On marks the first release of New Orleans’ own e.company, a quintet of young, skilled instrumentalists crafting intricate jazz and funk-steeped songs. The band cut its’ teeth on Frenchmen, playing first as a more traditional trio until evolving into the lineup that produced the beautifully packaged On. The point of entry for most listeners will [...]
Tag Archives: jam band
Keller Williams Plays Invisible Trumpet and More at House of Blues
February 25, 2011 – 11:49 am
At Keller Williams’ House of Blues show Thursday, a trumpet plays. Newcomers to a Keller Williams show crane their necks, searching the stage wings for a trumpet player. They find none. He’s making trumpet sounds with his mouth. Williams’ tricks, like the invisible trumpet, are one of the ways the stocky, casually-dressed musician gets the [...]
Radiators Announce Dates for Farewell Tour and Final Concerts
February 7, 2011 – 12:29 am
New Orleans’ proto-jam band the Radiators made big news this fall with the announcement of their impending break-up in June. In a Backtalk interview with OffBeat consulting editor John Swenson, keyboardist Ed Volker explained that after 33 years with the Rads, constant life on the road had finally taken its toll, leading to his departure, [...]
Robert Randolph: “Life Should Always be Great”
October 8, 2010 – 12:48 am
Growing up in the House of God Church in Orange, New Jersey, pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph wasn’t exposed to secular music until he was in his late teens. “I would tell people that I wanted to play my instrument how the other guitar players played theirs,” Randolph says. “Then this guy gave me a [...]
Russell Batiste and Friends, Follow Your Dreams (Ruff Pup Records)
July 1, 2010 – 12:45 am
The influence of the jam band phenomenon on the local music scene deserves more refection. As a commercial enterprise, the genre has an obvious impact on the bookings and audiences that visit the city. Yet, creatively, how does the popularity of continuous, guitar-driven improvisation affect music in the home of improvisation? The latest release from [...]
The Revivalists, Vital Signs (Independent)
May 1, 2010 – 12:51 am
There’s a fine line between a jam band and a band that jams. New Orleans’ the Revivalists fall into the latter category. The group burst onto the scene in 2008 and honed their chops in 2009, expanding their live set as well as their songbook in the process. After spending some time in the studio, [...]
YouTube du Jour: The Revivalists
March 12, 2010 – 10:06 am
On Saturday night, the Revivalists will play a CD-release party for their new album, Vital Signs, at the Blue Nile as part of Foburg. Here they are at One Eyed Jacks playing “Concrete (Fish Out of Water).”
Derek Trucks Band, Already Free (RCA Victor)
May 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
In many ways, 2006’s Songlines was a landmark album for the Derek Trucks Band. It was vocalist Mike Mattison’s first studio effort with the band, and it was the group’s first studio outing to feature a consistent vocal presence. Though straightforwardly produced, it aptly captured the spirit of the DTB—an eclectic outfit that mixes jazz, [...]
The Brakes, The Tale of Two Cities (Hyena)
June 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
If you Google the Brakes, you will learn that the Brakes are a “jam band.” Jam band? I don’t like jam bands, but this quintet from Philadelphia defies the label. What jam band writes songs that are this good? Principal songwriter and lead singer Zach Djanikian has much to say and does so in a [...]
Gravity A, Naissance (Independent)
December 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
Instead of jazz/jam/funk, this is jazz/jam/rock, which means that when it doesn’t lean toward fusion, it veers toward art rock. Gravity A distinguishes itself with an appealingly spacious sound that is often lush and mellow. The head arrangements are attractive as well, with Andrew Meehan’s keyboards establishing a bed for Aaron Lind’s jittery guitar lines. [...]
