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On 11.05, Chance Fisher played a show with arguably some of the best segments of 2010. The bar was set early on in the show with the fantastic opening segment of East African Bush->Food, and that level of energy was maintained throughout the night, with no real breathers to be found during the long 2.5 hour set. Overall, 11.05 was a fantastic night of music for Chance Fisher.
The show starts off with East African Bush, which I am glad to see has made a comeback. This rendition was mostly flawless, with no flubs to be found. The jam starts around 8:10, with Jud adding funky lead lines into the groove. The band keeps this groove going as Jud leads the jam – very nice lines by Jud at around 9:35. At 10:37, you can hear the traces of Food, but Chance Fisher chose to jam on this song for 4 more minutes, building the Food segue. Very sinister lines by Jud at 11:17. 12:30 in, AKelly comes to the front of the jam, playing piano licks that compliment Jud’s guitar playing. At 14:00, Sam starts playing the bass line to Food, and soon enough we are in the middle of a seamless, funky segue into Food at 14:20.
The Food jam starts around 3:45, as AKelly plays a solo. Very cool solo segment in here, some really interesting jazzy chromatic lines to be found. The solo ends at 6:13, as the band vamps on funk chords. Some stop-start jamming at 6:40 brings the energy level up. At around 8:18 the jam begins to change as Jud begins to play melodic lead lines over top of the funk. Food begins to move away from its typical funk and into uncharted, melodic territory. Very beautiful playing at 9:10, not something that you would ever expect to hear in a Food jam. By 10:05, this does not sound anything like Food, it sounds more like something you’d expect to see in a Square Root of One jam – gorgeous playing by everybody. At 11:25, the jam has now settled into a gentle, slow-build which has effect-laden ambient textures within it. Finally, at 13:35, we are back into regular Food territory. As the jam wraps up, we are treated to a reprise of the song’s chorus and a very cool ambient outro. The song ends at 15:17. Fantastic opening segment in this East African Bush->Food, incredible start to the show – best EAB/Food of 2010 easily.
Tax Dollars and Frying Pan followed – both of these songs were very well done and definitely kept the energy level high. Great solos on both songs. Water or Sea came next and I really enjoyed this version. Going from bluegrass to electronic to reggae and back again, this song is very unique. I also really enjoyed the brief jam in this version.
The Crepes and Bananas which followed was superb. Cutting the full-band jam for the Joel/AKelly segment, AKelly’s solo here was great as usual, bringing a nice change of pace to the set. The second jam starts at 8:35 as Jud begins to solo over the band’s groove, building the jam. The build continues to grow in intensity until finally at 11:42 there is a release and the entire band goes into the peak together, riding the peak until at 12:40 they go one step higher, building the jam again. At around 13:53, the band peaks the jam one final time before heading back into the Crepes and Bananas theme at 14:36 – incredible second jam in this Crepes, wonderful peak to be found here.
Square Root of One succeeded Crepes, and this might be one of the best versions of the song they have played all year. The jam starts at 4:22, as the band eases into mellow, melodic playing. At around 5:24 Jud starts playing lines that are reminiscent of the Food jam from the start of the show. This jam takes on a very open feel, very dulcet playing by all band members. Around 7:30, Jud begins to loop certain lines on top of the mellow playing, taking the jam into more cacophonous territory. At around 8:40, however, the dissonance is removed in place of gentle, melodious playing yet again. At 10:26, the band moves back into Square Root of One as the second verse is sung. By 11:00, the band has moved back into the intro jam, and the song concludes at 12:06. The Blueberry Pie that followed was well played - the one and only breather song of the show.
A monstrous Umbrella came next, clocking in at almost 20mins. While the song usually does not have a jam in it, this version included two long duet segments between AKelly/Jud and Jud/Sam. The composed part of this song was beautifully done, with no real flubs to be found. AKelly and Jud’s duet segment starts around 11:30, Jud adding beautiful, gentle melodies to AKelly’s playing. This gorgeous playing continues until around 16:00, when Sam comes back on stage and Jud and Sam begin their duet. This duet section is very tastefully done, with Sam’s bass lines growing in intensity as the duet goes on – soon enough, around 17:30, it almost sounds like they are going to go back into the previous Umbrella jam. At 18:34, Jud starts playing more bluesy licks and Sam follows him – at 19:00, Sam and Jud connect on a segue into Horse in the Forest. At 19:30, Joel and AKelly come back on stage and start the song out properly.
