The Karla U-Bass

Posted on 2013-05-15 by Rod Wilson

Recently Tom Bungay and Gene Anderson (The East-West Connection) were invited to perform at a recent outdoor event in the Kimberley Platzl. While they were kicking back and taking in the sights Gene, who is a bass player, noted that he could hear a bass but couldn’t see one in the group performing. He was right. There were bass lines riding in the band without a bass in sight. Larry Tuck of Tuck’s Troubadours, for a number of reasons, had forsaken his bass guitar for a Bass Ukulele. He is the first, and only musician that I know of in this area, who has gone down that route. I suspect he will not be the last to take on this light weight alternative to the bass guitar. Below is a review of the Karla U-Bass by Greg Olwell. I have lifted this from the most recent edition of Acoustic Guitar.

“Sometimes you show up for a picking session and you’re out of luck. There are already too many guitarists and you don’t want to add another six-string to the party, but hey look, nobody’s playing bass! Or, maybe your home recordings need some low end and you want an easy-to-play bass with a big sound. If this sounds familiar, the U-Bass from the ukulele specialists at Kala Brand may be just what you need. With its small size, the U-Bass is easy to carry and play, and when played through an amp, produces a big bass sound.

With its small body, ultrashort 21-inch scale (compared to a typical Fender-style bass’s 34-inch scale), and thundering plugged-in bass sound, the U-Bass defies all sense of proportion. However, spend a little time with one and you may quickly find that the U-Bass moves past “brain-warping novelty bass” to become an inviting instrument that could be a very useful and inspiring tool. Kala has an extensive line of U-Basses, with different woods and body shapes (traditional, cutaways, and solid bodies), as well as fretless versions. We checked out the entry-level U-Bass-SMHG – Mahogany, Baritone-Uke Size Body

Though Kala never refers to this instrument as a “ukulele bass,” coming from a company that is one of the biggest players riding the current wave of ukulele mania, it’s hard to think of this instrument any other way. Roughly the size of a baritone ukulele, the U-Bass has a slightly longer neck (a 21-inch scale versus a baritone uke’s 19-inch scale), and the mahogany neck, with 12 frets to the body, is stout, feeling much more like a full-size bass guitar neck than that of a ukulele.

The U-Bass’s body is built with a solid flamed mahogany top and solid mahogany back and sides. The top and back are bound with tortoiseshell-color plastic and the sound hole is ringed by a simple white rosette. The frets were nicely dressed, never causing a buzz and free of sharp edges. One of the U-Bass’s unusual features is the small hatch on the back, directly behind the bridge area, which allows the instrument’s unique rubber strings to be fed through the top and bridge.

To amplify the U-Bass, Kala chose Shadow electronics, consisting of a Nanoflex under saddle pickup and small preamp mounted on the bass’s side, with a chromatic tuner and controls for volume and tone. The preamp is powered by a pair of CR2032 button batteries, which are loaded through a small sliding compartment near the standard end pin jack.

Unique Strings: The heart of the U-Bass’s one-of-a-kind feel and sound is its strings. Thick and stretchy like gummy worms, the U-Bass’s polyurethane strings have a smooth, slick texture and are a nice evolution from the sticky silicone strings used on the U-Bass’s ancestor, the Ashbory Bass, a minuscule bass sold by Guild and later DeArmond. The strings’ elasticity, low tension, and super thick gauges are key to the bass’s gloriously thuddy sound, but the very same qualities that yield a convincing upright bass sound also require frequent tuning. They’re just so stretchy and roly-poly under your fingers that changes in temperature or humidity, or enthusiastic playing, can knock them out of tune faster than you might be accustomed to with steel strings. So, I appreciated the high-quality Hipshot Ultralite tuning machines, on board tuner, and Graph Tech nut for making tuning easy. Though the U-Bass comes with a Graph Tech nut, which should help the strings slide smoothly across the nut during tuning, I took the additional step of equalizing the tension on either side of the nut by gently lifting the strings slightly above the nut. I found this helped cut down on intonation changes during playing.Thanks to its size, guitarists might have an easy time adapting to this small bass. The spacing is tighter than a typical guitar, but it feels friendly and was easy to get used to. The neck shape felt familiar, too, and made playing for extended periods comfortable.

Little Bass, Big Boom: With its tiny body and big, flappy strings, the U-Bass has an acoustic volume that’s fine for plucking at home, but it probably won’t be loud enough to compete with most other acoustic instruments. You’ll need an amp for that and when you plug in, you’ll find that the bass’s real strength is its plugged-in sound. At low volumes, you’re probably fine playing through a standard acoustic amp, though higher levels would benefit from a dedicated bass amp. I played the U-Bass through Fender Bassman TV and SWR Baby Blue bass amps at a few rehearsals with my jazz big band and experienced a bit of cognitive dissonance: the plugged-in sound from this laughably small bass was as authoritative as James Earl Jones’s voice. When I switched from amplified upright bass to the U-Bass during our louder, more rocking songs, the sound from the little bass was nothing short of thunderous. Even plugged into my amp’s active input, which attenuates some input signal, the Shadow pickup’s output was tremendous, requiring me to lower my amp’s volume from the upright’s setting. The U-Bass had some of the most delicious, no-nonsense fundamental bass tone imaginable. Even with the onboard electronics’ tone control turned up to its most treble-heavy setting, the tone was pure, thick fundamental, nearly free of all the upper-end information acoustic guitarists crave for a sparkly sound. Instead of creating a lacy, high-end sound, turning the tone control up gave the U-Bass a little more click on the notes’ attack, which helped provide more right-hand detail. But, for my ears, I preferred the onboard tone control down in its lower half, which trims the high-end, much like a tone control does on an electric guitar, leaving a thick, supportive sound. For a bass player, this meat-and-potatoes sound is the foundation you’ll need for most of your bass lines. I also never had a problem with feedback; even when I tried to induce it, the little guy wouldn’t cooperate.

