The Palm Wine Boys Revisited

Back in October, I wrote this article about the Palm Wine Boys and their founder, Richard Linley. Sadly, ill health has kept Linley down, but not out. He is finally back on the mend and happily, the Palm Wine Boys are returning for a special concert in Oakland this Sunday.

These days, Richard Linley, writer, singer, guitarist and founder of "The Palm Wine Boys", has been spending much of his time in recording sessions for his latest album, pausing only for treatment while he battles a recent, life threatening illness. His music and spirit has been inspirational to his fellow musicians, especially the latest incarnation of the 'Boys; bassist Ariane Cap, guitarist Mathew Lacques and his long-time collaborator, percussionist QB Williams. "When words fail we turn to music, to listen, or to play", recalled Cap. "Richard's tunes have been turned to by many a restless soul to find relief. His songs are so hopeful, comforting, joyful." Fittingly, I thought it was high time I revisited one of the Bay Area's best loved West African music ensembles, The Palm Wine Boys.

The Palm Wine Boys apparently dread describing their sound in two words or less. Phrases like "pan-African guitar" seem too exotic, but "acoustic folk" doesn't quite draw the crowds. Fortunately for us, this San Francisco Bay Area-based quartet's latest CD "Up and Down", reveals a melodic sound that defies stereotypes. The Palm Wine Boys take two musical genres they love, American folk and Palm wine music, and blend them perfectly to create a sound responsible for a relaxed kind of high, characteristic not only of Palm Wine, but the Palm Wine Boys.

Intertwining guitar lines, a unique, catchy rhythmic style, searching, spiritual lyrics and harmonizing voice appear on "Up and Down," was recorded in the Oakland, California studio of Wildplum Recordings. "The Palm Wine Boys' music speaks to people looking for music with some kind of depth to it. Not too serious, just not pleased with state of popular music and searching for an original sound. Our audience is drawn to the various acoustic styles - taking a genre and bringing something new to it. Palm Wine Boys is a sound that is different, slightly exotic, without being inaccessible," says Richard Linley, PWB singer/songwriter, describing the band's draw.

Palm wine music originated in West Africa; Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria saw the birth of the genre. Palm wine music became internationally known in the 1950s through Ebenezer Calender and his Maringar Band; a decade later, S.E. Rogie achieved cult celebrity status and became known as the "godfather" of palm wine music with records including "The 60s Sound of S.E. Rogie."

The Palm Wine Boys first formed in 2002 when Richard Linley, Tom Chandler, and QB Williams broke from the great world dance band Mud Hut to concentrate on pared-down acoustic songs. Singer/songwriter Linley played sax and guitar in the late 80s with S.E. Rogie and wanted to bring palm wine's mellow influence to the new project. As a songwriter, Linley had been inspired by the greats of American folk, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. The Palm Wine Boys began combining serious lyrics with melodic, upbeat arrangements, using an organic approach to create new music.

Linley soon added the acoustic bass of Eliyahu Sills, and the 'Boys were off and running. The incredible percussion of Williams and his assorted bongoes and mini-bass drums; the lilting bass lines of Sills; Linley and Chandler's guitars and writing made the Palm Wine Boys one of the best loved acts on the world music scene. After garnering much deserved praise and critical acclaim, fatherhood would soon claim Chandler and his chair was temporarily filled by the gifted young Berkeley guitarist Cas Lucas. The return of Chandler would unfortunately also see the departure of Sills, who would go on to form his exotic Middle-Eastern ensemble, "Qadim". Enter Ariane Cap, bassist extraordinaire, and the "Boys" had now become an equal opportunity combo. The joys of parenthood called Chandler once again, finally leaving the group for good and paving the way for guitarist Mathew Lacques. All seemed well in Palm Wine land until the unthinkable happened.

