The Steel Guitar Forum

There's still 6 shows on 3 nights left of their appearance at Yoshi's at Jack London Square.

It doesn't get any better than these guys playing Shenandoah - they opened the show with it! They ended the night with Dylan's Master of War which turned into Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now... brilliant! The encore and final song was Lucinda Williams' beautiful Ventura.

It's late so I won't give a long review. Bill is playing with a quartet that includes Greg Leisz. Great originals and covers being played in one of the best clubs in the country. Greg is playing a Sierra Pedal and the following lap steels: 2 Asher's, a National New Yorker, and what appears to be a Cruz Tone.

These guys are brilliant together and well worth seeing. They're there through Sunday June 4th and then on to other parts of the country through June 17th when they play the Bonnaroo festival. http://www.billfrisell.com/index-tour.htm

If you go, sit on the left side to watch Greg and maybe catch a bit of Bill who always stands stage right and unfortunately almost always faces his drummer or bass player while he plays. Get table #3 if you want to sit next to Greg and watch Bill. I figure there were probably 25 of us (out of 200 or whatever the place holds) who could actually see Bill and his Telecaster from the front.

Don't let that stop you from going, the music is superb.

The drummer Kenny Wollensen is worth the price of a ticket to see also. He works around NYC and is a realjoy to play with or watch.

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Bob
upcoming gigs
My Website

David,

You beat me to it. I was going to post a review of last night's show too. It was a real treat.

I'm wondering if my wife will let me sneak away for another set this weekend sometime!


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Steve Pierce

I am so jealous, it is eating me up inside!!!!!

Thanks for posting.

Bob, I agree with you. Kenny Wollensen is great. A real delight. Aside from his exceptional drumming he's such a happy presence. Particularly in the first set both he and Bill had huge smiles on their faces most of the time. I noticed that Kenny was quoted on the Yoshi's web site saying "Yoshi's is a dream gig!" and he looked like he was clearly feeling that. Overall it was a really happy group with Greg reserving most of his smiles to after the song.

Steve, feel free to add more impressions about the show. I'm sorry I didn't post that I would be there so we could have said hello to each other. I wondered who was from the forum as I would see people (guys actually) walk up to examine Greg's setup up. You seem to have gotten a good handle on it per your description in the "CruzTone pro photos" thread.

Adrienne, there's still time, get a cheap (huh?!) plane ticket and beat it on out here!

I was definitely one of the guys checking out Greg's gear last night. It's an intricate set-up (see the Cruz-Tone thread for my details). I meant to post that I'd be going to the show in hopes of meeting a fellow forumite, but things got crazy yeasterday.

Anyway, for guys like us (non-pedal/lap steelers) Greg Leisz is a great example of how to take our instrument further. By using his broad range of techniques, he is comfortable spinning out fresh sounds all night. He can slide 3rds and 6ths vertcally and add counterpoint, or he can stay horizontal on the neck and acompany with tasteful harmony. He can play hard, or light with equal ability.

Personally my favorite aspect of his playing is when he takes his leads and digs into the electric instrument as if he were playing a Dobro. He'll play a lot on one string and use hammer-ons and pull-offs. When he's in this mode he sets his tone with just the right amount of overdrive and really makes the instrument sing.

He seems to change bars for whatever style he chooses for each song. He'd use the small bar for lap and the big bar for pedal. But he had another bar in the mix too and I couldn't figure out when he was switching it in (I had trouble seeing his hands from where I was sitting). He seemed to be pulling it out of his pocket.

All told it is good stuff IMHO. I wish he was involved in projects that featured more prominently, but I understand that he is at home as a sideman.

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Steve Pierce

"Personally my favorite aspect of his playing is when he takes his leads and digs into the electric instrument as if he were playing a Dobro. He'll play a lot on one string and use hammer-ons and pull-offs. When he's in this mode he sets his tone with just the right amount of overdrive and really makes the instrument sing."

I agree. Several of my favorite moments last night had Greg doing exactly that on the National New Yorker. He made that thing sing and whine! I wish he had taken a few more solos.

Hey David,

I'm pretty sure that was his prized National Dynamic. Check your email.

Steve

If there ever was a show I would have loved to be at.........

Steinar

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"Play to express, not to impress"
www.gregertsen.com
Southern Moon Northern Lights

Steve, I assume you are correct. I know very little about National electric models - other than they look and sound really great. I know a lot more about the older National acoustics.

Steinar, I thought of you numerous times during the show - "Damn, Steinar should be sitting here!" Hopefully one of these years/shows you will be.

I'm pretty excited, ordered tickets for my wife and I and will have dinner at Yoshi's restaurant first, and will attend the final show of the run, 8 PM, Sunday evening.

I have lived in the greater Bay Area most of my life, and here in Sonoma County since '97, and have never been to Yoshi's.

I'm almost as pumped for the venue as I am for the show! I was reading on their website the comments from McCoy Tyner, Pat Metheny, Robben Ford, and others that this may be the premier jazz venue in the United States.

It's been the past few years where in my household, the money has gotten better, and the three teenagers have become more self-sufficient, to where the Mrs. and I can have more fun. Plus in the case of Yoshi's, it's about a 70 mile drive from my house, and as a sales rep I already put in enough miles during the week as it is.