This Horse in the Forest is slowed down considerably, which definitely brings out more of the funk in the song. After a long, funked-out intro, the first verse begins at 4:09. The jam starts at 4:45 as AKelly takes a solo while Sam and Jud keep the groove going underneath him. After a lengthy AKelly solo section, the band goes back into the verses at 8:15. Horse in the Forest was probably the only jam of the night that didn’t really do anything for me musically. At 11:00, after a brief Jud-led jam, the song goes back into its traditional groove before loosely segueing into Alabaster Shavings.
Alabaster Shavings was very well done on this night, with a very dissonant jam that was nice to hear. The jam starts around 5:30, with Jud wailing on dark guitar leads which really bring out the song’s harsh tone. The discordant playing continues until around 7:20 when Jud holds one note while the rest of the band crushes the dark, gloomy groove under him. Jud does this a few more times while he slowly builds the jam to a peak at 9:17. The song builds and peaks a few more times until leading back its sinister chords around 10:30. This leads to an ambient outro which concludes at 11:18.
History of the World followed, and this is probably one of my favorite songs of the night. History of the World following that sinister Alabaster Shavings late in the show had to mean that something dark was coming, and Chance Fisher certainly delivered on this night. Filling even the opening verses with eerie loops and sustained notes, one could only expect the jam would be filled with dark, dissonant playing – and that it was.
The jam starts around 4:20 with gloomy, opaque playing from all 4 band members as they added to the discordant stew that was brewing. At 5:00 Jud plays a lick that the rest of the band follows as they speed up the jam a bit. At 5:54 a very thick dissonance takes hold of the jam as all four band members seem to be playing in different directions, transforming and morphing the jam into a psychedelic Ktulu. At 7:42, Jud eerily begins singing the Horse in the Forest verses over the abstract darkness. At 9:04, the song seems to be moving out of the jam and back into the verses. The song concludes at 11:00 – possibly my favorite jam of the night, unreal psychedelic playing throughout. The show then concludes with a funk-drenched rendition of Goodbye (Is It in You?), which ended the show with some nice funky playing from everybody – AKelly and Sam especially. Goodbye (Is It in You) brought a great end to a great show.The show starts off with East African Bush, which I am glad to see has made a comeback. This rendition was mostly flawless, with no flubs to be found. The jam starts around 8:10, with Jud adding funky lead lines into the groove. The band keeps this groove going as Jud leads the jam – very nice lines by Jud at around 9:35. At 10:37, you can hear the traces of Food, but Chance Fisher chose to jam on this song for 4 more minutes, building the Food segue. Very sinister lines by Jud at 11:17. 12:30 in, AKelly comes to the front of the jam, playing piano licks that compliment Jud’s guitar playing. At 14:00, Sam starts playing the bass line to Food, and soon enough we are in the middle of a seamless, funky segue into Food at 14:20.
The Food jam starts around 3:45, as AKelly plays a solo. Very cool solo segment in here, some really interesting jazzy chromatic lines to be found. The solo ends at 6:13, as the band vamps on funk chords. Some stop-start jamming at 6:40 brings the energy level up. At around 8:18 the jam begins to change as Jud begins to play melodic lead lines over top of the funk. Food begins to move away from its typical funk and into uncharted, melodic territory. Very beautiful playing at 9:10, not something that you would ever expect to hear in a Food jam. By 10:05, this does not sound anything like Food, it sounds more like something you’d expect to see in a Square Root of One jam – gorgeous playing by everybody. At 11:25, the jam has now settled into a gentle, slow-build which has effect-laden ambient textures within it. Finally, at 13:35, we are back into regular Food territory. As the jam wraps up, we are treated to a reprise of the song’s chorus and a very cool ambient outro. The song ends at 15:17. Fantastic opening segment in this East African Bush->Food, incredible start to the show – best EAB/Food of 2010 easily.
Tax Dollars and Frying Pan followed – both of these songs were very well done and definitely kept the energy level high. Great solos on both songs. Water or Sea came next and I really enjoyed this version. Going from bluegrass to electronic to reggae and back again, this song is very unique. I also really enjoyed the brief jam in this version.
