Rent Romus' "The Lords of Outland XV"

Founded in 1994, the Lords of Outland is a rotating collective of ensemble members under the direction of saxophonist and producer Rent Romus. Throughout the Lords' fifteen year history in the spirit of free form experimentation its core roster has changed numerous times featuring guests like John Tchicai, James Zitro, Kash Killion, and many others. The group currently features CJ Borosque on no-input pedals and trumpet, Philip Everett on drums, percussion and electronics, Ray Schaeffer on electric basses, lead by Romus on alto, soprano, C-melody saxophones, voice, and electronics. To commemorate their longevity comes "The Lord of the Outland XV". Contained in "XV" are live public recordings covering a wide range of original jazz and improvisations, many of which have never been released from 1994-2008, and on disc two, a new full length project recorded in 2009. Other performing artists who have participated in the Lords of Outland include Jason Olain, Vytas Nagisetty, Andrew Borger, Bill Noertker, David Mihaly, Toyoji Tomita, Joel Harrison, Tom Nunn, Doug Carroll, Andre Custodio, Jesse Quattro, and Jonas Westergaard.

Romus is a force spanning over twenty years of D.I.Y. music production, performance, and curation. He is heavily involved in stretching past the confines of standard music forms performing his original compositions and improvisations in a wide variety of musical settings. He is also focused in presenting and supporting the local experimental and avant-garde community at large with his grass-root philanthropic vision for total artistic self expression and freedom from generic branding.

From his very beginnings as a student of Jazz while being exposed to the twilight tutelage of Stan Getz and the young vibrant jazz theory of Bruce Foreman he found himself drawn to the outer realms of music. In 1986 he founded the progressive jazz sextet Jazz On the Line that served as a vehicle for his original compositions until 1994. Romus produced his first album "Dark Wind" in 1988 (which also served as the first album for then thirteen year old drummer Steve Rossi), and his second recording entitled no boundaries in 1990. In 1992 he recorded and produced In the Moment, reissued in 2008 as "Thundershine" with Chico Freeman.

In 1995 he formed the collective entity The Lords of Outland with whom two years later he recorded "Adapt...or DIE!" with The Lords, which featured tenor sax master John Tchicai a contemporary of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. During the mid to late nineties the Lords featured James Zitro, Kash Killion, Andrew Borger, Jason Olaine, Jon Birdsong, Dave Mihaly, Bill Noertker, and Toyoji Tomita to name a few. Romus submitted a video to the then fledgling BET Channel's National Network Show "Jazz Central". As the judges visibly struggled with The Lords’ rendition Eric Dolphy’s “Out to Lunch”, while looking balefully into the camera, he knew this band was bound to challenge the status quo. Throughout the Lords' fifteen year history its core roster has changed numerous times, which included Tchicai, Zitro, Killion, and many others. The group released two recordings in the ninties “You’ll Never Be the Same” in 1995 and, “Adapt…or Die!” in 1997.

Also in 1995 and 1996, Romus self-produced two overseas tours of Denmark which featured some of Copenhagen’s young improvisers pianist Jonas Müller, and drummer Stefan Pasborg who now enjoys world wide recognition as one of the top young jazz drummers of Europe. In 1999 Romus released "Blood Motions" with Pasborg and bassist Jonas Westergaard. In 2001 Romus released four CDs; "Avatar In the Field", "PKD Vortex", "The Metal Quan Yin", and "Guinea Pig Live at the Hotel Utah" that reflected his love for interweaving science fiction, horror literature, improvisation, Finno-Ugric traditions, socio-political themes, and the inspiration of Albert Ayler in his music.

In 2003 he along side guitarist Ernesto Diaz-Infante created The Abstractions, who released three recordings during their time together that included an all star cast of experimental musicians and singers from California including Jesse Quattro, Scott R Looney, Bob Marsh, and Philip Everett.

In 2005 he continued his free improvisational experimentation with the creation of Bloom Project with perpetual touring master pianist Thollem Mcdonas releasing the self titled "Bloom" in 2006, "Prismatic Season" in 2007 and "Sudden Aurora" in 2009. In addition to his ongoing adventures with Bloom Project, The Lords of Outland found a new sonic base mixing harsh noise and jazz improvisation releasing "Culture of Pain" in 2006 and most recently in 2008; "You can sleep when you’re dead!" The core group consists of drummer Philip Everett, bassist Ray Schaeffer, and noise pedal artist C.J Borosque.

As a producer and artist business activist Rent Romus founded Edgetone Records a label for all forms of music improvisation and experimentation in 1991. During his early years from 1988 - 1998 as a concert producer he was appointed Executive Director of Jazz in Flight in 1996. From 2002-04 he was the Director of Promotion for the SF Alt Festival, and at the turn of the new century in 2000 he founded Outsound Presents under which he is the Executive Director and a curator of The SIMM Music Series at the Musicians Union Hall as well as the long standing Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series both in San Francisco. In 2002 he started The Outsound New Music Summit (formerly the Edgetone New Music Summit), a national experimental music festival held in the greater San Francisco Bay Area every summer now produced under the Outsound Presents banner which continues at the present.

Ken Micallef, (a renown writer for Billboard, Spin and New York Magazine), once wrote of The Lords of Outland, "Safely, if not sanely put, Lords of Outland imagines Jaco Pastorius playing armor outfitted basketball with a band of crazed bassists and saxophonists. The rhythms run amok, the melodies are anything but friendly, and nausea and sickness is sure to follow." "Lords of The Outland XV" is indeed, not for the squeamish and quite frankly, that's what makes them so damn good.


The Kathryn Keats Show Comes to the Throckmorton

Singer, songwriter, producer and survivor, Kathryn Keats returns to Mill Valley's Throckmorton Theater on December 17th, bringing another stellar ensemble of musicians and razor-sharp, impeccably crafted, soulful compositions, filled with entertaining and unpredictable moments and joy for every age. Keats is a fascinating and incredible entertainer that is reclaiming her career after 20 years in the witness protection program. She is currently developing a Broadway musical loosely based upon her book “After the Silence”. Her heroic journey from captivity to freedom has inspired audiences in Europe and the United States. Keats is often a guest artist at community outreach events that raise awareness about domestic violence. Joining Keats for this latest show are Michael Manring on bass, Jeff Oster on flugelhorn & trumpet, Celso Alberti on drums, Joe Venegoni on percussion and Kelly Park on piano & vibes.

Keats has been involved in music since the age of five, working as a teenager with such legends as Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn and Word Baker. She initially studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Early in her career, she performed at Carnegie Hall and toured the country with a successful off Broadway show. Her studio work included national commercials and sound tracks and recording for various producers. Then… Keats was put into hiding after her former collaborator Ken Ford threatened her life. Law enforcement officials urged her to change her identity. Her name was legally changed after a harrowing experience with Ford culminated in a jury trial in Oakland, California. In order to protect herself, she was forced her to give up her career. All of her ties from her past were cut in 1989 after her last performance awarded her a Critic’s Circle award for best performance in the original stage version of The Rocky Horror Show.

When she could no longer work in the music industry she did not lament the loss of time. She began working behind the scenes, packaging feature films, creating and producing shows for television and film and directing several bands and artists. Her work included projects for Herb Ritts, Wayne Masur, and Mary Ellen Mark. When she had been to enough Herb Ritts birthday parties and met everyone the early 90’s required, she began creating, producing and packaging for television and radio.

Keats’s most impressive role was in taking on the persona of an industry executive, building strong industry relationships in Hollywood and New York while never disclosing her true identity.

On January 12, 2005, Keats discovered that the man who had threatened her life for over three decades had finally died. It was then that Keats could come out of hiding. Since then, she has reclaimed her past beginning to write again and record her music. She created a one woman show an to mark her return and has played The Knitting Factory LA, New York’s The Bitter End as well as The Plush Room in San Francisco. She has also made time to perform benefit shows for the victims of violence.

Along with Tony Valenziano of Smile Records, Keats recorded her first full length CD “After the Silence” in April 2007. Keats’s story is being developed as a feature film and was also featured in Readers Digest in '07. Her ”After the Silence” toured in 2007, bringing not only her music, but also her amazing story to the public.

For the Throckmorton show, Keats has brought the very best: Joe Venegoni – Award winning composer, musical director, and master percussionist, regarded as one of the most innovative artists performing today; my man Michael Manring – Grammy nominated artist and Bassist of the Year winner; Celso Alberti – Brazilian born drummer for such artists as Craig Chaquico, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Jose Neto, Stef Burns and most recently, the legendary Steve Winwood; Jeff Oster - 2007 NAR Lifestyle Music Awards WINNER - Album of the Year & Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; Kelly Park – Former faculty member at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he received the "Mercer Ellington Jazz Masters Award" for his performance mastery of piano, vibes and drums.

In short, Kathryn Keats is no ordinary animal. When most would be happy to finally live their life in peace Kathryn is driven to share her story and teach others how to save their lives, reclaim their dreams, and live again. Don't miss a truly wonderful ensemble and a truly inspiring musician.

