Question: What do Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Paris, Miles Davis, Tony Bennett, Spinal Tap, Dave Brubeck, Sting, Led Zeppelin, Prince, children with special needs, Eric Clapton, and odd meters have in common?
Answer: The “Alice in Stonehenge and other AcoustElectric Adventures” CD Show
Saturday, June 2, 9:00 p.m.
Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar
320 Prince Street at the corner of Prince (4th Street) and Broadway,
Lowertown, St. Paul
Larry McDonough, piano, keyboards, vocals, compositions, and arrangements
Richard Terrill, tenor and soprano saxes, and original poetry
Greg Stinson, bass
Nathan Norman, drums
Guest: Steve Kenny, Flumpet
The opening act is Inventions and Dimensions with Chris Bates, Joe Strachan and Miguel Hurtado, 7:00 to 8:30.
Shows are always NO COVER, so come down and check out the music any Saturday for free. A Tip Jar that is passed around once per set. Also, individuals can pay $20 in advance to reserve seat at a table near the stage.
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After performing CD release parties at the Dakota in Minneapolis and Vieux Carré in Saint Paul, and around the state to especially engaged audiences, Larry McDonough brings Alice in Stonehenge and other AcoustElectric Adventures to Black Dog.
The first set will be acoustic and the second set electric. Come for an AcoustElectric Adventure.
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Review from Andrea Canter, JazzInk
"Fans of Larry McDonough will find no significant disconnect between the two discs comprising Alice in Stonehenge. Those encountering him for the first time who are generally drawn to acoustic music will likely be surprised by how much they enjoy the melodicism and energy of the electric disc. And vice-versa: Those generally favoring electronic pop and rock will find themselves drawn to the romantic verve of the acoustic set. It's trite to say there's "something for everyone." More accurately, everything here is likely to appeal to music lovers of all persuasions, because every track brings a timeless tune delivered by steadfast talents--acoustic or electronic. The 2-volume title is a mash-up of the first tracks from each--Larry's take on Bill Evans' "Alice in Wonderland" and his re-arrangement of Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge." And on each disc Larry draws upon his recent shows--tributes to Chet Baker, Miles Davis, and Bill Evans and Tony Bennett, as well to the rock icons of Sting, Clapton, Spinal Tap, and more. Disc 1, like live shows, also includes the jazz-themed poetry of saxophonist Richard Terrill.
Jazz has long been Larry's wheelhouse, be it a majestic rearrangement of "Alice in Wonderland" that upgrades Alice to royalty or a fresh take on Chet Baker's "The Thrill Is Gone" where, without imitating Baker's voice, Larry evokes the pathos of a man who has lost more than the "thrill" of a relationship; Steve Kenny's trumpet parallels the singer's angst. Jazz treatment of "La Marseillaise?" Adding accordion to his arsenal, Larry's arrangement conveys that sense of swing despite the song's majestic, patriotic bent. Yet there is still a tinge of sadness, elegy reflecting the world's reaction to the recent Paris attacks as well as the song's origin as not only an anthem of national pride but a call to arms and resistance. Larry takes no fewer liberties on the electric set, reconfiguring time on all tracks, perhaps most surprisingly on Brubeck's already fractured "Take 5" (now "Take 7") and including a wide range of influences, from Prince ("The Question of U") to the melody fragments from individuals with disabilities, originally the Fingersteps and now the SpecAbilities project ("Funkabilities").
Unplug or plug in. It's pure Larry McDonough either way."
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Larry McDonough Quartet, Alice in Stonehenge and other AcoustElectric Adventures
Disc 1 - Acoustic
1. Alice In Wonderland
2. Chet Baker
3. The Thrill Is Gone
4. La Marseillaise
5. Tango para Maria Luiza
6. Listening to Miles Davis
7. Flamenco Sketches
8. You Must Believe in Spring
Disc 2 - Electric
1. Stonehenge
2. Take 7
3. Sheʼs Too Good for Me
4. Kashmir
5. The Question of U2
6. Funkability
7. Layla
$30 for 1 Two CD Set
$50 for 2 copies
Available from Larry McDonough Jazz, ITunes, and CD Baby.
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Liner Notes by Larry McDonough
"I always have been a fan of both acoustic and electric jazz. Most of my recordings, however, have been in the acoustic tradition. I thought it was time to present both, together. Alice in Stonehenge and other AcoustElectric Adventures is the first studio recording of the new Larry McDonough Quartet (LMQ), with bassist Greg Stinson and drummer Dean White joining my long-time collaborator Richard Terrill on saxes, along with guest trumpeter Steve Kenny on the Chet Baker and Miles Davis tracks.
Acoustic CD
Bill Evans was one of my earliest inspirations, both in how he played but also how he imagined trio improvisation. Alice In Wonderland is based on his classic recording, arranged slightly differently with a introduction vamp following the solo piano introduction that also serves as the interlude between solos, and the melody moving between the bass, piano, sax, and unison.