Take It Along: For anyone who needs an acoustic bass, or simply wants to explore the beauty of some low-end sounds, the Kala U-Bass should be high on your list of basses to demo. You won’t need to be in a ukulele band to pull it off either—several top-shelf bassists, like Bakithi Kumalo, Leland Sklar, and Abe Laboriel, have discovered the charm of the U-Bass and use it regularly onstage in a variety of venues. Far beyond novelty, the U-Bass is a real-deal bass, built well to deliver serious thunder. The best part? Its tiny size makes it perfect to carry along with your acoustic guitar gear, in case the jam calls for something besides another guitar.

SPECS: Four-string miniature acoustic bass. Solid mahogany top, back, and sides. Mahogany neck. Rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Graph Tech nut. 21-inch scale. 1 13/16-inch nut width. Matte finish. Hipshot Ultralite tuners. Pahoehoe polyurethane strings. Shadow Nanoflex bridge pickup with SH NFX EQ-T onboard active electronics. Made in China.

PRICE: $660 list/$550 street.

MAKER: Kala Brand Music: (877) 853-3853; kalabrand.com.”

Although in the review the price is listed as $550-$660 a quick search on the internet yielded prices that were significantly under $400. That sounds like a hell of a deal for anyone interested in experimenting with the instrument.

Check the YouTube video in the on-line review Karla U-Bass

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2013/05/21 – this just in – Mike and Anie Hepher at the CLAWHAMMER GALLERY are now an official Kala dealer so they can get that bass uke and any other uke gear in. They stock about 6-10 ukes at any given time. as well as accessories like straps and strings and tuners. Thanks for the info Mike.

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The Last Coffee House of the season

Posted on 2013-05-07 by Rod Wilson

Locals Coffee House May 4, 2013 7:30 pm at the Studio / Stage Door in Cranbrook.

Every musician, regardless of genre, needs to get to grips with the music of Bach. On a similar, but not as an intense a note, every tune-smith or purveyor of traditional music should pay some attention to the music of Stephen Foster. His tunes have been around for over 150 years so they must have some merit. In fact his songs and tunes are a goldmine of material for re-interpretation and performance. Case in point. At the LOCALS Coffee House on Saturday night, late in the program, RedGirl (Mike and Anie Hepher with Steve Jones) took to the stage and kicked off their set with Stephen Foster’s Angeline the Baker. From the moment that Mike’s delicate muted mandolin intro sounded they had me. For me this was a complete re-invention of a tune that we have been kicking around for years. But Mike’s vocal and mandolin, Anie’s clawhammer banjo and Steve’s bass playing took the song to a whole new level. As a band RedGirl has been around for a number of years and like all great musicians they continue to evolve. The new format (at least to my ears) of the band is a more stripped down acoustic version of their former self. On this particular night the emphasis on mandolin, clawhammer banjo and ukulele was a pure delight. I hope they are planning a recording session in the near future. But I am getting ahead of myself. They were in fact the last act in an evening of incredible music. A couple of new musical duos kicked off the night. First out of the gate was JR LIVES with Jon Bisset on guitar and vocals and Rod Wilson on Irish Bouzouki. Their selections included Carrot Juice is Murder and Neil Young’s Old Man. A couple of months back Dave Prinn (guitar and vocals) hooked up with Bill Renwick (guitar, harmonica and vocals) at an open-mic session at BJ’s Creekside Pub in Kimberley. The musical chemistry was immediate. They have cemented their musical relationship into the duo VESTED INTERESTS and I guess this was their first formal performance. Both musicians are strong guitarists and vocalists and they seem to seamlessly slip into complementary roles. With his strong performances in many sessions over the past few years Dave is the better known musician. Bill may be the lesser known but I suspect that will change. His voice is a wonderfully polished version of Neil Young, that is if Neil could actually sing. (don’t get me wrong, I like Neil Young). They kicked off their set with an Eagles tune (I missed the name), followed by a Dave Prinn original called Gonna Ride That Big Twin Home (a motor cycle trip from California to Edmonton) and Bill Renwick’s Hold Me in Your Arms Tonight. They rode out on a blaze of glory on James Taylor’s Steam Roller Blues. Tom Bungay is also a regular on the session scene and for this night’s performance he decided to take it down a notch with a couple of tribute performances dedicated to Rita MacNeil and George Jones. Dave Prinn stepped on stage to sing harmony behind Tom on Rita’s Working Man. The song He Stopped Loving Her Today was the George Jones tribute. Tom’s wife Verna joined him for their masterpiece monologue / song Wave Over Wave – a very fitting tribute to the sailors of Newfoundland. Also featured was the song Jeckyl and Heyde. This is a fine piece of song writing by Tom’s eighteen year old daughter.The Quimby’s (Erin and Ferdy Belland) with some able help from Mike and Anie Hepher strutted out some covers of Blue Rodeo and the John Prine song called In Spite of Ourselves. This song could be, so they say, the story of their married life. Erin, like Annie (and a whole horde of other musicians) has become a devotee of the Ukulele. It is an instrument that has come out of the shadows and has become an important ingredient in “Jaiwaiin” music (ie. a mixture of island music from Jamaica and Hawaii). I am not sure under what banner James and Tristan Neve, Rob Young and Ferdy Belland are travelling but I guess Lonesome Jim is a good as any. As always Jame’s original songs continue to astound and on this night the band included Hold On, Passing Through Your Heart, and Take the Wheel. Also, as always, Rob Young contributed some fine lead guitar work, including some of his rarely heard slide playing.

