Piano Night on WWOZ (4/30/07)

Summary: I think the David Torkanowsky set was the best. Other stuff not worth saving onto tape. This Dan Dyer had no place being there. A bad precedent. Selling out. Piano Night should feature piano players, not the next 5 min trend.

From OZ's web page:
Artists scheduled to appear this year include -
Marcia Ball!
Eddie Bo!
√Topsy Chapman!
√Jon Cleary!
Dan Dyer,
√Casandra Faulconer (on bass)
Henry Gray. Do they mean Henry Butler???
√John Gros!
√Joe Krown!
Matt Lemmler,
Nelson Lunding,
Jesse McBride,
Fred McCray,
Tom McDermott,
Conun Pappas,
Joshua Paxton,
√Renard Poche, (gtr in backup band)
√Shannon Powell ~ (drums in backup band)
Herlin Riley,
√Big Sam (trumpet or trombone player)
Wil Sargisson,
√Larry Sieberth, (in backup band)
Marc Stone,
David Torkanowsky!
Mike Wadsworth,
√Donald Ramsey (bass in backup band)
and many more.

Let's see who's on when.

Starts 8:30 NY time.

They're playing a killer "If i would ever leave you" by a woman. They stop it dead in the middle of it with no explanation or ID. They then go cold to a live performance of Jonathan Batiste. Then a marble-mouthed DJ mumbles something about the show starting soon.

This DJ is a jerk.

Good. We hear John Boutte singing LA 1927 from last year's fest. A great version.

OK, then they cut that off with no explanation and go to some woman singing some jazz standard live. WWOZ sucks.

Her talk after the first song is off mic or better yet, out of the mix. Round Midnight next. Other singer is off mic/out of the mix. There we go, now she's in. Now a third singer is out of the mix. Is she in now? Possibly.

This is Larry Sieberth, Shannon Powell, Topsy Chapman! and a few others.

Saturday Night Fish Fry. Good band behind her. t1>1404

Tom Morgan's mic gets found then he intros Jon Cleary then SILENCE! God I hate poor live mixes.

1697

Cha Cha All Night Long. (He takes requests.) Nice with the band kicking in. (w/ Donald Ramsey and others)

Jelly Roll Morton tune.

Tom Morgan still out of the mix. There we go, sort of. Henry Butler coming up. (They don't have Henry Butler on the list! lol)

Almost silence follows. Hear a little crowd noise. No DJ/on air presence. Why not? They like to break in when there is music. Why don't they talk now when there isn't any?

I wonder how long this will last... Does OZ think it does have someone yakking away right now? Maybe they do for the on-air signal but they sure as hell don't for the internet feed.

I guess I can consider this some good audio verite of the House of Blues... Trouble is, I don't want any.

Then, about 5 minutes of just background noise, they go to some brass band, with no explanation. That stops with no explanation then we hear the crowd clapping and cheering as Henry Butler comes on stage. Tom does intro him, good.

Henry Butler. t1<1314> 1748 He sings off key. Level comes up in second chorus, then something shifts in the mix.

DJ. Are they gonna interrupt every song now?

Fred Tackett ID'd. Level is low again. Now it goes up.

Ophelia! And Joe Krown on organ, yeah!

Yes we can can.

City's lookin better? Yeah. Yeah you right.

John puts all this bs behind us and I start to enjoy the show. He ain't a good singer but that's ok. Sing Sing Sing.

DJ comes in. They fade the hall out altogether, They don't have to do that. Now DJ is back. No hall.

level goes down... during this solo piano piece.

John Gros is done. No DJ, good. Tom Morgan... oh well too good to be true, a DJ barges in. Long silence before CD plays if it plays at all... Dead air... I stop tape. Another DJ says they are having technical problems then they play a CD. "If I ever leave you" again. I'm sure they'll interrupt it when they want to... Yep. they did.

Someone intro-ing the band. Low level. No clue from the DJ who this might be. Good. Just tell us what's going on, ok?
Level comes up slowly. Now way up. Technique, guys, technique. Bring the faders up slower...

It's an old black man who's played with Howlin Wolf for 14 years.

Sweet Home Chicago

DJ comes on. Who the fuck is playing!!! He doesn't say.

Is this Henry Gray? Someone yelled out, Go Henry. Level goes up briefly. One weird piano lick at the end there, bro. Wrong key...

DJ steps in a-fuckin-gain. IDs the station but not the performer.

Getting monitor feedback/ring now.

Tom Morgan's announcements are out of the mix. Good.

More out of the mix Tom.

DJ comes on. Who was that? Henry Gray. Thank you. The guy doesn't know the names. Joe Krown up next at the 19 annual... Should be the 19th...

They come back to Joe Krown. Low level. Oh, -30 db, that's all.

Still low level. OZ is really clueless.

DJ. Asshole. Fix the goddamn level.

Tipitina. They figure out the level, no just the vocals, half way in. Piano and band are low still.