Saxophonist Richard Terrill also is an award-winning author and poet. He contributed poetry to our earlier duo recording, Solitude, poetry in jazz. Here he adds his poem Chet Baker about the troubled trumpet player and singer's life before we launch into The Thrill Is Gone. We have performed a show of Chet's music for several years, and it was time to record one of the songs. I chose this because it is less well known than Chet's signature piece, My Funny Valentine, and the lyrics connect well with Chet's life. Steve Kenny provides the trumpet side of Chet, performing on his flumpet, a combination trumpet and flugelhorn.
My wife, flutist Carol Bergquist, and I have visited and performed in France several times. Carol speaks French and first traveled there as a child. I wrote this arrangement of La Marseillaise following the first of several attacks on France that touched us personally. The use of the piece in the movie Casablanca showed how patriotic it could be. I wrote it as a waltz and rehamonized it to feel more like the French jazz waltzes of Reinhardt and Grappelli, and added accordion to complete the feel.
My aunt, Mary Louise Kennedy, was my family inspiration in music. She was the only other professional musician in my small family, teaching piano for many years in Iowa City. I watched her teach when I was little. When she knew her time in life was short, she asked if I would perform at her service. I wrote Tango para Maria Luiza that day, a tango with classical harmonies, in 9/4 time divided between 4 and 5. It remains one of my favorite compositions. We added strings to complement the classical sound that she loved.
Richard wrote the poem Listening to Miles Davis as a reflection of how the music of Miles affected him, then and now. We follow it with Flamenco Sketches from our Kind of Blue show because it is the least performed and least known piece from the recording. We stayed true to the arrangement and the feel of the piece with Steve, Richard, and me doing our best to channel Miles, Trane, and Bill.
Much of the acoustic CD is connected to Bill Evans, from Alice in Wonderland to his associations with Chet and Miles. We finish the disk with You Must Believe in Spring from our show that celebrates the recordings he made with Tony Bennett from 1975 to 1977. It is challenging for me to cover Bill and Tony at the same time, even though the piece appears to move slowly. For the close listener, the piece modulates up a half step halfway through, modulates down a full step at the end of each chorus, and then modulates up a half-step to return to the original key.
Electric CD
We begin the electric CD with Stonehenge, the classic Spinal Tap piece. I kept the synthesized metal feel but arranged it into 5/4, with a free section in the middle, before the synth and sax solos.
LMQ has been playing in unconventional odd meters for many years, so I thought it would be fun take a classic Dave Brubeck odd meter piece and place it in a different meter. The result is Take 7, based on Take 5 but in 7/4 time with a smooth jazz Reggae feel. It really grooves.
It was Sting's use of odd meters on many of his recordings that got me thinking of playing more in odd meters almost 20 years ago. His recording Ten Summoners Tales has several tunes in odd meters. One that is not is She s Too Good for Me, which he presented as a burning rock and roll tune. I arranged it as a burning bebop tune in 5/4, after a subdued introduction. I always have loved jazz groups that take rock tunes and make jazz out of them, like The Bad Plus and Modeski, Martin and Woods. For Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, I kept part of the original tune in place, like the beginning and early verses, but added an ECM inspired fusion waltz for the electric piano and sax solos. Dean's drum solo is over the screaming section from the original, and Greg's bass solo is over the string section from the original. We end with a drum solo over bars decreasing in length by one beat per bar, starting with 8/4 and ending with 1/4.
The death of Minnesotan Prince prompted me to add a Prince piece. I wanted to avoid iconic pieces, so I looked for something less known. The original Question of U is a dirty blues waltz that I arranged into 5/4, with an introduction from Paisley Park and an ending from Sometimes It Snows in April.
I have written several tunes based on short melody fragments written by children with special needs, including my daughter Rosie, recorded on my earlier CDs Simple Gifts and Solitude, poetry in jazz. The project is called SpecAbilities. The fragments often do not have a tonal center and drive my writing of harmonic structures that are unconventional. Funkability is no exception. We present it as another ECM-influenced jazz funk, this time in 7/4.
We end the CD with the classic Eric Clapton piece Layla first performed by Derek and the Dominos. The difference is we present it without guitars, rather as an organ-driven jazz waltz with solos from all members. We finish with the rock ballad vamp, with piano and organ replacing the guitars; true to the original but, as always, different.
Enjoy."
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Credits
Recorded in 2016 and mixed and mastered by Steve Kaul, Wild Sound, Minneapolis, MN
Art by Eric Hanson
Photographs by Andrea Canter
CD design by Larry McDonough
CD duplication by Quick Turn Duplication
Produced by Larry McDonough for LM Jazz
© 2017 Larry McDonough and LM Jazz
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Contact information:
Larry McDonough
651-398-8053