This Saturday night was the end of LOCALS 2012/2013 winter season and it was also a special night to pay tribute to Beth Crawley who was stepping down after chairing the LOCALS Committee for 15 years. Thanks Beth for all your hard work over the past years. Beth proved time and time again that by presenting local artists the quality of musicians in the area is second to none and that the Studio / Stage is a venue that captures the real essence of music – music that is unique, personal, and intimate. It is music that is shared among local musicians and their friends and deserves to be shared by the wider community.

Here are some more images from an unforgettable evening of music:

Home Grown Coffee House May 4, 2013 7:30 pm at Centre 64 in Kimberley.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet found a way to be in two places at the same time so I had to make a choice. Which Coffee House should I attend? LOCALS or HOME GROWN ? LOCALS was closer to home and I was performing there in a duo with Jon Bisset (JR Lives) so that decided the issue. Still it would have been nice to attend both.

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Bocephus King at the Byng

Posted on 2013-02-01 by Rod Wilson

Bocephus King, Slack Pine and the Bison Brothers at the Byng Roadhouse, Cranbrook, Monday January 28, 2013, 8pm.

My wife accuses me of losing my objectivity. After every recent show it seems I have nothing but good to say about the performance. Well, I guess it’s because live music away from the concert platform is always good. It doesn’t matter how many train wrecks, if any, may occur during the performance the intimacy, vibe and the audience interaction are what makes for great evenings. So, I don’t think I losing my objectivity. How can I lose objectivity when I am having so much fun? Case in point; The recent show at the Byng opened with the new local group Pine Slacks featuring Clayton Parsons (guitar and vocals), Connor Foote (guitar and vocals) and Stu Driedger (stand up bass). The sound system was a little harsh, the lighting less than satisfactory and their bass player was dealing with some serious medical pain. Despite the difficulties they pulled it together and delivered a set that included originals such as Echoes, Know My Name, Time, Coyote, How I Met Your Mom, Stay, Grey Cell Doors, Hold On, Waiting to be Set Free, Ducks and a great thumping version of Hangman. Kudos to Stu for hanging in there despite the pain. Tim Ross (vocals, guitar), Ferdy Belland (vocals and Bass) and Colin Righton (drums) are no strangers on the local scene. When Ferdy recently arrived back in town Tim Ross re-activate their musical partnership in The Bison Brothers. This is a slick, in the best sense, tight rock solid unit. With Tim’s song writing skills, cowboy/rock star/western persona, Ferdy’s hyperactive bass and backup vocals and Colin Righton’s harnessed heavy metal sensibilities any performance is guaranteed to please. On Monday night at the Byng it was no different. Apart from a few cover tunes Tim’s original material was front and center. Songs include My Sister’s Friends, Fish God, My Baby Won’t Ride in My Car No More, Day After Day, Ghost Town, How Come I Never Have any Money, the rocking (“everyone needs a car song”) Rocket 88 and, my personal favorite The Lucky Star. “Bocephus King at the Byng” – doesn’t that have a nice ring to it. Despite having a website Bocephus is a bit of an enigma. The biography on the web site is a masterpiece of non-information. Who is Bocephus King? Where does he come from? Apart from working out of Vancouver anything else is pure guess work. No matter his music and his five piece band speaks for its self. The band, featuring Bocephus King on guitar and vocals, Wynston Minckler on short scale bass, Paul Townsend on drums, Charlie Hase on pedal steel and Skye Wallace on vocals, percussion and Melodica delivered over two hours of non-stop grove based music. There were a few covers in there (Don’t Think Twice, Run Like a Fugative ) but it was mostly roots based, and as near as I could tell, original music with a distinct Caribbean feel.This was a great show with good flow, a good grove, very musical (?? a rock band that’s musical) and lots of space for each musician to shine. Charlie Hase’s pedal steel added that extra melodic voice that is often missing in most bands; Skye Wallace’s vocals, percussion and especially her Melodica playing on the old Dean Martin pop classic Sway was a real surprise and a joy to hear. It was a Monday night, traditionally a dead night in the week but the word must have got out because there was good crowd who are obviously enjoying the Byng’s Roadhouse’s return to the live music scene. Here are some more images from the evening.

So, just remember THE BYNG ROADHOUSE has live music every Friday and Saturday evening with a jam session every Saturday afternoon.

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Citterns and Irish Bouzoukis

Posted on 2012-11-26 by Rod Wilson

I am often asked “what are the instruments you are playing”. The short answer is an Irish Bouzouki, on the left, and on the right, an Irish Cittern. They are two mandolin like instruments that you are unlikely to find on the rack in your average music store. Generally speaking these are custom built instruments hand made on an individual basis. There may be production models out there (I think Fender may have one) but that would be unusual. The instruments are generally used in Celtic or similar music. There is a slow creep of the instrument into other musical styles. For instance Steve Earle played an Irish Bouzouki at recent Key City Concert in Cranbrook. Both instruments are recent inventions, or re-inventions, that only go back to around the 1960s. Both have interesting histories.

