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When I looked over the show listings for October, I saw a few that sounded interesting but too expensive (such as Adrian Belew at the Triple Door) and another few that were on days I'd be busy. Also, besides moving and settling into my new condo, I had been expecting my friend Scott W. to be coming to town on a business trip in the latter half of October (the trip ended up being delayed to mid-November). So I had pretty much resigned myself to missing out on a show entirely in October.
But then my younger sister Andrea alerted me to a show that she felt I ought to attend: Gutbucket, playing at Tula's on Halloween night as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival 2005. So, Tony Sacco and I made plans and met at Tula's to catch the show.
Gutbucket are a jazz quartet featuring saxophone, guitar, (electric) bass viol, and drums. For this Halloween show, they were also a chicken, President Bush, a rabbi, and a priest, respectively. The chicken/saxophonist clucked and squawked both between and during songs, and all the band members told pretty awful jokes in between the songs - "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes, "a priest and a rabbi" jokes, and political jokes. This made for a somewhat surreal show, but the surreality did not detract from the great musicianship and enjoyable music.
The two comparisons I thought of during the show were Bill Bruford's Earthworks (the original lineup, I gather the new lineup is different in style) and Robert Fripp/King Crimson. I don't know how the band would feel about those comparisons, but those were the touchstones I was familiar with. Both of those bands, and Gutbucket as well, play intricately-structured music that still allows room for wild diversions and, basically, avant-garde noise. Besides the jazziness of Earthworks and the art-rock of King Crimson, Gutbucket also pulled in bits of Latin jazz, klezmer music, and other styles. It was fascinating to watch and hear them suddenly shift gears in a song and make it work.
After the show Tony and I talked to the saxophonist, Ken Thomson, for a bit. I couldn't remember exactly how Andrea knew about this band, so I asked whether he was familiar with Anti-Social Music, the main group that she currently plays with. He replied that all the members of Gutbucket are also (or have been) in ASM, so that's when I said my younger sister was a member of ASM too. When I said her name, they said, "Ohh, ANDREA! We all know ANDREA!!" in a manner that tells me she's notorious, but you know, in a good way.
So anyhow, Gutbucket = very cool. I failed to pick up a CD, which was a poor move on my part, but maybe I can find it in a store here or else get one when I go home for Christmas. They do have two CDs available through their website, as well as some sample tracks and videos. Check them out.
But then my younger sister Andrea alerted me to a show that she felt I ought to attend: Gutbucket, playing at Tula's on Halloween night as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival 2005. So, Tony Sacco and I made plans and met at Tula's to catch the show.
Gutbucket are a jazz quartet featuring saxophone, guitar, (electric) bass viol, and drums. For this Halloween show, they were also a chicken, President Bush, a rabbi, and a priest, respectively. The chicken/saxophonist clucked and squawked both between and during songs, and all the band members told pretty awful jokes in between the songs - "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes, "a priest and a rabbi" jokes, and political jokes. This made for a somewhat surreal show, but the surreality did not detract from the great musicianship and enjoyable music.
The two comparisons I thought of during the show were Bill Bruford's Earthworks (the original lineup, I gather the new lineup is different in style) and Robert Fripp/King Crimson. I don't know how the band would feel about those comparisons, but those were the touchstones I was familiar with. Both of those bands, and Gutbucket as well, play intricately-structured music that still allows room for wild diversions and, basically, avant-garde noise. Besides the jazziness of Earthworks and the art-rock of King Crimson, Gutbucket also pulled in bits of Latin jazz, klezmer music, and other styles. It was fascinating to watch and hear them suddenly shift gears in a song and make it work.
After the show Tony and I talked to the saxophonist, Ken Thomson, for a bit. I couldn't remember exactly how Andrea knew about this band, so I asked whether he was familiar with Anti-Social Music, the main group that she currently plays with. He replied that all the members of Gutbucket are also (or have been) in ASM, so that's when I said my younger sister was a member of ASM too. When I said her name, they said, "Ohh, ANDREA! We all know ANDREA!!" in a manner that tells me she's notorious, but you know, in a good way.
So anyhow, Gutbucket = very cool. I failed to pick up a CD, which was a poor move on my part, but maybe I can find it in a store here or else get one when I go home for Christmas. They do have two CDs available through their website, as well as some sample tracks and videos. Check them out.