The Crepes and Bananas which followed was superb. Cutting the full-band jam for the Joel/AKelly segment, AKelly’s solo here was great as usual, bringing a nice change of pace to the set. The second jam starts at 8:35 as Jud begins to solo over the band’s groove, building the jam. The build continues to grow in intensity until finally at 11:42 there is a release and the entire band goes into the peak together, riding the peak until at 12:40 they go one step higher, building the jam again. At around 13:53, the band peaks the jam one final time before heading back into the Crepes and Bananas theme at 14:36 – incredible second jam in this Crepes, wonderful peak to be found here.
Square Root of One succeeded Crepes, and this might be one of the best versions of the song they have played all year. The jam starts at 4:22, as the band eases into mellow, melodic playing. At around 5:24 Jud starts playing lines that are reminiscent of the Food jam from the start of the show. This jam takes on a very open feel, very dulcet playing by all band members. Around 7:30, Jud begins to loop certain lines on top of the mellow playing, taking the jam into more cacophonous territory. At around 8:40, however, the dissonance is removed in place of gentle, melodious playing yet again. At 10:26, the band moves back into Square Root of One as the second verse is sung. By 11:00, the band has moved back into the intro jam, and the song concludes at 12:06. The Blueberry Pie that followed was well played - the one and only breather song of the show.
A monstrous Umbrella came next, clocking in at almost 20mins. While the song usually does not have a jam in it, this version included two long duet segments between AKelly/Jud and Jud/Sam. The composed part of this song was beautifully done, with no real flubs to be found. AKelly and Jud’s duet segment starts around 11:30, Jud adding beautiful, gentle melodies to AKelly’s playing. This gorgeous playing continues until around 16:00, when Sam comes back on stage and Jud and Sam begin their duet. This duet section is very tastefully done, with Sam’s bass lines growing in intensity as the duet goes on – soon enough, around 17:30, it almost sounds like they are going to go back into the previous Umbrella jam. At 18:34, Jud starts playing more bluesy licks and Sam follows him – at 19:00, Sam and Jud connect on a segue into Horse in the Forest. At 19:30, Joel and AKelly come back on stage and start the song out properly.
This Horse in the Forest is slowed down considerably, which definitely brings out more of the funk in the song. After a long, funked-out intro, the first verse begins at 4:09. The jam starts at 4:45 as AKelly takes a solo while Sam and Jud keep the groove going underneath him. After a lengthy AKelly solo section, the band goes back into the verses at 8:15. Horse in the Forest was probably the only jam of the night that didn’t really do anything for me musically. At 11:00, after a brief Jud-led jam, the song goes back into its traditional groove before loosely segueing into Alabaster Shavings.
Alabaster Shavings was very well done on this night, with a very dissonant jam that was nice to hear. The jam starts around 5:30, with Jud wailing on dark guitar leads which really bring out the song’s harsh tone. The discordant playing continues until around 7:20 when Jud holds one note while the rest of the band crushes the dark, gloomy groove under him. Jud does this a few more times while he slowly builds the jam to a peak at 9:17. The song builds and peaks a few more times until leading back its sinister chords around 10:30. This leads to an ambient outro which concludes at 11:18.
History of the World followed, and this is probably one of my favorite songs of the night. History of the World following that sinister Alabaster Shavings late in the show had to mean that something dark was coming, and Chance Fisher certainly delivered on this night. Filling even the opening verses with eerie loops and sustained notes, one could only expect the jam would be filled with dark, dissonant playing – and that it was.
11.05 was a great night of Chance Fisher, as this show includes quite a few standout jams in EAB->Food, Frying Pan, Square Root of One, Alabaster Shavings, and History of the World. The first 30mins of this show, along with the Square Root of One/Alabaster Shavings/History of the World are all must-hear material. The only downside of the night was probably found in the Horse in the Forest, which, after the extended Umbrella duets, really didn’t do much for me. But overall, I will certainly be coming back to this show for the highlights mentioned above.
Set I:East African Bush->Food, Tax Dollars, Frying Pan, Water or Sea, Crepes and Bananas, Square Root of One, Blueberry Pie, Umbrella->Horse in the Forest>Alabaster Shavings, History of the World, Goodbye (Is It in You?)
"All's well that ends horribly" - inside mantra, Chance Fisher, Martin's, 11/5/10
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