The Cittern described as “a mandolin on steroids” is a perfect example of what goes round comes around or “there is nothing new under the sun”. In the 1960s the English folk performer and Luthier Stephan Sobell acquired a Portuguese Guittara that he started using to accompany traditional British songs. This instrument, with its convoluted history, is a 12-string instrument very much like the Cittern pictured above but with a very odd “porcupine nest” of tuning mechanisms at the top of the neck. Originally it was derived from the Elizabethan Lute during some English political incursions into Portugal way back before men wore trousers. To this day the playing style, using finger and thumb picks are more akin to archaic Lute styles than modern guitar styles. It is a finger picking technique that found its way to the Portuguese African colonies and into modern Afro/pop guitar music. The Portuguese Guitarra is very much alive today and is the predominant instrument for the accompaniment of traditional Portuguese Fado Singers. It goes without saying that it adds a distinctive voice to this Portuguese music (check the Youtube videos of the singer Mariza or better yet get your hands on the DVD “Mariza: Live in London”). But I digress from Stephan Sobell’s adventures back in the 60s. Although enamoured with the instrument he found it was not quite suitable for British Folk music. To solve the problem he started building similar instruments of his own design. He ended up with a 5-course (10 strings) instrument with a tuning system more suitable for Celtic music. In the end, because it basically was a re-invention of an earlier English instrument called a Cittern that’s the name that stuck. To this day Stephan is the premier builder of Citterns and if you have to ask the price of one of his instruments it is a pretty sure bet you can’t afford one. He only builds two instruments a month. Check his website \stephan Sobell to view some truly beautiful instruments. Another exceptional builder is the English Luthier Roger Bucknall at Fylde Guitars. I play two Citterns. The first was built in 2001 by Jamie Wiens here in Cranbrook. It is a beautiful, if slightly flawed, instrument that was a one off experiment for both Jamie and myself. It is a very long scaled instrument (26 inch neck) with Koa back and sides and a carved Spruce top. It is equipped with a Highlander dual pickup system that, unfortunately, has the battery installed inside the instrument. It has a huge sound and unbelievable sustain. It is the only Cittern that Jamie has built and when originally completed neither of us really knew how to tune or play it. There are a myriad of tuning options and after some research and experimentation we chose FCFCF (alternating fifth and fourth intervals). I tend to capo it at the second fret to allow me to use Irish Bouzouki fingerings. Alas, the instrument has developed a crack in the top and is currently in Kevin Turner’s Crow’s Nest Pass work shop (Chinook Guitars) being repaired.

Lawrence Nyberg is an especially fine Canadian Luthier working on Hornby Island (Lawrence Nyberg ) . He builds, guitars, Mandolins, Mandolas, Irish Bouzoukis and Citterns. He has a number of models including a 24 inch scale length model with a carved Spruce top, Rosewood back and sides and is equipped with a Headway pickup. The battery pack is conveniently recessed in the side of the instrument. The instrument is not as deep through the body as the Wiens instrument and, while not as loud, it has a “punchier”, darker sound. Surprisingly, the instrument sounds much better when plugged-in and amplified. Tuned DADAD this is closer to the traditional Irish Bouzouki tuning of GDAD and the Mandolin tuning of GDAE so that switching between the three instruments only requires minor mental adjustments.

The Traditional Irish Bouzouki – that’s playing loose with the language. It is neither an Irish instrument nor Irish traditional. Originally it is a Greek instrument. Irish musicians visiting the Balkans in the 1960s adopted the Greek Bouzouki. It is a bowl backed instrument that Irish Luthiers were unable or unwilling to duplicate. They ended up building a flat back instrument with a tuning system more suitable to Celtic music. It is looks very similar to a Cittern with only 4 courses (8 strings). At its most characteristic configuration the bottom strings are tuned in octaves (somewhat like a 12-string guitar) and is tuned GDAD. Although it has distinctive melodic possibilities its strength is in its use as a rhythm instrument. The chords tend to be simple modal chords that often are neither major or minor – the third note of the triad is often missing. Having such a long neck it is possible to play the same chords through three octaves without getting involved in gymnastic and difficult fingerings. In the bench mark bands of the 1970s (The Bothy Band, Altan, DeDannan) and in the hands of such performers as Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine the instrument quickly became well established. In this day and age there are not too many traditional Irish bands that do not include a Bouzouki. On the Key City Stage in Cranbrook the Irish Bouzouki has had a prominent presence in the bands of Danu, Dervish and Great Big Sea. The Studio / Stage Door has also seen its share of Bouzouki performers including the legendary Andy Irvine (one of the first performers on the instrument) and, in a different concert, Ron Kavanagh with his absolutely powerhouse trio of fiddle, bouzouki and button accordion. That particular concert at the Studio / Stage Door is one I will never forget.

Last but not least – The distant, smaller, and possibly older cousin of Citterns and Bouzoukis is the Celtic Mandolin. It is somewhat different from the florid Bluegrass Mandolin. It is tuned the same way (GDAE) but tends to have a rounder, mellower sound. Bluegrass players like the hard “bark” of an instrument that enables them to lay down the distinctive chop on the “two and four beat” of BlueGrass music. The Lloyd Loar Florentine BlueGrass design is thoroughly entrenched in North America and the round-hole models favored by Jazz, Classical, Brazilian and Celtic players are relatively hard to find.

