Well, we had the inaugural run last night in friendly Fullerton, California and I think I can say it was a success. I’m pretty sure everyone there had fun. That’s the thing that I’ve always found about prog fans, they are a friendly bunch that share (by “normal” standards) an unusual passion for music. I knew about 15-20 people there so of course we were all yapping from the start, but there were another 20 – 30 people that I DIDN’T know, and it didn’t take long until everyone was sharing stories. The interaction between the crowd and the performers was informal and friendly, and it just made for a warm and intimate evening. The crowd size wasn’t staggering, but it was respectable. Respectable enough that by the end of the evening Terence Love (the owner and host) was talking about the next one, which looks to be mid to late November.
Terence started the night by getting up on the stage and telling the story of how he was a big music fan back in the early 70’s but then got introduced to bands like ELP, Genesis and Yes. He told of a concert where he had a prog “epiphany”. I don’t remember who the headliner was, but at a show at the Long Beach Arena he was attending the opening act was this group called The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and that as their fusiony/progressive music came forth he found himself totally overwhelmed and thinking “Hey, there’s something TO this!” Being a classically trained sax player, it opened up a whole new level of musical awareness for him. Flash forward to 1994 when his musical affinity leads him to open what was to become an Orange County landmark for traditional Jazz. 7 days a week, 364 days a year, food, drinks and jazz. Then he told us how having thought that prog was dead with the demise of the original wave, he receiving a ticket to something called “CalProg” out of the blue from a friend he hadn’t talked to in 15 years, and at that show he was most pleased to find out that in fact there is some very exciting new music being made that is descended from that stuff he loved way back when. That of course led to the CalProg Nights @ Steamers alliance.
Being that this club is a strictly Jazz format 7 days a week, of course there are bound to be occasional “regulars” who just show up knowing they’ll get some good traditional jazz no matter what night. Two gentlemen in their 70’s (I’d guess) came in and sat very near the stage while Fractal was playing. Now you’ve got to understand, Fractal is a heavily electronic band, and they had more computing power on stage than the Bell Labs R&D center. I could just imagine, one old codger comes to the other’s house and they decide “Let’s go catch some jazz. Maybe some Ella, some Duke, it’ll be fun.” They were clearly oblivious to the format change on stage until they sat down and had drinks brought to them. At that point you could see them start to notice the sound and then finally take a good long look at the equipment laden stage. You could almost hear them mutter “what the hell kind of jazz is this???” They politely finished their drinks and then quietly shuffled out. Hah! It had to happen.
FRACTAL
These guys drove all the way down from the San Francisco bay area to perform for us. They were a congenial and somewhat quiet bunch who like I said, loaded up the stage with some state of the art electronic gear. This included synthesized guitar modules, pedals a plenty, rack mount effects and processors, bass pedals, and a fully electronic drum set. I’ll admit that as they started their set I became more than a little nervous. What’s the old A&R mantra? “If you don’t WIN me in the first 15 seconds, you’ve probably LOST me.” As these guys twisted up guitar strings and started plucking and pounding on various devices at seemingly random intervals I imagined an entire hour of bizarre sound effects flowing randomly from the stage. 45 seconds in I looked around the room, wondering if people were going to get up and call the “experiment” a failure. But then something wonderful happened. The ambient soundscape starts to ebb and out of it emerges a single guitar playing a odd time signature, but harmonically pleasing pattern. He is then joined by another guitar playing an interesting counterpoint. And then the whole band is on board and there’s a solid King Crimson-esque progression which is very deliberate and articulate. I settle back in my chair thinking, this is what I’m here for. And we were treated to an hour of very unique and very pleasing music. There’s no escaping the fact that they are heavily influenced by Crimson, but they have taken that vibe, and made it the foundation of their own new sound. I think the audience was all on board from then on.
