Category Archives: Previews

Birds of Chicago Fly to the Heart of Things

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When was the last time you heard the words “moonglow” and “tapeworm” in the same song?

Right, never—unless you’ve heard Birds of Chicago, a musical collective that spins around its two singer/songwriters: J.T. Nero (aka Jeremy Lindsay), of the rock/soul band JT and the Clouds, and Allison Russell, best known as half of the urban folk band Po’ Girl.

NGM_49062011-10-12Their penetrating, poetic, off-center but on-target songs take flight on two of the more
distinctive voices on the Americana scene. Nero’s scratched, soulful vocals and phrasing bring Sam Cooke to mind, while Russell brings a crystalline warmth that can tease out the most
delicate emotions. Each of those voices seems to provide the perfect backdrop for the other, and together, they take a firm but gentle hold on your ears and won’t let go.

Gliding on the wings of their eponymous premiere album, Nero and Russell, with help from bassist Chris Merrill and drummer Nick Chambers, will bring their blues, soul, country, rock,
zydeco, folk, honky tonk, what-have-you tunes to the Old Church in Corrales this Tuesday, and it’s not to be missed.

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Rahim AlHaj Continues the Journey

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It’s been a while since I’ve had a close listen to the recordings of Iraqi oud player/composer Rahim AlHaj or heard him play live. His upcoming appearance here in Albuquerque at the
Outpost this weekend and the release of a new album, however, have provided the
opportunity to do both, and I’m grateful for it.

Photo by Douglas Kent Hall.

Photo by Douglas Kent Hall.

One night earlier this week, I gave my full attention to the new album, Journey (Ur Music). I was quickly and happily reminded of his expressive virtuosity and the soulful beauty of his
compositions. So now I’m looking forward even more to this Saturday’s concert, where AlHaj, as soloist and in duets with percussionist Issa Malluf on daf and doumbek, will present
traditional and original works, including material from his current symphonic project.

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Drummer Billy Cobham Fuses Precision and Power

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When drummer Billy Cobham hits a drum head with a stick, that sucker stays hit. Combining explosive aggression with a subtle rhythmic sensibility accented with a Spanish tinge, Cobham blasted his way to prominence as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the
prototypical fusion band of the early 1970s.

Photo by Faina Cobham.

But it was his own recording, Spectrum, that unexpectedly launched his career as a leader in 1973. Intended as a showcase to help him find work as a sideman, the album, which fused funk, jazz, and rock, established Cobham as a virtuoso force to be reckoned with, both as a leader and a composer.

On the 40th anniversary of that recording, the Billy Cobham Spectrum 40 international tour is revisiting those compositions, which are now informed by a career that spans more than 50 years and, it seems, about as many musical genres. From George Duke to the Grateful Dead, Nigeria’s Okuta Percussion to Cuba’s Asere, Ron Carter to Jack Bruce, Kenny Barron to Peter Gabriel, Cobham has played with an astonishingly wide range of artists and absorbed literally a world of musical influences in the course of his creative journey.

This Saturday, the New Mexico Jazz Workshop presents the tireless drummer at the Kimo
Theater. He’ll be bringing longtime compadres Dean Brown (guitar), Gary Husband (piano), and Ric Fierabracci (bass) with him to explore new arrangements of the classic Spectrum
compositions.

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Shafted, but in a Good Way

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Artwork by M.Jones.

Artwork by M.Jones.

It’s been years since the last big blues bash in Madrid at the old ballpark—those all-day, three-chord celebrations of blue notes that corralled every blues man and woman for miles around. It was good times for kids and adults alike, but spending hours in the dusty field under a hot sun could take its toll.

The New Mexico Jazz Workshop has found a way to revive those good times but under what should be more comfortable conditions. This weekend, they’ll launch the latest edition of the Madrid Blues Fest at the Mine Shaft Amphitheater, a tented venue with a small stage and cover for several hundred blues fans. The facility is right next to the longest bar in New Mexico,
located in the Mine Shaft Tavern (est. 1899), which also has one of the better green chile cheese burgers in the state, tasty hand-cut fries, and a longstanding dedication to good music.

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Singer/Songwriter Mary Gauthier Chooses Redemption

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Singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier doesn’t pull any punches. Life certainly didn’t pull any for her. An adoptee haunted by what she couldn’t know of her family history and alienated from her conservative Catholic community by her sexual orientation, Gauthier ran away from her
Thibodaux, Louisiana, home at age 15, straight into the arms of alcohol and drug addiction, pinballing from rehab center to jail to the kindness of strangers.

Photo by Rodney Burseil.

Photo by Rodney Burseil.

With the help of friends, she got through several years of college; went to culinary school in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and opened a successful restaurant, Dixie Kitchen, serving up
Cajun delights to Beantowners for 11 years. She finally got clean and sober at age 35 after 20 years of struggle and found a healing grace in songwriting.

You don’t get straight without cultivating a harrowing honesty and an honest compassion, and both are hallmarks of Gauthier’s songs. She routinely descends into the chthonic desperation of the lost, the damned, the displaced, and the self-destructive, only to retrieve a spark of hope that she blows into the radiant possibility of redemption.

Gauthier will fan that flame this weekend at two fundraising concerts for Peace Talks Radio, in Santa Fe on Friday, sharing the bill with Iraqi oud master and Albuquerque resident Rahim
Alhaj, and in a solo performance on Saturday in Albuquerque. If her latest album, Live at Blue Rock, is any indication, you’d be well advised to bring tissues.

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