Posts Tagged theo croker

Rocktober \m/ \m/

Posted by gunsella in Uncategorized on October 10th, 2010

This month sees a bunch of gigs and a great opportunity to buy some new gear.

First up is the Music China Expo, running next week from Tuesday to Friday. This gear show is for retailers, manufacturers etc. more than musicians. However, past years have shown that most exhibitors are very happy to give some good discounts on their wares. It’s at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre at 2345 Longyang Lu in Pudong. It’s a 5-10 minute walk from the metro station (lines 2 & 7). Google maps link. Last year there were at least six enormous halls filled with musical instruments and related stuff so it’s a perfect time to buy if you’re in the market and you can get down there on a weekday.

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Thursday 14th sees a gig from old Luwanrock favourites, Break For Borneo. They are playing a set (or 2?) at the new Lune venue of Xinle Lu. B4B gigs are a rare treat these days so if you haven’t seen them in a while, or at all, I thoroughly urge you to get down there and check them out. It’s great reggae grooved pop with sweet sweet harmonies, a smattering of rapping and lots of ukelele.

fevermachine and friends 16.10

Saturday 16th sees another installment of The Fever Machine and Friends with an undeniably great line-up. Toshi and Misuzu’s latest outfit, The Instigation, will open proceedings with their (surprise, surprise) garage-punk stylings. They will be followed by the awesome hypno-minimal-tripout-rock of Rainbow Danger Club, who, by the way, are finishing up an EP soon. Duck Fight Goose are in the penultimate position with their self described Death Ray Rock. No doubt they will also play minimalist inspired tunes with jerky rhythms and lots of technology and giving the audience a lot of aural pleasure.  They also have a record coming out very soon, produced Brad Ferguson. Headlining the show is the tight three piece, The Fever Machine. After all the experimentalism and post rock of the previous two bands it’ll be great to have some straight-up, four four riff rock. There will be verses, choruses, intros, riffs, breakdowns, solos and all the other things you’ve been craving. YESSSS!!

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The JZ Festival is on for the whole of next weekend too – schedule here. There’s a bunch of good stuff on over both days including Theo Croker’s Afrosonic Orchestra featuring China Moses, Anna Hughes and The Red Groove Project on the Saturday. And if you get there early on Sunday you can see me performing with 666, the kid’s ensemble that I run at JZ School. The festival is again taking place at the beautiful Century Park in Pudong. Last year the weather was great and it made for a really good way to spend a Sunday. Just remember to take a jacket for later. Also of note is that Antidote is putting together the electronic stage this year. That means B6, Ben Huang with Theo Croker, Sacco and more.

In the next installment: Daniel Hart and Halloween.

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Rustic @ Gibson, Afrobeat @ JZ

Posted by gunsella in Uncategorized on June 6th, 2010

Last night saw a killer show by GBOB winners, Rustic, at the soft launch of the new Gibson store on Hengshan lu. The store is full of some lovely guitars and there will be pianos upstairs too. Here we can see Rustic brandishing their Gibson instruments with a wall of Epiphone Les Pauls in the background. Check out the paint job on the SG. Like candy.

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Though not terribly well attended, they played as if it were a packed stadium. I like these guys.

Next was a short walk to the JZ Club for Theo Croker’s Afro-Sonic Orchestra. The line-up has changed a little since the last time I caught these guys at the Glamour Bar. But all the key players are still there – Alec Haavic, Willow Neilson and Jonathan Parker on saxophones, Alex Ritz on drums, Lawrence Ku on guitar and Stienar Nickelson on keys. As you might expect with a line-up like that, it’s quite jazzy. But the songs are long and more groove oriented than about solos and chords. The band sound hot and very danceable, and the crowd at JZ last night seemed asleep. If you missed it (and I know you did), it’s a good thing there are two more shows in the coming weeks – next Friday June 11 at Glamour Bar and then Friday June 25th at MAO Livehouse. That second one is my pick. Maybe that recommendation will get me on the door. . . hey Theo, what’s up?

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JZ in the Orient Series – Theo Croker and Abraham Carmona

Posted by gunsella in Uncategorized on March 8th, 2010

Theo Croker‘s The Path of Transcendence was an uplifting musical experience. As well as being a more-than-able trumpeter, Theo is also a highly skilled composer. His suite of jazz inflected reflections on life in Shanghai covers a lot of musical territory, from New Orleans second-line, through reggae and of course, jazz. He writes tastefully for all of the instruments in his sextet, including two sax players, which enables him to write some terrific three part horn lines and and some cool dueling moments as seen in the video below [edit - serious trouble with uploading video . . . I will try again soon]

His band features Andres Boiarsky on tenor sax, Jonathan Parker on alto sax, Nicholas Bouloukos on piano, Curtis Ostle on bass and Charles Foldesh on drums/percussion. Every member of the band was very well featured in both the written parts and of course, the solos. AAAAA++++ would hear again.

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February’s concert featured local Spanish flamenco guy, Abraham Carmona with another all-star line-up:  JQ Whitcomb on trumpet, Jay Lasry on bass, Chris Trzcinzki on drums, Lawrence Ku on bass and Peng Fei on violin. His show was called Flamentriko:

Like the water which can be steam, ice or liquid … my music can be represented in three ways of expression. ‘Flamentriko’ is the result of my experience, exposure and experiment with music, a tridimensional picture of my personal concept of flamenco.

Carmona’s show was a rich blend of acoustic, electric and flamenco played by some of the top players in town. He composed all the music (except for one song) but I don’t think he showcased the unique talents of his band members as well as Theo did. Most of the tunes took featured a flamenco style melody or harmony played in a jazz style format – play the head, eveyone take a solo, play the head again.

His show began with an awesome solo piece followed by a duet (duel?) on the cajón with Chris Trzcinzki.

carmona and chris green

See some great pictures from the show here.

It was an excellent show, as the video shows. But not quite as musically transcendent as yesterday’s show. Well done to all – it’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

For more information on the JZ in the Orient series, click here.

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