Just returned yesterday from two weeks on the road as a duo with Frank Rosaly. As usual with projects involving Frank, what can I say…..absolutely an incredible experience. I’ve long been interested in the saxophone / drum duo, and have done plenty of duo work with my other regular co-conspirator Tim Daisy. This is the first real tour I’ve done in this context though, and working with Frank is an adventure night after night. Unlike many drummers, Frank will insinuate time for long periods without ever actually digging directly in. This makes for some great stretches of tension in the music, where we keep pushing closer and closer to it, without ever quite actually playing the rhythm that’s underlying everything. It makes for some really interesting stuff….if you’re interested, you can check out YouTube clips of our entire concert in Columbia, SC here.
This was also the first tour of my own that I’ve booked in the US in two years, which seems like a decade. Between 1998 and 2007, I was normally doing 2-3 tours each year in the States, in addition to work in Europe. But with the state of the economy, and the state of venues around the country closing left and right, touring has become an extremely difficult proposition. There are actually a number of cities that I used to play in regularly that just don’t seem to have viable venues for the music any more (Syracuse, Washington DC, Chapel Hill, Athens, Atlanta, Knoxville, etc.) The decision to do this tour as a duo was perhaps dictated by economic realities as much as by musical interests.
On the happier side, the places we did play were great. We kicked it off in Buffalo at Hallwalls with a smallish crowd on a cold Tuesday night just after the first snowfall, and after Thanksgiving weekend. They more than made up for it with their enthusiasm however. We followed with Rochester, NY, at Bop Shop Records. This is one of the first places I even played on tour, stopping there with the Vandermark Five in 1998. Since then, owner Tom Kohn has been extremely gracious in welcoming various projects of mine on his series, including Triage, The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Engines, and now the duo with Frank. We were also lucky to stay with old friend Robert and Donna Iannapollo, two huge enthusiasts of music, art, and food. We were treated to an incredible meal by Donna, who broke out her Provencal chops for this one – chicken roasted with artichokes, peppers, and olives, which were then pureed into a gravy-like sauce for the bird. But the highlight (perhaps of the entire trip….) still remains her chocolate tort with lavender-honey ice cream however. After the concert, we stayed up late with Robert listening to sides by Braxton, Ornette, and the Globe Unity Orchestra with Don Cherry from 1971.
The next trip was a long one, as we were denied entry into Canada at one border crossing in Ontario due to a work permit issue. They “believed” that the venue we were playing was a restaurant, not a concert hall, which meant that we would need work permits to enter Canada. Since I’ve played the Sala Rossa about 12 times in the last ten years, and never needed a work permit, I knew that was ridiculous, but arguing with border officials isn’t necessarily the best approach. So, we turned back into the US, who of course also harassed us for awhile to find out why they wouldn’t let us into Canada. We then continued along the dark and rainy local highways following the St. Lawrence seaway across upstate New York, and took a big gamble by trying to enter in Quebec, at Interstate 87. Luckily, the border was empty, they knew the venue well, and they let us right in. They also mentioned that maybe we should carry a brochure about the venue in case we tried to cross in Ontario next time…..overall that episode made our travel day 10 hours instead of 6, and we pulled into the gig a half hour before kickoff time. Luckily, seeing many old friends from the club (Mauro, Marielyne, Brian, Peter, etc…..) put us in a great mood right away, and the gig went well.
After another good food day on a day off in Montreal – smoked meat sandwiches at Schwarz’s – we headed down to Middlebury College for an afternoon workshop, and an evening concert where a very supportive but small crowd cheered us on during a quaint snow-filled Vermont evening.
Continuing with the food theme, we found ourselves at my parents’ house outside of Boston on Sunday, December 6th. Here we feasted on Stifado, a greek beef and onion stew that cooks over low heat for many many hours, as well as artichokes with tomato and dill, hilopites (greek egg noodles) followed by homemade pumpkin pie, and white chocolate/cranberry cookies. That evening, we played at the Lily Pad in Boston, doing a set as a duo, and then another joined by Pandelis Karayorgis on piano. The crowd was again small, but included some old friends like the great drummer Curt Newton, Stu Vandermark – Ken Vandermark’s father, and Mike Mesleh – a guitarist, oud player, and mad scientist who I played with in a funk band in college.
Monday was mostly a bad food day as we rushed from Boston to Providence for a morning concert and workshop at The Gordon School, where my brother teaches 7th grade history. The kids seemed to love the concert – the most “out” sounding stuff was their favorite part. The workshop portion with the music students was a major challenge – trying to get 30 13-year olds to shut up and stop banging on their drums, etc. is quite a challenge!! But I think they got something out of it nonetheless.
From there, we hurried down to Philadelphia for an evening double bill with Spencer Yeh, Nate Wooley, and Chris Corsano. This was a pleasure, not just because the music was good, but Spencer is an old friend from college, and I’ve known Nate for several years, but haven’t had a chance to see him for a little while. And this was the second time I’ve seen Chris play in a month, after only hearing about him for years. A fantastic musician…..
The evening finished with Philly Cheese steaks at Pat’s in south Philly – supposedly one of the best. My advice – skip the traditional cheese wiz and upgrade to provolone. Also, get it to go in the winter time….freezing your way through a sandwich under some heat lamps at a picnic table isn’t the best approach to good food……
Leaving the colder weather behind, we headed south to Columbia, SC, where the temperature was 75 degrees!!! Here we feasted on braised lamb shanks and collared greens which the esteemed Arnold “Ross” Taylor made for us, continuing to blow my mind with his pan-Asian southern cooking.
Frank, with lamb shanks
The gig was one of the best, both musically and attendance-wise. Because the food was so good, we also agreed to take a request from Ross – “Ram On” by Paul McCartney. We played in a huge open wood and brick room in the 701 Center for Contemporary Art, a new venue for the music that Mr. Taylor’s been using. Ab Baars Trio with Ken Vandermark graced the space back in April to kick it off. After the gig, Ross continued to blow our minds with the Telly Savalas classic “Redneck,” a must see for Telly fans.
Ross, with coffee, and alligators
As we headed back up north, the temperatures dropped quickly, and we froze our asses off in Asheville, NC, high up in the mountains. A great double bill at Bobo Gallery with guitar and drum duo Lulo….then onwards to Kentucky where we did another concert/workshop for high school and college students at Thomas More college. After a late night hanging out with friend and fellow saxophonist Dave McDonnell (a recent Chicago transplant to Cincinnati) at The Comet – a bar with one of the best juke boxes in the country – we made a late start down to Lexington to finish up at Al’s Bar. My old friend Ross Compton has continued his “Outside the Spotlight” series there after changing venues several times over the last few years. Another hugely enthusiastic crowd snatched up the new cd faster than we could keep up. And the evening finished with belly-dancing, middle eastern, and klezmer music by the Lexington group Mezrow, joined by two friends from Asheville on accordion and dance. Our last tour meal involved a late-night stop at the best fried chicken place in Lexington for some spicy chicken. We were warned not to order a “bucket” because they would laugh at us. In the morning, we left with a batch of spicy beer cheese dip, and garlicky black bean dip, that Ross made us for the trip home.
Many many thanks to all of the presenters, venues, fans, old friends, and great cooks who made this trip possible for us!
