From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2011 #465 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jmdl.com JMDL Digest Thursday, November 10 2011 Volume 2011 : Number 465 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- The Dutchess of Coolsvile NJC [Stewart.Simon@sunlife.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:31:35 -0500 From: Stewart.Simon@sunlife.com Subject: The Dutchess of Coolsvile NJC Hi Mark, I had the opportunity to see Ms Jones perform twice - the first time was very much like the place you describe in Seattle. - a small night club in Cambridge, MA with table and chair seating that could fit maybe 200 - 300 people packed. As I remember, - she did play Coolsville and Last Chance Texaco in Boston with most of her early songs highlighting the show. Magazine, Pirates and her first album are by far - my favorites - and it sounds like she played a lot of early material from your post. I also saw her again a few years later in Boston and she was very disappointing. She played all this bizarre jazz like stuff from her latest album and refused to do any of her earlier material. She even made a comment during the show that she had moved on and to "deal with it". Prior to the show - we were waiting in line to get into this Brighton club and this woman kept walking back and forth from a trailer parked on Commonwealth Avenue in front of the club. She was short, looked a little heavy set at the time and had a purple ski cap on. You see all kinds of bizarre things in Boston so we didn't pay much attention to it until someone in line said it was Ricki Lee and it was in fact - Ricki Lee in disguise ....... I never saw another show after that although I would go again in a heartbeat if she would tour in my area. She's an original for sure. Don't know too many people that compare to Miss Ricki........Thanks for the review.......Stewart (in Boston :) |------------> | From: | |------------> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |------------> | To: | |------------> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |joni-digest@smoe.org | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |------------> | Date: | |------------> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |11/10/2011 02:54 PM | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |------------> | Subject: | |------------> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |JMDL Digest V2011 #464 | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| JMDL Digest Thursday, November 10 2011 Volume 2011 : Number 464 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: - -------- The Duchess was cool and laid back njc ["Mark" ] - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:46:26 -0800 From: "Mark" Subject: The Duchess was cool and laid back njc Rickie Lee Jones had a birthday on Tuesday. She performed at Seattle's Jazz Alley that night and again last night. Since Rickie Lee lived in Tacoma at one time which is about 30 miles down the road from Seattle, I suspect there were friends and family in attendance and there must have been some kind of festive gathering after Tuesday night's show. At any rate, there was some celebration to mark the day because Rickie alluded to it during her performance last night. After the audience sang Happy Birthday to her somebody must have asked how old she was because she told them to Google it. At one point between songs, she put her arms up over her head, leaned back and stretched, telling us that she had just had a massage earlier in the day. She then made a comment that the massage had taken all of the tension out of her, tension that was essential to her work. So the Duchess of Coolsville gave a laid-back performance last night at Jazz Alley. Chuck E. was not in attendance, she didn't stick it into Coolsville and there was no stop at the Last Chance Texaco. There weren't many up-tempo songs in her set either. This is the fourth time I have seen Rickie Lee Jones perform live and I have to say, her intensity level last night was down from what I have seen her generate in the past. Part of the reason for this somewhat toned-down performance, aside from the birthday and massage, was probably due to the nature of the venue. We were seated at the back of the club on the left side of the stage. Unfortunately, bass player Reggie McBride was standing directly in our sight line, blocking Rickie out whenever she was standing up, playing guitar. But when Rickie Lee sat down at the piano, she was directly facing us, providing an unobstructed view of her face. It was almost like having her perform in a house concert. Jazz Alley is a very intimate venue as Michael Paz can attest. The sound was perfect, crystal clear and not too loud. Anyone who has done any kind of work on a stage knows that a performance has to be gaged to match the venue. In a large hall you crank it up because you have to play to the back row. In a small, intimate venue, the audience is close enough to see and hear every nuance. So you tone your performance down. Jazz Alley is a very nice venue. It is also a restaurant. Travis, my good friend Melanie and I were seated at a table on a raised section at the back. We looked down at the rest of the main floor (there is also a balcony section) at candles flickering on tables and people finishing their dinners before the show started. The performance started late because Rickie Lee Jones won't perform while 'people are chewing their food', as she put it. I certainly don't blame her for making that stipulation. Even though dinner was pretty much over by the time she started, there were waiters moving amongst the tables, serving cocktails, taking orders and filling water glasses. It was distracting, particularly during the quieter, reflective moments of Rickie's performance of which there were many last night. But one thing that struck me was the respectful nature of the audience. There were some people behind us that were