The Kathryn Keats Show
Kathryn Keats – songwriter & vocals, Joe Venegoni – percussion
Michael Manring – bass, Jeff Oster – flugelhorn & trumpet
Celso Alberti – drums and Kelly Park – piano & vibes
142 Throckmorton Theater, Mill Valley, CA
Thursday, December 17 8:00 pm
$20.00 General Admission, $23.00 Day of Show
Buy tickets or by calling 415.383.9600

Steve Gadd & Friends Coming to Yoshi's

A well-respected drummer who has appeared in many types of settings in many genres, Steve Gadd's impressive technique and flexibility have been influential during the past 20 years. He started playing drums at the age of three, sat in with Dizzy Gillespie when he was 11, and after extensive study and a stint in the Army, Gadd became an important studio drummer beginning in 1972. Among his more significant jazz associations have been with Chick Corea (starting in 1975), Bob James, Al DiMeola, Tom Scott, Grover Washington Jr., David Sanborn, the group Stuff, the Manhattan Jazz Quintet, and his own impressive band (the Gadd Gang) which recorded for Columbia in 1986 and 1988. Next week, Gadd brings an all star line-up to Yoshi's in San Francisco with keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and guitarist Paul Bollenback.

Gadd is one of the most sought-after studio musicians in the world. Regarded as the most influential drummer in contemporary music, Gadd can play anything, easily bridging different musical styles. His feel, technique, and musicality on such tunes as Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways", Steely Dan's "Aja", and Chick Corea's "Nite Sprite" were so awe-inspiring and his concepts so innovative that they instantly assured his special position in the history of the percussive arts.

Gadd attended the Manhattan School of Music for two years, then finished at Eastman School of Music. Before that, he studied privately with Bill and Stanley Street and John Beck. He established himself with Chuck Mangione, then spent three years in the Army prior to coming to New York and doing studio work in 1971.

He rapidly rose to prominence on the studio scene and has since played with a wide variety of artists, including Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, Aretha Franklin, Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Scott, Frank Sinatra, and Stuff.

After a period of touring and recording with his own band, the Gadd Gang, he provided the spark that ignited Paul Simon's South African inspired, Grammy Award-winning recordings and dynamic live touring band.

Today, Gadd is still as busy as ever, balancing frequent recording dates with a hectic touring schedule. Some artists include Eric Clapton, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Joe Sample, and jazz piano virtuoso Michel Petrucciani. His performance at Yoshi's wraps up a whirlwind European and U.S. tour.

Steve Gadd & Friends featuring Joey DeFrancesco, Ronnie Cuber, Paul Bollenback
Nov 13-Nov 15, 2009
Friday & Saturday 8pm & 10pm shows $25

Sunday 7pm $25

The Stanley Clarke Trio Comes to Yoshi's

This weekend, world reknown bassist Stanley Clarke brings his latest incarnation with long-time bandmate, drummer Lenny White and pianist Hiromi Uehara to Yoshi's on Fillmore for promises to be an amazing show. In a career that spans nearly four decades and includes gigs with Return to Forever, Rite of Strings and a variety of other solo and collaborative projects along the way, Clarke – one of the most prominent voices in electric jazz and fusion – had seemingly covered every possible corner of the jazz landscape. But there was one avenue he had yet to explore. “I had never done an acoustic bass record, ever,” he says. “There’s a long list of people on whose records I’ve played acoustic bass – Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson and many others – but I’d never done an acoustic jazz trio record of my own. So I wanted to record one that would just feature the piano and the acoustic bass in a way that you could really hear the bass.”

This long-overdue dream project became a reality with the May 12, 2009, worldwide release of Jazz In The Garden (HUCD 3155) on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group. For his first straight ahead acoustic jazz trio recording, Clarke assembles two brilliant collaborators at the top of their respective games: Uehara and White. Each represents a distinctly different generational and cultural perspective, but given the range and versatility of both, the net effect is superb. Indeed, the synergy resulting from all three of these luminaries makes for one of the most refreshing Stanley Clarke recordings in recent years.

“Lenny is like a walking encyclopedia of jazz history,” says Clarke, who first played with White in Joe Henderson’s band when both session men were barely out of their teens, and later in the fusion-oriented Return To Forever. “Lenny is the guy who will never let you forget tradition, ever. When it comes to drummers, it’s fashionable to think that the one who plays the fastest or has the most gear is the best guy. But the guy you really want is the guy who’s smart – the guy who really has a lot upstairs. That’s Lenny.”

White likens his relationship with Clarke to some of the great pairings in sports. “In football, there was Joe Montana and Jerry Rice in San Francisco,” he says. “In baseball, there was Tom Seaver and Jerry Grote with the Mets. These were some very successful combinations. And then in jazz, you have some great pairings of drummers and bass players like Tony Williams and Ron Carter, or Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. I rank Stanley and myself among those pairings. We’ve played together for so long, in so many different kinds of situations. We started out by playing straightahead music together, and then that morphed into the jazz-rock fusion, which became a movement in itself. Now we’re coming back full-circle with this recording.”

Clarke was less familiar with Hiromi, a Berklee-trained protégé of Ahmad Jamal and Chick Corea who made her recording debut only six years ago. Since then, she has shaken up the piano jazz scene with a riveting style that ranges from the traditional to the avant garde. “I checked her out, and I realized that she was really, really talented,” says Clarke. “To be so young, and yet have so much knowledge – about melody, about harmony, about rhythm – is very rare. It’s very unusual for a piano player under the age of thirty to have that kind of maturity. That’s what’s cool about her.”

To date, Hiromi has committed much of her compositional and performance energies toward pushing the music to the outside, but she welcomed the opportunity to do something a little more traditional. “I’ve always loved straightahead jazz,” she says. “I’d just never done it in my own projects. So I was very happy to be able to do it finally. And to do it with these two musicians was more than I could have hoped for. I didn’t feel any walls. They were very welcoming. They were very open to what I had to offer.”

The set opens with “Paradigm Shift,” an introspective piece written by Clarke following the historic election of Barack Obama, which took place on the day Clarke returned from a long series of international tour dates. “I’d been getting the whole European and Asian perspective,” he says. “There was a lot of energy for Obama over there. There are a lot of reasons why he got elected. It wasn’t just a matter of being the new black guy on the scene…It’s a complete shift in the way people interact with candidates and with government. I was watching all that unfold, and I just kept saying, ‘Wow.’”

Cinematic and sweeping, “Sicilian Blue” is a stirring piece written by Hiromi, inspired by her visit to the Mediterranean island in 2008. Per Hiromi’s suggestion, Clarke plays the opening portion with a bow – a difficult technique, he admits, but one with a satisfying payoff. “The place has such a special atmosphere, with all of its old landscapes,” says Hiromi. “It’s hard to explain in words how I write music, but it almost always involves some kind of image in my mind. All of my songs are visual in one way or another.”

“Take the Coltrane” is a sly sounding duet between Clarke and White. “When I hear that tune, what I hear is brotherhood – the brotherhood that has developed over the years between Lenny and me. There are little musical subtleties that can only happen between the two of us…I really get a kick out of playing with Lenny. He’s probably my favorite drummer to play with.”

Also on the nostalgic side is “Isotope,” a tune that Clarke and White played with Joe Henderson in the early days. “I grew up with this tune,” says Clarke. “It was part of my youth. So when I hear it, I think of the early ‘70s and the years I spent with the great Joe Henderson. I was going for that same feel. Whenever I play that tune – or even just hear it – I’m always thinking of Joe.”

“Global Tweak,” a playful and melodic duet between Clarke and Hiromi, is exactly what the title suggests. “We both just sat down and tried to tweak each other musically,” says Clarke. “It was total improvisation. We both really enjoyed this.” Jazz critic Don Heckman points out in his liner notes the beauty of two seemingly disparate perspectives converging so perfectly in a single improvised moment of music: “How fascinating it is to hear these two gifted players – thousands of miles separated by culture, decades different in age – come together in such complete, on-the-spot musical understanding and companionship.”

“Under the Bridge,” a 1991 hit by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is rearranged here by Hiromi for jazz trio – not as big a leap as it might seem, she notes. “I don’t know how to differentiate jazz from rock,” she says. “It’s so hard for me. When a melody is good, it’s just good. I brought this song up because Stanley and Lenny wanted something that wasn’t a jazz standard, and yet it works so well with the rest of the record.”

In many ways, Jazz in the Garden is Stanley Clarke’s way of reconnecting with a time much earlier in his career before his plunge into electric jazz – a time when he earned his stripes playing acoustic bass with some of the most enduring names in the annals of jazz. “There are times when you want to revisit the things that really established the foundation in your life,” he says. “I spent many, many years studying acoustic bass, and many years playing in New York after I left Philadelphia in the late ‘60s. I played with everyone who was there at the time. It was a long time ago, but all that stuff from that period is what made me who I am. This record is my way of reconnecting with that time and that music.”

Stanley Clarke Trio with Hiromi Uehara & Lenny White
Oct 09-Oct 11, 2009
Friday and Saturday 8pm & 10pm shows $32
Sunday 2pm Kids Matinee show
$5 Kids, $18 Adult (with kids), $28 Adult (general)
Sunday 7pm show $32

The Bad Plus Comes to Yoshi's

For the better part of a decade, the progressive jazz trio known as The Bad Plus have been stirring up a musical stew that defies easy description. Drawing on sources as diverse as classical, jazz, rock, pop and beyond, they have created a singular aesthetic that forces even the most skeptical listener to rethink the commonly held notions of what differentiates one style of music from another. Their most recent effort features alt-rock vocalist Wendy Lewis on the critically acclaimed "For All I Care". On Friday, The Bad Plus will begin a three night stand at Yoshi's on Fillmore.