"Richard's illness smacked right into the middle of production of our new album", Cap recalled. "The recent hard months of witnessing Richard's suffering, and not being able to play together as Richard got weaker and weaker, are making us once again aware of how special creating music together is. We are looking forward to finishing work on our new songs and creating a jewel of West African-Americana folk beauty a la Palm Wine Boys. As all experiences infuse the music we make, this CD will be especially close to our hearts."

Undaunted, Linley soldiers on and expects to finish his latest long awaited CD soon. For those wishing to contribute to Linley's ongoing efforts both musical and medical, they can do so here: http://palmwineboysforrichard.com/

Get well soon Richard.

The Palm Wine Boys
Sunday, December 14th @ 4:00 pm
2014 Park Blvd. (about a block down from the Parkway Theater)
$10.00

The Doctor Bob Concert Series

Looking to take a musical walk on the wild side? Tonight at the San Francisco Community Music Center comes some of the area's best artists in every sense of the word. "The Doctor Bob Concert Series" a series of shows featuring Edgetone Records' Doctor Bob and special guest artists. Doctor Bob is a project of avant cellist and vocalist Bob Marsh and nouveau lap steel player and film maker David Michalak. They play songs for a dark and turbulent world ranging from scary to the surreal. This show will feature new material from their upcoming release called, "Chance" as well as songs from their "Dark Times" CD on Edgetone Records. Andre Custodio will join the duo on drums and percussion. Pamela Z is an international composer, performer, sound artist, and extended vocalist will feature some new works for voice, electronics, and video. Ms. Z has been commissioned to compose works for new music chamber ensembles: the Bang On A Can Allstars; Ethel, the California E.A.R. Unit; the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble; the Empyrean Ensemble, and the St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra. These are two of my all-time favorites in a not to be missed performance.

Marsh is a well seasoned improviser whose work has involved shaping sounds words images ideas. Originally from Detroit, Marsh arrived in the Bay Area in 2000 after ten years in Chicago where he played with most of the avant improvisers in that rich and varied scene. Since his arrival on the west coast, multi-instrumentalist and composer Marsh has been busy with several projects. He currently leads or directs String Theory, a string ensemble focusing on textures and microtonics; the Che Guevarra Memorial Marching (and Stationary) Accordion Band, structured and free improv for six to fifteen accordions; Robot Martians, electronics and processed voice; the Out of the Blue Chamber Ensemble, a mixture of reeds and strings; Opera Viva, voiced physical theater; the Quintessentials, a quintet specializing in interpreting graphic compositions based on alterations to the Michelin Road Guide to France; and the Illuminated Orchestra, structured improves for large ensemble.

Additionally Marsh is a member of Romus/Diaz-Infante's Abstractions, Jim Ryan's Left Coast Improv Group, Moe!chestra and Tom Bickley's Cornelius Cardew Choir. Bob Marsh tours frequently with his long term partner saxophonist Jack Wright. Bob has recently been presenting a solo work involving violin, voice and tap shoes. Marsh's educational background includes a BFA in sculpture and an MA in humanistic clinical psychology. He has studied classical piano, classical guitar and vibraphone and has taught himself various other instruments. He currently is active with cello, accordion, violin, voice, vibraphone and electronics.

David Michalak plays a Fender lap steel guitar and an assortment of odd percussion instruments. While he is more commonly known as a filmmaker (50 films with original soundtracks since 1971), the visual art side of him seeps inherently into his solo performances and group compositions, which are characterized by shimmering passages, abstract snapshots and haunting representations of natural elements. David plays in his instrumental ensembles Reel Change and Ghost In The House as well as the duo, Dr. Bob. Some musicians that he is currently performing with are: Tom Nunn, Andrew Voigt, Bob Marsh, Carla Kihlstedt, Karen Stackpole and Kyle Bruckman.

