Now if you're thinking I'm talking about hip-hop then you're seriously sitting in the wrong cafe as this is all about jazz. Maybe no-one except the French love jazz as much as beatniks and tonight Voodoo Shilton brought both to Cat's Art MusikCircus.
You could interpret the pic many different ways ... but we're not going to do that because we're here to talk about the music.
The thing that struck me so much tonight was in a song called "Let's Walk" and there was a beat poetry I found highly captivating. Voodoo calls it 'stream of consciousness' but he's a bit dismissive of his own talent as there's a high art in this poetry and it's exceptionally difficult to write. There are myriad formulaic methods of writing poetry but the beat people didn't use formulae, likely because they were so wired on espresso they couldn't sit down long enough. That's the Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce crowd ... total lunatics but, daddy, did they love art.
There was also another thing that struck me particularly. While the regulars have heard this before, new readers may not know that Voodoo Shilton is one of the most skilled musicians you will ever meet. He's been playing since he was a kid and he's, well, not a kid anymore. He has developed a tremendous talent for melding flamenco, African beats, and jazz and that only sounds chaotic until you hear it. Even more, he brings a delicious orchestration to his music as you never know what instruments he will use for any new song.
"The Littlest Elephant" is one I have heard multiple times before from Voodoo but another of his talents is that you never feel like, oh well, I've heard this one before. There's always a uniqueness and what struck me particularly tonight was his use of a melodica. I wasn't sure is it a flute, a harmonica, or what. After the song he said the melodica is not a voice he drives from a keyboard with MIDI but rather a wind instrument he plays. (Don't read any criticism of using MIDI. It ain't there. I use MIDI a lot myself.)
The haunting tone of the melodica and the way Voodoo played it may seem like too much as what does that have to do with the Littlest Elephant. But what if that little elephant gets lost. Have you ever seen it when a baby elephant has been separated from its mother and the joy when they find each other. If not then maybe take a look through YouTube as it's an exceptionally beautiful thing.
It's this type of orchestration that puts Voodoo into a master class as you can't play it if you can't hear it so he conceives these sounds and then makes them happen. Some of this will come through experimentation but the genius is in considering the integration of the instruments in the first place. Who thinks of playing a jazz guitar and a melodica. Well ...
There's much more than you may want to hear that I could write about the complexity of the kit Voodoo uses to play but that would give entirely the wrong impression of his sound. This is not by any stretch an electronic show although there are electronics used in various subtle ways. He uses a looper but he eases in and out so smoothly you would never know it unless you listen for it.
For various personal aspects of the show, there was yet more magic but that's private. Voodoo said he had the remnants of a cold and you know how lousy that feels but he said he would pretend he was not sick. He did one magically fine job of pretending as his play was brilliant and his delivery of the poetry in "Let's Walk" is one of the things that really grabbed me so he really worked some major voodoo on his voice.
This was a standout performance and there's only one way to hear it. Voodoo does sell recordings of the performance but you can only buy them if you attend and it would be grossly unethical to re-distribute one if you bought it. You also must be at Cat's Art MusikCircus to hear him as Voodoo is a live Internet radio station and the only security is keeping the stream address private to the Circus (or wherever else he may be playing).
Well, there is one other way you could hear him. If you are really nice to someone who has the recording then maybe you can hang out with that person and listen to it together. There you go.
Cat Boucher makes all of this happen and it was rolling into Valentine's Day for the show in Germany. Happy Valentine's Day, Cat. I Love You!
You could interpret the pic many different ways ... but we're not going to do that because we're here to talk about the music.
The thing that struck me so much tonight was in a song called "Let's Walk" and there was a beat poetry I found highly captivating. Voodoo calls it 'stream of consciousness' but he's a bit dismissive of his own talent as there's a high art in this poetry and it's exceptionally difficult to write. There are myriad formulaic methods of writing poetry but the beat people didn't use formulae, likely because they were so wired on espresso they couldn't sit down long enough. That's the Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce crowd ... total lunatics but, daddy, did they love art.
There was also another thing that struck me particularly. While the regulars have heard this before, new readers may not know that Voodoo Shilton is one of the most skilled musicians you will ever meet. He's been playing since he was a kid and he's, well, not a kid anymore. He has developed a tremendous talent for melding flamenco, African beats, and jazz and that only sounds chaotic until you hear it. Even more, he brings a delicious orchestration to his music as you never know what instruments he will use for any new song.
"The Littlest Elephant" is one I have heard multiple times before from Voodoo but another of his talents is that you never feel like, oh well, I've heard this one before. There's always a uniqueness and what struck me particularly tonight was his use of a melodica. I wasn't sure is it a flute, a harmonica, or what. After the song he said the melodica is not a voice he drives from a keyboard with MIDI but rather a wind instrument he plays. (Don't read any criticism of using MIDI. It ain't there. I use MIDI a lot myself.)
The haunting tone of the melodica and the way Voodoo played it may seem like too much as what does that have to do with the Littlest Elephant. But what if that little elephant gets lost. Have you ever seen it when a baby elephant has been separated from its mother and the joy when they find each other. If not then maybe take a look through YouTube as it's an exceptionally beautiful thing.
It's this type of orchestration that puts Voodoo into a master class as you can't play it if you can't hear it so he conceives these sounds and then makes them happen. Some of this will come through experimentation but the genius is in considering the integration of the instruments in the first place. Who thinks of playing a jazz guitar and a melodica. Well ...
There's much more than you may want to hear that I could write about the complexity of the kit Voodoo uses to play but that would give entirely the wrong impression of his sound. This is not by any stretch an electronic show although there are electronics used in various subtle ways. He uses a looper but he eases in and out so smoothly you would never know it unless you listen for it.
For various personal aspects of the show, there was yet more magic but that's private. Voodoo said he had the remnants of a cold and you know how lousy that feels but he said he would pretend he was not sick. He did one magically fine job of pretending as his play was brilliant and his delivery of the poetry in "Let's Walk" is one of the things that really grabbed me so he really worked some major voodoo on his voice.
This was a standout performance and there's only one way to hear it. Voodoo does sell recordings of the performance but you can only buy them if you attend and it would be grossly unethical to re-distribute one if you bought it. You also must be at Cat's Art MusikCircus to hear him as Voodoo is a live Internet radio station and the only security is keeping the stream address private to the Circus (or wherever else he may be playing).
Well, there is one other way you could hear him. If you are really nice to someone who has the recording then maybe you can hang out with that person and listen to it together. There you go.
Cat Boucher makes all of this happen and it was rolling into Valentine's Day for the show in Germany. Happy Valentine's Day, Cat. I Love You!
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