Displaying items by tag: City Winery Chicago

When I heard the Charlie Hunter Trio was playing Chicago’s City Winery over this past weekend, I expected something quite different. I was thinking I’d hear the usual fare of guitar, bass and drums – standard trio stuff. Meanwhile, I was sitting with someone that told me to expect guitar, sax and drums. Okay, sounds good. But what we got was guitar, VOCALS and drums. Interesting. I was also expecting something more in the Jazz vein, but I was wrong on that, too. I know what you’re thinking...Jazz has many forms. The Charlie Hunter Trio was a bit more like R&B - and heavily Blues flavored at times.

Hunter does a good job of making you not missing the fact there is no bass player. The first thing I noticed was he had bass notes coming out the guitar. It was a seven-string, but it seemed to get notes lower than that, so perhaps the bass string was tuned down a bit. Then I noticed he was running through two amps. One is a bass amp and one is for guitar. This made me look up his rig rundown today and I discovered that the bottom three strings on his guitar are bass strings, and the top four are guitar strings. There are two pickups on the instrument that allow splitting the bass and guitar strings into separate amps.

This allows a player to do different things. The first and most obvious is playing bass and guitar at the same time. The second is it allows someone to think like a piano player on the guitar. I have had the notion for quite some time that guitar represents the right hand of the piano and the bass the left. This allows a guitar player to do both. You don’t just pick a guitar like this up and start strumming chords on it. This is a bit of a hybrid machine and requires the technical facility to pull the whole thing off. Hunter did an amazing job in doing this. I can imagine at times he wished he had more fingers.

Dara Tucker was the vocalist and she really brought a lot of life to the show. In many ways, Hunter was her support act. Her voice was nothing less than amazing and was a perfect fit with the trio. I later found out she has music available on her own. Damon Grant was Hunter’s rhythmic accomplice on percussion. A very unconventional drummer. He used all different types of percussion to keep the beat alive.

This was not the band I was expecting to see, which taught me a few things. First, keep an open mind about how bands are constructed. Second, that the guitar can be more than just a guitar. In the hands of Hunter, it was much more. I was not disappointed last night one bit. Great show, and it is one I highly recommend, and should they come back – no better place to check them out than City Winery Chicago.

Got to admit I was floored to arrive to find Sweet Tap Chicago, a tap dancing show, was packed for its Sunday matinee at Chicago’s City Winery.
The promise that had lured me - jazz and tap dancing together – was borne largely out of curiosity. In fact, the show delivered so much more than jazz – venturing into uncharted territory for tap dance arrangements to a broad survey of musical styles, and all of it rooted in Chicago.

The Sweet Tap Chicago Band (led by bassist Kurt Schweitz, with Bob Parlier, Corbin Andrick, Cole DeGenova, and with singers JC Brooks and Taylor Mallory) delivered fresh arrangements well suited for tap dancers, from Muddy Waters, father of Chicago blues, to Chicagoan Billy Corgin’s Smashing Pumpkins (Today); from CTA (Saturday In the Park) to Wilco (I’m Trying to Break Your Heart). The dance troupe trotted out classic tap routines for some sets, and performed improvisations at other points, delivering percussive footwork retorts to drum and sax solo lines.

One highlight of the performance was versatile singer Taylor Mallory, a music stylist and personable impresario, who was just at home singing a Styx medley, as he was rapping Wanna Be Cool by Donny Trumpet and Chance the Rapper. Rap really pairs well with tap, it turns out. Mallory delivered a rather inspired mash-up of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up and Kanye West’s Touch the Sky. (Chicago native Mayfield was a denizen of Cabrini- Green.) And singer JC Brooks was an infectious presence on the stage, especially in a preview of “Get Into the Groove,” from an upcoming Chicago Tap Theatre review based on Madonna songs.

The event also spotlighted the versatility of City’s Winery’s venue, a cozy room seating 300 for great food, fine wine, and vintage acts that fit the space The Zombies  play next week; Joan Armatrading plays there June 9-14 City Winery also curates rising talent, an invaluable service to audiences and the local music scene.

Before Sunday’s show, it had been awhile since I thought about tap dancers – like back to Savion Glover, who singlehandedly resuscitated the form on Broadway in Jelly’s Last Stand (1992) and Bring in Da Noise (1996). Tap dancing hadn’t gone away, really – it had gone a little underground. But in 2002 the Chicago Tap Theatre was formed to nurture and develop it.