The extraordinary Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang On A Can at Lincoln Center in New York, the Interlink Festival in Japan, Other Minds in San Francisco, and Pina Bausch Tanztheater's 25 Jahre Fest in Wuppertal, Germany. She has composed, recorded and performed original scores for choreographers and for film and video artists, and has done vocal work for other composers (including Charles Amirkhanian, Vijay Iyer, and Henry Brant). Her large-scale, multi-media performance works, Parts of Speech , Gaijin, and Voci, have been presented at venues including The Kitchen in New York, Theater Artaud and ODC Theatre in San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary Art Theatre in Chicago, as well as at theaters in Washington D.C. and Budapest Hungary.

Her one-act opera Wunderkabinet (co-composed with Matthew Brubeck) premiered in 2005 at The LAB Gallery in San Francisco, and was presented at REDCAT in Los Angeles and the Open Ears Festival in Canada. Her new inter-media work The Pendulum is scheduled to have its San Francisco Premiere at the Royce Gallery in 2008. She has had audio works included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Erzbischiöfliches Diösanmuseum in Cologne. Her site-specific, multi-channel sound works have been presented at the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs NY, the Dakar Biennale in Sénégal, and the Hellenic Museum in Chicago. Her work has also been presented at the San Jose Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio in New York, and La Biennale di Venezia in Italy.

Doctor Bob Concert Series Operation #1
Doctor Bob and Pamela Z
San Franicsco Community Music Center
544 Capp Street Between 20th & 21st
Friday, December 5th, 8:00 P.M.
$10, $5 students

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Come to Yoshi's

Béla Fleck, often considered the premiere banjo player in the world, has made a name for himself as a virtuoso instrumentalist unbounded by genre. His band The Flecktones - Victor Wooten on electric bass, Jeff Coffin on sax and flute, and Future Man on percussion - are equally talented and adventurous as Fleck himself, and together they have made a string of critically acclaimed albums that combine bluegrass, jazz, funk and world music with technical prowess, unlimited imagination and occasional zaniness. Their new holiday CD Jingle All the Way is all of that, with bells on - Christmas music as it's never been heard it before.

Banjo master Béla Fleck and his Flecktones most previous CD, "The Hidden Land", is their third offering on Columbia Records, following "Outbound", and "Little Worlds". The album features a lot of new music as well as some tunes the group have performed for some time, but never recorded. This time they decided to use a stripped down quartet format, following some of the rules they used to use when they first began. For instance, no one could record anything that could not be played live, and no multiple overdubs or sweetening parts were added. Whatever you hear can be played by all four of the Flecktones at once, although at times it may sound like more than four guys! By triggering the occasional synth with a floor pedal or midi pick-up, and switching instruments, singing simultaneously with playing, etc they were able to get a pretty big sound.

Their last three releases had featured more of a 'community' approach, featuring great musicians like Bolinas-based reed player Paul McCandless of the group Oregon, Steel Drum player Andy Narell, tabla player Sandip Burman, and the Tuvan throat singer Cong-ar-ol Ondar, (last seen in the incredible documentary "Ghenghis Blues", with the late Paul Pena.), among others. The Flecktones loved having these myriad of stars to record and tour with, but Fleck reckoned this to be the right time for the group to return to it's original quartet format, and see what they could achieve.

Hidden Land is also a CD/DVD, which includes a 30 documentary minute film which gives even more insight into the inner workings of the Flecktones. "A big part of my year was finishing up the Flecktones upcoming CD "The Hidden Land", recalled Fleck. "This album is a return to a stripped down approach, in other words it is just the 4 of us. Everything we played had to be able to be duplicated live with just us, and we pushed ourselves to be creative and dig deep. We have made a lot of albums and we wanted this one to be different and special. Most importantly we wanted the music to progress. We recorded it in July and November of 2004 so that we could release it when we return from our year off. But there was a lot of work left to do editing and mixing, and I worked on it when I was off the road in 2005".

