MUSICMARAUDERS

Words By Andy Zimmer This week we are dipping back into the 80’s for our taste of the Dead. When folks talk about the Dead’s “best years” or “best tours”, it seems like ’69, ’72, and ’77 are the consensus winners among many fans. I would never argue against any of those suggestions, as loads of inspired music came out of all those years. However, there is plenty of material from the remaining 27-ish years, and several very strong tours that do not get their deserved recognition. For my money some of the best stuff that the boys ever did was during 1985... Gasp!!! Yes, I said it... the 80’s. Throughout 1985, the band was performing at their highest level in several years. Specifically, the summer tour is jam-packed with unbelievable shows. For today’s pick I have chosen the tour closer from the summer 85' run. This show gets overlooked, probably due to several other “epic” shows from the preceding months stealing headlines, but it’s a helluva fine performance. The Dead closed the ...

Words By J-man Photos By Carly Marthis Karl Denson, Robert Walter.... Does anything else need to be said? For me this show has been about ten years in the making. Since first hearing about The Greyboy Allstars in 2001, I have been intrigued. Their combination of Jazz and Funk mixed with solid musicianship and production pushes them to the forefront of the jam/funk scene. Entering the Bluebird Theatre, high energy could be felt. To me, this was a super group, to others it was just another band. Universally there was excitement and the communal vibe of a funk party. With the show in full swing, the realization that the wait was worth it overcame me. The production and instrumentation was top notch. Karl Denson's sax playing is some of the cleanest that I have ever heard. Perfection is very rarely so evident in music. On the keys, Robert Walter stole large portions of the show as well as my focus. He called the shots and "conducted" the majority of the show. The chemistry an...

Words By Karen Dugan ( Tiny Rager ) When asked to think about musical groups who laid the fundamental foundation for Funk, the same names tend to pop up in people's minds. George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, James Brown, Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley, Sly and The Family Stone, Graham Central Station, and Earth Wind and Fire. However, one of the most underrated groups to have played a roll in defining the funk genre emerged from Brooklyn, NY in 1968. Calling themselves Mandrill, a trio of brothers, Carlos Wilson (trombone, vocals), Lou Wilson (trumpet, vocals) and Ric Wilson (sax, vocals), would join their collective multi-instrumental forces to make up the backbone of the group that would come to be one of the most important pioneers of World Music and one of Funk and R&B’s most progressive bands. Over the years Mandrill has rotated through members included Bundy Cenas (bass), Neftali Santiago (drums, percussion, vocals), Juaquin Jessup (lead guitar, percussion, vocal...

Words By Zach Zeidner In honor of the Montreux Jazz Festival 2011's announcement of the John McLaughlin/Carlos Santana set, I felt it would be refreshing to reminisce of the beautiful album the two made together. A Love Supreme : Devotion is a powerful album that brings guitar heroes from the rock and jazz world together to explore the beauty behind the spirituality that can lie within music. As it is well known, A Love Supreme by John Coltrane is the foundation of spiritual Jazz and created a whirlwind of response by critics and musicians alike. John McLaughlin, specifically, indulged highly in this concept of spiritual Jazz. From his early post-bop work, to his intense project Emergency!, and well into the Mahavishnu Orchestra years, John McLaughlin always forced an undertone of spiritual enlightenment. Enjoy this album and listen to the subtly perfect and engaging guitar work between these two legends. To those of you who will be in attendance at the Montreux show, I salute you...

Words By J-man Photos By Carly Marthis Audio Recording By Corey Sandoval I had been waiting a long time for this one. I had seen Vince Herman and Great American Taxi a few times at festivals across the country. However, I had never had the pleasure of seeing them in Colorado, their home turf. What's better than a Friday night in Denver with Taxi?!? We turned out to Cervantes shortly after dinner just in time for sound check. They sifted through equipment/level issues until everything was dialed-in. Following the sound check, Vince Herman joined us in the alley behind the venue for a conversation and some laughs... Following the interview, I ducked next door for some pizza and a soda before heading out to charge my equipment. Upon returning to Cervantes a couple of hours later, we found it to be hopping. There was a decent turnout and we were right on time, with Taxi hitting the stage within minutes of our arrival. Per usual, the vibe was great at Cervantes. Folks were smiling, laug...

