By: David Schultz

After months of relentless touring, the Benevento/Russo Duo released Play Pause Stop, their second album, in the midst of this past summer. Most bands would immediately take to the road in support of their new disc but the Duo, keyboardist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo, have never followed a traditional career plan. In this case, the two didn't quite have the luxury of touring behind Play Pause Stop as they were already occupying theaters and arenas throughout North America, accompanying Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon as part of the unofficially titled G.R.A.B. quartet. At the end of the summer, the Duo commenced their Play Pause Stop tour proper on the West coast, slowly wending their way back home to the East coast. This past week, the Duo returned to the Bowery Ballroom, one of their frequent New York haunts, as part of the final handful of shows at the tail end of their fall tour.

The Duo were clearly happy to be home. Prior to the show, Benevento could be seen flitting around the Ballroom greeting friends; once on stage, his beatific grin hardly left his face. Always an intriguing drummer to watch, Russo seemed to take delight in the audience’s audible cringing while he loosened his shoulders between songs by sending them straight up and behind his back in a style reminiscent of Harry Houdini.

Beginning the evening with some of their more harmonious songs, including a version of "Play Pause Stop" during which the assemblage gathered backstage flooded out, surrounding the Duo to add vocals for the song's hymnal chorus, they picked up the pace as the evening rolled on. They've added ruffles to some of their older tunes: Russo included some new drum rolls in "Welcome Red" and Benevento used the circuit boards to create his own version of space during "The Three Questions Marks." Keeping the set to an economical hour and a half or so, the Duo kept their set moving, focusing primarily on the Play Pause Stop material, omitting the occasional cover or two they normally work into the set. As this was the Duo's first New York performance since the release of the album, they may have wanted to make the new album the centerpiece of the show for their hometown fans, including "Walking Running Viking" and "Powder," newer additions to the Duo’s live repertoire. On the other hand, the seemingly abbreviated set - they normally play for a good two hours - could have arisen from the fact that they were filming the show for a future DVD release. While the show was not lacking in any dimension, the Bowery Ballroom has seen better performances by the Duo.

Ostensibly, the Duo will be taking it easy in November. However, Benevento will not be remaining idle: for the whole month of November, he'll be inviting different friends to join him for evenings of improvisational music as part of his Wednesday night residency at New York City's Tonic. In discussing the Tonic shows with Earvolution this past August, Benevento proudly declared that there would be no rehearsals for the Wednesday night gigs and the muse would be found in the moment.

This past Wednesday, Phish bassist and frequent Duo band mate Mike Gordon teamed up with Benevento for an evening's worth of Benny Goodman music. A possible harbinger of the anything-can-happen spirit of the shows, The Slip's Brad Barr arrived before the close of the show with guitar in hand and joined in for "Sing, Sing, Sing." For the November 8 show, Benevento will be joined by his Bustle In Your Hedgerow bassist, Ween's Dave Dreiwitz, Ween's drummer, Claude Coleman and the Lounge Lizards' musical director, trumpeter Steven Bernstein. For the November 15 gig, Benevento will play the early show solo and invite some unannounced friends for the late show. On Thanksgiving Eve, the pianist will team up with "three of his favorite drummers on the planet," Joe Russo, Bobby Previte and Mike Dillon. Describing his final show as a “once-in-a-lifetime dream lineup,” on November 29, Benevento will share the stage with onetime Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Reed Mathis of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and the Steve Kimock Band.

Labels: Benevento/Russo Duo, Joe Russo, Marco Benevento