The Flecktones have indeed been busy while on their self-imposed hiatus. Following a successful summer tour with jazz icons, bassist Stanley Clarke and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, Fleck spent a month in Africa, recording and filming musicians in an effort to discover the roots and origins of his beloved banjo. A tour of China, and followed that up by recording with the famed tabla master Zakir Hussein. Bass virtuoso Victor Wooten toured with his 'Soul Circus" band, his brother, the eclectic percussionist Roy "Futureman" Wooten, continued developing his "Royel" drum-piano, releasing his second solo CD, "Evolution de la Musique", and performing with keyboardist Jeremy "Street Maestro" Able. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin spent his time recording and touring with his acclaimed "Mu'tet", as well as joining his fellow 'tones on a variety of gigs and CD projects.

Hidden Land's 30 minute film, (which will be on the flip side of the new disc), was dreamt up by Fleck and his brother Sascha Paladino. "Sascha and I dreamed up a concept, and then the Flecktones got together for a couple of days to film it. We are all proud of the piece and look forward to you all checking it out", said Fleck. As of this writing, no Bay Area shows are planned, however, the Flecktones will be performing at the Sierra Nevada Stage, in Chico, California, February 13th and 14th.

With "The Hidden Land", Béla Fleck and the Flecktones continue to explore the myriad forms and possibilities of our planet's under-the-radar music while celebrating the invisible energy--both cosmic and mathematical--that uses sound to create new worlds, and marks a return to the original concept of the band, a radical jazz-bluegrass amalgam with roots as deep as the blues and branches reaching out into infinite space.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Yoshi's San Francisco
Friday 8pm $45 / 10pm $45
Saturday 8pm SOLD OUT / 10pm $45
Sunday 7pm $45 / 9pm $45

Dr. Lonnie Smith Comes to the Herbst

The last time I saw the incredible Dr. Lonnie Smith, was at the 2007 San Jose Jazz Festival, sharing a bill with amazing Marcus Miller and Dr. John. The good doctor returns to the Bay area this Friday night at the Herbst on Van Ness and not a moment too soon, because a double dose of soul is just what the doctor ordered. Dr. Smith that is, the reigning old-school Hammond B3 maestro who’s been handing out funkified prescriptions since breaking in with George Benson in the mid- 1960s. Another ‘60s B3 avatar, Reuben Wilson, leads the aptly named Godfathers of Groove featuring funk drum legend Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and guitarist Green Jr., son of the late soul jazz guitar great.

Smith, who was awarded his doctoral honorific by his peers, came up during the B3’s glory years and is arguably the most exciting organ player on the scene, an indefatigably inventive musician who has recorded albums exploring the music of Beck and Jimi Hendrix. A seminal figure in the soul jazz movement, he put the groove into Lou Donaldson’s classic 1967 Blue Note record Alligator Boogaloo. His own Blue Note sessions such as Think and Turning Point showcased some of the era’s most prodigious improvisors, including Lee Morgan, Idris Muhammad, David “Fathead” Newman and Bennie Maupin. More recently, he has released a series of acclaimed albums on Palmetto, leading the Jazz Journalist Association to vote him “Organ/Keyboardist of the Year” consistently since 2003.

Smith was born in 1922 outside of Buffalo in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music. He was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings. Art Kubera, the owner of a local music store, gave Smith his first organ, a Hammond B3.
His affinity for R&B melded with his own personal style, and he quickly became a local legend. He moved to New York City, where he met George Benson, the guitarist for Jack McDuff's band. Benson and Smith connected on a personal level, and the two formed the George Benson Quartet featuring Lonnie Smith, in 1966.

After two albums under Benson's leadership, (It's Uptown and Cookbook), Smith recorded his first solo album (Finger Lickin' Good) in 1967, with George Benson on guitar, Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax, Melvin Sparks on guitar and Marion Booker on drums. This combination remained stable for the next five years. After recording several albums with Benson, Smith became a solo recording artist and developed a career that has produced over 30 albums under his own name. Several legendary jazz artists have joined Smith on his albums, including Lee Morgan, David "Fat Head" Newman, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, and Joe Lovano among others.