Following the release of Prog, described by Billboard as "easily the most likable and listenable jazz album of 2007," the trio wanted to try some new ideas and broaden their musical concept. To that end, bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King took a giant step forward last February with the release of "For All I Care" (HUCD 3148) on Heads Up International. Simultaneously, Heads Up will released a limited-edition 180-gram double-LP (HULP 8148) including two bonus tracks - a cover of U2's "New Year's Day" and an original piece by Anderson entitled "You And I Is A Comfort Zone."

A mix of highly familiar rock and pop pieces alongside some not-so-familiar 20 th century classical compositions, For All I Care represents the band's egalitarian approach to all forms of music, regardless of source, genre or style. To their way of thinking, quality and integrity can be found at any point along the continuum.

"The 20th century is filled with music by great composers, but it's a mistake to assume that all of those composers are limited to classical or jazz or other types of music that are commonly considered to be 'high art,'" says Iverson. "There were rock and pop songwriters of that same period whose work was just as significant as the work of the classical composers. They're all part of a continuum of great music, and as such, they're all worthy of recognition and respect. That's what this record is about - recognizing the value of every aspect of 20 th century music, regardless of the genres in which their composers specialized."

The album also marks the first Bad Plus recording to include a guest vocalist as the fourth instrument in its sonic arsenal. Wendy Lewis, a longtime associate of The Plus and a fixture in the Minneapolis alt rock scene, steps in and takes the trio's ongoing experimental ride to a new level of exploration and sophistication.

But For All I Care is more than just an album pairing a singer with a backing band. The recording is inspired in part by the collaborative recording by John Coltrane and vocalist Johnny Hartman, released in 1963. "Coltrane's quartet had already developed a group language, and then they enlisted this incredible singer without changing the language of the band," says King. "In that same sense, this is still very much a Bad Plus record. We just happen to have a great singer singing the songs with us."

In the midst of The Bad Plus' characteristically unconventional approach, Lewis strove to avoid theatrics and let the lyrics and melodies speak for themselves. Paradoxically, her sense of understatement is in fact a solid addition to the band's sound. "I've really kept it sort of simple and straightforward," says Lewis. "I can do the vocal gymnastics, but for this project, I chose to just sing the songs. We're all improvisers in our own way, but I've always been a fan of Frank Sinatra, because he just sings the song. There's something about that approach to this record that just felt right. I just let the melodies be what they are. I didn't have to mess with them to make them exciting."

The set opens with an elastic and surreal version of Kurt Cobain's "Lithium," a song made famous during the brief but monumental reign of Nirvana as the vanguard of the grunge movement rooted in the Pacific Northwest. The inherently off-balance sensibility of the original song is ratcheted up dramatically by a tempo that seems to tilt and list like a ship on rough waters (for those who are counting as they listen, the track actually adheres to an odd but consistent time signature, says Lewis).

Other offerings from the rock and pop canon include equally offbeat versions of songs by artists as diverse as Pink Floyd ("Comfortably Numb"), Yes ("Long Distance Runaround"), the Bee Gees ("How Deep is Your Love") and Heart ("Barracuda"). Juxtaposed with these are a number of 20 th century classical pieces by an equally varied list of composers including Györgi Ligeti, Milton Babbitt and Igor Stravinsky.

The Stravinsky piece, "Variation d'Apollon," entered The Bad Plus' collective consciousness many years ago by way of Anderson's telephone answering machine. "I called him once and left him a message," says Iverson, "and when I talked to him later I said, 'Man, what's that great music on your answering machine?' He told me what it was, and I got the music and I learned it. We talked about it over the years until finally we decided it was time to put up or shut up. The same is true of all the classical pieces on this recording. They're all pieces that we've all had emotional responses to in the moment, to the point where we said, 'Well, let's just do this.'"

Even after the final mastering, manufacturing and release, For All I Care is still very much a work in progress. The songs were recorded in April 2008, then played live less than a half-dozen times prior to the release of the album. "On all the other records we've made, the music had been road tested for a long time," says Anderson. "In this case, we didn't have that opportunity, and we also just wanted to change the process anyway. So we worked out the arrangements and we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to do before we started recording, but it's all still pretty fresh and raw. All the songs are almost as new to us as they are to anybody listening to them."

The philosophy behind the album is cleverly implied in its title. While For All I Care may sound like an expression of apathy, it is anything but. The phrase is lifted from Cobain's "Lithium," but in the context of this recording, the overriding message is that The Bad Plus - collectively and as individuals - embraces and appreciates all forms of music, enough to showcase any and all of them in a single recording.

"We really care about classical music, and we also care about the more improvisational forms like rock, pop and jazz," says Iverson. "I believe that we can pay composers like Ligeti and Stravinsky and Babbitt the respect they deserve, and we can also recognize composers like Kurt Cobain and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and David Gilmour as poets at the same time."

In the end, The Bad Plus seeks to level the playing field. "We're not going to treat one kind of music like high art and another like disposable entertainment," says King. "We consider the whole spectrum to be worthy of our detailed attention and worthy of the same respect."

The Bad Plus
Yoshi's San Francisco
Sep 11-Sep 13, 2009
Friday 8pm $21 & 10pm $16
Saturday 8pm & 10pm $21 


Sunday 2pm kids matinee show
$5 kids, $18 Adults


Sunday 7pm show $21

Bill Bruford's "The Autobiography"

Bill Bruford is no doubt one of the most influential percussionists England has ever produced. His work with the progressive rock groups Yes, King Crimson, Genesis and Gong are the stuff of legend. His love of jazz and his admirable forays into that realm with his group Earthworks and later, with pianist Michiel Bortslap have earned the kudos he so richly deserved. Bruford retired from public performance this year, to tend his massive catalogue, garden and spend time with his wife. We will miss seeing him live, but no one can blame him. His career has been one virtually any drummer would kill for, and in his wake he has left another gem, "Bill Bruford, the Autobiography". This fascinating, poignant and yet bittersweet tome recounts his journey as only he could tell it, and answers many of the things you may have wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. The historic era which gave rise to Britain's progressive music scene, the rise and fall of the world of music as we know it today, through the eyes of one who has truly seen it all, and then some.

I've been extremely fortunate to have seen most of Bruford's American performances; from King Crimson in '73, to his shows at the Iridium in New York in '07, a span of over thirty years, so many of the stories and groups he writes about were very familiar to me. That being said, Bruford's tale will speak volumes to those wanting a deeper understanding of how he came to be a true musical pioneer.

From his humble beginnings in England's Sevenoaks, Bruford recounts obtaining a pair of brushes from his sister and before long applying them to a sheet of cardboard. Soon he found himself in possession of a "red sparkle" drum set and a legend was born. Bruford was also fortunate to have grown up in England during the era of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Cream and of course, the Beatles. Harrowing tales of late night drives for "last orders" after gigs; his contempt for the egos and the cardinal sin of keeping other musicians waiting; crafty and larcenous managers are all detailed and hilariously well documented.

Bruford's success with Yes would propel him and his fellow bandmates into the limelight; his departure following their painfully made, but extremely successful album "Close to Edge", found him in the headlines once again. Not for joining the incredible King Crimson, but for leaving Yes at its height. Nevertheless, Bruford's pairing with the enigmatic Robert Fripp would lead him down a path of innovation, exploration and acclaim for the next several years.

Following King Crimson's "disbandment" in '74, Bruford found himself in a journeyman's role with several of the well known prog-rock groups of the day; the French/Anglo group Gong and following Peter Gabriel's departure, he shared the drum duties with Phil Collins in Genesis. These adventures and others, led him to co-found "UK" with Alan Holdsworth of Soft Machine, Eddie Jobson of Roxy Music and former Crimso bandmate John Wetton. UK was ahead of its time and its greatest strength was perhaps also its biggest weakness. Bruford recounts this period in vivid and insightful detail. I managed to catch this one of a kind combo at Painter's Mill, Maryland in '78, opening for Al Dimeola in a truly unforgettable performance.

Sadly, UK with Bruford was not to survive, "too much, too soon, too heady", Bruford recalled. Not one to be daunted, Bruford soldiered on with Dave Stewart, (not the bloke from the Eurythmics), bassist Jeff Berlin and Holdsworth in a combo under his own name. Those of us who recalled seeing Holdsworth briefly with UK and with the late Tony Williams were thrilled with his efforts on Bruford's first two solo efforts, particularly "One of a Kind". Holdsworth didn't tour with this combo, however Bruford fills us in on the history of Holdsworth's subsequent replacement, the "unknown John Clark".

The 1980's saw Bruford return to the "bed of nails" he calls King Crimson, this time with the phenomenal; bassist/Chapman Stick player Tony Levin and fresh from Frank Zappa and the Talking Heads, guitarist Adrian Belew. Like many, I was a huge fan of this particular incarnation of King Crimson. Bruford's pioneering use of the electronic Simmons Drums and roto-toms gave the drumming world an "almighty clattering sound" that still stands the test of time. Some of the Bruford's most revealing passages are among this chapter and makes for riveting reading.

