Good evening Mr. and
Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press: the Big
Easy trombone onslaught was in full effect tonight as Bonerama (not to be confused
with a Vanessa del Rio flick) rocked the Montage stage. Instead of
merely flooring it the minute it hit the stage, the horn-driven band built up
from a funky groove, taking turns before building it into a thundering brass
blast. The guitar wasn’t as prevalent as it is in most other settings, but
honestly, the parts it delivered were mostly made up of vowels from out of
nowhere and some deep funk.
Melissa Aldana and
Crash Trio were skirting the
abstract with a lighthearted, romantic slant and pitch. It was the drummer that
knocked my socks off as he buttered the music with fills, stops, and starts
with a slap-happy grin and drama. It seems every year or so, I fall in love
with a drummer. The last one was from The Bad Plus (that m***er f***er played with his elbows
for Chrissakes). This year’s percussion crush is this
Crash Trio cat. Now if I only knew his name…
Squeezer’s Stage was
the scene for some serious, no bullshit rock guitar thanks to Don Mancuso and DDrive.
As I always say: if it’s too loud, you’re not old enough. And Mr. Mancuso was
gloriously loud as he divided his set between instrumental stuff from his solo
LP and the boogie and drive of DDrive with Phil Naro — one of the best rock voices in the world — up front.
The place was packed, the rock gods were pleased, my ears are still ringing…and
I’m old enough.
Like a smokier, darker
Kelly Willis, Jeanne Jolly and her band splashed alt-country holy water on the faithful in
the Abilene revival tent. The sparseness of the band worked as a
rudimentary call and response to Jolly’s beautiful voice. The set was peppered
by a few too many stops, but Jolly’s charm made just about anything that
could’ve happened or gone wrong, alright with me. I know she’s not a drummer,
but maybe this was a night to fall in love twice.
I’ll be ballin’ a jack with The
Lustre Kings tomorrow night along with
other delights, but now I’m beat. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2014.
The drummer with Melissa Aldana (who was terrific) was Francisco Mela. He’s played at the festival a few times before–with Esperanza Spaulding, Antonio Ciacca, and Joe Lovano.