Fiddles will be aflame when Anger comes to town
In January 2003 Darol Anger’s lightning-fast bowing nearly set The Met in an energy-popping improv jam with fellow fiddle masters John Blake Jr. and Johnny Frigo at Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller’s third annual Jazz Violin Summit.
It was a marvel of a show, especially with the drama behind how it came together.
After being stranded in New Jersey because of a snowstorm, Anger barely made the performance. He took the stage, straight from the airport and without any rehearsal.
And it was still an amazingly fluid presentation of what the jazz violinist can do, including progressive arrangements and barn-burning improv jams. Blake had the grace of a butterfly. Frigo was masterfully exact. But Anger’s boundless dexterity and fiery presentation were show-stealing.
Ask anyone who’s seen him live, Anger almost emanates a kind of magic happening when he lays into a fiddle solo, even when it’s off the cuff.
The co-founder of the Turtle Island String Quartet, Anger uses his current quartet to continue to reinvent the American string ensemble’s approach to traditional bluegrass, jazz and world music.
Like Anger’s ensemble, Bearfoot Bluegrass represents the future of the fiddle.
Built from a group of music camp counselors, the group mixes traditional bluegrass with original jazz compositions. It also helps run a bluegrass camp for kids ages 5 to 17. But it’s most known for emotive vocals and instrumental excellence.
See for yourself when Anger brings his American Fiddle Ensemble along with co-headliners Bearfoot Bluegrass to Spokane on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Colbert Presbyterian Church, 4211 Colbert Road off Highway 2. The show is part of the Western Arts Alliance conference.
Tickets are $18 through TicketsWest, (509) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.
Cholesterol free
Usually deejays Spince and Brainchild’s Butter functions are lively house parties pumping with energy.
And tonight’s Butter show shouldn’t be any different, except for the overhanging bummer that this is the last Butter show.
That’s because Brainchild, aka James Singleton, and Spince, aka Spencer Davey, are planning to move out of town.
Without the depth of knowledge and ever-expanding library of electro, boogaloo, funk, rock steady, reggae, Brit pop and synth pop, Spokane’s vinyl scene will be left with some pretty wide gaps.
Add to that the spiraling rumor that their associate DJ Grand Groove is considering hanging up his needles, and a major force in bringing local hip-hop back to the basics will be lost.
But if this is indeed the last Butter show, expect the same booty-movin’ beats and soulful vibe.
In addition to deejay sets by Groove, Spince and Brains, local emcee/producer Erick Beats will be laying down rhymes and keepin’ the crowd bouncing. Emcees Synthetic, aka local visual artist Jason Corcoran (see story on page 26), and Buckeye McMillan open the show, which goes down tonight at 9:30 p.m. at The B-Side, 230 W. Riverside. There is a $5 cover.
Club hoppin’
• Get deep with some electro-acoustic-hip-hop with the amalgamation Edison Ekcol (members of The Side Project, Peter No One and emcee Locke) plays tonight at 8 p.m. at The Twilight Room, 112 S. Monroe. No cover.
• Twenty-year-old singer/songwriter from Portland, Adrian Orange’s, aka Thanksgiving’s, latest album, “Welcome/Nowhere,” is the debut release on producer and Microphones main man Phil Elverum’s P.W. Elverum & Sun label.
Thanksgiving opened for The Microphones the last time Elverum came through The Shop. Check Thanksgiving out on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at The Shop, 924 S. Perry. Cover to be announced.
• Hip-hop and R&B acts Sintax, C-Flow, Truce, Blaze, The Voice, Dutch Schultz, Waslyk, N.O.D., P. Ghost, Syllabus, Unique the Storm and Rex take over tonight at 8 p.m. at the Big Dipper, 171 S. Washington. It’s an all-ages show with beer garden with ID. All you can eat quesadillas will be available. Tickets are $10 at the door.