In 1967, Smith met Lou Donaldson, who put him in contact with Blue Note Records. Donaldson asked the quartet to record an album for Blue Note, Alligator Boogaloo. Blue Note was so impressed by the album that they signed Smith for the next four albums, all of which are now considered classics of soul jazz. This highly influential period produced Think (with Melvin Sparks, Marion Booker, Lee Morgan and David Newman) and Turning Point (with Lee Morgan, Bennie Maupin, Melvin Sparks and Idris Muhammad). The latter is largely regarded as his most seminal studio album.

Smith's next album Move Your Hand was recorded at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, New Jersey in August 1969. This surprise hit spread allowed his reputation to grow beyond the Northeast. He would record another studio album Drives and one more live album Live at Club Mozambique before leaving Blue Note. Live at Club Mozambique was recorded in Detroit on 21 May 1970, and is considered to be his finest live recording.

Smith toured the northeastern United States heavily during the 1970s. He concentrated largely on smaller neighborhood venues during this period. His sidemen included Ronnie Cuber, Dave Hubbard, Bill Easley and George Adams on sax, Donald Hahn on trumpet, George Benson and Larry McGee on guitars, and Joe Dukes, Sylvester Goshay, Phillip Terrell, Marion Booker, Jimmy Lovelace, Charles Crosby, Art Gore, Norman Connors and Bobby Durham on drums

Godfathers of Groove leader Wilson was a ‘60s Blue Note labelmate with Smith who also recorded several excellent soul jazz sessions. He’s joined by Purdie, the supremely funky drummer whose rolling shuffle beat animated so many hits it was dubbed “the Purdie shuffle.” His credits include everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and King Curtis to Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan.

"Soul Jazz Summit"
Dr. Lonnie Smith
featuring Donald Harrison
Godfathers of Groove:
w/Reuben Wilson, JT Lewis & Grant Green Jr.
Herbst Theater, Friday, November 7, 8PM

Sam Phillips Comes to Yoshi's

My first exposure to the singer Sam Phillips came during tie mid-nineties, while touring on the summer folky-circuit. Her album "Cruel Inventions" quickly became one of my all-time-favorites, and my band mates and I played it to death. Songs like, "Tripping Over Gravity", "Standing Still", and the killer "Raised on Promises" were simply unbelievable. No small wonder, Phillips was joined on the album by future husband T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello. It remains one of my favorite albums of all time and I play it regularly. Now Phillips makes a rare San Francisco a appearance this Saturday night at Yoshi's in support of her latest album, "Don't Do Anything". Oh you do not want to miss this one.

Phillips was born in Glendale, California, and began her musical career as a vocalist in the early 1980s, singing background parts for Christian artists Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill and others. After a short time, Phillips was signed to a solo contract with Myrrh Records - under her given name - where she went on to record four Christian pop albums, Beyond Saturday Night, Dancing with Danger, Black and White in a Grey World and, finally, The Turning, which teamed her with producer and future husband, T-Bone Burnett. Throughout the Myrrh period, Phillips wrote more and more of her own songs and several were Top 10 singles on Christian radio.

Since Cyndi Lauper was popular at the time and also had an high-pitched, idiosyncratic vocal style, Myrrh insisted on promoting her as "the Christian Cyndi Lauper." Phillips was never comfortable with this image, and it became a bone of contention between her and the label. She began using the name "Sam" professionally in 1988 when she left Myrrh Records and signed with Virgin Records, partially in order to distance herself from her somewhat embarrassing Myrrh-imposed persona.

Like many Christian artists before her, Phillips expanded into more secular content at the new label. She released "The Indescribable Wow", which featured the orchestrations of Brian Wilson lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The aforementioned "Cruel Inventions", which was released in 1991, included a guest appearance from close friend Elvis Costello, and she (with her husband) supported Costello on his 1991 tour. 1994's "Martinis and Bikinis", was widely praised by music critics and was even nominated for a Grammy Award; this was Phillips' first nomination. That year also gave Phillips a chance to write a song with Brian Wilson which would appear on Rob Wasserman's Trios album, performed by Carnie Wilson.

