "hiatus."  It was a great show, although looking back and listening again, it was admittedly a little shaky in spots.  However, it still got me hooked.

Phish is Trey Anastasio (guitar), Mike Gordon (bass), Page McConnell (keyboards), and Jon Fishman (drums).  One of the reasons I am drawn to their music is that it can not easliy be placed in any particular genre or category.  You will soon see what I mean.  The big umbrella label they are often given is simply "jamband" due to their large amount of improvisation, or jamming.  Some call them the successors to the Grateful Dead due to their jamming and extremely loyal fans who follow them around the country.  There are definitely some common characteristics between the two, but Phish is most certainly its own entity.  Phish is known for their live performances, moreso than their studio albums.  So to get a true taste of the band, be sure to check out their live recordings.  You can find a recording of just about any Phish show they've ever played due to the fact that they allow fans to tape and trade their shows.  This is a huge part of their scene.

Now let's get to the music.  Improvisation has always been central to their music, much in the tradition of jazz.  However, they have funky songs, bluegrass songs, blues songs, rock songs, jazz songs, cover songs, reggae songs, ballads, psychedelic songs, and even acapella songs.  They are known for using humor in their songs and live shows (Fishman sometimes plays the vacuum - literally), and have often played tricks on the audience.  They play while jumping on trampolines, and sometimes switch instruments.  Some of their music has even been arranged for orchestras.  For their halloween shows, they typically will cover some other bands' album from start to finish.  They've covered the Beatles' White Album, The Who's Quadraphenia, The Talking Heads' Remain In The Light, The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, and most recently Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus.

Some of my favorite Phish songs (the short list):
You Enjoy Myself
Tweezer
Down With Disease
Chalkdust Torture
The Curtain (With)
Reba
46 Days
Wilson
Divided Sky
Julius
David Bowie
Stash

Some cover songs in their regular rotation:
Loving Cup - The Rolling Stones
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
Roses Are Free - Ween
A Day In The Life - Beatles
Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix
Drowned - The Who
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Rock n' Roll - The Velvet Underground

Phish sells out major venues and are continually at the top of annual ticket sales each year.  Yet somehow they remain under the radar of pop culture.  You won't hear their latest hit on the radio, but they are still able to sell millions of tickets every year because of a strong grassroots fanbase.  They will be playing four shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City in December, concluding with a New Year's Eve show.  They have sold 80,000+ tickets to their own festivals in remote locations, including their most recent Superball IX in Watkins Glen, NY over the July 4 holiday weekend in 2011.  Phish 3.0 has made a strong comeback with healthier, cleaner, and more mature band members.  I'm a huge fan of the current era of Phish, and hope they continue making music together for years to come.

The Banjo - Not Just For Rednecks Anymore

Scary banjo kid from "Deliverance"

Back in 1972, the movie "Deliverance" debuted and from that moment on, you couldn't paddle down a river in the backwoods of Georgia without hearing "Dueling Banjos" and consequently fearing the worst redneck nightmare imaginable.  Burt Reynolds ruined the reputation of banjo players forever.  But wait!  Not so fast!  It turns out the banjo is making its big comeback thanks to a few great musicians.

Pete Seeger

All joking aside, Pete Seeger has been rocking the banjo for years - long before "Deliverance."  He wrote a book in 1948 about how to play the banjo that most banjo players today still use and even invented his own banjo sometimes called the Seeger banjo that has an extra three frets.  He is pretty much the godfather of American folk music.  I don't know anyone who would dispute that.  And he recently celebrated his 90th birthday at Madison Square Garden with a few friends, including Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, and Arlo Guthrie.

Flatt & Scruggs

Earl Scruggs played banjo with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys beginning in 1945.  This was at a time when big bands ruled the airwaves.  He popularized his own 3 finger picking style, which strayed from the typical strumming style that was most often used before this time.  Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt went on to form their own band, the Foggy Mountain Boys, and eventually recorded the theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" in 1962.  Their tune "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" is also a standard among bluegrass players.  And he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys in 2008.  Not too shabby.

Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck heard the banjo playing of Earl Scruggs and decided to learn how to play the banjo as well.  His banjo teacher was Tony Trischka, who is also widely admired amongst banjo players. Check out his "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular." Fleck and Trischka have worked together on various projects over the years, and have released a great album of banjo duets.  In my oprinion, Bela is probably the best banjo player living today.  He is certainly the most innovative and progressive.  He started his career with bluegrass supergroup New Grass Revival, and eventually formed his own group, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.  The Flecktones are much more jazz oriented, and Bela often uses an electric banjo with various effects when playing with this group.  It was Bela's playing that made me fall in love with the banjo and realize what a diverse instrument it could be.  Bela has been nominated for Grammy Awards in more categories than any other musician in the history of the awards.  He has won a total of 12 between 1995 and 2011.  His various projects include an album with jazz pianist Chick Corea, several albums and tours with bassist Edgar Meyer, a classical album, and a project tracing the banjo's roots back to Africa and playing with African musicians.

Steve Martin - a wild and crazy guy

You may know Steve Martin as the "Father of the Bride," or "The Jerk," or unfortunately maybe for his role in "Cheaper By The Dozen."  He is also a "wild and crazy guy!"  But you may not know that he is also a great banjo player.  He just released a new album of straight-up bluegrass music.  His banjo music is no laughing matter.




Kermit knows what's up

 There are lots of younger players that are beginning to step up and take the reigns.  There has been a revival of bluegrass and folk groups recently.  It is somewhat becoming trendy, and that's cool with me.  Check out the young banjo players in Yonder Mountain String Band, the Punch Brothers, and Mumford & Sons.  Heck, I think I've even heard banjo on a Taylor Swift song or two.  And let us not forget Kermit the Frog and Andy Bernard (on "The Office").


Bottom line - banjos are awesome.  They are way better than our good friend and beloved mustache enthusiast Burt Reynolds would have us believe.  And having a name like Jethro or Billy Bob is not a pre-requisite.  You don't need to fly a confederate flag while sitting on your rocking chair on your front porch and drinking moonshine to appreciate it.  Although if you do, that's cool too - I'm not judging.