Diana Krall getting back to basics?

Caught the show this week at the Moody Theater in Austin. Not my favorite venue, sort of soulless vibe with high pitched banks of seats, but at least you can see the stage from most parts and the sound is better than other venues about town. Krall played with a four piece: drums, bass, guitar and violin, giving the band lots of time to play, and play they could. Anthony Wilson on guitar was excellent and overall, the set seemed to hang a lot on her older releases with the instrumentalists given space to shine. As such, for jazz fans like myself, this was a set I enjoyed though I gather some of the crowd wanted to hear more of her newer stuff and less of the band. I would have enjoyed an Elvis song myself but I figured my shouts for 'Shipbuilding' would not have been appreciated.

The set was a little short of 90 mins with encores, and in parts I felt DK was a little disconnected, seemingly a bit distracted and somewhat tired looking. No real complaints there, the road is a tough life and I like my performers to be human, in all the ways that entails,  but I've read comments from others who caught her recently and this seems to be a common refrain. Regardless, the woman can play when she cuts loose,  and from my vantage point I enjoyed both her piano work and her vocals which are as velvety in real life as on record.

If there's anything to be learned about the industry from the demographics of this audience, I'd say her audience is distinctly middle-aged, white and not too keen on improvisation. This puts her in a position of trying to steer the course between musical exploration and just delivering the hits, but then she won't be the first musician to face this, and she can at least be assured of people willingly paying nearly $100 at least to see her. Not such a tough life I suppose, but I'd love to see her just forget the constraints and play more jazz...she has the chops. 

Authentic Sound: challenging classical music on clavichord

I learned recently about Authentic Sound in Belgium, where Wim Winters creates high quality music recordings of a particular type. In what is surely a labor of love, keyboardist Winters has chosen to focus his efforts on the clavichord after experiencing its sound up close. His love of the music and the sound has led to a recording project that embraces sonics and authenticity. In his own words: “The name ‘Authentic Sound’ was first chosen in 2012. I believed that the clavichord instrument, as important as this instrument was throughout the whole 18th century, could use some extra help in today’s concert and recording scene. The term ‘Sound’ reflects the sound of his clavichord. The word “Authentic” tied into its voice; which is authentic in every meaning of the word. And so, Authentic Sound it was.”

A large YouTube following has provided encouragement and with a series of recordings under his belt and available for purchase, Wim Winters is releasing a special vinyl release this year. 

For details - visit here and of course - watch this video to get a real sense of this man's passion for his art. Once again, it's a pleasure to recognize the commitment of some musicians to the full sonic arts.

Paul Simon - the long goodbye

I don't care for the Erwin Center in Austin. It's large, designed mainly for sports, and hard to remember any intimacy in the musical events I've attended. Despite my reservations, I dropped a large sum (by my yardstick anything north of $100 for a show is expensive, though I clearly must be in a minority given ticket prices these days) and lucked into a decent seat with a good view of the stage for Paul Simon on his Homeward Bound tour.

The acoustics are poor, the sonic results not great, and the use of a large video screen behind the stage so the aging audience could actually see the musicians on stage proved a distraction. I had to repeatedly remind myself that this cinemascope image up front was not the real thing, he and the musicians were the small figures below the screen, but the larger image kept grabbing my eyes. Not ideal, but for all that, Paul Simon and his band transcended the format to deliver 2 hours and 20 mins of magic.

Without fuss, he entered stage left as the band set up the groove that would become 'America' and the poignancy of this song, at this time, was not lost on many of us. Any doubts I had about the cost, the acoustics and the $10 charge for a can of Corona faded quickly and I felt the hairs of my immigrant neck stand up when he sang 'they all come to look for America'.

And from there it barely let up. 14 musicians playing multiple instruments over different songs, this was an evening mainly of Paul Simon songs, with an aging audience moved to dance during classics, at least as much as the confines of a sports center allowed. Simon was animated, talkative and funny. The band were superb, even if their qualities had to fight the venue. Am sure some folks wanted more Simon and Garfunkel, or maybe did not get their favorite song but I got everything I wanted and more, from Graceland to Still Crazy (a moving version), Homeward Bound and even a solo Sounds of Silence as a final (third!) encore.

Yeah, I'd love to hear him play in a small club but it ain't ever going to happen for me, consequently I can't count the cost of hearing him, only imagine the cost of missing out had I not gone. Sonics were not great but the music was, and I leave having felt I saw one of the true stars. I spent today checking out lots of the albums of his that I don't own via Alexa and Amazon and have a new appreciation for this giant of American popular music. If you're on the fence about seeing him on this final tour because of the cost, don't be. Thank you Mr. Simon.

Update on Jerome Sabbagh project

LP taking shape...who knew Jerome had a Garrard 401 like mine...but he has two arms....oooh!