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Brahms to the Blues

Posted on 2012-10-09 by Rod Wilson

From Saturday to Saturday (Sept 29 to October 6, 2012) there was wall to wall entertainment in the Key City (Cranbrook). The week kicked off with the La Cafamore String Quartet and Nicola Everton at the Knox Presbyterian Church with a sampling of very modern string music and a thick slice of the past with a Brahms Clarinet Quintet. On the Sunday at the Key City Theatre the Go Go Grannies hosted a benefit concert for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. The opening act featured the rambunctious music of “The Good Ol’ Goats” followed by the classical harp and vocal music of Bronn and Katherine Journey. See the previous posts in this blog for reviews of those events.

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HEATHER G’s JAM, Wednesday October 3, 2012, 7pm at Ric’s Lounge in the Prestige Hotel in Cranbrook. Some of us musicians remember the heady days of a little while back when KAMP (Kootenay Association of Musical Performers) run regular Friday night sessions at Ali Barba’s Lounge in the Finnegans Wake Pub. Unfortunately the pub closed

down and the sessions came to an end. They were great times with lots of great music. So much so that Heather Gemmell and Brian Noer decided to try and rekindle the flame by approaching the management of Ric’s Lounge for a trial Jam session. Without any reservations the night was declared a great success. Lots of the former KAMP musicians showed up and there was good audience response. Heather kicked off the evening with John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” and Rod Wilson chiming in on Irish Whistle. Other performers during the evening where SHEVA (Shelagh and Van Redecopp), JOSHUA BURNING (Garnet Waite and Keith Larsen) with their new bass player John Gerlitz. Their particular set served notice that this new configuration of the roots/country band is destined to make a significant mark on the the local scene. Also on stage were Tom Bungay, Dave Prinn, Mark Casey, Jim Marshall and lots of percussion and mixing and matching of the various musicians in the room. Keith Larsen on mandolin and guitar really ignited Dave Prinn’s performance (not that it needed igniting) with some blazing solos and accompaniments. If there is any justice in the world there will be more sessions at Ric’s in the near future. In fact the next session has been scheduled for Friday November 9, 2012. There is nothing like real live music in great casual surroundings. Ric’s lounge definitely qualifies on all levels and for this we must thank Ric’s Operation Manager Rheanne Groumoutis for the venue and Heather Gemmell and Brian Noer for pulling it all together. Here are some images from a great night of music:

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THE JAZZ COUNCIL

Friday October 5, 2012, 7pm at Ric’s Lounge in the Prestige Inn in Cranbrook.
Despite the acknowledged fact that Jazz is not the most popular music of this decade The Jazz Council continues to thrive. The original configuration of the band; Laurel Ralston (Trumpet & Fluegelhorn), Sven Heyde (drums), Bernie Primbs (baritone sax), Tim Plait (keyboards) and Joel Kroeker (bass) have probably played over 30 engagements in just over a year. There are not too many, if any, local bands that can boast that sort of activity. Unfortunately, Tim has relocated to Germany to further his studies and Joel has taken up a teaching position in Sparwood. But as, they say, “it ain’t over till’ it’s over” The Jazz Council will continue to thrive with two new replacement musicians; Geoff Haynes on keyboards and Stu Driedger on bass. Geoff is from Edmonton and he will be taking on a number of musical tasks vacated by the Tim Plait. Stu Driedger is a local Cranbrook youth who has been away to study and is now back on the local scene. This particular gig was a kind of shake down cruise for the new musicians. An opportunity to run the changes on some familiar standards and jazz tunes before taking on the original material and projects that I am sure are in the works. Geoff and Stu had an opportunity to explore the standard piano jazz trio with “Darn That Dream” as well as such small combo staples as, “Fly me to the Moon”, “You Can’t Take that away from Me”, “It might as well be Spring” “Summertime”, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” “Harlem Nocturne”, “If I had a Bell”, “Night Train” and at least one Miles Davis Tune. For this civilized night of music, food and refreshment the musicians and the patrons need to thank the new Patron Saint of Live Music in Cranbrook, Ric’s Operation Manager Rheanne Groumoutis. Thank you, thank you, thank you Rheanne.

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BILLY MANZIK AND LISA EDBERG: Friendz Now Pub, Cranbrook, Saturday October 6, 2012 9pm. Well this was a surprise and a very pleasant one at that. Who are these guys? Sorry Lisa, you are definitely not a guy. Where did they come from? How come we have not heard of them? These are two very talented musicians who currently reside in Santa Cruz, California. Billy Manzik is originally from from Thunder Bay, Ontario and plays guitars and sings. Lisa Edberg plays outstanding upright bass and is originally from Colorado. They are part of that musical underground of very talented people who seem to just kick around gypsy style, covering thousands of kilometers going from gig to gig. They may play for a dozen people or 15,000, depending on circumstance. Their music is a blues/country/roots mix best meant for a “foot stompin’ good time”. Although there are a few original songs in the mix most of their material consists of “covers”. That can be taken as a unkind compliment but it isn’t really. There is way more to it than that. Rather, they take material, remold it and come up with interpretations that are definitely their own personal vehicles of expression. They work extremely well together. Billy sings lead with some exceptionally authoritative finger picking / flat pick guitar with some nice clean dobro slide thrown in for good measure. Lisa excels on her 1957 Epiphone upright bass, plays guitar and sings mostly back vocals. She plays her bass in a “slap” style that is not too often seen around here. The end results are great bass lines punctuated with a percussive attack that drives the rhythm into that “foot stompin'” mode. On Saturday night they”stomped” their way though Neil Young’s “Helpless”, J.J.Cale’s “The Breeze“, and on down “Highway 61“, checked in on a “Brown Eyed Handsome Man“, “Corrina”, “Who Do You Love”, “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor“, and for good measure they threw in a Van Halen Song. That is only a sampling of what when down during two sets of fine rootsy music. I hope they are back this way some time and maybe a few more Cranbrook residents will get to savoir their talents.

