Labels: Cornmeal, Phish, Steve Kimock, Steve Molitz, The Strokes, U-Melt

By: David Schultz

Over the past decade, Keller Williams has carved himself a nifty little niche as an incredibly creative and inventive live performer. On Dream, his ninth studio album, the man affectionately referred to as the one-man jamband doesn't try to go it alone, choosing to get by with a little help from his friends, including the String Cheese Incident, Bob Weir, Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten. Williams' penchant for looping machines and rotating between various instruments loses it appeal without the accompanying visual. Wisely, Williams doesn't even try to bring his stage show into the studio, working hard to create songs that can stand on their own without the use of any gimmickry.

On stage, Williams showcases his ingenuity, on Dream, Williams features his guitar proficiency, matching licks with banjo great Bela Fleck on "People Watchin,'" and guitar academician Fareed Haque on "Cookies." Williams works in a few of his customary guitar rolls that coast up and down the scale, but also stretches his guitar work to match prodigious masters like Haque, Charlie Hunter and Steve Kimock. His guitar makes up for his limited vocal range, which on past albums tends to manifest itself in a hushed monotone. Although he reverts to the style on "Celebrate Your Youth," and "Ninja Of Love," which features a similarly flat effort from Michael Franti, Williams works admirably to stretch his vocals as well as his guitar.

Intricate guitars plus serious guest stars could be a recipe for pretentiousness but the album's liner notes allieve any worries over Williams' ego: he seems just as amazed as anyone to have assembled Dream's all-star array. Plus, he deflates any astronomical illusions over his technological acumen in describing his amazement over recording with Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten and Jeff Sipe without ever being in the same room.

Williams' finger-plucking guitar style, though entertaining, can wear thin over the course of a few songs. In that sense, the inclusion of the wide array of guest stars gives Williams numerous interesting foils to play off of and keeps Dream from retrenching the same old groove. There's some straight-forward rock on "Play This," an "appeal" for radio airplay as well as some country on "Sing For My Dinner." On the latter, Williams joins his musical cousins String Cheese Incident for a lengthy tune that rotates between up-tempo bluegrass and sweaty, bluesy jamming. While Williams hasn't created a transcendent masterpiece with Dream, he has concocted his most varied, accomplished work to date.

Labels: Bob Weir, Keller Williams, Michael Franti, Steve Kimock, String Cheese Incident, Victor Wooten

By: David Schultz

More than eight hours after the music began at the 6th Annual Jammy Awards at the Theatre at New York City's Madison Square Garden, U-Melt wrapped up their late-night, after-hours set at Lucille's Café inside the B.B. King Blues Club. By the time U-Melt launched into a seamless version of "Jacob's Ladder" and "Cloud Box" to close the show, the main stage area had been emptied, cleaned and locked up, Zappa Plays Zappa, Dweezil Zappa's revue honoring his father Frank Zappa, having finished long ago. Even with sunrise looming on the horizon, Lucille's remained filled with exhausted but frenzied fans relishing the experience and planning their excuses for skipping work the next day. And, it's just the beginning. In past years, U-Melt's after-Jammy show, which featured a guest appearance by Rob Somerville of Deep Banana Blackout, would end the festivities, but this year the Jammy Awards are the springboard for the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival that will inhabit New York City throughout the weekend.

Without question, the Jammy Awards generate more excitement than any other awards show. In celebrating the spontaneity, excitement and enjoyment of live music, the Jammys have a well-deserved reputation as a show where you will get to see and hear something you're unlikely to see anywhere else. 1/10th awards, 9/10ths concert, the Jammys pair musicians together for live performances that seem awkward on paper but, more times than not, sound phenomenal on stage.

Even with jamband titans regularly in attendance, the show typically gets stolen by an artist that seems foreign to the scene. At last year's show, Huey Lewis' strong performance with Umphrey's McGee brought down the house and Ryan Adams amazed the crowd by bringing out by freeing his inner Deadhead, teaming with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh for a spot-on reading of "Wharf Rat" and "Bird Song." This year, Peter Frampton turned in the standout performance. That is not a typo and bears repeating, Peter Frampton rocked the Jammys. Playing with Guster and guitarist Martin Sexton, Frampton came alive once again with a rendition of "Do You Feel Like I Do" complete with seventies-era talk box. No longer the fresh faced youth depicted on his most successful album, Frampton showed why his name will always be associated with live music in the annals of rock history.