But I'm going to get there when the doors open to pick up my tix, and then go inside to reserve a table for the show, then have a nice dinner.

This will be big fun!

Have never seen Frisell or Leisz live.

Thanks for starting the thread, David -I knew they were coming to town, but if you hadn't jogged my memory, I would have probably spaced it out.

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Mark

I was at table 3 for both sets last night, and noticed that third bar was a glass bullet, about the shape of a ten-string bar, with an American Flag blown into the glass, and kind of twisted around.

Very pretty looking, but it generated an unbelievable sound. Almost like a sitar.

Anybody have any idea what kind of bar that is or who makes them?

Scott, thanks for mentioning that Jake will be there. I've been wanting to see him and hadn't noticed.

Mark, I hope you had a grand time and will post your impressions/review. I love that place. I'm going back on Thursday night to catch Gary Burton and Pat Metheny!

Had a great time last night.

When we put our name tags on table 3, I was surprised not to find a placard on the table reading "Reserved For Members of The Steel Guitar Forum"

They opened the show with a jazzy, tweaky, playing with effects improv thing that was kind of cool.

Then it was Shenandoah.

Some of the highlights for me were Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the encore, a beautiful rendition of "I Shall Be Released"

My favorite piece of the evening was the final song of the set (before the encore), a pounding, emotional version of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall."

Yoshi's is definitely one of the finest musical venues that I have ever attended. And the Japanese dinner was outstanding before the show! And very convenient, as the parking garage was literally next door.

Frisell of course, is known internationally, and hard core music fans know about Greg, but he has been making great music by "flying under the radar" for years. The band is just so tight. I loved the drummer and the bassist. As a side note, I just picked up the new "West of The West" CD by Dave Alvin, his album of covers by California songwriters and who is the producer and chips in some playing? Why Greg Leisz, of course!

Along with the Sierra S-12 Keyless, Greg played both of the Ashers last night, but the National didn't get played.

I tell you, by sitting there at the fabled Table 3, I was taking it in like a student for both his lap and pedal playing. I don't know which I enjoyed more - both aspects were just outstanding!

I DO know that I would love to add an Asher to the stable, they look and sound great.

I didn't see any glass bars last night, just a steel bullet bar.

As far as the dobro technique - that's what I play more than anything else - and I don't know if I would say he was "digging in," because with a lap steel you don't really need to dig in because you have the pickup and the amp doing the work on the volume. But he used a lot of hammmer-ons and pull-offs, and a lot bar tipping to play individual strings. He also didn't rely on sliding/gliss to an excess, he took advantage of the beautiful tone of the Ashers by playing a lot of non-sliding, single notes.

One thing that kind of bugged my wife, and I have to admit that I did find it a little distracting, is that at times, both Greg and Bill would seem to be hitting their effects switches almost as often as the notes they were playing. Far be it from me to criticize two great musicians, but it was like "Dude, it sounds fine on the current setting-just play the sucker!"

A minor complaint.

A great evening of music in a great venue. Wish I could go to the Gary Burton w/Pat Metheny show, but we are going to Berkeley to the Greek Theater at the end of this month for the Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris show so the entertainment budget for the month is maxed out!


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Mark
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 05 June 2006 at 12:12 PM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 05 June 2006 at 12:15 PM.]</p></FONT>

If you like Frisell, and you like Yoshi's, you owe it to yourself to check out "East/West" Frisell's double live CD from last year, recorded at Yoshi's and at the Village Vanguard. Both sides are blazing, and very, very different. The Yoshi's CD sounds like Bill stayed on a tele and played much more in his delayed-out Americana vibe, the Vanguard set is much more jazz-inflected and intimate sounding.

Kenny Wolleson plays on both, Viktor Krauss (!) is on the Yoshi's disc, the great Tony Scher (sp?) is on bass and acoustic guitar on the Vanguard one. Must have for fans of Frisell...also, if you like Frisell and Leisz, be sure to check out "The Intercontinentals", and that Loudon Wainwright album from last year, "Here Come The Choppers". You'll love them both!

So many CD's...not enough money-and storage space! They've long outgrown my entertainment center CD racks.

Didn't that East/West CD have the killer version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine?"

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Mark

"Didn't that East/West CD have the killer version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine?"

Yes it does as well as a great version of Shenandoah though Greg was not part of that show. I was there for several nights. Nothing like getting a CD from a show you loved.

BTW, you can also download what is in effect another 2 disc set from the same shows at Bill's website. The "discs" are called Further West and Further East and are only available as downloads. They cost $11 or $14 depending upon the quality you want. http://www.billfrisell.com/index-discs.htm

Bill and Kenney Wollesen are also on last year's excellent CD Red Dog Tracks by Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. http://tinyurl.com/or9bq

I have that CD, very good.

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Mark

You lucky dawgs! Greg with Bill must be stunning to take in. As for the blown glass bar being used, that was explored by the Adam Ollendorf post some ways down the page here. Don't yet know how to put it up for you all; it's a post-retirement requirement! JZ