Theo Bleckmann @ Lincoln Center – The Music of Kate Bush

Theo Bleckmann: Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush

A free concert (as part of Target Free Thursdays) @ David Rubenstein Atrium: Theo Bleckmann’s project Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush. I got there early (about 1h 20 minutes before show) and there actually weren’t that many unreserved seats left. The public was, on the average, a bit older (maybe some of them actually had heard Kate Bush perform some of those songs back in the day, on that one and only Life tour in Britain in 1979?)). Theo Bleckmann (voice and electronic voice processing), Henry Hey (keyboards, voice), Chris Tarry (electric bass), Caleb Burhans (electric five string violin, electric guitar, voice), John Hollenbeck (drums).

They performed some amazing Kate Bush tunes: it made me really want to check out Kate Bush’s music more (I don’t know if it just me, or my generation hasn’t really been that exposed to it…?). They played: Running Up That Hill, Wuthering Heights, And Dream Of Sheep, Under Ice, Army Dreamers, All The Love, Hello Earth, Love And Anger. As a listener I was really grateful how well Theo Bleckmann also introduced the songs: it added a lot to my growing fascination with the wonder of Kate Bush. For example, he mentioned how Bush wrote the hit tune Wuthering Heights without never having read the book (just having watched the TV show)?? It’s actually really great to hear the story behind the tunes, I wish artists would share things like that more often, it can be a huge added value to hearing the music.

Some of the tunes sounded magical (my favorite was Under Ice), but on some moments I still couldn’t help feeling that something was lacking from the full experience: I felt that Bleckmann’s voice didn’t possess, albeit the outstanding musicality, the same supple charm that Kate Bush has in her own music? The sound in the David Rubinstein Atrium might not have contributed that much for this occasion either (too much echo, lower frequencies got quite opaque). But the music itself, the tunes, were so great! I’m really glad to have seen the show. I definitely got a deep respect for Kate Bush’s music from hearing this.

Claudia Quintet @ Douglass Street Music Collective

Claudia Quintet @ Douglass Street Music Collective

With Chris Speed (clarinet & sax), John Hollenbeck (drums & compositions), Ted Reichman (accordion), Drew Gress (bass), Matt Moran (vibes), special guest Gary Versace on piano. The place was really packed, lot of people standing…  Well, honestly, it definitely wasn’t a bad show, but somehow it really didn’t fascinate me so much – i think it sounded more promising on their myspace (and all those great reviews they’ve gotten). It also felt like they were holding back a lot, keeping it from going where it could go. As a friend of mine said, I like what they’re trying to do more than what it actually is. Maybe it was that particular show and them having new- underrehearsed- material. It got a little more interesting after the first couple of tunes, but in general I mostly stayed because they made me donate $10 for it. Surprisingly, i thought the room’s sound quality wasn’t that great, so not crazy about the venue either. Didn’t feel like a cool place to me. Drew Gress was amazing, though. Yeah, I’m a bit embarrassed to be such a snob with live music here, but I just want to get high on it, guess I’ve developed an addiction of a sort…

The last couple of posts came with an unusual delay – because I’ve been sick lately. So sick that on Monday night I actually missed Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchesta @ Rose. Feel really really sorry for that one…