One of the things I most enjoyed about this book, (being a self admitted Bruford fan), was the back story on so many of his sessions during that era. One of my favorite pieces, is a tune entitled "Calliope" from Al Dimeola's album "Scenario". This rare gem features Bruford, Levin, and Jan Hammer. Recorded at Caribou Ranch during the newer Crimso era, Bruford reveals an amazing story about how that song was made that had me laughing out loud. There are many others like that, many sessions I've always wondered about. Bruford answers those mysteries and more; Kazumi Watanabe; Jamaladeen Tacuma; The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam; Ikira Inoue and his sessions with David Torn. I'm surprised he didn't mention the session King Crimson did with the Roches on "Keep on Doin' What You Do" several years ago. On second thought, it wasn't much of a session, but it's one of the best Roches songs I've ever heard, even if Bruford is only playing bells and a tamborine.

With King Crimson on continual hiatus or Fripp adding a "double trio", Bruford surprised everyone again by creating his forward thinking jazz ensemble Earthworks. I was mesmerized by this group when they first appeared in '87. Bruford's blend of electronic percussion, "chordal drums" and samples alongside Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Mick Hutton was breathtaking. The inside story of the creation and rebirth of Earthworks will leave you astounded and Bruford's candid retelling is one of the best in the book.

Bruford's long love affair with electronic drumming would soon come to an end, culminating in an unforgiving computer crash/meltdown at a Yes "Reunion" show in New York, (a tour Bruford rightly and ruefully recounts). Bruford once told me, "Everything is designed to go bad." With his electronic days behind him, Bruford remade Earthworks as an all-acoustic line-up in the mid '90s, complete with his timpani-style drum set-up. If had thought that the electronic version was going to be tough to match, I was mistaken. The gorgeous piano playing and writing of Steve Hamilton/Gwlym Simcock, the saxes of Patrick Clahar/Tim Garland, and the bases of Mark Hodgson/Lawrence Cottle, coupled with some of the best writing Bruford has ever done, made Earthworks Mark II and III one of the best jazz ensembles of our time. His musical "conversations" with Dutch pianist Michiel Bortslap were equally enjoyable and I was fortune to catch their performance at the Bath International Music Festival in '07. Those performances were recorded live and were the basis for their third effort together, "In Two Minds".

There are many, many more stories in this well written tome; his dedicated wife Carolyn; the creation of his album "If Summer Had It's Ghosts" with Ralph Towner and Eddie Gomez, but perhaps the most telling is Bruford's assessment of the modern music machine. Having experienced the industry as perhaps no one else has, Bruford's unique perspective on the good, bad and ugly business of the profession we call music is perhaps the most telling. Gone are the days when you and your chums could pack off to a gig and seek your fortune in the heady new era of rock and roll. These days, where anyone and everyone can make records in their bedroom, has changed all that and not necessarily for the better. We now live in a world where MP3s, DVDs, DJs and laptops seem to rule the day. Jazz it seems, is too often guarded by the retro-driven. There is simply too much music out there and not all, if not most of it, is much good. The culture of youthful marketing and the competition for your listening pleasure and the almighty Euro/Dollar continues to grow.

Too often, the greats stay too long in an attempt to reach the heights again. Bruford, like the wise champion who has scaled every height, has decided to leave the game on his own terms. That's something he has become famous for and it's how he'll no doubt be remembered. Bruford isn't dead, far from it. This fall he'll be releasing a much anticipated album with England's "Piano Circus". If you haven't seen them, imagine six stellar pianists arrayed in a circle, place the enigmatic Bruford in the middle, shaken, not stirred. The result will be just as you might imagine from a musician that in this writer's opinion rarely, if ever disappoints.

Kudos to Bruford for this informative, personal and moving autobiography. There is no doubt, he will continue to roll.

Guitarist Les Paul, 1915-2009

"Les Paul, the guitar virtuoso and inventor who revolutionized music and created rock 'n' roll as surely as Elvis Presley and the Beatles by developing the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording, died Thursday at age 94", wrote Nekesa Mumbi Moody of the Associated Press. One of the world's best known guitarists and innovators is gone. From Robert Fripp, to Jerry Garcia and Al Dimeola, Paul created guitars that would influence the entire planet for generations.

"Les Paul, the guitar virtuoso and inventor who revolutionized music and created rock 'n' roll as surely as Elvis Presley and the Beatles by developing the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording, died Thursday at age 94", wrote Nekesa Mumbi Moody of the Associated Press. One of the world's best known guitarists and innovators is gone. From Robert Fripp, to Jerry Garcia and Al Dimeola, Paul created guitars that would influence the entire planet for generations.

Moody continued, "Known for his lightning-fast riffs, Paul performed with some of early pop's biggest names and produced a slew of hits, many with wife Mary Ford. But it was his inventive streak that made him universally revered by guitar gods as their original ancestor and earned his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the most important forces in popular music.

Paul, who died in White Plains, N.Y., of complications from pneumonia, was a tireless tinkerer, whose quest for a particular sound led him to create the first solid-body electric guitar, a departure from the hollow-body guitars of the time. His invention paved the way for modern rock 'n' roll and became the standard instrument for legends like Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.

He also developed technology that would become hallmarks of rock and pop recordings, from multitrack recording that allowed for layers and layers of "overdubs" to guitar reverb and other sound effects.

"He was truly the cornerstone of popular music," said Henry Juskiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, which mass produced Paul's original invention. "He was a futurist, and unlike some futurists who write about it and predict things, he was a guy who actually did things."

Paul remained an active performer until his last months: He put out his very first rock album just four years ago, and up until recently played every week at a New York jazz club.

The news of his death prompted an outpouring of tributes from the music world.

"Les lived a very long life and he got to a lot of his goals, so I'm happy for him in that respect. ... At least he realized that he was a legend in his own time while he was alive," said Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi's guitarist and a friend of Paul's, on Thursday. "He was revolutionary in the music business."

Youssou N'Dour's "I Bring What I Love"

'I Bring What I Love: Youssou Ndour,' is an award-winning music-infused cinematic journey about the power of one man’s voice to inspire change. Ndour is the highest selling African artist of all time and has collaborated with musical superstars like Bono, Neneh Cherry and Peter Gabriel. At home in Senegal, the Grammy-award winning artist is an inspiration for generations. The film chronicles Ndour, a devout Sufi Muslim, as he releases a deeply personal and religious album called Egypt in the hope of promoting a more tolerant face of Islam. Almost instantly, his fellow Senegalese reject the album, and denounce his actions as blasphemous. Director Chai Vasarhelyi follows Ndour for over two years – filming in Africa, Europe, and America – to tell the story of how he faces these challenges and eventually wins over audiences both at home and abroad.

Nathan Southern of the All Movie Guide wrote, "As one of two major documentaries on hotly debated Senegalese world musician Youssou N'Dour to emerge within a year of one another (see also Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gorée), this particular chronicle was produced and shot over a period of several years. Helmed by director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, it witnesses the evolution and production of N'Dour's June 2004 album {^Egypt}, on the Nonesuch label -- the recording that details N'Dour fully expressing his newfound Muslim faith.

A veritable bedrock of controversy, the album courted objections from multiple countries: Americans objected because of their post-9/11 tendencies to attribute Islam to violent extremism; Senegalese DJs and radio-station proprietors objected given the odd discomfiture associated with playing religious music about Allah alongside often-racy selections by other acts. Even more significantly, N'Dour inadvertently carried this controversy a step further by performing live during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- thus infuriating Senegalese religious conservatives. The film witnesses N'Dour confronting these challenges head-on and, incredibly, surmounting them with great ease and finesse."

I'm a huge fan of Youssou and if you haven't had the chance to see him back in the day with Peter Gabriel, or on his own, then see this incredible film.

SAN FRANCISCO
Regal Stonestown - Held over
501 Buckingham Way
Daily Show Times: 1:00 4:00 7:00pm 10:00pm

Roxie Theater - Opening Friday, August 7th
3117 16th Street
http://www.roxie.com/
Daily Show Time: 9:40pm

EL CERRITO, CA - Opening Friday, August 7th
Cerrito Rialto Cinemas
Daily: 2:00, 7:00pm

8th Annual Outsound New Music Summit

Outsound Presents, the newly-minted nonprofit arts organization grown from the Bay-Area based DIY collective of local musicians and sound artists, is pleased to announce the line-up for the 8th Annual Outsound New Music Summit. "We're celebrating our intrepid hope for the arts with a fierce roster of talent", says Rent Romus, Outsounds founder and Executive Director. Despite a threatening economy for the arts, Romus reports that the choice to incorporate and continue with the summer festival was born of bold intention. It's not the first time we've been warned about our ambitions, but after a decade of supporting raw, alternative music for the rebellious soul, we knew that it was time to institutionalize our support of experimental artists and audiences, now more than ever. The festival seeks to build on its reputation for diverse and critically-acclaimed performances with headliners that run the gamut from Bonfire Madigan to the ROVA Saxophone Quartet to Richard Waters.