Big Chief. Piano finally comes up. Alfred Doucet.

DJ, doesn't ID. Good.

Organ sounds good.

He's done. DJ comes on. Go to CD of Tuts Washington. On next CD, level goes low again. -30db,

DJ comes back on and his level is fine. Dan Dyer next. James Booker - Let Them Talk for two seconds then back to the stage. No, back to the James Booker CD.

Dan Dyer sounds good. Level goes back down soon into it. Not a very piano-based sound. Level comes up.

Next... Does this guy even have a piano in the band?

I go to bed, 20 after one NY time. He finally plays a piano. Walk on Gilded Splinters, not like the Dr John version at all.

***

I left the computer on, recorded the rest of it and it worked! No computer freezes.

So, catching up it looks like it went on for about another hour and a half. (1:38)

James Booker - Am I Getting Through To You, nice

David Torkanowsky comes on (~14). Like last year, he comes on with some sassy talk.

Quite the alternate version of Goin To New Orleans (Prof Longhair).

level goes up for next tune.

dedicates this tune to ALL the people of New Orleans. Sounds sweet. Great intro. (27:43) Sleepytime Down South

Big Chief w/ Alfred "Uganda" Roberts. Alfred sings. George Porter Jr on bass. Herlin Riley on the drums!

Y'all not piano'd out yet?

Eddie Bo comes out. Background vocals out of the mix for Eddies song.

Goin To New Orleans again. Marcia Ball comes out.

Eddie: 'We goin to go find 'fess.' Big Chief. Falls apart at times. Mostly a mess. Not sure if it's due to a bad mix (onstage) or the playing.

Dj comes on. Encore.

Whoa. Marcia's playing Crawfish and some other tune starts playing. Good, OZ. Better playing towards the end of it.

Jazz Fest notes so far (Fri 4/27 - Sun 4/29), listening to WWOZ on the internet

Friday 4/27

Overall - Other than the non-Kermit vocals in his set, the mixes have been good. The music hasn't interested me but this is the best WWOZ has done since I started listening on the net maybe 10 years ago. Best sound. Djs have been restrained which is good cuz they usually talk TOO MUCH. No high end (16k) but good sound.

Details (not worth reading unless you're a wwoz geek.)

I join in at 12:15 pm (NY time) as they go live to the fest. (Listening via iTunes) They do the "live wire/club listings)

Wow, there is an advance online schedule! Let's see how close to reality it comes...

On today's schedule (times are NO time, Central time):

11:15-12:00 — Rob Wagner Trio — AT&T/WWOZ Jazz Tent (Probably straight jazz which doesn't interest me much but you might like it.)

1:35-2:35 – Swamp-Blues Guitar Summit featuring Lil’ Buck Sinegal and Rudy Richard — Southern Comfort Blues Tent (I've heard of Lil Buck SInegal but couldn't tell you what his music is like. Might be worth listening to.)

2:55-3:55 — Astral Project — AT&T/WWOZ Jazz Tent (Astral Project has been around for awhile. They're popular. I think of them as a sort of Spyro Gyra but they might be more interesting.)

4:20-5:35 — The James Carter Organ Trio — AT&T/WWOZ Jazz Tent (I love jazz organ so this might be good.)

5:55-7:00 — Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers — AT&T/WWOZ Jazz Tent
Updated: April 17th, 2007 (Trumpet player Ruffins is very popular. Might do some Louis Armstrong-styled stuff (singing)...)

***

12:38 (NY time) - Are we listening to Rob Wagner Trio live? No, that was Kermit Ruffins at Snug Harbor.

Now they go live 12:37 pm.

Sax gets pushed back in the mix...

(Live video on 5/5 & 5/6 here http://blueroom.att.com/events/jazzfest.php)

12:46 NY time, I realize I had the tape deck on pause so none of this has been recorded yet. No big deal.

Nice clean feed on iTunes. The best I've heard from OZ. (DJs still do station IDS too much, inbetween songs/tunes.)

Whoever is doing the MCing is way down in the mix. (James Singleton seen in Princeton!)

done at noon.

Jerry Lee Lewis' cover of Led Zepplin's Rock n Roll! Then Bonerama's Led Zepplin cover (Moby Dick)... Another brass band cover of a Led Zepplin tune (Ocean).

(Nothing live til 2:35 NY time...)

From WWOZ's web page:
WWOZ Breakfast Jazz Jams - Apr 27, 28, 29 / May 4, 5, 6

Hosted by Freddie Blue, Bid D, and Nicholas Conners

April 27: 7-11m, April 28 & 29: 8-11am
Featuring:
David Torkanowsky!
Big Daddy O
Next Generation Brass Band!
NOCCA Jazz Student Combo #1, and
McDonogh 15 Jazz Ensemble (playing program #1 of repertoire).