Mark Yonally, artistic director and the driving force behind Chicago Tap Theatre, set out with the dance group’s music director Kurt Schweitz to choreograph new pieces set to music from, or inspired by, the city of Chicago, and the musicians associated with this city. The concept was to resurrect the idea of a jazz dance club, and to prove that all music is tap music. Well, mission accomplished. www.chicagocitywinery.com

I remember first hearing Joanne Shaw Taylor somewhere around three years ago. A guitar player, her sound falls in the vein of Stevie Ray Vaughan. And though Taylor played a solid set at City Winery this past weekend in support of her latest release “Wild,” I don’t know if I’ll be in line for a second helping.

The first issue I had in this particular performance was in her vocals. Unquestionably, Taylor’s voice comes with a decent tone, but honestly, I couldn’t understand a word she sang. There was no articulation to her singing whatsoever. Despite the fact that she was perfectly on pitch, she could have been singing anything. As a concert goer who is not very familiar with her music and had never seen her perform live before, I had no idea what the songs were about. Her songs sounded original overall and there was a cover by The Hoax thrown into the set, but it would have been difficult to differentiate one from the other if not familiar with the latter.

My second issue was in the material itself. There was nothing to remember at all. Nothing. Nada. Maybe I am being a bit harsh? I’m not. There were literally no songs to speak of to take home afterwards. The set was filled with riffs that seemed like ideas that could have gone somewhere with a little more effort – but instead they just lie dormant. Maybe hire a writer?

Not being able to understand the lyrics certainly played part in this.

Furthermore, her guitar playing left much to be desired. Like I said, she can play the guitar, but having said that, she has yet to develop a style. He songs were mostly comprised of the most basic of Stevie Ray Vaughan licks. I also found her tone painful at times, like an icepick through the forehead. I know it is tough to find your own voice on your instrument today. It takes time. I feel she will find it, but it just isn’t there yet.

Lastly, her rhythm section was solid, but dynamically boring and just did enough to get the job done.

As critical as I am of her performance, the crowd didn’t seem to find much fault in her set and appeared to enjoy what she had to offer. I think with some better material, Taylor might have a chance to survive in the music industry. But without better songs, she will soon fall out of the game quickly. There is always plenty of work for dependable live music acts and I just don’t see her developing a much larger following without one or two memorable songs in the set.

Joanne has a lot of potential but needs more seasoning. Simply put, she needs more experience and some help in the writing department. If she can build on the little momentum she already has, she may have a chance of getting to the next level. Having said that, there are a million players out there capable of doing exactly what she is currently doing on stage. It will be interesting to see how she grows as an artist. Joanne Shaw Taylor is still very young and she has plenty of time to blossom into a serious artist. It just isn’t quite there yet. Give her some time.

Joanne Shaw Taylor setlist:

Mud, Honey
Outlaw Angel
Wrecking Ball
Tried, Tested & True
Jump That Train
Diamonds in the Dirt
Time Has Come
Bones (The Hoax cover)
No Reason to Stay
Tied & Bound
Kiss the Ground Goodbye
Going Home

Roomful of Blues is celebrating fifty years this year. That’s a long time playing together. Not all the members go back that far, but the history of the band does.

Opening for Roomful of Blues at City Winery Chicago was Corey Dennison and his band. I think fans of Freddie King would dig this cat. I don’t see Dennison as a King imitator, but I did see some similarities in his appearance and the guitar he played. Dennison has a four-piece band - two guitars, bass and drums. The band pulls off some fun choreographed stage moves and display a ton of energy. Corey even did the Buddy Guy trick of walking through the crowd while playing. The difference being that Dennison started singing without a microphone in the middle of the club. Still, you could hear his strong voice without a problem. Sometimes Blues singing is almost like a holler, just shouting more or less. You can really feel it.

Dennison proved to be a decent Chicago Blues guitar player. He plays without a pick like a lot of the older players, using a lot of thumb. It seems primitive but it’s a great sound.

Roomful of Blues is a bigger band - three horns, keys, guitar, bass, drums and vocals and the crowd was responsive. Together, they present a powerful sound. The horns give more melodic information to chew on. Everything about the band was musically excellent. Well-seasoned players are such a treat to watch. The energy of the band was good but did not match Dennison and crew.

I have heard a lot of Blues music in Chicago. Having said that, I am dying to hear something new. I know a lot is tradition. The twelve-bar form does have limitations. I don’t really hear songs anymore. It’s all the same song. You can speed it up, slow it down…change keys…it’s still the same song. The Blues bands of yesterday had more going on. The missing ingredient is the dancing.

Once upon a time, bands were there so people could dance. Even Classical Music was based on the dances of the day. Dancing has been replaced by sitting. Blues bands of yesteryear would never have held a gig doing whole sets of twelve bar. Tough to dance to a shuffle beat.

