fR316 PAGE 17 1/9/09 12:27 Page 1
root salad
17 f
TriBeCaStan
Their New York based world music inventiveness has the
inevitable Holy Modal Rounders link, finds Jamie Renton.
T
riBeCaStan is a meeting of two Third World,” notes the ethno-boho melody that people can remember. Back in
distinctive New York minds: boho attired Mr Kruth. “He dresses straight. But the late ‘80s, I used to be known as a flash
singer, mandolin player, poet and he plays all the Third World instruments, mandolin player, but now to me, melody is
writer John Kruth and instrument whereas I play mostly banjo, mandolin, king. I write a lot of songs just walking
collector/ musical traveller Jeff Greene. harmonica… American roots. And now down the street, humming.”
They take their name from Manhattan’s we’re doing this weird dance together.”
cultural-melting-pot Tribeca district and Jeff brings his extraordinary knowledge of
their inspiration from those artists who all kinds of global music, which John, who
favour folkloric melodies and unusual sees himself primarily as a composer, soaks
K
ruth’s other recent release is
Splitsville (Smiling Fez Records), his
ninth solo album, which is based
around the annual trip that he and
instrumentation, jazzniks Don Cherry, up and then develops into original materi-
his girlfriend Marilyn make to the
Yusef Lateef and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, al based on, say, Uzbek styles or gamelan.
apartment in Croatia’s capital Split which
but also the Incredible String Band! “It’s easier for me to make up my own ver-
they’ve inherited from Marilyn’s uncle
Their debut album Strange Cousin
sion of it than it is to learn it,” he says,
Tonko, who worked in the city’s zoo and is
(Evergreene Music; see fR311) is one of
breaking down into laughter.
immortalised on the track Tonko The
the most intriguing of recent times (a Having improvised out a repertoire of
Zookeeper on the TriBeCaStan album.
track cropped up on the last fRoots cover- mostly folklorically and globally inclined
John originally studied at art school and
mount CD), so I’m pleased to grab a originals, the duo decided to record, draft-
likes to create musical portraits of people
chance to chat to John when he comes ing in an unlikely troupe of jazzbo and folk
and places. “I see instruments as colours,
over to perform with Ornette Coleman musicians for the ride, including Latin-jazz
music as my palette.” Splitsville is full of
and the Master Musicians Of Jajouka at trombone/ conch shell player Steve Turre,
such aural portraiture and is based on
London’s South Bank Centre. Klezmatics reedsman Matt Darriau, Dave
recordings made with local musicians in
We squat down in a nearby park to
Dreiwitz, bass player with US alt. rock vet-
Split, which John describes as “The
take in the early evening sunshine and
erans Ween, and The Be Good Tanyas’ Jolie
Nashville of the Adriatic”.
map out the tale of this remarkably free
Holland who adds what John calls a
spirited musical adventure. John’s roots
“Southern Gothic haunted quality” to the
John and Jeff meanwhile are already
are in folk, punk, old-time-i-ness and jazz.
cover of free jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock’s
working on TriBeCaStan album number
He’s probably best known for playing with
Many Mansions which closes the album.
two, which will feature a funkier, rockier
punk rootsters The Violent Femmes and Recordings of this kind can often be
sound, with influences as varied as Ornette
perennial Californian quirk-out legends rhythmically interesting, technically
Coleman and Led Zeppelin, plus lots of
Camper Van Beethoven and should be impressive but lacking in memorable hooks
what John describes as “scales from coun-
familiar to regular readers through his and therefore hard to really warm to. Not
tries I can’t even pronounce”.
very fine piece on the Master Musicians Of so in this case. “The most important thing
www.johnkruth.com
Jajouka which recently appeared in this that I’ve learnt is that you’ve got to find a www.myspace.com/tribecastan
magazine (see fR313).
John was first introduced to Jeff by
Jeff Greene & John Kruth – TriBeCaStan – meet on the ledge…
the Holy Modal Rounders’ Peter Stampfel
(see fR144) who invited him along to Jeff’s
annual Labour Day Picnic, a get-together
of myriad musical friends in his spacious
SoHo loft. John was initially unimpressed
by the Dylan and Grateful Dead covers
being strummed out. “Then on the other
side of the loft I noticed these guys play-
ing odd instruments like oud and tam-
bur,” he recalls. “They were playing in
unusual time signatures and I thought
‘Oh, this is far more interesting!’ So I went
over there with my mandolin and started
to play.” Jeff recognised John and was
familiar with his music. Soon they were
jamming their way through a selection of
Balkan, Afghani and Indian songs.
Jeff then showed John his amazing
instrument collection, which includes pret-
ty well everything apart from a guitar! “He
bought many of the instruments in their
country of origin,” John tells me, “Uzbek-
istan, Yemen… He’s one of the best known
restorers of monuments around the world
but his real love is world music so, as he
travels he picks up instruments, takes them
home and learns how to play them.”
John and Jeff approach the same thing
from opposite directions. “I dress funky,
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