In 1995, Phillips made her silver screen debut in the Bruce Willis blockbuster "Die Hard With a Vengeance", in which she played a mute terrorist. She was originally supposed to have a speaking part in the film but it was decided that her character would be silent, since it made her appear much more imposing and lethal, although it also placed her in a more stereotypically femme fatale role at the same time. In 1996, Phillips released "Omnipop (It's Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop)", which featured a song cowritten by Phillips and R.E.M.. Omnipop, which was more experimental musically, ended up being her worst-selling album to date. After releasing a contractual obligation "best-of" album for Virgin in 1999, the label sadly dropped Phillips from their roster.

In 2001, Phillips signed with Nonesuch Records and released a stripped-down acoustic album called "Fan Dance", which featured some of the most critically acclaimed songwriting of Phillips's career. Van Dyke Parks contributed string arrangements for a track or two. Phillips also began writing music for and scoring the television series "Gilmore Girls", and even appeared on screen during the final episode of season six, performing "Taking Pictures" from the Fan Dance album. In 2004, she released "A Boot and a Shoe", another collection of acoustic cabaret songs in the same vein as Fan Dance. After the release of A Boot and a Shoe, news spread that Phillips and husband/producer T-Bone Burnett had divorced, although they continued to work together to finish the album.

Phillips's latest album, "Don't Do Anything", was released last June and produced by Phillips. It is her first self-produced album and her first post-Myrrh album not to feature Burnett on any instruments, although he is credited in the thank-you section of the album credits.

Phillips is a truly amazing performer and there is really no one quite like her. Watching her with my chums in "Die Hard With a Vengeance" and listening to "Cruel Intentions" for the billionth time are the kinds of memories that will stay with me forever. Once you hear her, she'll be with you forever too.

Sam Phillips
Yoshi's San Francisco
Saturday, November 1, 8:00 & 10:00 pm
Tickets $25

Winston Montgomery's "Mozart On The Road"

Buoyed by veteran guitarist Austin de Lone, local songwriter Winston Montgomery returns with his latest album, "Mozart on the Road". Montgomery's last album, "Child Is Father To The Man", saw him treading a path worn by the likes of Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Pete Seeger. This time, he heads to the world folks like Ry Cooder, Willie Nelson and augmented by the strings of the Mill Valley Symphony. Not a surprise, for this long time veteran of the Haight and it's musical history. The arrangements on "Mozart", are tight, the playing top-notch and Montgomery's love of the Western melodies of his home-away-from-home New Mexico, are evident in many of the tunes. The title cut even has a "spoken word" bit that only Montgomery could give in his often poignant, sometimes comical, prairie-home way.

Born in New York State, an hour’s drive north of New York City, Montgomery made the pilgrimage to San Francisco during the summer after the “Summer of Love” in 1967 and has never left “that cool grey city of love”. Montgomery had been making his living for the last 25 years by renovating houses, among them, many of the multi-hued Victorian edifices that San Francisco is famous for. After a stint of singing lead in a band and writing songs for over 30 years, he finally started writing again, performing his songs solo at a number of open mics throughout San Francisco and playing at clubs with his four piece band, "The Tall Boys". His eponyous CD containing 7 songs, “The Child Is Father To The Man” was his first recording effort in some time. He continues his work with the legendary Austin de Lone, a founding member of Eggs Over Easy, a group often credited with starting the London based “Pub Rock” phenomenon.

Montgomery continues to surprise with a lovely, yet melancholy ballad "Sunset Girl", (perhaps my favorite), and a re-recording of his wonderful homage of the Sixties with "Momma's Tattoo". Listening to tunes like "You Can't take it With You" and "I Can't Stick Around To Take The Fall," has Montgomery really rockin', very different from his folky-er first album. "I Like Lunch" and "Brave Little Billy Brewster" are really pretty country, but very well written. I'm not a country fan, but I'd rather listen to this than 99% of the stuff you hear when you're driving cross country and nothing decent ever seems to comes in. "Mozart on the Road" has that 'don't touch the dial, leave it' quality, part "Prairie Home Companion", part "Austin City Limits", but all Montgomery. That's a good thing.