Club d’Elf - Electric Moroccoland / So Below Words By Ben Solis World music hasn’t been this psychedelic since Indian music guru Ravi Shankar taught George Harrison, of The Beatles, how to play the sitar. And it seems that no matter which side of the album you are listening to, the psychedelic aesthetic is exactly what Club d’Elf is going for. Sure the elements of jazz and native music take the center stage as the band, comprised of world-renowned musicians from both genres, weaves their indigenous percussive blasts around hypnotic, funky rhythms. But d’Elf sounds very little like the stereotypical jazz or world group trying to experiment its way into a rock template, and is more akin to a rock group trying to expand their musical horizons. Is this what we should expect from musicians of this caliber? Well, yes. That is, if you are talking about a mutually exclusive double album, like Electric Moroccoland / So Below. Both albums are astonishing, but they leave the listener taking sid...

Words By Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz isn’t a household name yet, but this young roots music phenom has been wowing audiences for longer than you might expect. Jarosz, only 19-years-old, graced the stage with bluegrass legends Ricky Skaggs and David Grisman during her early teens and signed her first record deal with Sugar Hill Records at the age of 16... A singer / songwriter beyond her years, the talented Jarosz already has multiple festival performances under her belt as well as a 2010 Grammy nomination in the Country Instrumental Performance category. Check out the archived show of Jarosz’s performance from Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival 2009. If you get a chance, make sure you catch Sarah Jarosz this spring or summer as she tours the United States for both festival and club performances. Sarah Jarosz Trio Live at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival on July 18, 2009. www.sarahjarosz.com

Words By Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Sound Tribe Sector 9: For STS9, the festival season starts this weekend at the Nocturnal Festival in Rockdale, Texas. Check out this fun show from Milwaukee’s Summerfest 2010 as well the bass-heavy video of the band crushing “EMH” at Red Rocks in August 2009... Sound Tribe Sector 9 Live at Summerfest on June 29, 2010. www.sts9.com Digital Tape Machine: Digital Tape Machine is a side project featuring members of Umphrey’s McGee, Strange Arrangement, Liquid Soul, Land of Atlantis, and the Hue. Formed in 2010, the band throws down a unique mix of trance rock and jamtronica during its rare yet highly acclaimed performances. Here is a video of Digital Tape Machine performing at Martyr’s on April 9th, 2011, and also an archived performance from The Kinetic Playground on December 30th, 2010... Digital Tape Machine live at the Kinetic Playground Chicago, IL December 30, 2010. www.digitaltapemachine.com

The Mid - Chicago, IL Words By Stevie Tee Photos By Gerardo Antunez After years of drooling over live clips on youtube or sets on soundcloud, it was finally time for me to catch a live performance from Danish producer Trentemøller. We've talked him up quite a bit through our coverage of Ultra Music Festival and his group was fresh from their Coachella performance the weekend prior. His appearance on this particular night was a part of MUTEK's Avant-MUTEK events. The Canadian promoter's main platform event is MUTEK festival in Montreal every year, but the Avant-MUTEK events were a series of one-off shows in few different cities such as Appleblim in Toronto, Theo Parrish in Vancouver and a full weekend of events in Chicago. We were treated very well by the people working the door of Chicago's newest high-profile nightclub, The Mid, but I really wasn't crazy about the venue, at least not for this kind of a performance. There were some feng shui issues with regards to p...