It seemed that perhaps the boys have spent too much time in the studio and not enough in front of audiences because when they started they seemed a bit nervous and stiff. But as the audience warmed to their sound, and provided them with some positive feedback, you could see them become more at ease, and eventually interact lightheartedly with each other and the crowd. There were a couple of songs with vocals, which was clearly a new direction for the band, and the change was just what the set needed. They still need a little polishing, but I think it’s a good direction to take, adding that diversity to the sets. Overall I found them quite enjoyable.
Mark McCrite & Don Schiff
Providing a nice change of pace, these guys could be described as wooden and organic. Mark sings and plays acoustic guitar while Don plays the NS Stick (a variant of the Chapman Stick). The combination is complimentary and pleasing to the ear. They opened with a wonderful rendition of the old Moody Blues song “Question”
Why do we never get an answer When we're knocking at the door? With a thousand million questions About hate and death and war.
What a wonderful choice of a song I haven’t heard in years, but that lends itself perfectly to this instrumentation. The audience seemed to jump right on board with them. They played a set peppered with occasional covers, and songs from the Rocket Scientists CDs (a band that they both play in) as well as some songs from Mark’s solo album “Getting to the Point”. Mark struggled with some of the higher vocal parts, and occasionally Don forgot parts of songs, but it was a very respectable performance turned in by a pair of pros in an impromptu paring for this show. But the real surprise for me was when Don did his solo stick songs. The first one was from his “Timeless” CD, a song called “Rainfall”. We were all at once mesmerized as he took this instrument beyond its natural limits by seamlessly integrating real time looping which allowed him to play leads over fully orchestrated backgrounds. And to top it all off, he sang. It sounded wonderful. AND it was amazing to watch.
Steamers is an all ages venue and there were some teenagers and 20 something’s scattered in the crowd. There was one table with 4 teenage boys right in front of Don, who we at first were thinking might leave once they heard this music. But then it was plain to see that they were amazed at Don’s playing, especially his solo stuff. I’m figuring they must have been musicians because they seemed to be fixated on his technique and the difficulty of what he was doing. And each time he did something amazing they would look at each other with mouths agape, and shake their heads as if to say “no way!”. And I know today at some school there’s four guys telling stories of this amazing 12 string instrument they saw last night, to anyone who will listen. I know this, because that is an experience all prog fans have had. And that made my night!
I’ll be looking forward to the next installment in this series, and hope that more and more SoCal prog fans will come out and share in this great music.
to PapaJ for having us be a part of this premier (and in future, hopefully regular) event, and for making us feel right at home by coordinating and generally making things go so smoothly.
Although (as PapaJ reported) some things went a little stiffly in the beginning, we started feeling the warmth of the audience which helped us "get into it" - we very much enjoyed playing at Steamers (a very classy venue, with very hospitable and generous management and one of the best sound guys we've ever had the pleasure of working with). It was a treat to be paired up with such talented musicians as Mark and Don, we all listened and watched in awe.
So thanks again to PapaJ, and best wishes for making this a future recurring celebration of progressive music!
Just wanted to add my two cents and mention just how glad I was that I decided at the last minute to attend this gig. I mean, if Jim took all this time to set this up, and Nic was gonna drag the u-haul full of freakin gear he has all the way down from the bay area, the least I could do is force my tired-ass mailman carcass down there. And I'm SO glad I did. All the acts were excellent, and there really is something about sitting in a small club hearing this kind of music live. It's almost like belonging to a secret club that no one else knows about. The audience for a bill like this might not be huge, but everyone there is a TRUE BELIEVER. The very idea of being in a club where the FREE entertainment kickes off one of their songs with a five-count makes me grin from ear to ear. Kudos to Papa for providing me with yet another evening of quality entertainment. I'm looking forward to more exciting bookings from PapaJ productions- perhaps in the next month or two? Oh, and Nic- YOU FREAKIN ROCK!
Get some straight-ahead rock involved and I may show up with some peeps, yo!
--- GRUNO ---
Did you ever stop to think that perhaps they were purposefully offering a musical style that would ensure you would likely not attend?!? Not every show needs to attract folks that don't enjoy music more intricate than simple straight-ahead-rock. Granted, good old rock'n'roll has its place, but it doesn't have to be everywhere all the time.
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