The Mutaytor, a troupe of drummers, percussionists and performance artists, provided another of the evening's pleasant surprises. Joining Grateful Dead drummers and Jammy Awards co-hosts Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman, The Mutaytor's dozen or so members gave proper thunder to a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile." The Rhythm Devils' set seemed to clear the backstage area as by the time they finished running through Santana's "Jingo" and "Iko Iko," Steve Kimock, Mike Gordon, Charlie Musselwhite and many others had joined the tribalesque fun.

As he did at Woodstock ages ago, Richie Havens, wearing what looked like a homemade dress, opened the evening with The Mutaytor drums performing an inspired "Freedom" before yielding the stage to Mutaytor's performance artists. Blues Traveler teamed up with DJ Logic and R & B legend Bettye Lavette that featured the spry 60-year-old soul singer own the stage, forcing John Popper to keep up with her on their cover of "Magic Carpet Ride." One of the evening’s more intriguing pairings involved Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and tap dancer Savion Glover. The only thing more enjoyable than Victor Wooten and Glover's bass/tap dance duo was the bemused expression on Tyner's face as he tried to comprehend what he was watching.

After engaging in a competition as to who could wear the silliest hat, Steve Kimock and Joe Satriani teamed up for some guitar fireworks. Midway through their set, they were joined by Grace Potter on keyboards for a mindblowing rendition of Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer." Potter and her band the Nocturnals received the New Groove of the Year award earlier in the show and the young singer/guitarist/keyboard player more than held her own with the two veteran guitarists.

Frank Zappa, whose inventive influence plays an enormous role in the jamband world, posthumously received the Lifetime Achievement Award. In accepting the award on behalf of his father, Dweezil Zappa noted that his father really didn't like awards or award shows but thinks he would have really appreciated his honor from the Jammys. Zappa then took the stage with Napoleon Murphy Brock and his new Zappa Plays Zappa ensemble for, what else, a set of Zappa tunes. Even though the set contained standout solos from keyboardist Chick Corea and Umphrey's McGee guitarist Jake Cinninger, the set wasn't the blowaway transcendent performance most hoped for.

At the 3rd annual Jammys, moe. braved the chants of "More Cowbell," playing with Blue Oyster Cult. This year, moe. had the stage relatively to themselves, being lent an unintrusive hand by The Mad Professor, covering "The Guns of Brixton" and offering a lengthy version of "Buster." Little Feat and blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin, anchored the final spot in the lineup, being joined by Stephen and Ky-Mani Marley and ultimately everyone else for an all-star finale of "One Love." Once the Bob Marley tune, intended as the evening's last number, concluded, Little Feat broke into an impromptu rendition of "Dixie Chicken," ending the night with a flourish.

Amidst all the excitement, awards were handed out in categories like Live Performance of the Year, Live Album of the Year, Studio Album of the Year and Tour of the Year. Like any awards show, it's tempting to parse through all the trophies handed out, the speeches of gratitude and the recognition of exceptional achievement in an attempt to discern a winner. At the Jammys, such an endeavor always leads back to the same winner each year - - - the audience.

The 2006 Jammy Awards went to:

Tour of the Year:
Big Summer Classic Tour (String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Yonder Mountain String Band, Umphrey's McGee, New Monsoon, and Xavier Rudd)

Live Performance of the Year:
moe. Tsunami Relief Benefit, Roseland Ballroom, NYC, 2/10/05 (with Trey Anastasio, Sam Bush, Jennifer Hartswick, John Medeski and Ray Paczkowski)

Live Album of the Year:
Widespread Panic - Live at Myrtle Beach

Studio Album of the Year:
Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon - Sixty Six Steps

Archival Album of the Year:
Phish - Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995

Song of the Year:
Tea Leaf Green - "Taught To Be Proud"

New Groove:
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

DVD of the Year:
Bob Dylan - No Direction Home

Global Rhythm World Music Award:
Baaba Maal

Labels: DJ Logic, Dweezil Zappa, Frank Zappa, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, moe., Peter Frampton, Steve Kimock, Tea Leaf Green, U-Melt, Umphrey's McGee, Victor Wooten, Zappa Plays Zappa

