Thursday night's CD release party for the Jeff Gauthier Goatette's House of Return at West L.A.'s Palmer Room was a bit of a surprise. Our fearless leader didn't just showcase tracks from the new record -- "Satellites and Sideburns" (the Nels Cline-penned tribute to Weather Report's Joe Zawinul) and Eric Von Essen's "Dissolution" were particular standouts -- but took the capacity crowd on a pocket journey through his entire five album repertoire, including "Seriously Twisted Blues" from 1994's Internal Memo and the opening song, a sparkling version of "Ephemera," from 2001's Mask, which included a muscular bass solo from Joel Hamilton and an insistent but light-on-its-feet tribal rumble from Alex Cline. Next was a supple take on Eric Von Essen's "Biko's Blues," easily the standout track on the new album as well as the first set. Keyboardist David Witham ruled on the following "Sofflicka"; his electric piano intentionally distorted to create an unsettlingly "dirty' sound, as if the keys were encrusted with sand grit. The biggest surprise was the cover of "From Gagarin's Point of View" by the recently deceased Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson. This in turn led into a short freefall improv (in which Mr. Cline and Mr. Gauthier really shined) that metamorphed into a rollicking "Friends of the Animals" from the new album. (During the show, Mr. Bennie Maupin strolled in, looking incognito in baseball cap and long beige jacket, ordering a cranberry and pineapple juice. Nice touch!)
Luckily, the concert was recorded live to video by our friend DiMarkco Chandler, so we'll get some footage up for you ASAP!
SET I
1. Ephemera (For Eric)
2. Biko's Blues
3. Solflicka
4. Gagarin's Point of View / Improv / Friends of the Animals
SET II
1. Heart Wisdom (for Thelma)
2. Seriously Twisted Blues (for Richard Grossman)
3. Improv / Dissolution
4. Satellites and Sideburns
(For an even more in-depth review of the show, including some terrific in-performance pics, check out Kellen Yamanaka's blog Song With Orange.)
