Zappa plays Zappa 18/11/12

I did wonder about taking in a Zappa Plays Zappa gig. Was it a nostalgia fest? Was it a tribute band? In either case I would probably avoid. In the end I decided it was a concert of Frank's compositions (which are dense and worthy of replaying) by a band that would be respectful and understanding of the music. And so I found myself front and centre in the Town Hall Birmingham a few feet from Dweezil Zappa playing a replica of his father's Gibson. He played it better than I expected and the whole band were good musicians and enthusiastically into Frank Zappa's canon of works. The set list was inevitably slightly surreal including 'Penguin in Bondage' and 'Im harder than your husband' (Frank's take on country music) as well as 'Strictly Genteel' - a classical work, not to mention 'Teenage Prostitute' or 'Zomby Woof'. 'Zomby Woof' was just about the highlight for me. It was the second track into the encore and Dweezil brought a classical clarinettist on stage for an extended improvisation and musical duel with his guitar. There was also a sax solo early on from sax, keyboards and flute player Scheila Gonzalez that was excellent and she gave it her all on every track sometimes playing both sax and keyboards at the same time. I also enjoyed hearing 'Peaches en Regalia' as 'Hot Rats' was my introduction to Zappa and still my favourite album. 'Ride My Face to Chicago' was also memorable and the standard of musicianship throughout the band and the gig was always high. It's very hard to classify Frank Zappa's music. It's not really rock and it's not exactly jazz. It's certainly surreal and disturbingly disjointed (in a nice way). This has encouraged me to get out the Zappa vynyl again.

Howden Jones 10/11/12

A village hall gig with a couple of travelling singer songwriters is pretty much always worth the small ticket fee. I particularly liked Paul Jones' guitar playing and his songs that focused in on aspects of English life ( a bit Richard Thompsonish in his perspective). Kate Howden had a pleasant voice and together they delivered a friendly and professional gig.

Aly Bain, Ale Moller, Bruce Molsky 2/11/12

This is a captivating trio of musicians who I last saw almost exactly two years ago at the same intimate venue. It just works brilliantly - three engaging and scholarly musicians melding their related musical traditions together. If I was going to carp then perhaps I would say that Bruce Molsky featured a little too much this time round. I preferred the music without his vocals and I prefer the ancient celtic/viking oeuvre that Aly and Ale bring to the party. But there was enough of their songs to keep me happy and Bruce contribute beautifully on his fiddle to their tunes. Ale provided the rhythm on his 10-string mandola (when not playing ancient shepherds' pipes)and Aly provided the heart of the music with his inimitable and unwavering fiddle playing. Highlights for me included a couple of tunes played together one called 'Yalta' something and the other 'Freddy's' something, anything in the 'troll' tuning and some tunes in 21/8 time (whatever that is). It is deep music played very movingly. I'll be back next time they tour.