rudely talking intermittently during much of Rickie's set. But for the most part, the capacity crowd was quiet up until the last notes had faded out at the end of every song. Attention was focused on the music throughout which is as it should be in a live performance given by an artist like Rickie Lee Jones. All of that being said, there were some very special moments in last night's set. Rickie opened with 'Weasel and the White Boys Cool' and it was evident from the start that this was going to be a relaxed, easy-going show. Accompanied by drums, cello and McBride's bass, Rickie played with her phrasing, bringing a spontaneous feel to her vocals. You could see her thought process and at times, it was almost like she was making up the songs right then and there. This is not to say that the performances lacked polish. Each player was accomplished and the ensemble was tight. The cello provided accents that added to the reflective, melancholy beauty of many of the songs. On the way to Jazz Alley I had asked Melanie if she thought of Rickie Lee Jones as a jazz singer. She said no and we agreed that Rickie Lee, like Joni Mitchell, does not fit into any genre. She is her own genre. The cello isn't a traditional jazz instrument and its inclusion in the ensemble gave some of the music an almost classical sound. Rickie was completely uninhibited about giving audible direction to the players about tempo, set list, when to wrap up a particular song and calling for more piano in the monitors several times during the show. She also talked to the audience quite a bit, very casually and humorously. 'Bonfires' was the only song from Rickie's latest cd, 'Balm In Gilead', she performed 'Stewart's Coat' from 1993's 'Traffic From Paradise' and 'It Takes You There' from 2003's 'The Evening of My Best Day'. For the rest of the show she did not venture beyond material from 1989's 'Flying Cowboys'. 'We Belong Together', 'Living It Up' and the title song from 'Pirates' were included in the set. One of the highlights of the show was 'On Saturday Afternoons in 1963'. The melancholy beauty of the lyric and melody was in perfect synch with Rickie's mood last night. She mentioned that not many of her songs had been covered but that at least one of them must have been a big hit in Australia. When she was on tour down under, she attended a horse race that one of the Kardashians was also attending. This evinced questions from Rickie Lee that I have often asked myself 'Who are they? Why are they famous?' Then she said that one of her songs was performed at this race track and everybody in the place sang along. It was 'Horses' and she followed up with an easily paced rendition of the song. The song that bookends 'Horses' in my mind, 'Flying Cowboys' came next and ended the show. Rickie said 'Ok, we're good'. and she and the musicians took their bows and left the stage. The audience stood, applauded, hooped and hollered for some time until the management finally announced that Rickie Lee would not be returning to the stage. So unfortunately there was no encore. There were two songs from this show that will stay with me always. At one point Reggie McBride picked up a bodiless upright bass and began to recreate his duet with Rickie's voice of 'Autumn Leaves' from 'Girl At Her Volcano'. I have always found this to be an extremely melancholy standard. It speaks to me of a loss more profound than that of a romantic breakup. I had never quite warmed up to Rickie Lee's interpretation of it. But last night the interplay of voice and bass was magic. Maybe part of it was an appreciation of the difficulty of picking out the correct notes from a bare bones accompaniment that does not play the melody. Maybe it was the electricity that Rickie Lee Jones generates for me in live performance. Whether it's laid back or pumped up, she always manages to hit me in the gut somewhere along the way. She went deep with this one last night. My memory tells me that she followed that one up with 'Stewart's Coat' but it may have been a song or two later. For me, Stewart's Coat' has always been about finding new happiness after a dark time. Oddly enough, Travis, who had complained about being cold when we first arrived, was futzing around putting on his coat during this song. Rickie explained that the song came to her in Paris when she was yearning to have a child. That makes the lyric 'I will love the sound of my sheets because you have moved beneath them' take on a whole new meaning for me. Rickie Lee Jones' voice is in excellent shape. She still sounds very much like she did on her first album. The voice did refuse to hit the highest note on the song 'Just My Baby' which Rickie Lee frankly acknowledge - 'That note is just gone'. Maybe the note is gone, maybe she was too tired to be able or want to try to hit it. She sounded a bit hoarse when she spoke but the singing was always clear and, with the one noted exception, sure of pitch. As I look back on it, time is enhancing this performance in my mind. It was a relaxed, quiet, but meaningful experience. There were times when the intimacy made it feel like Rickie Lee was singing just for me and my two beloved friends. I took the day off today and I'm feeling so good and happy that I saw Rickie Lee Jones perform last night. And for Patrick Leader who, along with Melanie, helped me get over my long-gone misconceptions about Rickie Lee Jones, she performed 'Young Blood' last night and I thought of you. Mark in Seattle - ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2011 #464 ***************************** - ------- To post messages to the list, send to joni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe - ------- - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail message (including attachments, if any) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, proprietary , confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. 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