Bands performing here this week. Listen at
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THE NIGHTHAWKS “Last Train to Bluesville”
Get on board
Kindred spirits: Muddy Waters, the Fabulous Thunderbirds Show: Saturday at Jammin’ Java with Los Fabulocos. Show starts at 8 p.m. 703-255-1566.
www.jamminjava.com. $20.
If there were ever a question about how the Nighthawks keep their blues-rock sound fresh after nearly 40 years together, “Last Train to Bluesville” gives the answer. The longtime D.C. group took a break from the present to record an acoustic album of old blues covers, with songs such as Slim Harpo’s “Rainin’ in My Heart” and Muddy Waters’s “Can’t Be Satisfied.” The ’Hawks had recorded several of
these tracks previously, but the new acoustic setting really suits the group. The
rerecorded “The Chicken and the Hawk (Up Up and Away)” has a sparser feel than on the group’s 1991 version, while Mark Wenner’s harmonica cuts through the mix on “High Temperature” much more fiercely than on the original. The crisp recording draws the group’s instrumentation into the spotlight. “Can’t Be Satisfied” growls with frustration accented by Paul Bell’s slide, while Johnny Castle’s bass gives the whole album a pronounced groove. James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy” features vocals by departing member and longtime drummer Pete Ragusa. His fervent cry is accented by Wenner’s fiery harmonica, leaving behind a swan song recording that stands out in the band’s lengthy discography.
— Catherine P. Lewis The Nighthawks revisit the blues on their new acoustic album.
NewMusic
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LINDA PARKER
CLIPSE “Til the Casket Drops”
Kindred spirits: The Coup, the Roots, Kanye West, Talib Kweli Show: Sunday at Merriweather Post Pavilion as part of the Rock the Bells Festival. Doors open at 11 a.m. 410-715-5550.
www.merriweathermusic.com. $66-$150.50.
When the Virginia hip-hop duo Clipse
says it’s sorry for years of cocaine dealing and rampant promiscuity, you can tell this is not the pro forma apology of so many rap acts. You can hear a lingering fondness for easy money and easy sex in the performers’ voices and a reluc- tance to give it up. And so their arguments against that life seem directed at themselves as much as at the audi- ence. That push-and- pull makes “Til the Casket Drops” such a fascinating album. It helps that MCs Malice and Pusha T (brothers Gene and Terrence Thornton) are much smarter writers than others in their genre. In “Freedom,” they envision their own funeral (“They only tell you you’re great when they’re reminiscing over you”) and during a wild sex scene suddenly think with regret of their vulnerable daughters. They can’t resist bragging that they made so much drug money that it would crush the roof of an apartment building, but neither can they avoid the conclusion that the drug trade has destroyed their relationships. Fellow Virginian Pharrell Williams not only adds guest vocals to two tracks but also teamed with partner Chad Hugo as the Neptunes to produce eight of the 13 tracks with ear-candy loops. Other guests include Kanye West, Cam’ron and Keri Hilson, but the most memorable verses come from the Thorntons, who are equally articulate at de- scribing the appeal of drug parties and the appeal of their kids’ birthday parties. —Geoffrey Himes
WALLACE RONEY “If Only for One Night”
Kindred spirits: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams Show: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Blues Alley. Shows start at 8 and 10 p.m. 202-337-4141.
www.bluesalley.com. $25.
