Voodoo Shilton came back last night to play at Cat's Art MusikCircus. As he comes back every Friday night you might think that doesn't warrant a report each week but he has a singular ability to keep his music live. Playing a show is all very well but playing it so the show lives and breathes is a whole different place beyond that.
You just don't know what Voodoo will do in his set. You know it will be some amalgam of African and Latin jazz but you still don't know what he will do as he is constantly changing his set to add new originals. He rarely brings new cover songs into his show these days and that's cool as he wouldn't gain anything if he did, his originals are brilliant.
I'm not the only one who believes this. Just ask some people from the audience:
You just don't know what Voodoo will do in his set. You know it will be some amalgam of African and Latin jazz but you still don't know what he will do as he is constantly changing his set to add new originals. He rarely brings new cover songs into his show these days and that's cool as he wouldn't gain anything if he did, his originals are brilliant.
I'm not the only one who believes this. Just ask some people from the audience:
The DJ and Aisha. They weren't together, they're just both, well, tiny as neither is more than about ten centimetres. Tinies are usually a lot of fun as they are never wallflowers.
Voodoo's set starts out with a looper track as much of his music employs the device. Some are critical of devices for any purpose in music and that's fine but those who do appreciate them can use them to create music that can't be made any other way. Maybe you think you could do the same thing by getting a group of musicians together but it's not true as the piece wouldn't be arranged or played the same way under those circumstances. In fact, each approach wouldn't have even close to the same outcome. What Voodoo does with a looper is quite marvellous.
The main thing I want to emphasise is what Voodoo is doing with his keyboard as he has got some five star voices for his synth. You can buy a synthesiser and it will come with a stock set of voices, hopefully most are cool and only a few suck. On most synthesisers, the saxophone voice will almost always suck with the flute voice not far behind it. However, Voodoo is using some alternative voices he found in some magical place and the quality of the sax and the flute are extraordinary. 'Quality' means could you tell the difference from a real sax if your eyes were closed.
I've mentioned the above previously but what I haven't told you is that Voodoo has a friend who calls himself Chicagosax. This relates as Chicagosax plays a saxophone-like instrument that drives MIDI. This means his instrument could sound like anything from bagpipes to an electric guitar. Maybe you ask what good is that but there is no limit to it. More than one person was calling out last night for the coolness of a jam with Voodoo and Chicagosax. I have no idea if this is even possible but it does seem like it would make some extreme musical coolness.
In the music Voodoo is making now, he's playing his own saxophone leads and and they are exceptional as he doesn't play them as if he were playing the same thing on the guitar. Usually when a guitarist goes over to a synthesiser, the axeman will play some chords to get comfortable. Then maybe he gets a little bass riff with the left hand and a bit of melody with the left. Yah, yah, but Voodoo goes way past that and he's playing full-out jazz leads. They scream saxophone blues and he's twisting notes every which way.
Like I say, he's extraordinary. This has turned from a review into a symposium so it's time to take Cat dancing:
If you think being a venue owner is just a matter of hanging about dancing and looking pretty, guess again. During much of the show we can't talk because she is so busy with running it. That's not a complaint as my job is being the Guardian Tiger to run cover for her when things get like that.
Hmm...job doesn't sound too good. It's my pleasure to run cover for Cat!
Voodoo's set starts out with a looper track as much of his music employs the device. Some are critical of devices for any purpose in music and that's fine but those who do appreciate them can use them to create music that can't be made any other way. Maybe you think you could do the same thing by getting a group of musicians together but it's not true as the piece wouldn't be arranged or played the same way under those circumstances. In fact, each approach wouldn't have even close to the same outcome. What Voodoo does with a looper is quite marvellous.
The main thing I want to emphasise is what Voodoo is doing with his keyboard as he has got some five star voices for his synth. You can buy a synthesiser and it will come with a stock set of voices, hopefully most are cool and only a few suck. On most synthesisers, the saxophone voice will almost always suck with the flute voice not far behind it. However, Voodoo is using some alternative voices he found in some magical place and the quality of the sax and the flute are extraordinary. 'Quality' means could you tell the difference from a real sax if your eyes were closed.
I've mentioned the above previously but what I haven't told you is that Voodoo has a friend who calls himself Chicagosax. This relates as Chicagosax plays a saxophone-like instrument that drives MIDI. This means his instrument could sound like anything from bagpipes to an electric guitar. Maybe you ask what good is that but there is no limit to it. More than one person was calling out last night for the coolness of a jam with Voodoo and Chicagosax. I have no idea if this is even possible but it does seem like it would make some extreme musical coolness.
In the music Voodoo is making now, he's playing his own saxophone leads and and they are exceptional as he doesn't play them as if he were playing the same thing on the guitar. Usually when a guitarist goes over to a synthesiser, the axeman will play some chords to get comfortable. Then maybe he gets a little bass riff with the left hand and a bit of melody with the left. Yah, yah, but Voodoo goes way past that and he's playing full-out jazz leads. They scream saxophone blues and he's twisting notes every which way.
Like I say, he's extraordinary. This has turned from a review into a symposium so it's time to take Cat dancing:
If you think being a venue owner is just a matter of hanging about dancing and looking pretty, guess again. During much of the show we can't talk because she is so busy with running it. That's not a complaint as my job is being the Guardian Tiger to run cover for her when things get like that.
Hmm...job doesn't sound too good. It's my pleasure to run cover for Cat!
No comments:
Post a Comment