And that was the week that was.

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The Good Ol’ Goats CD release

Posted on 2012-09-19 by Rod Wilson

A NIGHT OF YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE, HUMOUR AND A WEE TOUCH OF THE MACARBE.

THE GOOD OL’ GOATS – THE TRAIN: The CD release concert and party at the Studio/Stage Door, September 15, 2012, 8 pm. This highly original band of young musicians have been together for probably less than a year and seem to be rolling from success to success. It is not often that young musicians step completely out of the box, bypass the standard rock and roll quartet and write and perform original music. When was the last time you saw two banjos on a stage? The band consists of the principle writer Nolan Eckert (vocals, banjo, guitar), Julian Bueckert (drums), Angus Liedtke (vocals, banjo, guitar, harmonica and accordion), Angus MacDonald (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), Theo Moore (upright bass and vocals) and Joelle Winkell (vocals, Shaker, tambourine, guitar, autoharp, mandolin, charm, good looks and the feminine touch).

Click on images for a larger view

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Shelagh and Van’s Wedding

Posted on 2012-09-03 by Rod Wilson

Saturday, September 1, 2012. It couldn’t have been a better day. It was sunny, warm (not too warm) and the venue for the wedding of Shelagh Gunn and Van Redecopp at Mayook was perfect. Over the years the old Dougie Erickson property has been host to may gatherings of friends and families of the “Mayook Maniacs” but this one was extra special. It was a gathering of some two hundred friends and family to celebrate the marriage of Van Redecopp and Shelagh Gunn. They met about five years ago at one of the Sorento Bluegrass camps, became musical friends and the romantic partners that culminated in this day of celebration. A grand happy occasion, good friends, good food, good weather and the cream of local musicians. What more could one want.

Here are some images from the day of celebration (click on the images for a larger view).

Mayook always means live music. Although there was some DJ music on tap in very short order live music ruled the day. As usual for Mayook there was an entire spectrum of music. From bagpipe tunes drifting down from above the campsite, classic rock, country, Bluegrass, traditional folk, Cape Breton Fiddle Music and some mad bagpipe and percussion improvisational mayhem.

These are some of the images I managed to capture but if friends and family have images they would like to share send hi-res Jpeg files to me at parahaki@xplornet.com and I will add them to the post.

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and for those who missed it here is The Wedding Song

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Celtara at Centre 64

Posted on 2012-08-20 by Rod Wilson

CELTARA at Centre 64: Wednesday August 15, 2012, 7:30 pm

Celtic music can cover a pretty wide spectrum of styles and places of origin. From the “green beer and shamrock”, rip up the floor boards and blister the paint of a St. Patrick Day bar music scene to the precise, somewhat academic music favoured by the Chieftains. The blister the paint school grew out of the music of the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners and the Irish Rovers in the 1960’s. They are well remembered for their recordings and the repertoire that has filtered into mainstream music. To this day this style of music is mostly song based and is great fun for a party. Occasionally a few dance tunes are thrown into the mix to get the feet tapping. Great Big Sea and the Pogues are recent popular manifestations of this school of Celtic music. Since the heady days of the Dubliners there has been steady growth in the number of musicians who have chosen to delve deeper into the well of traditional dance music. The Chieftains are still on the scene with their somewhat sedate ambience but they have been joined by bands with a more robust interpretation of the tradition. The Bothy Band set the pace in the seventies and since that time bands like Altan and Lunasa continue to expand the tradition. So between the Pogues and Lunasa there are various shadings of how Celtic music can be played. And off to the side, there are various regional styles of the music. Fiddle music from Cape Breton and Scotland and bagpipe music from Galicia (Spain) are just a couple of examples. While guitars are used the music is more noted for its reliance on the traditional flute, penny whistle, fiddle, harp, concertina, accordion and more recently Irish Bouzouki.

And where does Celtara fit in this scheme of things? Well they are some where in the middle. The traditional songs are there (“The Bonnie Ship the Diamond”, “P Stands or Paddy”) as well as the traditional dance tunes. They string the dance tunes together in the time honored tradition of three or more played without a break. The normal predictable cadences that end a Bluegrass or pop tune are missing. Like most Celtic bands of this ilk, tunes are strung together and the aim for a good, or even great, performance is for flawless smooth transitions from one tune to another. In some instances it is like the shifting of gears in a luxury car, smoothly without notice and then all of a sudden things can just take off. Like motoring a mountain road the musicians navigate the twists and turns of the tunes in the set. Remember this is dance music and a one tune dance doesn’t cut it. There is a huge reservoir of tunes to pick from and Celtara is adding to the list with their own original tunes. In their “The Gap Tooth Set” they included a new tune by Tammi Cooper called “Spillamacheen”. Included in another dance set was the tune with the unusual title “Grannie Hold the Candle while I Shave the Chickens Lips” (????).