The 2009 Summit takes place in July at the San Francisco Community Music Center, the Summit's home for the past two years. The festival schedule includes free hands-on workshops, pre-concert artist talks, and four nights of music featuring a diverse roster of artists. The schedule includes a world premiere of the new collaboration between Waterphone inventor Richard Waters and filmmaker-musician David Michalak's ensemble Ghost in the House. There will be new ensembles led by legendary reed player Vinny Golia and the long-awaited return of the collaboration of ancient Japanese instruments and electronics from The Natto Quartet. The program includes a night of intermedia with composer, playwright and conceptual artist Jess Rowland, and internationally-exhibited media cartographers (and Artist Television Access leaders) Kathleen Quillian and Gilbert Guerrero.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Sunday July 19: Touch the Gear
Ever wanted a closer look at the gear on stage? Wish you could try it yourself? Touch the Gear is Outsounds free public event that allows audiences to roam among the artists and their sonic inventions, asking questions, making noise and learning how these often one-of-a-kind set-ups work. Its a hands-on, family-friendly environment that demystifies the technology while inspiring the creativity.

Wednesday July 22: Free Improvisation | Free Composition
a night of legendary artists who straddle the line between composed and improvised works, featuring Alicia Mangan & Spirit, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and Vinny Golia with Thollem Mcdonas, Rent Romus, Damon Smith, Garth Powell, and Noah Phillips

Thursday July 23: Industrial Soundscapes
a night of uninhibited electronics and noise from Los Angeles and San Francisco featuring Forms of Things Unknown, Peter Kolovos,Conure, Hans Fjellestad, and Thomas Dimuzio

Friday July 24: InterMedia
a night of performances infused by theater, movement and media arts with Jess Rowland, The Dreamland Puppet Theater, Kathleen Quillian & Gilbert Guererro and Bonfire Madigan

Saturday July 25: Introspection & Improvisation
a night of deep listening and long notes with The Natto Quartet with Phillip Gelb, Shoko Hikage, Tim Perkis, and Chris Brown, Ghost In the House featuring grandmaster inventor Richard Waters with David Michalak, Karen Stackpole, Kyle Bruckmann, and Tom Nunn and the ten piece Left Coast Improv Group.

The Outsound Music Summit
From July 19, 2009 7:00 PM
Through July 25, 2009 7:15 PM

San Francisco Community Music Center
544 Capp Street, San Franicsco, CA

Tickets $10.00
All ages welcome. Wheelchair accessible.
General seating.
http://www.outsound.org/summit/

Sky "Sunlight" Saxon of The Seeds, 1937-2009

2009 has not been a good year for great musicians. We have seen a lot of them pass recently; Michael Jackson, Bob Bogle, Koko Taylor, the list goes on. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge another great, and a man considered to be the father of the garage band genre. Sky "Sunlight" Saxon, died on June 25th after a brief illness in Austin, Texas. Saxon, born Richard Marsh, recently collaborated with the Smashing Pumpkins last year and was scheduled to perform as part of the California '66 Revue in August. The Seeds' hits include "Pushin' Too Hard" and "Can't Seem to Make You Mine." Saxon and the Seeds were considered the pioneers of the "Flower Power/Punk" movement and their psychedelic sounds were something that would shape generations of musicians to come.

In 1965, Saxon formed the Seeds, arguably the city's finest punk/garage group, which later evolved into a psychedelic, flower-power attraction. Saxon and guitarist Jan Savage first formed the group with keyboardist Daryl Hooper and drummer Rick Andridge. By the end of 1966, they had secured a contract with GNP Crescendo, releasing "Pushin' Too Hard" as their first single. The song climbed into the Top 40 early in 1967, and the group immediately released two more singles, "Mr. Farmer" and "Can't Seem to Make You Mine." In an attempt to replicate their success, the latter just missed being in the Top 40.

Best known for their rock & roll standard "Pushin' Too Hard," the Seeds combined the raw, Stonesy appeal of garage rock with a fondness for ragged, trashy psychedelia. The band continued to record for the remainder of the '60s, eventually delving deep into post- Sgt. Pepper's psychedelia and art rock. As the April 1967 cover of Teen Scene said, "Flower Power has arrived."

While their singles were garage punk, the Seeds attempted to branch out into improvisational blues-rock and psychedelia on their first two albums, "The Seeds" (1966) and "Web of Sound" (1966). With their third album, "Future" (1967), the band attempted a psychedelic concept album in the vein of Sgt. Pepper's. The record reached the Top 100 and spawned the hit "A Thousand Shadows." Two other albums followed: "Raw & Alive: The Seeds in Concert at Merlin's Music Box" (1968) and "A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues" (1969), which was credited to the Sky Saxon Blues Band.

During the early '70s, Saxon led a number of bands before joining The Source Family, retreating from society and eventually moving to Hawaii. Saxon became Sky "Sunlight" Saxon upon joining the Source Family, and he began an intense spiritual journey that included music with Father Yod, creating and leading a few family bands including the most famous and cult favorite, YaHoWha. A collection of rarities and alternate takes, "Fallin' off the Edge", was released in 1977.

Saxon, who had not produced any new albums since 1978, returned on the U.K. Psycho label in 1984 with "Starry Ride", which featured support from Steppenwolf's Mars Bonfire (composer of "Born to Be Wild"), as well as formermembers of Iron Butterfly and Fraternity of Man. The Saxon/Bonfire collaboration reached full fruition in the group Firewall, who debuted with the album "A Groovy Thing" in 1986 (Destiny's Children features the same songs in a different order).

Firewall featured guest appearances from members of such California neo-psychedelic bands as the Dream Syndicate, the Plimsouls, the Droogs, and Yard Trauma, demonstrating Saxon's enduring influence and appeal, particularly among that set of musicians. That same year, Saxon recorded a largely unrehearsed live album with his Purple Electricity band, a project featuring members of Redd Kross and the Primates, entitled "Private Party". Firewall returned in 1988 with "In Search of Brighter Colors", which was released in the U.S. as "World Fantastic", with several rare '80s cuts replacing the former version's tracks.

The 1990's found Saxon married and settling down for a while but he, with the help of his wife at the time, Marianna DaPello, released an early pre-Seeds album of doo-wop music called, "A Starlight Date", that Saxon did under the name, Richie Marsh. He also released an album called "Golden Vaults". The biggest accomplishment of the 90's was contracting with Captain Trip in Japan to release an amazing YaHoWha collection of music in a beautiful wood box called "God and Hair", which also included three albums of Sky Sunlight Saxon music. It was also during this time that Saxon worked with his friend Ken Dembinski a.k.a. Kenny Roland in Mount Shasta on an album released as "Tyrants in the House".

In 2002, The Seeds reformed and hit Europe and the U.S. three tours in the mid-2000's. In 2004, The Seeds recorded the "Red Planet" album with The Seeds newest lineup at the time: Sky Sunlight Saxon as lead vocalist, drummer Dave Klein, keyboardist Mark Bellgraph and bassist Rik Collins. The Seeds returned to Europe again in 2006 and Saxon left there with two albums under his belt - "Transparency" with Sky Sunlight Saxon and "Lighter" out of Great Britain, released by Jungle Records and "Atlantic Rising" out of Greece.

In 2007, The Seeds lineup changed for the Goodstock Festival and became lovingly known as the Goodstock Seeds with Sky Sunlight Saxon as lead vocalist, lead guitarist and vocalist Jimmy Valentine, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Sean M'Lady, bassist Dave Waller, drummer Tommy Gunn, and harpist Christopher Robin.

That lineup of The Seeds consisted of amazing veteran musicians including Saxon as lead vocalist, drummer Gary Stern, bassist Don Bolles, keyboardist Geoff Brandin, lead guitarist Atomic, and rhythm guitarist Kevin Dippold. Long-time friend Justino also joined Stern on drums. Justino was also the drummer for Sky's band, King Arthur's Court. Saxon also had a solo career as Sky Sunlight Saxon and the Psychedelic Experience, with various musicians backing him as he continued to tour and play as many gigs as he could.

On June 7th, 2007 Saxon married Sabrina Smith on a bandstand at a Summer of Love party in Lagunitas, California and she became his business manager and co-partner. With Suzanne Graeber starting the process of an amazing album released in 2008 as "King of Garage Rock" by Cleopatra Records, Smith helped facilitate the release of this amazing album. King of Garage Rock shows Saxon going back to his roots and performing his favorite hits from the 1960's.

Danny B. Harvey and Clem Burke produced this album with an amazing line-up of musicians backing Sky including guitarist Danny B. Harvey, keyboardist Don Randi, bassist Trent Stroh and drummer Clem Burke. The album was engineered by Gilby Clarke and Danny B. Harvey at Redrum Studios, S.I.R., and Bedworth Studios. A look at the current indie rock tree of life, from The Vines to Brandon Flowers, finds traces of what Sky Saxon and The Seeds planted in the fertile of the 1960's.

"Back To The Garden" was one of the last releases for Saxon The Seeds, and includes many songs that he co-wrote with long-time friend, Mike Oak. In November, December 2008 and January 2009, Saxon was in Europe, touring from November 14 - December 14 and followed by various recording sessions with various bands in Germany including Vibravoid.

It's been said that Sky "Sunlight" Saxon lived to perform and record his music and for that, we are indeed, eternally grateful. The "Flower Power/Flower Punk/Garage" movement, was truly reaped, plowed and sown by the inimitable Sky Saxon and The Seeds. We will certainly miss him.

