 Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
WILLIAMSTOWN This Sunday night at 9, the Reverend Tor Band - comprised of members of the East Creek Band and Xavier - will celebrate the release of ``In Search of Ecstasy'' (Smelly Dog), a new recording of 11 original compositions by Tor Krautter, at La Cocina in Pittsfield.
Best known in this area as a member of East Creek, Krautter showcases his own tunes and vocals on the new album, which was recorded at Derek Studios in Dalton.
Besides vocalist/guitarist Krautter, the core band on the album features Xavier's Jason Webster on guitar and keyboards, East Creek's Dan Broad on bass, and Dooley Austin's Rick Leab on drums. The cast of supporting musicians includes Dawn Fulvi, Rick Tiven, Paul Kleinwald, Abe Guthrie, Steve Ide, Jeff Stevens and Charlie Tokarz - a veritable who's who of the Berkshire music scene.
The well-paced album sets down in various styles and tempos, but overall the feel is akin to the sort of funky, rootsy, harmony-laden, grab-bag approach of such '70s stalwarts as Little Feat, Traffic and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Krautter's evocative vocals are put to the test on the Robert Cray-like kickoff, ``Never Cry When the Wolf Comes'', a loping, contemporary blues-funk number, and the achingly soulful ballad ``Stumble,'' on which Krautter's snakelike guitar coils around his Otis Redding-influenced vocals while Jason Webster's Booker T. Jones-patented organ slithers underneath.
``Foot In My Face Blues'' goes for broke, featuring a big-band R&B arrangement, including horns and a genre-bending bluegrass break showcasing Rick Tiven's mandolin and Paul Kleinwald's banjo.
For information on how to purchase ``In Search of
Ecstasy'' write to Smelly Dog Productions, 99
Valleyview Rd., Stephentown, NY 12168.
Another new recording by a local musician also has
the blues on its mind. Don McGrory's ``Sonny Boy's
BBQ'' (Berkshire) is a stunningly intimate solo
recording comprised mostly of renditions of
traditional acoustic blues and rags featuring
McGrory's guitar and vocals. The album communicates
with searing eloquence McGrory's lifelong love affair
with the music.
Without pretension or affect, McGrory delivers classic early blues such as ``Want Ad Blues,'' ``Basin Street Blues,'' ``Somebody Changed the Lock'' and ``Beale Street Blues.'' With double-tracked rhythm and leads on steel slide guitar in duet-style arrangements, McGrory is never flashy but always confident, loose, efficient and clean in his playing.
His vocals, likewise, are phrased with uncanny ease and simplicity. Blessed with a naturally warm and friendly quality, McGrory is almost conversational in tone, yet his obviously deep familiarity and affection for the songs imbue them with immediacy, vigor and emotional resonance.
In addition to the traditional tunes, McGrory assays a few modern numbers, including Dr. John's ``Such a Night'' and Leon Russell's ``A Song for You.'' As much as I hate to admit it, the awesome beauty of his rendition of the latter tune reduced me to tears _ no mean feat! _ so incisive is McGrory's understated, subtle brilliance.
McGrory, a native of Memphis, Tenn., is best known in these parts as the leader of the Hoodoo Rhythm Dogs, a band which performs regularly in area nightclubs and bars. One hopes that someone will take a chance on showcasing McGrory's solo acoustic act: he may very well be the Berkshires' answer to Jorma Kaukonen.
``Sonny Boy's BBQ'' is available at Tune Street and White Knight Records in Great Barrington, or by writing to Sonny Boy, Box 986, Great Barrington, MA 01230.
A few weeks back, the New York Times featured a scathing review of the American Music Awards telecast, saying it seemed ``geared to an imagined middle America where people listen to `lite music'...and stick to established brand names.'' Critic Jon Pareles said the Dick Clark-produced award ceremony lacked ``cachet'' in the music industry, adding that the ultra-mainstream winners ``make Grammy voters look like wild-eyed avant-gardists.''
Describing its cast of performers and presenters as ``warmed-over former hit makers,'' ``B-list television actors,'' and ``mid-level musicians,'' Pareles said ``bland common-denominator pop rules'' at the ceremony. Clark, incidentally, is chairman of the board of the National Music Foundation in Lenox, whose self-declared mission is ``to preserve and celebrate American music and the people who created it.''....
Music fans who can log on to the World Wide Web might want to visit www.peermusic.com, where non-professionals are invited to cast their votes for a sort of shadow Grammy Awards.
(This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on February 16, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All Rights Reserved.)
| Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