The musicians are from Edmonton and include Tammi Cooper (flute and Irish whistle and vocals) Bonnie Gregory (fiddle, harp and vocals), Steve Bell (keyboard and accordion), Andreas Illig ( Irish Bouzouki and Guitar) and Mark Arnison (percussion). The flute, fiddle, harp and accordion all have well established pedigrees in traditional Celtic music. Although it should be mentioned that Bonnie’s harp was built in Western Canada so it is somewhat home grown. The Irish Bouzouki is a recent invention, if that’s the right word. Irish musicians visiting the Balkans in the 1960’s became enamored with the Greek Bouzouki and they took it back to Ireland where they had them built with flat backs and changed the tuning to fit Irish music. The Irish Bouzouki is a common feature in Celtic bands.The band Great Big Sea uses the Bouzouki and even Steve Earle showed up at the Key City in Cranbrook recently with an Irish Bouzouki. Andreas Illig plays a beautiful Irish built Foley Bouzouki. Guitars are a fairly recent addition to Irish traditional music and generally requires a different approach to tuning and how it is played. Andreas plays a Collins dreadnought guitar tuned in DADGAD (guitarists will know what that means) . Bones and Bodhran (Irish Frame Drum) are the only traditional Celtic percussion instruments that I know of, but that is changing.Traditional bands are now known to use Congas, Darbukas, and Djembes and just about anything that they can hit, shake or rattle. Mark Arnison uses a Djembe (from West Africa), tube drums (home made from plumbing pipe) and a variety of cymbals and shakers. He also plays the Bodhran but not always in the Irish style. During performances he switched back and forth from the traditional beater to a Middle Eastern hand drumming style where the Bodhran is nursed in the lap and played with both hands. His percussion accompaniments were subtle and always there. Never loud or overbearing. Like all good percussionists he was under the music adding colour and pulse. Celtara plays very finely crafted music that places an emphasis on being in tune with smooth transitions from one instrument to another. Tammi explained that they way back they had a teacher who had the motto “Tune or Die” tacked to his wall. It is a lesson that has stuck. So the music was a superb mix of traditional songs, sad and happy, and a great sampling of dance tunes. The sound system was superb and transparent. It was easy to forget that they were even using a sound system.

This is the the Edmonton band’s first visit to the area and one hopes it is the first of many.

Here are more images from the concert: (click on the images for a larger view)

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Classical Season just ended….

Posted on 2012-08-05 by Rod Wilson

2011/2012 THE CLASSICAL SEASON THAT WAS…

It was a classical music season of ups and down and I guess the outdoor concert “Music in the Mountains” was a convenient end to a somewhat rocky season. But first a disclaimer. I didn’t get to all the performances during the season. I missed the Symphony Christmas concert and I didn’t attend any of the Arts Festival performances so I guess I missed a significant chunk of what was going on. However, of the concerts that I did get to attend I think the following are worth noting.

The Diva and the Maestro – Natalie Choquette and the Symphony of the Kootenays, Key City Theatre, Saturday, October 29th, 2011, 7:30 pm

Classically trained sopranos are not necessarily my cup of tea. More often than not for me they are shrill and hard on the ear. However, Natalie Choquette proved to be the exception. She managed to take the standard diva repertoire to another level of entertainment. The premise of the concert was “A Maestro is trying to come to terms with eccentric internationally renowned divas such as “la Fettucini”, “Fraulein Wienerschnitzel”, “Nadia Camenitchaïkovskyaya”, “Mrs Osolemio” and many more…!” In an array of an extravagant costumes and interactions with members of the audience and “the maestro” Natalie played the role of all the divas in this contest of wills with the conductor Bruce Dunn. With humour and panache she managed to work her way though the popular operatic repertoire. Of the symphony concerts I have attended over the years this was by far the most entertaining. It was unfortunate that the audience numbers were less than optimum. Of course one wonders why that was the case and possibly part of the reason for low attendance was the lack of adequate publicity. I for one had no idea what to expect from the concert and as a result I was more than pleasantly surprised by the wonderful performance. Normally I am not a fan of concerts that place a high reliance on show biz glitz to pull off a performance but for Natalie Choquette the entertainment trappings were definitely an added value.

LA CAFAMORE STRING QUARTET, Knox Presbyterian Church, Friday September 30th, 2011, 7:30

From one extreme to the other; From the entertainment values of the operatic world to the modern, super cool, amplified music of the La Cafamore String Quartet is quite a leap and it was a leap well worth taking. The featured work on the program was Steve Reich’s minimalist masterpiece “Different Trains”. This piece may have required a significant intellectual and emotional leap for audiences unfamiliar with truly modern music. Steve Reich is a modern American minimalist composer who relies on short phrases that evolve, loop and interlock in complex melodic and rhythmic patterns. It is steps away from the increasing harmonic complexity of most modern music. The piece is a programmatic rumination by the composer on train journeys in the United States and in Europe in 1939 on through to about 1950. It is a reflection of the composer’s personal recollections and war time Jewish experiences. Now here is the super cool part. As usual the publisher sends along the manuscript for the string quartet but also includes a CD of pre-recorded train sounds, snatches of speech and another string quartet playing the loops of music that are the core of the composition. In simplistic terms “Different Trains” is an interactive karaoke experience of a pre-recorded CD performance and the amplified La Cafamore String Quartet on stage. The overhead display of the text and the sequence of the music certainly helped keep the audience on track. “Different Trains” is a three movement work; “I: America – before the War”, “II: Europe – During the War”, “III: After the War”. The piece was featured on a landmark 1988 recording by the Kronos Quartet but to actually see and hear the piece in live performance was a some what mind blowing experience. Also on the program were pieces by those other well known revolutionaries Beethoven, Debussy and Puccini. This was a remarkable concert.