Montgomery isn't a crooner; you won't get Lyle Lovett or Chris Isaacs. What you will get is a veteran story teller, a "wil-e-coyote" who has sense enough to know he's not going to catch the Road Runner, and smart enough to get some of the best musicians around to help him tell it. Eventually, even the Road Runner will stop and listen. Beep-Beep!

Acoustic Alchemy Comes to Yoshi's

With the release of This Way, Acoustic Alchemy’s first album under Higher Octave/Narada Jazz’s association with Blue Note Records, guitarists Greg Carmichael and Miles Gilderdale celebrate a remarkable two decades since 1987’s Red Dust and Spanish Lace established the British ensemble as an ever evolving, powerhouse force in contemporary jazz.

Their thousands of fans around the world may be feeling nostalgic, but the duo—while keeping their trademark acoustic guitar synergy front and center—Is clearly committed to forging ahead, following the laid back pop-soul vibe of American/English (2005) with their most aggressive and swinging, hard rocking and artfully jazzy disc to date. Complementing performances by familiar Acoustic Alchemy recording and touring members Terry Disley (piano), Snake Davis (sax), Fred White (keyboards and trumpet), Julian Crampton (bass) and Greg Grainger (drums) are special guest appearances by smooth jazz stars, trumpeter Rick Braun, saxman Jeff Kashiwa (who has toured with the band and appeared on 2001’s Aart) and keyboardist Neil Cowley, a member of jazz groove band (and Narada Jazz/Blue Note labelmates) Down To The Bone.

While Carmichael and Gilderdale composed the majority of the songs and produced several tracks at Gilderdale’s home facility 9 Miles High Studio in York, England, others were produced at various studios on Carmichael’s home turf of London and at Hansa House Studios in Bonn, Germany, where many of the band’s classics were recorded, produced and mixed over the years by longtime associate Klaus Genuit. In addition to Genuit’s three tracks, This Way includes six others produced and engineered by Richard Bull, who began working with AA on 2000’s The Beautiful Game. Two tracks, the trippy and sensual “Out of Nowhere” and the snappy, neo-soul driven “Now I’m On My Way” were mixed by legendary mixer Steve Hodge (Usher, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige).
Carmichael explains the very loose and spirited feeling of This Way as the result of a natural chemistry he’s developed with Gilderdale over the years since Gilderdale—formerly a backing guitarist with the band—became Carmichael’s full partner after the passing of founding member Nick Webb in 1998 and the release that year of Positive Thinking.



“What I love about This Way is that it’s got so much more playing on it than we’ve done before,” he says, “a lot more soloing and a really relaxed and organic vibe. I think this is less by design and more due to the fact that Miles and I are great friends who are very comfortable and laugh a lot together. When we got together at his place, either one of us would come up with a starting idea and we’d just let it grow naturally, then refine it and change it until we had a great song,” When I think of tracks like ‘Egg,’ which has a very British, straight ahead sound, I realize that this is really the jazziest record we’ve ever made, less pop jazz and with more extended solo sections. Our fans might be surprised to hear Miles play so much electric guitar, but in essence, that’s what he is by trade and what his focus was before he joined me as a partner on The Beautiful Game. So this album is the best of everything, not just my way, not just his way, but This Way.”