Roomful of Blues started towards the end of the sixties Blues movement. Then it stopped moving. The Psychedlic era killed it and I don’t see it being much more than a novelty now. Stevie Ray Vaughan brought it back thirty years ago and that was really Rock disguised as Blues. In no way am I saying that I am down on The Blues. It is still a valid form of music but it needs to grow. This genre of music spawned Rock and Jazz and a lot of other styles. And I think there is more that can come from it in the future. But that will not come from repeating the past.

I have been waiting to see Delbert McClinton for a while. It just never happened for me…timing, etc. Finally, it happened. I even took my Mom who is as big a fan as I am.

Warming up for Delbert was Amy Black, a singer/songwriter from Nashville. Black sang only accompanied by piano, which blended perfectly with her very strong voice that comes with powerful with awesome intonation. However, I didn’t feel that strongly for her songs. They were well written but just not overly catchy. In fact, I walked away with no memory of them at all, but only that of an amazing voice. I would like to see her with her full band instead of the simple piano/voice arrangements. Maybe that’s what was missing.

Then, after a brief intermission following Black’s set… Delbert McClinton walks onto the stage. I can’t even comprehend how many times he has done this. “Take Me to the River” was the opener. Del’s version is way more swampy feeling than Talking Heads - not even the same song. Del’s hand-picked musicians formed a tremendous band. No name brand guys. No one under fifty or sixty-years-old. I don’t even remember a band introduction. It was all about the music.

What about the music, you ask? McClinton’s music is self described as Blues but there is much more to it than that. It more like the intersection of Blues Road, Country Avenue and Old Rock and Roll Boulevard. If you think of music like cooking I guess it all kinda comes from the same kitchen, but his unique formula really makes the flavors that stand out. You have the basic recipe but when you start adding spices and such…things get extra tasty.

In a way, I feel here is a guy that should be headlining stadiums. But when I see him work a club, my thoughts change. An intimate venue like such is the perfect environment for Delbert. He is basically a breathtaking club act with great songs. Sometimes we put too much emphasis on the bands playing the hockey stadiums and forget the guys in the clubs exist. The lesson here - go see more musicians like this where you can see the expressions on their face and the watch each note played with finesse and passion rather than viewing a giant monitor.

Let’s get back to the songs. “When Rita Leaves” was played early in the set and another crowd favorite “Ain’t I Got a Right to be Wrong?” was included in the first five, six songs. He has SO many great songs. Two of Delbert’s songs that always stood out were songs at least partially penned by a guy named Jerry Lyn Williams – the same guy that wrote a chunk of Clapton’s later hits. “Giving It Up for Your Love” is a classic that was on the set list. The other is a beautiful song called “Sending Me Angels”.

Music like McClinton’s is good for your cardio-vascular system. It even gets the older people dancing…did I mention that? Well, I just turned fifty and took my seventy-one-year-old mother…and there were people older than her dancing. Some of you youngsters should get out and watch a band like this. You might not be able to keep up…unless somebody breaks a hip.

Davina & the Vagabonds' rollicking New Orleans-inflected jazz, gospel, and R&B delighted fans at a packed City Winery in Chicago this week. The retro stylings of this Minneapolis group carries a 1960's vibe, underscoring lyrics packed with an ironic take on songs of the “you done me wrong” and “don’t steal my man” variety.  

While the band features cornet and trombone, bass, drums and keyboard, there is added brass in the high powered vocals of lead singer Davina Powers, who along with her band mates, wins fans because she “brings it” to every performance.

Imagine Bette Midler impersonating Amy Winehouse, with a dash of Madeline Peyroux thrown in, and you get a sense of Davina Sowers. And while she has a lot of control of her vocal instrument - going from breathy to belting, with a light rasp that softens the delivery - she’s affecting as a pianist as well.

The  enthusiasm and turnout at City Winery - Wednesday's windchill notwithstanding - also delighted Sowers: nearly everyone yowled in the affirmative when she asked if they’d seen the show before. The band had begun this day before dawn to make an appearance at WGN Studios in the morning, and was to be up at dawn the next day for a show in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Sowers writes most of the songs, and her performance is loaded with showmanship as she mugs her way through the breaks and as songs unfold – but at a point in most songs she gets captured by the music, and really delivers. 

The group is much more than Davina, though, as each member – trombonist Steve Rognes, trumpet Zack Lozier, and drummer Connor McRae Hammergren - sings and writes original songs. Rognes and Lozier take the lead as they swing into Dixieland and Bourbon Street jazz. (The bass at City Winery is not a permanent member of the group.) Drummer Connor Hammergren, with big muttonchops, seems to have a lot of street-style percussive techniques up his sleeve.

Chicago’s City Winery is the perfect setting both in terms of intimacy and sound – and because the elegant noshes and paired with house wines harkens back to the glory days of 1950s and 1960s night clubs. As do Davina & the Vagabonds.