Guitar virtuoso Steve Kimock will reunite with his former Zero bandmates for three shows at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver, CO. Since their 2000 split, Kimock has remained a solid live attraction with his eponymous Steve Kimock Band, while also spending time in The Other Ones and with Phil Lesh & Friends. Kimock's Grateful Dead ties aren't surprising as the large majority of Zero's songs were penned by former Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

The Chance In A Million reunion will take place March 9-11, and will feature Kimock, Zero's co-founder drummer Greg Anton, saxophonist Martin Fierro, bassist Liam Hanrahan, keyboardist Pete Sears and singer Judge Murphy. The shows will also feature former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean-Godchaux-Mackay and John Morgan Kimock, Steve's sixteen year old son on drums.

After Kimock spends a weekend with old friends, he will begin collaborating with some new ones. In April, Kimock will come to New York for the Green Apple Music Festival, teaming up for a series of shows with Janes Addiction/Porno For Pyros drummer Stephen Perkins. The two will be part of the April 20 Jammy Awards show at the Theater in Madison Square Garden before moving to The Canal Room on April 21 and the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club on April 22. While the Jammys pairing will probably be unknown until they take the stage, Kimock and Perkins will team up with Kimock Band veteran and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey bassist Reed Mathis and trumpeter Willie Waldman for the rest of the weekend.

Kimock will then head to the west coast for another collaboration, hooking up with upcoming rockers New Monsoon at the 12 Galaxies in Monsoon's hometown of San Francisco for two shows on May 11-12.

Labels: Steve Kimock

By David Schultz

Relatively unknown in many musical circles, the Steve Kimock Band have become a fixture on the ever-touring jamband circuit. No stranger to the road, Kimock, known as The Guitar Monk, toured with the Grateful Dead offshoot "The Other Ones" and the Godchaux's Heart of Gold band, and also served a stint with Phil Lesh as one of his Friends. The SKB, which gelled in 2000 with the addition of drummer Rodney Holmes, have earned their much-deserved reputation as a live attraction with their jazzy and eclectic live performances. The band may be named after Kimock but much credit for the band's sound must be given to Holmes. Holmes primarily earned his chops on the jazz circuit supporting such greats as Wayne Shorter and the Brecker Brothers and spent the latter part of the 90's backing Carlos Santana, providing percussion to 1999's ubiquitous smash Smooth.

Like most bands known for their stage work, on Eudemonic the Kimock Band struggle to capture the magic of their loose improvisational style inside the confines of the recording studio. The interplay between Kimock and Holmes survives the transfer, with the two of them at the forefront of the majority of the tracks. With the focus squarely on Kimock and Holmes, the other members of the band, longtime guitarist Mitch Stein, bassist Alphonso Johnson and keyboardist Jim Kost, are reduced to supporting roles.

Loyal fans will recognize Tongue N' Groove and Moon People as well as crowd pleasers Ice Cream and The Bronx Experiment as they have been live staples of the band's shows for years. However, the funkiness and joyous spontaneity of the live performances are missing from Eudemonic. In an effort to capture the improvisational feel of the songs, most are stretched out beyond six minutes with the overly-long Elmer's Revenge clocking in just shy of twelve minutes. The extension of the songs doesn't work as the band fails to flesh out on record the intricacies and nuances of the songs like they do on stage. As a result, Eudemonic sounds more like a light or smooth jazz collection than the debut record of an inspired creative band.

Kimock dedicated this album to the memory of his friend Doug Greene, giving him a thematic You Da' Mon shoutout in the liner notes. The opening track, Eudemon, echoes Kimock's warm feelings for his friend, and gives the album a joyously funky kick-start. The rest of the album does not follow the opener's lead and the tracks blend together into a pleasant light jazz pastiche best suited for cocktail hour. The Holmes-penned Bronx Experiment, with its eastern rhythms and melodies, sets itself apart from the rest of the album with its sheer originality. Prominently showcasing Holmes' percussion prowess, Bronx Experiment, which features Kimock on mandolin, evokes Zeppelin's Kashmir and is the album's most notable track.

Eudemonic is a disappointing effort from a promising band and, upon listening, you may be hard-pressed to discern what all the fuss over the SKB is all about. For the answer to that question, search out East Meets West or Live in Colorado, two of the band's live albums. Although difficult to find, they are worth the reward.

Labels: Steve Kimock