Jazz Fest 2017, Day 8: Frank reviews Binker and Moses, tries to see King Crimson, and ends the night with Caravan Palace

It has been exactly a year when I last set foot in a church.
In fact, it was the same church I was in tonight to see, hear, and experience
the elegant chaos of British duo Binker and
Moses. B&M rocked Christ Church like a hell-bound stage coach reverberating
around the nooks and spaces usually reserved for the word of God.

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Saxophonist
Binker Golding was prolific and profound as he
erected tunes out of nowhere. Destination: the center of your mind. This is
where he and drummer Moses Boyd, who played like an octopus hailing a cab, squared
off. It was like sonic ballet and in spots sonic MMA. They switched off who
would kick off each number, bandied it about, and proceeded to take it skyward.
Binker and Moses simply have to be experienced live.

Find more on Binker and Moses at binkergolding.com.

I ran over to Kodak Hall to see King Crimson, who as
it turns out wanted no photographers and no reviewers. I heard a rumor our 45th
President, old tweeter-twat himself, was in the audience. Sure enough, I checked
my Twitter: “Fake band King Crimson is afraid of a bad review. They should. I have
tapes! SAD!”

Anywhat, the last show of the night
was a beautiful cross section of humanity as little kids and old kids danced
their faces off to Paris’ Caravan Palace, a band that mixes Gypsy jazz
with the throb of electronica. And talk about a throb, walking in front of the
speaker stacks was like a full-body massage or a post-9/11 pat-down at the
airport. The crowd was as good naturedly rabid as it was diverse.

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Caravan
Palace has a huge following, with more than 76 million hits on YouTube, and
that’s a lotta YouTube. The band, complete with
choreography and a gaggle of traditional instruments augmented by the electric
gizmos on stage, was utterly relentless. Between-song banter was minimal. And
speaking of instruments, my favorite for this Jazz Fest is the vibraphone. They
were pounding out Ram Jam’s “Black Betty” as I
vacated the joint.

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Check out Caravan
Palace at caravanpalace.com.

Tomorrow night I’ll be freestyling a bit and will conclude at
Parcel 5 for The Hooligans’ shenanigans and Danielle Ponder, who will rock your
world.

This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2017.