As if giving the listener some cool chill time before the wild adventure ahead, This Way’s first track “Love Is All There Is” kicks the album off in a distinctively mellow and dreamy, old school soul way, but with a very edgy electric guitar/horn hook swirled by passionate backing vocals and a hypnotic synth sitar. Bringing back a taste of the reggae flavor of the AA classic “Jamaica Heartbeat” (from 1991’s Back On The Case), AA stirs up a lively and exotic Latin jazz vibe—complete with a fiery solos by Terry Disley, Jeff Kashiwa and trombonist Dennis Rollins—on “Ernie,” which is dedicated to Gilderdale’s hero, Jamaican guitar legend Ernest Ranglin. Jazzy brass accents courtesy of Fred White and trumpeter/flugelhornist Kevin Robinson (who solos) also play an integral part on the easy rolling funk of “Who Knows.” True to its title, “Slampop” is a raucous, thumping rock jam that pits Carmichael’s spirited acoustic melody over Gilderdale’s blistering electric axe.



The playful gear shifting continues with the following cuts, “Out Of Nowhere” and “This Way,” which are the only two tracks to feature only Carmichael and Gilderdale. The sparsely arranged “Out Of Nowhere” features a hypnotic, swaying acoustic melody over a gentle guitar harmony and light percussion line. The cool down continues on the slow burning, ambient title track, whose experimental synth textures take AA back to the days in the late 80s when some categorized their music as “new age.” The jazz and groove pick up from there, beginning with the hip, cool cat urban jazz explosion “Tied Up With String,” a fiercely percussive, swinging affair that launches with drummer Bert Smaak’s intense hi-hatting. “Only In My Dreams” is the perfect blend of today’s shuffling hip-hop, easy old school funk and the sitar-spiced Eastern rock that Carmichael and Gilderdale grew up with.



Anyone who ever hesitated to call Acoustic Alchemy “jazz” will rethink their stance after hearing the crunchy rock, Latin and blues hybrid “Carlos The King” (featuring Gilderdale’s crackling electric guitar, Greg Grainger’s wild percussion and a powerful flugelhorn improvisation by Rick Braun) and the festive, blues-drenched fusion party “Egg.” On this fascinating tune, the buoyant AA guitars blend seamlessly with Snake Davis’ baritone sax and Neil Cowley contributes an organ solo straight out of jazz fusion’s mid-70s heyday.



Acoustic Alchemy’s rich legacy is based on the extraordinary airplay, sales and critical reception given the many early Nick Webb-Greg Carmichael led recordings followed by those helmed later by Carmichael and Gilderdale. Carmichael with each successive recording is carrying on a legacy begun by Webb and a guitarist named Simon James in the early 80s; those early recordings were collected for the 1992 collection Early Alchemy.

The road to instrumental stardom began when Webb and Carmichael provided the one-off-in-flight entertainment for a Virgin Airlines England to America flight, in search of an elusive recording contract; they often liked to say they “played their way to America”. Signed to the MCA Master Series label by Tony Brown, their popularity took off in conjunction with the rise of the New Adult Contemporary radio format.



Acoustic Alchemy’s early MCA albums—starting with Red Dust and Spanish Lace and continuing with 1988’s Natural Elements and 1989’s Blue Chip—were all later re-released on GRP. One of the band’s most remarkable recordings was 1996’s live in the studio date Arcanum, which featured new arrangements of classics, a few new tracks, and full orchestration. Recorded over three days at Pinewood Film Studios in England (home to all the James Bond films), the sessions were filmed by director Aubrey Powell for a television documentary of the band, released on video as Best Kept Secret; GRP re-released this on DVD in July 2006 with extra archived live performance and documentary footage. In 2002, Acoustic Alchemy also released Sounds of St. Lucia, a CD/DVD live concert package based on a performance recorded by BET television.



“The band has been through a lot of changes over the years, but the concept of two acoustic guitars has always been the emotional centerpiece which draws people close,” says Carmichael. “I’m happy these days because I love all the musicians in the band and it’s great touring with them and playing live onstage. For me, whether we’re jamming or stopping for gas at a truck stop, it’s honestly like being on vacation, and we’re excited to have so many loyal fans who have enjoyed taking the journey with us. The positive spirit behind our music and album titles comes from the wonderful relationship we have always had with them.”

Acoustic Alchemy
Yoshi's on Fillmore
Oct 10th, 11th and 12th, 2008