10 Favorite Musical Experiences of 2012
Sarah Barthel of Phantogram @ Pearlpalooza
Story and photographs by Stanley Johnson
1. Phantogram @ PearlPalooza, Albany. Before it started raining real hard. Hard to believe this was the same band I saw playing to a few fans and friends at the Final Stretch Festival in the streets of Saratoga Springs just a couple years before. This band had several hundred people dancing in Pearl Street during the title song of their latest album.
Review by Fred Rudofsky
Photographs by Stanley Johnson
When a band comes to the end of a tour, there are two potential scenarios: fatigue results in a perfunctory set; or, the thrill of closing on a high note wins out. Fortunately, the latter was the case for the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which played a high-octane, incredibly diverse show for over two hours at a packed Palace Theatre on a recent Sunday night.
Respectively, husband and wife Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have built loyal followings in the Northeast in the past decade. Trucks led a band that averaged over 250 shows per year at one point, in addition to playing select shows with the Allman Brothers Band. Tedeschi led her own band out of Boston for many years before she and her husband started a family and set up home in Florida. Joining forces, the couple have released two excellent albums in the past two years, Revelator and the live Everybody’s Talkin’.
With a colorful aboriginal design as their backdrop, the band (two drummers, three horn players, one keyboardist, legendary Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., and guitarists Trucks and Tedeschi) took the stage to a roar unlike any heard in recent memory at the Palace. The love was mutual from the word go. A radiant Tedeschi stepped to the microphone, and the band ripped into a superbly moving take on George Harrison’s “Wah-Wah.” Vocal interplay and a beautiful slide break made “Don’t Let Me Slide” a worthy follow-up, and “Midnight in Harlem” mixed soulful sounds from the West and East. Mike Mattison, lead singer with the Derek Trucks Band, joined Tedeschi at center stage for a funky, waltzing “How It Feels,” his rasp and her sweet alto blending perfectly.
Review by Richard Brody
Photograph by Stanley Johnson
The Tedeschi Trucks Band returned to Nippertown for a second headlining appearance in a little over a year – and that does not include their set at Mountain Jam this past spring. If last year’s show at The Egg was a home run, this month’s performance at the Palace Theatre in Albany was a grand slam. The 11-piece band wasted no time getting started with their version of George Harrison’s “Wah Wah,” but it was the full throttle Susan Tedeschi vocals and the blistering Derek Trucks guitar leads on the second number, “Don’t Let It Slide,” that set the tone for the evening.
Last year, the horns were primarily used to add some color, but this year, all three horn players -particularly Maurice Brown on trumpet and Kebbi Williams on sax – had opportunities to shine, and that was clear by the end of the second tune. From there, it was on to “Midnight in Harlem,” beginning with a brief solo by Mr. Trucks (who spliced a little sitar feel with a couple of quotes from “Little Martha”) and then Ms. Tedeschi’s soulful vocals (perfectly capturing the song’s feeling of desperation), aided by some spare, but essential, playing by Kofi Burbridge on keyboards.
Review by Stanley Johnston
The Warren Haynes Band started out rocking hard and heavy at The Egg on Saturday night, but finished sweet and soulful.
Haynes’ first visit to the Albany orb-shaped venue was the second area visit by his fifth or sixth band. It’s hard to keep track: the Dickey Betts Band at the Starlite Music Theatre; the first Warren Haynes eponymous band at the Saratoga County Fair; the Allman Brothers Band at SPAC, the Palace and Mountain Jam; Phil Lesh & Friends (and also the Dead) at SPAC and the TU Center; Gov’t Mule at Northern Lights, the Palace, Proctors, the Startlite and Mountain Jam; and possibly, does anybody remember if he played with David Allen Coe opening for Neil Young at RPI in the ’80s? Maybe not, but he’s been a regular visitor to this area.
This version of the Warren Haynes Band played at Mountain Jam in 2011. I remember thinking that it was a nice change of pace into soul music, although the band’s set seemed a little lightweight compared to Gov’t Mule’s set during the same weekend. (In all fairness, there aren’t too many bands that play music quite as heavy as the Mule.) Now more than a year later, this band has matured into a force to be reckoned with in comparison to all of Warren’s other projects.
Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root
Review and photographs by Stanley Johnson
The annual block party in the street and parking lot outside of Pinhead Susan’s in Schenectady became a full-fledged festival this year with a large stage and a headlining band that’s played many festivals in their years together.
And to make it complete, it rained. But not hard, just a constant drizzle that probably discouraged some, but didn’t slow down the hardy partiers one bit.
Solid Smoke (photo by Stanley Johnson)
Saturday photographs by Stanley Johnson
Sunday photographs by Timothy Reidy
With temperatures still up in the 80s and one more rock show still to come at SPAC – Florence & the Machine on Sunday (September 16) – it certainly feels like summer is still rolling along up in the Spa City.
But for the horsie set, the season came to a close on Labor Day weekend, and the City of Saratoga Springs celebrated the last days of the track with its annual Final Stretch Music Festival, with a big batch of bands performing along the streets for a two-day blast of free music.
The Pedrito Martinez Band performing last week at the Albany Riverfront Jazz Fest (photo by Stanley Johnson)
Founded back in 1987, A Place for Jazz isn’t really a “place” at all, but rather a group of devoted jazz fans – a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to presenting the best in jazz through concerts, public workshops, school clinics, a website and general support of jazz and its musicians.
Having said that, however, A Place for Jazz’s concert series kicks off its 2012 season on Friday (September 14), and once again the concerts will be held at the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady’s Whisperdome, which is truly one of Nippertown’s hidden treasures. It’s an intimate listening room with great acoustics, and if you haven’t visited there yet, you should most definitely make an effort to attend one of this season’s concerts just to experience some music in the venue.
David R. Smith
Photographs by Stanley Johnson
“The Country Show” on Friday, August 31, was a benefit concert for the continuing restoration of the Glove Performing Arts Center on Main Street in Gloversville.
Nashville singer-songwriter David R. Smith returned to his hometown to perform highlights from his CDs – 2009′s Here And Now featuring Walter Egan (best known for “Magnet and Steel”) and 2006′s Country Road.
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