“What’s Up, Doc?”
Be vewwy qwuite…I’m going to tell you about a place and musical event you need to know about.
There’s a new venue that just opened in the Valley, called The Write-Off Room. Not only do they have a place with excellent acoustics, but in the parking lot there’s a taco stand that makes some of the best eats within 5 miles, and you can take the plates in a savor the flavors along with the sound.
“Thufferin’ Thuccotash!”
And, to up the ante, they booked Grammy winner Gordon Goodwin in a role that he was destined to fill. At the behest of the Quartet San Francisco headed by Jeremy Cohen, he and his band joined forces to put together an album dedicated to the music of Raymond Scott, the composer of, as Cohen explained it, “the soundtrack of my childhood”, namely the songs of Looney Tunes and Merry Melody Saturday morning cartoons.
The brilliant conglomeration resulted in an inspiring album (Raymond Scott Reimagined), and the packed house at the Write-Off Room had the pleasure to hear the live debut of this meeting of the musical minds.
“I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat”
No, it was Goodwin’s team of Sal Lozano/ss-cl, Jay Mason/bari, Aaron Janik/tp, Charlie Morillas/tb, Daniel Fornero/tp juxtaposed with Cohen’s cohorts of Joseph Christianson/vi, Chad Kaltinger/va and Andres Vera/cel, with some background support taped in to include voices and a rhythm section.
Things started off with Goodwin’s team bopping on their own like Herman’s Herd on a nifty “Sweet Georgia Brown” before Cohen displayed what his team could achieve on an enchanting take of Chick Corea’s “Spain” that featured a gypsy solo by Christianson.
“Andale! Andale! Andale!”
Things then got fun and frenetic with both bands joining together for renditions of Scott material like a manically joyful hoedown of “Powerhouse” that had the sections veer around each other like a Neopolitan traffic jam.
“Beep Beep!”
Goodwin’s piano spun out a bit of Mozart along with voices from Take 6 on a dainty “In An 18th Century Drawing Room” while Janik’s horn brought back images of Shirley Temple movies on the bouncy “Toy Trumpet”.
Accompanying himself on taped piano, Goodwin boogied with the strings on a rollickingly quizzical “Huckleberry Duck” while Lozano solo’d over the sing sing singing beet and riffing reeds while the strings supplied mind boggling interplay for wild and wacky “Twilight In Turky”. The reeds were sweet around the strings while Cohen lead the charge on “Yesterday’s Ice Cubes”
The jazz gents stepped out for the next tune, as Goodwin created a velvet carpet with the Quartet and Take 6 on a tender and evocative “Serenade” before everyone jumped back on stage and Lindy Hopped as the reeds and strings riffed through “The Quintette Goes To A Dance”.
More than anything else, the concert reflected a period of our culture when the best of European music could assimilate with the best of The Swing Era to create a music that was artistic, clever, and most of all FUN!
As Cohen stated during the show. “I presented this idea to Goodwin, he said ‘yes’, and I’ve been walking on air ever since”
And so was the crowd as they exited the room
“Th-th-that’s all, folks!”
Upcoming events at The Write-ff Room include Albert Lee 09/20, Teryn Re’s Big Band 09/25, Paulie Cerra 09/27, Bernie Dresel’s BBB 10/02, Mark Winkler 10/14 and Nutty 10/21