The Selkirk Trio, Knox Presbyterian Church, Cranbrook, Wednesday April 11th, 2012, 7:30 pm.

This unusual chamber music concert of piano (Sue Gould), clarinet (Nicola Everton) and cello (Jeff Faragher) was well attended. The trio featured the music of Beethoven, the Cuban Jazz world of Paquito D’Rivera’s “Afro”; The “lively and cheeky” music of Nino Roto (of The Godfather I & II film scores); some minor pieces by the German Jewish composer Max Bruch and the exotic Serbian dances by Marko Tajcevic. The Serbian music was a complete revelation. Arthur Rubenstein was known to have played transcriptions of these compositions and his influence was very evident in Sue Gould’s lively accompaniment to Nicola Everton’s absolutely liquid clarinet playing. Nicola bounced and oozed her way through the exotic odd metre eighth rhythms of music that sounded like it came straight off the streets of Zagreb. The program was rounded out with Paquito D’Rivera’s “Danzon” and Sue Gould and Nicola Porter giving full rein to their jazz inclinations with a wonderful rendition of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”.

So those are my top picks of the season. That does not mean there were not other performances of merit out there. The concerts by the Bisset Singers was full of surprises and gorgeous choral arrangements. The La Cafamore String Quartet came back to Cranbrook with Nina Horvath for another wonderful performance at the Knox. The unusual combination of Carolyn Cameron on violin and Aurora Dokken on piano and organ were also featured at the Knox in February. The talented amateur vocalists had their day in the sun at the Knox performing in “Sonatina Sunday” (see the tab PERFORMANCES / MUSIC / SONATINA SUNDAY 2012 ). The JOE TRIO gave an entertaining performance at the Key City that was billed as a Symphony of the Kootenays concert but there was no orchestra in sight. I found that a bit puzzling. And of course there was the grand finale concert “Music In the Mountains” outdoors at the St Eugene Mission Golf resort.

So despite some organizational miss-steps by the Symphony it was a season full of wonderful music. The most notable feature of the season was the significant amount interesting and varied chamber music performed at the Knox Presbyterian Church.

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Symphony Concert at the Mission

Posted on 2012-06-12 by Rod Wilson

FREE SYMPHONY CONCERT

Symphony of the Kootenays

Free Concert

Friday, June 22 – 7:00 PM

Presented at

St. Eugene Mission

Aboriginal Day Festival

Please bring your own chairs or blanket to sit on the lawn

Featuring A Mountain Themed Programme:

Burge: Rocky Mountain Overture

Croall: Stories from Coyote

Baker: The Mountains (from Through the Lions Gate)

Strauss: Farmer’s Polka, Russian March,

Pleasure Train Polka, Klipp Klapp Polka

Shostakovich: Second Waltz

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Strauss: Radetsky March

SPONSORED BY COLUMBIA BASIN TRUST

COME OUT AND TAKE IN THE AWESOME ENVIRONMENT AND SUPPORT THE SYMPHONY

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Symphony of the Kootenays joins Aboriginal Day Festival with Music in the Mountains – Free outdoor concert blends Ktunaxa themes with classical favourites

The Symphony of the Kootenays wraps up its 2011-2012 season with a blockbuster free concert on Friday, June 22 as part of the Aboriginal Day Festival at the St. Eugene Golf Resort Casino. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Steeples range, ‘Music in the Mountains’ will showcase Ktunaxa storytelling and dance, along with music that expresses the majesty, mystery and magic of mountain landscapes. The Symphony of the Kootenays is thrilled to join with the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the St. Eugene Mission to bring this unique cultural event to the community. National Aboriginal Day is an excellent occasion for Aboriginal groups to share their diverse cultural heritage. By being a part of this day, the Symphony not only gets to showcase its local talent but we become a part of increasing awareness of the cultural traditions and opportunities in this region.

The concert will open with John Burge’s ‘Rocky Mountain Overture’, a sonically vibrant overture written specifically for outdoor performance, to reverberate around a valley in the Rocky Mountains. In honor of National Aboriginal Day, the Symphony will perform Odawa composer Barbara Croall’s ‘Stories from Coyote’. A piece filled with the sounds of the mountains – bird calls, rustling wind, crackling ice – its premiere in Kamloops in 2000 met with critical acclaim, with local media reporting that “The stories were both interesting and fun, and the music fascinating.” The concert will open with John Burge’s ‘Rocky Mountain Overture’, a sonically vibrant overture written specifically for outdoor performance, to reverberate around a valley in the Rocky Mountains. Rounding out the program are Modest Mussorgsky’s popular and stunning showpiece, ‘A Night on Bald Mountain’, a collection of some of Johann Strauss’s best-loved compositions – including ‘Radetzky March’, ‘Klipp-Klapp Polka’ and others – and works by Shostakovich and Michael Conway Baker.

Music in the Mountains’ will be presented on Friday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Eugene Golf Resort Casino. Admission is free, there will be chairs available but patrons are encouraged to bring a blanket to spread on the lawn. For more information, please visit www.sotk.ca or www.steugene.ca.

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Rod Wilson's Blog

Tag Archives: music

The Karla U-Bass

The Last Coffee House of the season

Bocephus King at the Byng

Citterns and Irish Bouzoukis

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Brahms to the Blues

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THE JAZZ COUNCIL

And that was the week that was.

The Good Ol’ Goats CD release

Shelagh and Van’s Wedding

Celtara at Centre 64

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Classical Season just ended….

Symphony Concert at the Mission