As jazz concert recordings go, “If Only for One Night” is almost as notable for what it doesn’t offer as for what it does. No thread- bare pop standards. No rote exchanges. No sense whatsoever that the bandleader isn’t inspired by the material or the interplay. On the contrary, Washington-bred trum-
peter Wallace Roney and his bandmates were fully engaged when they recorded this collection of eight tunes at the Iridium in Manhattan last sum- mer. Bookending the performances are the album’s most auda- cious Roney-penned tracks: the opener, “Quadrant,” a contemporary mix of fusion jazz and funk that vibrantly warrants its 11- minute-plus length, and the closer, “FMS” (“For My Son”), an unaccompanied trumpet salute that balances technical assurance with emotional resonance. What remains is a series of colorfully in-
tegrated ensemble arrangements, from the hard-bop burner “Metropolis” to a haunting reprise of the Janet Jackson ballad “Let’s Wait Awhile.” Roney’s crackling tone and formidable rhythmic drive make his lyrical forays seem all the more soulful, and the in- put by his younger sibling Antoine, primari- ly on soprano and tenor saxes, is consistent- ly complementary. Both musicians benefit from the support and ideas contributed by keyboardist Aruan Ortiz, bassist Rashaan Carter and drummer Kush Abadey. What’s more, thanks to an attentive crowd, listen- ers at home have an unobstructed view of Roney and company in action.
—Mike Joyce
JUDY COLLINS “In My Life”
Kindred spirits: Maria Muldaur, Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, James Taylor Show: Saturday at Rams Head Tavern. Shows start at 6 and 9:30 p.m. 410-268-4545.
www.ramsheadtavern.com. $55.
Last month Collectors’ Choice Music re- issued nine of Judy Collins’s albums from 1965 to 1997. The new CDs contain no unre- leased bonus tracks, but they do offer re- mastered digital sound and new liner notes based on interviews with Collins. The best is “In My
Life,” the 1966 album that marked the ful- crum point in her transition from a Joan Baez-like folk singer to aNana Mouskouri- like cabaret singer. There are tunes from the folk and folk-rock worlds (by Bob Dylan, Richard Farina, Leonard Cohen and Donovan) but also tunes from such stage shows as “The Three- penny Opera.” Collins’s soprano hadn’t yet acquired her later mannerisms; it still had the conversational freshness of her folkie roots even as she moved into the challeng- ing context of chamber-pop arrangements. The arrangements were crafted by Josh-
ua Rifkin, who had just enjoyed a novelty success with “The Baroque Beatles Book,” which offered Lennon-McCartney songs as if arranged by Bach. For Collins, Rifkin took a more serious approach to the Bea- tles’ “In My Life,” using a classical guitar and jazz bass to elegantly frame her sump- tuous, vibrato-laden voice. Even better was Rifkin’s arrangement of “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” by Randy Newman. Strings wove four independent lines around a pia- no and Collins’s voice, providing dark har- monies that contrasted with the mislead- ingly cheerful melody.
—Geoffrey Himes
THE CAPSTAN SHAFTS “Revelation Skirts”
Kindred spirits: Guided by Voices, the Who, the Jam Show: Wednesday at DC9. Show starts at 8:30 p.m. 202-483-5000.
www.dcnine.com. $8.
An electric guitar can be a great equalizer. Dean Wells, who began the Capstan Shafts 11 years ago as a home-studio project, is a small-town boy of humble musical means. And, to judge from the lyrics on the new “Revelation Skirts,” he’s not especially popular with girls. But when the singer-songwriter deploys a raucous chord, he is a champion, however briefly. “Briefly” is a
watchword for the Capstan Shafts, who take their name from a tape-deck part; 11 of the album’s 14 tracks run less than 21
⁄2
minutes. This concision,
along with a fondness for wacky titles and Who-like flourishes, has encouraged comparisons to Guided by Voices. The resemblance to that lo-fi outfit is waning, though. With a boost from producer and multi-instrumentalist Matt LeMay, such harmony-fortified new numbers as “Successfully Into You” sound fully realized (if still pretty darn short). The West Virginia-based Wells continues to purvey thin-sounding timbres and rueful confessions: “Let Your Head Get Wrong” is a lively lament about someone “who don’t like me that way.” Yet “Revelation Skirts” shows substantial growth. If the album doesn’t quite hit what one of its tunes calls the “Great Reset Button of Life,” it should nudge Wells out of bedroom-rock for good. — Mark Jenkins
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
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