JAZZ BLOG 2010, Day 8: Jane Monheit, Jeff Beck, Booker T and the MGs

June 19, 2010 at 11:07am

It was a family affair with the lovely and talented Jane Monheit at Kilbourn Hall Friday night. Monheit sings with the same casual elegance she caries herself with. With her hubby, Rick Mantalbano, on the drums and her father-in-law, Rick Sr, on the organ, this slightly different configuration gave Monheit a little wiggle room to have fun. She is deadly romantic, what with her breathy phrasing, dips into the lower register (where a lot of hearts reside) and all, but there's an irresistible impish streak this singer has that especially shined through on tunes she penned, like "Everything I Have Belongs to You." The organ (taking the place of the piano) gave her a little more of a hip twitch and jump but the chanteuse inside still reigned supreme.

You didn't have to like Jeff Beck or have a working knowledge of his vast history to know you were in for a ride at Kodak Hall. From the opening thunder of "Eternity's Breath" to the staggering segue to "Stratus," the packed house knew it was in for an amazing evening. Beck's style is positively stratospheric, though he doesn't incorporate that many effects; i.e. it still sounds like a guitar --- a screaming, wailing, soaring, diving, massive guitar. While all this was going on, a question kept popping up in my head: how did he ever get here, to this sound? The journey form The Yardbirds to The Faces to this is quite a long trip. Still, no matter how angular or abstract Beck and his group were, traces of that old rock 'n' roll were still there. Hail, hail. One of the best guitar shows I have ever seen, and hell, I've seen Link Wray.

By my estimate, there had to be 25,000 people packed onto East Avenue to dig Stax Records legends Booker T and the MGs. It was a raucous crowd, roughly 95 percent decent individual, 5 percent asshole --- crowds bring out the worst in people, don't they? Regardless, the band brought on a huge history lesson to the stage. Soul originators Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Booker T played a set of beautiful Memphis soul, that in the words of Dunn in the "Blues Brothers" movie, "Turned goat piss into gasoline." They drove the crowd wild. Fred Armstrong (Animatus Studios) and me were screaming like a couple of girls --- Fred even got a pick off of Cropper. Toward the end of its generous set, the band finally whipped out a slightly accelerated take on "Green Onions" that brought everyone to their feet -- the lovers, the dreamers, the assholes, and me.

Comments for "JAZZ BLOG 2010, Day 8: Jane Monheit, Jeff Beck, Booker T and the MGs" (3)

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Brien Comerford said on Jun. 19, 2010 at 5:13pm

Jeff Beck's boundless fretboard virtuosity is nonpareil and inimitable. Page, Clapton, Gilmour. May, Satriani and the late Les Paul have all praised and revered his talent.

sluggo said on Jun. 20, 2010 at 2:39pm

The disclaimer here, before you are allowed to write a comment says .."stay on topic and be respectful ...", however I don`t feel the journalist, Frank de Blase is all that respectful of the master musician in question here. Jeff Beck a virtuoso, stands alone as a guitar wizard capable of every style from rock-a-billy influenced cliff gallup double stops on through to recreating simply impossible guitar versions of indian vocal recordings ,opera arias,et al and all along the way stops at, blues, jazz,rock and roll,fusion,eastern+ western modal sounds , psychedelics not to mention the incalcuable ability to simply create and recreate improbable and impossible guitar sounds night after night , show after show decade after decade. He stand non-pareil to anyone..and yet, mr.de blase dares...DARES to compare him to a one riff wonder a la Link Wray and has the umitigated gall to imply that Jeff honed his craft while playing with the Faces. I`m aghast, mr.de Blase..tsk tsk , when you dare to review a legend , do your homework because the legend in question has rabid fans worldwide.
sluggo

Jeff Brown said on Jun. 20, 2010 at 8:38pm

I must partially if not mostly agree with Sluggo concerning the lame comparison and criticize other naivity in Mr. De Blase's review. "How did he every get here, to this sound?" Shame on you! After Beck Bogert and Apici, the Yardbirds, the Faces, etc. Mr. Beck recorded two of the best selling instramental guitar albums of ALL time, produced by non other than George Martin, who btw produced the Beatles, among others. Listen to these albums, you will then see that he created a path to sophisticated "jazz rock" more than 35 years ago. So, Mr. De Blase, he got there long ago, and subsequently started exploring even further with the most unique blend of sounds and influence known to mankind. His late 90's early 2000's "techno-rock" introduced a certain intensity, that, sans a better producer and record label would have certainly brought Mr. Beck to the younger masses. Much of his current style of play takes this whole eclectic mix to an unparralled level. Tell me (even as Michael Walton was quoted) that you didn't hear Mr. Jimi Hendrix in "Big Block" and a few other pieces and I will believe you, as you appear terribly naive. He stopped being a "rock" guitarist in roughly '73, but has never lost or forgotten his routes, hence, no boring jazz melodies with guitar that doesn't jump out at you from behind - often to the point of grabbing your emotions from you and nearly making the listener cry. Have more of a listen, you'll then have a tough time listening to any other music as it will all see too basic - as most rock is, or too boring as so much jazz guitar is. Mr. Beck is perfect.

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