Artists
It’s late afternoon at Javelina and I’m starting to sweat. The unpredictable Austin weather is up to its old tricks, and I’m drowning in layers. I just finished my beer and am about to go do some more aimless wandering, following the sounds of good music or loud cheers, when the guy next to me at the bar strikes up conversation. He’s from California, a pediatrician, an obvious Austin enthusiast, and had a friend who knows a guy that knows the girl who’s about to play next. She’s supposed to be really good, he says. That line gets me every time.Ten minutes into her set, I’m so glad I st
The 2014 ARISE Music Festival hit the ground running with first wave of artist announcements including GALACTIC with special guests Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) and Lyrics Born, Keller William’s Grateful Grass featuring Keller Williams, Billy Nershi (String Cheese Incident), and Reed Mathis Groundation, Tribal Seeds, Nahko and Medicine for the People, the return of Kan’nal, plus the audio/visual extravaganza that is Quixotic. With more exciting artist announcements to come, 2014 looks to be a promising year for the 2nd annual ARISE Music Festival.
For the first time in the 19-year history of Gathering of the Vibes, the initial festival lineup was announced live and on stage, Saturday March 15, at New York’s legendary Capitol Theatre, in Port Chester, NY. John Fogerty, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Maceo Parker, moe., and Ziggy Marley are among the acts confirmed to appear.“John Fogerty is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a living legend, and he’s been on our dream list for years,” remarks Ken Hays, festival founder. “Widespread Panic is another band that we’ve long sought to play at the Vibes.
We live in a time where plenty of incredibly entertaining funk acts with talented players are saturating the live music scene. Funk has almost become synonymous in meaning to being just a good times band with some soul. Digging back toward the true roots of the genre reveals a particular form and structure with certain places breading their own unique spin and history on it. New Orleans musicians are held in a high caliber for a reason. They don’t just learn to play in their own niche group; these stellar players are constantly collaborating and have been for decades.
It’s Wednesday afternoon, smack-dab in the middle of the tornado we call SXSW. The music portion of the festival officially starts tomorrow, but for the people who know where to look for it, it’s well underway. Dogwood, a popular watering hole on the West side of 6th street, had lined up a number of stellar artists for the week. My Aunt Julia, a music writer and magazine editor in town from LA, texts me to come meet her here.
After hanging out with Mike Gordon a bit the night before his show during the Toubab Krewe concert at the Fox Theater, I was more than ready to see his new lineup at the Boulder Theater. I pre-ordered his new album and enjoy listening to it especially on vinyl. Each time I have met him has been a peculiar, but enlightening experience.
The biggest blessing that jazz music has brought to the world is it’s ability to tie different cultures, places, and musical ideas, all bound together by one common unity; love. Guitarist John McLaughlin, a pioneer of the jazz-fusion movement and continuation lets his music thrive in a state of flexibility that had lead him to brilliant collaborations with other craft masters worldwide. McLaughlin’s impressive career reveals a pivotal purpose of exploration and always reaches for more questions rather than answering old ones.
Medeski Martin & Wood + Nels Cline have announced the release of The Woodstock Sessions (Vol. 2) on April 22. The four musicians came together to record on August 27, 2013 at Applehead Studios in Woodstock, NY in front of an intimate gathering of 75 lucky ticket holders. The session was part of a newly launched series that brings established and emerging recording artists together with their fans in the recording studio. The experience is a performance/session hybrid that supports the artist to fan bond by sharing the process of record making.
Genre-defying sextet Umphrey’s McGee announces the release of their highly anticipated eighth studio album Similar Skin (June 10). Similar Skin will be released via the band’s newly formed independent label, Nothing Too Fancy Music, named after one of their most beloved songs.