Bob Bogle of The Ventures, 1934-2009

Growing up, one of my favorite instrumental groups was the Seattle based combo, "The Ventures". I'll never forget my first album, "Hawaii Five-0" and their "10th Anniversary" double record set in 1970. Bob Bogle, lead guitarist and co-founder of The Ventures with Don Wilson, were known for 1960's instrumental hits including "Walk, Don't Run." Bogle died this week at age 75. The Ventures sold millions of albums and heavily influenced a generation of rock guitarists and in 2008, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall's website hailed The Ventures as "the most successful instrumental combo in rock and roll history." "Walk, Don't Run" reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1960, and a revised version, "Walk, Don't Run '64," reached No. 8 in 1964. Among the band's other hits were "Perfidia" and the theme from "Hawaii Five-O."

The band first got its start in 1958 in Tacoma. A native of Wagoner, Oklahoma, Bogle was working as a bricklayer when he walked into a Seattle used-car lot where Wilson was a salesman. “I said, ‘Can you get me a job?’ ’’ Wilson recalled. “I was working on commission, and I wasn’t doing very well and wanted a weekly paying job.’’ Wilson quit the car lot to work as a hod carrier. They discovered that they both had once owned guitars and could play a few chords. They bought guitars at a pawnshop and while learning how to play, began entering talent contests together. After four or five talent shows, they started winning with Bogle initially playing lead and bass and Wilson played rhythm guitar. They were soon joined by Nokie Edwards, another guitarist, and drummer Howie Johnson, later replaced by Mel Taylor. "Our aspirations were to pick up nothing heavier than a guitar," Wilson said last year. "But it just mushroomed into something where we became internationally known."

The Ventures were particularly popular in Japan, where Wilson and Bogle played as a duo during their first tour in 1962 because the promoter couldn't afford to pay the other two band members. The two Americans made such an impression, Wilson recalled last year, that when the band came back in 1964, "there were 6,000 people at the airport." He said he didn't realize at first the Japanese fans were there to see The Ventures.

Needing a permanent drummer for the group, they hired Howie Johnson, and, in the midst of a fast-paced touring schedule, they recorded an album to capitalize on the success of the single. The lineup of Bogle, Wilson, Edwards and Johnson remained intact until 1962. The group found early success with a string of singles, but would quickly become leaders in the album market. The Ventures were one of the pioneers of the early concept album idea, where, starting with 1961's The Colorful Ventures, each song on their albums was chosen to fit a specific theme. Some of the Ventures' most popular albums at the time were a series of records of dance music.

Later in '62, Johnson was injured in an auto crash, which caused irreversible spinal damage. On doctor's orders, he quit the band. Bogle and Wilson already knew Mel Taylor, house drummer at The Palomino in North Hollywood (the venue where they would play numerous shows during their resurgence in the 1980s). Taylor had performed as drummer on the Bobby "Boris" Pickett hit "Monster Mash", The Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" and "The Lonely Bull" by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass. Taylor was known for a very aggressive, hard-hitting style of drumming. They invited him to some recording sessions, which led to him becoming a permanent member of the Ventures.

The combination of Edwards on lead guitar, Taylor on drums, Bogle on bass and Wilson on rhythm guitar created what many fans felt were The Ventures at their very best. This lineup remained unchanged until Edwards left the band in 1968, to be replaced by Gerry McGee. Edwards came back in 1973 and remained with them until 1984, although he has toured and gigged with them dozens of times in the subsequent years. Edwards' replacement in 1984 was, once again, Gerry McGee. Drummer Mel Taylor remained with The Ventures until cancer took his life in 1996. His spot has since been filled by his son, Leon Taylor. (Original drummer Howie Johnson had died in 1988).

Their commercial fortunes in the US declined sharply in the early 1970s due to changing musical trends. In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, a resurgence of interest in surf music led to some in the punk/new wave audience rediscovering the band. The Go-Go's wrote "Surfin' And Spyin'" and dedicated it to The Ventures. The Ventures recorded their own version and continue to occasionally perform the song. Their career was given another rejuvenating shot in the arm by Quentin Tarantino's use of The Lively Ones' version of Nokie Edwards' "Surf Rider" and several other classic surf songs in the soundtrack of the hit movie Pulp Fiction.

The Ventures became one of the most popular groups worldwide thanks in large part to their instrumental approach—there were no language barriers to overcome. The Ventures are still the most popular American rock group in Japan, the world's second largest record market. One oft-quoted statistic is that the Ventures outsold The Beatles 2-to-1 in Japan. They produced dozens of albums exclusively for the Japanese and European markets, and have regularly toured Japan from the 1960s through to the present. According to a January 1966 Billboard Magazine article, The Ventures had five of 1965's top 10 singles in Japan. A recent Japanese pop music poll listed "Ginza Lights" as the most popular song of all time; it was composed and recorded for their 1966 LP Go With The Ventures.

In March 2008, The Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with John Fogerty as their presenter. In attendance were original members Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards, late 1960s member John Durrill, current guitarist Bob Spalding, and current drummer Leon Taylor who, along with Mel Taylor's widow, Fiona, accepted on behalf of The Ventures late drummer. Bob Bogle and Gerry McGee were unable to attend the ceremony. Fiona Taylor gave special mention to her husband's predecessor drummers Skip Moore and Howie Johnson. The Ventures performed their biggest hits, "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-0", augmented on the latter by Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame musical director Paul Shaffer and his band.

Bogle was one of the most influential guitarists of our generation. His legacy and the music of The Ventures will surely live forever.

Remembering Koko Taylor, 1928-2009

In 2001, I had the privilege of working with the incredible, incomparable Koko Taylor at the State Theater, just outside Washington, DC. Koko arrived for sound check right on time and I graciously invited her upstairs to the theater's modern "green room". Koko took one look at the two flights of stairs and said, "Oh no baby, I can't go up and down those all night." Faced with a "MacGyver moment", I quickly fashioned an all new "green room" just off stage, with comfy chairs, a Japanese screen for privacy and a wardrobe rack for her change of clothes. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about baby", she said. "You gonna take care of Koko tonight baby?", she asked. "Trust me Koko, a dash of digital delay and a spoonful of reverb and you'll be good to go", I told her. Dressed and ready to go, Koko thanked me, took the stage and proved she could still bring it with the best of them. Sadly, Grammy award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, aged 80, died yesterday in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19th surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. I hope heaven is ready for "the one, the only, "Ko-ko Tay-lor!!!"

On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.”

In Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become Taylor’s signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. National touring in the late 1960s and early 1970s also improved her fan base, and she became even more accessible to a wider record-buying public after signing with Alligator. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, 8 of which were Grammy-nominated), and come to dominate the female blues singer ranks, winning twenty five W. C. Handy Awards (more than any other artist). After her recovery from a near-fatal car crash in 1989, the 1990s found Taylor in films such as Blues Brothers 2000, and she opened a blues club on Division Street in Chicago in 1994, but it closed in 1999.

Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, CBS-TV’s This Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.

Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Taylor influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago in Country Club Hills, Illinois.

Taylor’s final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

Survivors include Taylor’s husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren.

We are going to miss you Koko.

Kelli Rudick Comes to Amnesia in the Mission

Each week, I get a ton of email about music, films, theater and gallery openings. So many in fact, I can't possibly read them all. Once in a while however, I'll get one that intrigues me and just I have to delve deeper. This week, it's the NYC Experimental/Neo Classical artist Kelli Rudick. I'm always amazed by women who are phenomenal instrumentalists and after watching her You Tube videos, Kelli proved she is the real deal. I must credit Adam Baer for sending me the following info on Kelli, who will be playing new material as well as works from her first album at upcoming live performances across the US this Spring and here in San Francisco, where she will headline a stellar line-up of thoughtfully virtuosic musicians at Amnesia in the Mission on June 11th.

Ahead of the curve of New York's burgeoning multi-genre intermix, Kelli's show will feature her virtuosic, complex and inimitable solo guitar work, as well as a one woman sonic immersion created with guitars, loop station, array mbira, and nail violin. The indie / neo-classical artist has played shows across the country, including New York's the Knitting Factory, Blue Note and Joe's Pub; LA's Hotel Cafe; Seattle's Triple Door; and San Francisco's Cafe Du Nord. She recently completed her second US tour as well as an appearance at the Mother Music Festival in Tel Aviv. Kelli returns to California for engagements in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

In her ex-industrial Brooklyn loft strewn with guitars and all manner of odd instruments, Kelli creates beautifully crafted and intensely driven compositions. Born in the states but raised in Israel, she spent endless hours playing in the echoing sound of the bomb shelter just outside the family’s house on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. After fulfilling her mandatory military service, Kelli moved back to the US and worked to create alternate playing styles through inventive fingerwork and variant tunings, creating a unique and inimitable musical style. In Brooklyn Kelli continued to develop her unusually powerful and expressive techniques. Using every timbre the instrument has to offer by slapping, tapping, bending, restringing and de-tuning, she causes the instrument to morph and transcend possibility in her hands.