May 4, 5, 6: 8-11am
Featuring:
Michael Pellera Trio with special guest Leah Chase!
Rick Trolsen & the New Orleans PoBoys!
the Brian Stoltz Band!
the Holmes Brothers (could be good)
NOCCA Jazz Student Combo #2, and
McDonogh 15 Jazz Ensemble (playing program #2 of repertoire).

I don't know how anyone can play that early in the morning... but it looks like there could be some good stuff. I'll try to be online for it.

Hot 8 Brass Band.

getting some phase into the stream... 1:39 pm NY time

"it does go to the wee wee hours..." (They're still saying this...)

(2:40 nyt Yahoo IM out/back on)

tape 2 > 1734 walter wolfman washington - funk in the house!

tom morgan and missy bowen next

astral project t3 > 1209 (>1669 i raise level)

johnny v yelling 2070, is everybody relaxed?

(practically no high end, 16k, but it sounds fine.)

t3 >1801 piano, set over, it's recorded

(phasing hasn't been heard in a long time)

Van Morrison - Domino (Very low level)

t4 >1405 jazz organ

2067 vocalizing effect on synth low in the mix then fixed. bad cable, nice ending to this!

6:26 pm NY time, t4 changes to B side.

Tom is babbling on as usual.

t1> bonerama - hey now (sure would be nice to have the high end...), then silence, then a klezmer band.

>899 Kermit - world on a string,
1926 - awful child singing. retch vomit
- next song singer is totally out of the mix and the engineer isn't able to find them. oh well. must be on a coffee break.
- (If you want me to stay) other guy's vocals are out of the mix too. kermit may be a good player but his material sucks.

They cut from the stage cold to silence. Finally Tom and Missy come on.

***

Saturday, April 28

Summary. I was looking forward to Mose Alison and of course, was disappointed. His playing was fine but the mix, for the first time this Jazz Fest, was not so great and there was hum throughout his set. Burnside Exploration was cool. Mem Shannon good.

Bob French rubs me the wrong way very easily and did so throughout his shift. One or two of the DJs talked too much as they did station IDs inbetween songs so they cut off the beginnings of the next songs. Bad. Make it brief then shut up.

OZ had a schedule for yesterday. It is still up. No schedule for today or tomorrow as of 5:30 NY time. Too bad. It's really handy to have an idea who's playing when. The DJs might mention things in passing but you have to pay attention. They run by it pretty quickly and not too coherently and if you miss it then you are just as in the dark as usual.

Details
I tune in about 11:30 am (NY time) for Topsy Chapman (who isn't on the schedule).

live wire before noon/11 am NO time.

noon, NY time. Go to the fest. Oh no, it's Bob French for this shift. (And Lisa.)

Today's schedule: NOCCA Brass Ensemble (later changed to NOCCA Jazz Ensemble), Burnside Exploration/Mem Shannon, (3pm) Mose Allison!, Terence Blachnard.

Bob. You just went on air and you're complaining that someone brought only one "samich" (the black pronunciation for sandwich)? You don't eat before you come on? Of course, me making a mountain out of a molehill, this is so typical of you. A pain in the ass. Always complaining. Why aren't people glorifying me...

(12:25 NY time) We go to the NOCCA level 2 Jazz Ensemble. Straight jazz. One tune then silence. Back to the DJs. You listened to ONE SONG! Back to the stage. Now we have level 3.

nice drum intro. another boring jazz tune. going up and down scales. yawn. Into a familiar tune... (Maiden Voyage)

one more number by Alvin Batiste-Aliyah? I like this one a little.

(1:12 NY time) DJ talk

Lisa: You know I'v lost my mind. Bob: What mind? Lisa: I resemble that... Idiocy reinforcing itself. NO has to get out of that. I don't think there is any hope for Bob though despite his giving thanks to the nice kids who rebuilt his house. He'll always be an asshole.

Basin St Blues. Nice.

Lots of NO as Disneyland songs and talk. Hope we hear some good new music.

t2 at some point. Bob French singing You Are My Sunshine? A sing-along. Whoopee. Sounds like a mariachi horn section. Pathetic yodel at end.

Bob: "I hate people who make fun of me." Asshole.

Joe Crown - Tipitina

1:29 pm NY time t2 > 1730 Go to Mem Shannon

nice organ intro.

Lisa stumbles and then does it live.

Somebody gonna hit you with an ignorance stick.... (levels go up). cont on t2 b side

Level goes down then up on next song. Very minor. Good mixes though. So much better than in past years.

This will be a good lead-in to Mose. The piano player has got some chops.

Bob French comes on to announce the time, 1 pm NO time. The we get silence then Mem does a quieter song that made me wonder if they had just gone to a CD.

Wow, a post-Katrina song. Almost brings tears to the eyes. t2<1782>1880 Nice new to me song.

Shelter in the Rain - she's off key at one point.

Topsy Chapman coming up at 6 NO time, an hour from now.

CJ Chenier. Ah, the good ole days. I went to Jazz fests from 72-76. Saw him however many times.

Funk Is In The House again!