Words & Photos By Ananda Atmore & Jenn Lutke Nestled away along the red waters of the Suwanee River...among the mighty oaks and cypress swamps resides a place where the land and music meet. A place where melodies whisper among the trees, tribal rhythms feed the soul and songs fill the air that IS the spirit of Suwanee. Welcome to Wanee! This year marked the 7th anniversary of Wanee Music Festival that once again proved itself as a festival of talented musicians willing to create and explore the musical realms and depths of their art. The line up of artists was vast and diverse as reflected in the generations of folks who travel near and far to come be a part of the magic. Four nights of camping lends itself to become a place of community, campfire jams, strangers helping strangers and friendships formed in the strangest of places. Children dance alongside parents, LED hoops spin and twirl to the music and people boogie and smile as they make their way to stages where the musi...

Words By Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Death has an interesting way of creating life. For North Mississippi Allstars cofounders Luther and Cody Dickinson, this was the case after their father passed away in August 2009. Jim Dickinson, a Memphis music icon, had always told his sons that they were better together than they were apart, and although the brothers were doing their own thing at the time of his death, his passing brought the duo back together to reform the North Mississippi Allstars... Along with bassist Chris Chew, the Dickinson brothers created the North Mississippi Allstars in 1996. The band has been an in-demand act on the jam band festival scene ever since, masterfully recreating the Mississippi Country Blues sound with its unique sense of passion, grit, and improvisational knowhow. This week, I’ve selected two shows for your listening pleasure. The first is a fantastic full band performance by NMAS from March 2010, and the second is a recent performance by the bro...

Words By Andy Zimmer To attend a Phish show is to witness a four-headed musical chameleon of genre-bending audio assault. The guys from Vermont have drawn from an incredibly broad spectrum of the musical palate over the course of their career. Perhaps the only thing more eclectic than the influences that Phish draw from is how they package those influences in their music in a live setting. It’s not unusual to hear Phish seamlessly transition from calypso, to funk, to reggae, to psychedelic freak-out all within the same song. To try and pigeonhole Phish within one vein along the continuum of music is laughable... these guys have defined themselves by being indefinable. Phish truly uses their live show as a platform to explore all of what moves them in the world of music. After one show, it would be evident to anyone in the audience that the band has a great love for bluegrass. While the bulk of the “Phish sound” is far removed from the world of banjos and flat-picking, Phish has put t...

Words By Nicholas Stock ( Phat Phlog Blog ) Photos By Carly Marthis After an amazing show by Euforquestra and Chicago Afrobeat Project at the Aggie, I got home a little after 1 A.M. I ended up working through most of the night finishing my video for the Summer Camp Counselor contest. It was a rough morning, but Amy, Jess, Chaya Bear were able to get on the road around 8 A.M. It was Amy's and my 2-year anniversary, so I was actually pretty excited for the trip. We stopped at my brother’s shop to grab a key so I could drop off the dog, and that’s when things took a rotten turn. The car began overheating, and sure enough, there was a crack in the radiator. Luckily, there was a parts store right there, and $163 later, I had the pieces to the puzzle but we were running short on time for moe. We picked up a rental, dropped off the dog as well as the car, and hit I-70. We made good time and were in line for the Gondola by 2 P.M. The concert was part of Breckenridge Spring Fever going o...

Words By Andy Zimmer This week I’d like to offer up another double-feature of quality Dead shows. It occurred to me that over the course of my many picks I haven’t highlighted any shows from the Europe ’72 tour... at least I don’t think I have. It seems as though now is a fitting time to put an end to this oversight. Especially since we a smack-dab in the middle of the 39th anniversary of that tour (the Dead played venues across Europe throughout April and May of 1972). In many ways, the Europe ’72 tour is like the spring tour of 1977... it’s virtually impossible to find a bad show. Both these periods found the band playing some of their most inspired music in a live setting. The “Europe ‘72” double-album, released in November 1972 and comprised of live cuts from the tour is unquestionably one of the finest records put out under the Grateful Dead name. The tour was also the last tour that the band did with Pigpen before his passing in early 73'. The first show, from April 16th was ...