In 2007 Kelli released ‘No One Knows You’re Foreign’, a distinctive work introducing her unique way of accentuating emotionally complex compositions by drawing percussive rhythms from the fretboard and body of the guitar while coaxing chordal melodies and harmonics from the strings. The cumulative effect of this soundscape reveals transcendently beautiful dimensions in an anomolous approach to guitarwork. Live shows in support of this record include intricately crafted arrangements for solo guitar as well as looping beats, bass lines and string driven sound progressions, creating captivating atmospheres though multi-layered melodic structures.

Kelli has collaborated with notable artists including Nick Zammuto of the aleatoric electro-folk duo The Books, Alon Leventon of the project Drops of Conciousness and the electro-indie group Zigmat, and recorded and toured with internationally acclaimed guitarist Kaki King. She’s scored music for Queer Eye For The Straight Girl, Showtime’s hit series ‘The L Word’, and the independent films ‘A Night in the Sunlight’ and 'Absolutely I Do'. Kelli has toured throughout the United States and Europe, and has played extensively in her adopted hometown including shows on the main stage of The Knitting Factory, Galapagos, the Cutting Room, a month-long residency at the Living Room, and fronting her seven piece band at the Blue Note in New York City.

Supporting Kelli at this show is Sean Smith & the Present Moment. Guitarist, composer and improviser Sean Smith has produced several masterful solo-guitar albums since 2005 with his powerfully emotive instrumental songs. He is heavily rooted in the school of Takoma and John Fahey, but never limited to it. Like Kelli Rudick, Sean Smith’s music always pushes the boundaries of instrumental songcraft and technique, speaking profoundly in wordlessness. Sean shows two very different sides of his oeuvre at this show, with one set on solo guitar and another together with his new trio, The Present Moment.

Diego Gonzalez, another stunningly exceptional instrumental artist, joins the bill to perform a solo set on Bass and Oud. He is best known for his work with the noted experimental indie band Citay, as well as the indie / neo classical act The Dry Spells. Gonzalez is an astoundingly talented multi-instrumentalist, who will perform a set of solo material for this evenings show.

Kelli continues writing and recording for her upcoming 2nd release, which adds new dimensions to her work and is a definitive evolution from her earlier record. Accelerating the delicately complex terrain of her first recording, the new songs add precise string arrangements, driving basslines, steely layers of variant guitars, array mbira, nail violin, and powerful drums to her distinctive chordal compositions. Don't miss this one.


Kelli Rudick with Sean Smith & the Present Moment and Diego Gonzales
Amnesia in the Mission
June 11th @ 9:00 pm
853 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94110
$8 21+ to enter

Rachelle Revisited

One of the best singers I have ever heard, (and I've heard a lot of them) is the extraordinary Rachelle Farrell. Though she is largely obscure outside of jazz circles (particularly those connected to the festival circuit), Rachelle Ferrell is unquestionably one of the most dynamic talents in contemporary pop music. Very few vocal artists in the industry have Ferrell's potent combination of range, phrasing, and musicianship (she is also and accomplished pianist). Such potency was made powerfully aware to Blue Note Record's head Bruce Lundvall who first heard Ferrell on a demo tape (while driving to the supermarket) and signed her shortly thereafter in 1990 after seeing her perform in Germantown, Pennsylvania. So impressed was Lundvall with her talents, that he signed Ferrell to both the Blue Note Label and the Capitol Label allowing her to funnel her talents through the prism of traditional jazz and R&B.

In short, Rachelle Ferrell's talents transcend generic classification and Lundvall had the foresight to realize such a fact. Lundvall quickly set out to plan Ferrell's coming out party via a showcase at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival. In the past, the showcase was used to introduced the talents of Dianne Reeves (also signed to both labels), Stanley Jordan, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Live at Montreux 91-97 captures Ferrell's moving debut at Montreux in July of 1991 and subsequent performances at the venue throughout the decade of the 1990s. Ferrell first emerged in the states with her R&B debut Rachelle Ferrell (1992), a solid collection of self-penned originals that featured a striking duet with Will Downing ("Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This"). It was with the release of First Instrument in 1994 (recorded prior to Rachelle Ferrell) that audiences were really introduced to Ferrell's jazz sensibilities.

Many of the tracks eventually recorded for First Instrument were part of Ferrell's program at Montreux in 1991 (she was backed by the Eddie Green trio in both cases), but the live material offers listeners, particularly those who have never heard Ferrell "live", to witness her simply extraordinary live performances. However accomplished Ferrell's studio recordings have been, the studio is simply incapable of capturing an artistic sprit that refuses to be contained and limited by the constraints of making a record. Live in Montreux 91-97 opens with a dutiful hard-bopped rendition of the Sam Cooke classic "You Send Me" which Ferrell sings so effortlessly and gleefully that it's a wonder that more jazz vocalists haven't recorded versions of the song. Ferrell's rather pedestrian (by her standard) scat finish initially gets a solid rise out of the crowd. The standard "You Don't Know What Love Is", similarly gets backed by a spare hard groove courtesy of Tyrone Brown on bass, as Green's bright piano lines are shadowed by Ferrell's dark hues throughout the first half of the track. But it is Ferrell who brightens up after Green's solo, dancing melismatic flourishes on-top of Green and Brown's vamp.

Simply whetting the curiosity of the crowd, Ferrell is well into her thing with the original "Don't Waste Your Time". On the fast paced tuned Ferrell show that she loses neither her timing nor her gift for nuance as the groove begins to overheat (again courtesy of a Green solo). It is in the midst of the song's pulsating close that Ferrell first gets the audience off their feet as she displays the triple-octave screech that has made her such an extraordinary live performer. In some regards "Don't Waste Your Time" is just a set-up for her off-the-chart version of "Bye-Bye Blackbird". Again matching the triple espresso pace set by Brown, midway through, Ferrell vocals literarily apes the sounds of birds in frenzy. But it's the closing of the song (impressive even on First Instrument) that Ferrell, during her first Montreux become Rachelle Ferrell. Seemingly pacing herself through 30 seconds of scats as if she was measuring her tour de force moment, Ferrell unleashes a flurry of bird sounds finally punching out over and over the phrase "Black Bird" (24 fours times by my count) as her lungs sound as if they are about to collapse for lack of air. It is this kind of stream of consciousness modernist frenzy -- where Miles Davis should have met the great Shirley Caesar -- that really sets Ferrell apart from contemporary Jazz vocalists, save rare moment with Al Jarreau.

Despite her ability to hang when the pace is amped, Ferrell perhaps best distinguishes herself on ballads. Ferrell introduces the Rodgers and Hart classic "My Funny Valentine" as a song done by "everybody's mothers sisters grandmothers first cousins aunts kid's sons" before doing a version so personalized that it exists as an aura around her. Dripping like some gin-drenched molasses, Ferrell sings "is your figure less than Greek / Is your mouth a little weak?" and a host of the song's lyrics like a lazy Sunday morning that promises redemption and salvation, without ever having to leave the comfort of Nana's quilt. (You can almost hear Gwendolyn Brooks somewhere in the background saying "When you have forgotten Sunday…"). On her own composition "I Can Explain", which was included on her most recent studio disc Individuality (Can I Be Me?) (2000), Ferrell is also on the piano, giving the audience a glimpse at her dual genius. Ferrell almost stops time midway through the song with the lyric "you wanted me all to yourself / I just found out, you've got somebody else", holding the last syllable for nearly 13 seconds.

Alongside her finish of "Bye, Bye Blackbird", Ferrell's performances of "My Funny Valentine" and "I Can Explain" are the clear highlights of Live at Montreux 91-97. Ferrell is joined by longtime collaborator George Duke on "I'm Special" a track that would later appear on Rachelle Ferrell. Duke is also on keyboards for Ferrell's version of Cy Coleman's "With Every Breath I Take" (drawn from Ferrell's appearance at Montreux in July of 1997. Also taken from that appearance are Ferrell's performances of "Me Viola Seul" and "On Se Reveillera" (both in French) backed by members of the WCR Big Band Cologne. There was a six-year gap between the releases of First Instrument and Individuality, so the release of Live in Montreux 91-97 is a welcomed release from an artist who admittedly has had less than a consistent presence in the studio. Live in Montreux 91-97 is a literally "best of" more so because it captures Ferrell at her best -- on stage and pushing the boundaries.

Trilok Gurtu's "Massical"

Trilok Gurtu wanders between worlds, although his odyssey never went so smoothly from point A to point B. He didn't just come from India to stay in Europe. His sense of direction is much more complex. He drew circles, spanned nets and created intensely woven networks of influences from various regions and musical epochs. Contemporary terms such as jack of all trades or multitasker are highly unsatisfactory in defining Trilok Gurtu’s depth of spirituality, non-judgmental empathy for different cultures, his unending search for new ways to express himself on the solid foundation of a whole arsenal of traditions. Trilok's long-awaited new album "Massical" will be released at the end of May on the BirdJAM label. Trilok will also perform throughout 2009 to promote the album.

Trilok Gurtu was born in Bombay in 1951 in an extremely musical family. His grandfather was a highly respected sitar player and his mother Shoba Gurtu (who died in 2004) was among the most highly renowned Indian singers. There was practically no way for Trilok not to seek a musical career, although his path to percussion was hardly preordained. Today, Gurtu remembers how “my entire family played harmonic instruments and sang and danced. My brother Ravi and I are the only percussionists, although we're not quite sure how we got there. My mother told me when I was three or four years old that she had a percussionist who always came too late or never came in all. Somewhere along the line, my father said: Trilok drums on the table all the time - get him down. And I had to accompany my mother. That's how I chose my instrument - or the instrument chose me. I learned just as much song as percussion when I accompanied my mother.”

That was a talent that was to be very useful to him later. He extended his arsenal of tablas on congas, bongos and drums and then he started a percussion band with his brother and was influenced by John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix. In the 70s, he toured Europe and later America with the Indian singer Asha Bhosle, performed with Charlie Mariano and Embryo and joined up with Don Cherry in Sweden whose universal musical spirit was driving the future for him. Starting in 1977, he belonged to the Family of Percussion and worked together with innumerable jazz musicians. Then in the mid-80s, he joined the Ethno-Jazz Pioneers of Oregon following in the footsteps of Collin Walcott who had a fatal accident and gave them a completely new way of looking at things with this powerful spirituality. In 1988, he started his virtually historical work with John McLaughlin that was to continue for four years. Just incidentally, he played with musicians such as Joe Zawinul, Jan Garbarek, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell and Pat Metheny.

Gurtu cut his first solo album Usfreth in 1988 whose visionary spirit is far ahead of his own time to be appropriately honoured by the critics and the general public. He tore down the bastions of jazz and world music together with Ralph Towner, Don Cherry, Shankar and his mother Shoba. The rhythmic and harmonic interweaving already contains all of the ingredients that were to rock the world music a decade later in Drum’n’Bass. Since then, he has persistently added elements of various provenance to his musical cornucopia to develop a form of music that finds hierarchies superfluous and has reached its latest high water mark in the new CD entitled Massical. Gurtu turned the pages back and recalls that “I got a lot of flak for my first record because I was trying out something new. It's a lot easier just to imitate somebody else. I tried to forge a bond between my love for Africa and India, but somewhere along the line I had the feeling I was respecting the music too much. I have to remember to maintain my own self respect. Guess what? My music doesn't exist without me! So, I was a little bit more relaxed about my music and concentrated on what I heard myself. On Massical, I didn't think much about music; I just played.”

That's why the songs on Massical feel like acoustic balm. When you're listening, you forget everything you ever learned about music. You drop all your prejudices and surrender yourself to the flow that seems to drive out the gold of the millennia through the present into the future. Gurtu had to drop some ballast himself to be able to credibly transport that feeling. He is an incredible virtuoso who had a tendency to play too much. But virtuosity only plays second fiddle on Massical and just lets the musical process fall into place. Gurtu says "I'm not just showcasing myself. If the music doesn't call for virtuosity, I don't use it. But, let's not forget that there are pieces that are awfully difficult to play and most musicians would not be able to. That music is virtuoso, even though it sounds simplistic. When the musicians cut their first or second record, they usually put their instrument front and centre. But I want to feature my music. There's a difference there. The groove is much more important than virtuosity.“

Gurtu’s music is universal. Of course, he still has a reputation of being an ambassador for Indian music in Europe, but those categorisations are totally unimportant to him. “I was born in India. That's where my roots are. Because I've always played virtuoso, people always categorise me as jazz. There was no category of world music when I started. I don’t come from any American school and I never pretended to. But Indian music is based on improvisation and the music from Bollywood is very groovy - almost like Afro-Brazilian music. I use this repertoire to translate my thoughts and feelings, but I could just as well be from China. My music is my music everywhere and I'm the way my music sounds."

Gurtu doesn't have any problems translating the principles and attitudes of Indian, American and European improvisation. On the contrary, he puts his faith in what all of these musical idioms have in common spiritually. “At the onset, you think everything is segmented into classical music, jazz and all those other genres. But, when you approach music in a more spiritual fashion, you notice that the spirit the music is build on is the same everywhere. People just perceive it differently because they think we come from different traditions. Mozart and Bach also improvised. The first piece in my album is called Seven Notes To Heaven and we only have these seven (and with the semitones) we have 12 notes. That's the same in Africa, Europe, India and America, everywhere. If you hit them right, you come closer to God. For instance, there's a tremendous amount of Mozart in the music from Bollywood. Indians don’t know that and they believe it was written by Indian musicians. Even Stravinsky and the other Russian composers have blossomed in Bollywood because a fit so well. If it's good, it doesn't matter where it comes from.”

Needless to say, the song title Seven Notes To Heaven reminds us of Miles Davis. But if you think that this piece of music is supposed to be a tribute to the man with the horn, you're getting ahead of yourself. Trilok Gurtu is among the few musicians in the sphere of jazz who do not say they hail back to Miles Davis. He discovered how important it is to know that less is more even in cultures that existed before jazz. “My mother always told me that concerts take three hours - so play slowly. Jazz is only the most recent form of improvised music. I respect Miles very much - his courage to change music. But, for me, Don Cherry was much more important because his music changed the world. He had a feeling for Afro-Indian music and I think he would like to play the things that are on this album.”

Don Cherry was also a musician who pushed the basic musical concept out of their glass case and made the highest level of music available to everyone by very simple means. That's exactly how Massical, the title of Gurtu’s album should be understood. His premise is that "music has to be there for everybody – it is the masses who have to decide about music and not the classes. The classes always have the money. But you always have to reach the masses. That's why I say music is massical, not classical.“ That statement is his firm conviction without forcing itself upon you and it has a very human texture that permeates the entire album. Massical is much more than a piece of beautiful music. It is a sustainable contribution to democratising our listening habits and overcoming ethnic and social barriers and art that has long since been overdue.

My Five Year Anniversary and the Music of John Moremen

Time sure flies while writing a weekly column for Beyond Chron. Amidst all the hoopla and our side-splitting April Fool's gag, I'd forgotten my own 5th year anniversary as the Arts and Entertainment editor and original webmaster. When my friend Dean Preston first introduced me to Randy Shaw back in 2004, I had no idea what I would be getting myself into. Little did I know that Beyond Chron would become my window into the world of San Francisco politics, housing and community issues, education, film, music and culture. Alongside my fellow columnist and theater critic Buzzin' Lee Hartgrave, we've seen a lot of shows, plays, concerts and films over the years; mostly good, some bad and thankfully, very few ugly. I am nevertheless, extremely grateful for the experience! So before I get all misty-eyed and nostalgic again, I thought I'd revisit the subject of my first ever column for Beyond Chron, the local guitarist, songwriter, drummer and prolific pop-smith, John Moremen.

One of my favorite musicians, Moremen is a man equally versed in the world of pop, jazz and rock. Recently, Moremen released and re-issued three of his best solo efforts on his Popstatic label; 1991's self-titled "John Moremen", "Punch Me In" from 1996, and his 2002 release, "Vertical", featuring bassist and producer Chris Xefos, guitarist Tim Fuson and drummer D.J. Bonebrake of X and Knitters fame. Moremen is no stranger to the world of California pop, either drumming with the Sunnyvale-based Orange Peels, or playing guitar with Roy Loney; and he is equally at home with the roots rock groups of Northern Virginia that spawned him, groups like the Neighbors, Kevin Johnson and the Linemen and Last Train Home. These albums show Moremen at his best, a wonderfully, rollicking world of rock, pop and wit.

"No Time to be Waiting", the title cut from his last album Vertical, is a fantastic introduction to Moremen's style and harkens back to some of his earliest efforts; a driving, tuneful, yet more matured sound. Like a fine wine, you can really appreciate it after hearing the energetic and younger material from his self-titled first album which nevertheless, is one of my personal favorites. Other guest stars like vocalists John Ashfield, Paul Myers and drummer Jeff Potts round out a great album.

On Punch Me In, Moremen is re-joined by Fuson and vocalist Mark Robinson for more pop fun on the XTC-like "Summer Sauce". Originally recorded in 1996, this CD is a must for Moremen fans. Moremen's use of some very clever chord changes and witty lyrics had me boppin' and bobbin' to "Back Inside (Where I Used to Hide)", a playful, jaunty little tune that reminded me of his days with guitarist Peter Gilstrap and their group "The Neighbors", with a dash of They Might Be Giants thrown in.

The aforementioned "John Moremen" may yet be my favorite, perhaps because Moremen played virtually the entire album by himself. Tight, energetic as hell, and with a little help from Gilstrap and percussionist Peter Yorkunas, turned what began as a demo, into one of Moremen's finest efforts. "You Seem So Happy", "Too Many Times Around My Head", "Broken Heel", and "Sleeping Now", capture the raw essence of Moremen in 1991, a songwriter at "the end of the beginning".

Since that first column in April of 2004, Moremen is still doing it all. From his drumming with the likes of John Ashfield, Alison Faith Levy, Allen Clapp and The Orange Peels; to his work with experimental power trio High Vulture with bassist Bill Raymond and MX-80's legendary guitarist Bruce Anderson. He's also toured as a guitarist with Eric Brace's Last Train Home, as well as a reunion with the famed, Half Japanese. Lately, Moremen has been in collaboration with fellow songwriter Paul Myers and their new project, "The Paul And John". Five years later, Moremen's versatile song writing and playing continues to make him one of the Bay Area's best musicians.