Blues Traveler In last year’s snug release North Hollywood Shootout, Blues Traveler detoured from their jam highway with songs that are decidedly harder rocking, bluesier and tweaked into concise pop. But John Popper, the harmonica-wielding writer and singer of the long-established quintet, composed the numbers to allow for lots of stretching and eclectic exploration on Blue Traveler’s much adored foundation, the live stage. The Fillmore (Samir Shukla)

California Guitar Trio There’s a reason cooking analogies are so often made in regards to music. They’re both forms of alchemy, really, where one takes specific ingredients and combines them in such a way to make magic happen. The CGT, then, are like those architectural chefs who can cook anything (and better yet, arrange it in such a way that it looks like a work of art), but forget to add that ever important soupcon of soul. Fretheads will be in heaven, but those looking for something truly rib-sticking might do better elsewhere. The Evening Muse (Timothy C. Davis)

Carolina Chocolate Drops The Durham-based CCD (Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson) are a big draw at musical festivals and art-house theaters and museum openings. And why not? They’re great musicians, and they know how to entertain, too. Did we mention that they’re all African-American, and play their native burgh’s rural Southern string-band music? That they interpret standards and traditionals with the same flair with which they pen their own stuff? That they reinterpret the music at the same time they’re re-enacting it, which is no mean feat? Why, it’s enough to set a musicologist’s heart all a-flutter. Bully for them that they’re good enough (indeed, great enough) that all of the Great Black Hope shit doesn’t even matter. The music, as the cliché goes, speaks for itself. McGlohon Theatre (Davis)

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Anyone who has witnessed Catrin Finch at Spoleto in recent years, particularly her assault on Bach’s mightiest Toccata and Fugue, will not be surprised that the Royal Harpist to the Prince of Wales has been emboldened to transcribe the Goldberg Variations to the most cumbersome, effeminate instrument in the orchestra. She can do as she wills, and here proves herself more than merely the “Segovia of the harp,” a label affixed to a harp wizard of a previous generation. Finch takes herself beyond the self-accompanying wonders that have been achieved on harp and guitar, invading the contrapuntal domain of the harpsichord and piano.

For the most part, Finch holds her own when measured against the great piano exponents of the Goldbergs. If Glenn Gould softened the music on piano, retaining some of the harpsichord’s crispness and clarity of line, then it’s useful to describe Finch as taking the romantic polish of Daniel Barenboim’s performance and shining it even more brightly on her more ethereal harp, restoring some of Gould’s baroque freshness simply by not taking so lugubriously long about it. In doing so, she stands closest to the middle ground of Murray Perahia.

Listeners familiar with the Goldbergs will instantly be gladdened by the faithfulness of Finch’s transcription. In a booklet graced with a blurb from Prince Charles, there is an extensive interview with Michael Church, where Finch admits that it took her a year to make her adaptation of the most chromatically challenging Variation, the 25th – and that she finally had to settle for a compromise with the 11th. On the other hand, Finch claims that Variation 7 works better on harp than the piano and points to the Variations in the minor mode – 15, 21, and 25 – with similar pride.

Finch quickly proves her credibility with her dexterous gallop through Variation 1, yielding nothing in speed to the great piano versions. Listeners may be as taken aback by the effect of the harp’s ethereal resonance as they are with the soloist’s ability to execute all those trills, clusters, counterpoints, and phrasings that are the keyboard’s birthright. Confidence is restored with the mid-tempo rendition of Variation 2, and a fresh surprise awaits in Variation 3: the resonating baseline underneath the dulcet treble actually sounds like a pipe organ.

Skip ahead to the Variation 10 Fughetta to hear the most impressive example of Finch’s contrapuntal mastery. Variation 14, perhaps the most idiosyncratic of all, is attacked with a jubilant glee that makes Perahia sound cold by comparison. Variation 20 has more uptempo dazzle, but it’s Variation 28, up in the treble stratosphere, where Finch’s artistry is perhaps most convincing. Here the music sounds as if it belongs to the harp. For a brief moment, it’s the keyboard version that is hard to imagine. “Queen of harps”? That label has already been affixed to Finch. Deservedly.

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By Perry Tannenbaum

Long time ago, back in the days of JazzCharlotte, a British PR agent gushed over the talent of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart and gave me a bootleg cassette tape to bolster her boasts. She was right about Barnhart, who was even more electrifying when he performed here live than he was on the shabby bootleg.

Now there’s finally a Scotty Barnhart CD for the world to hear, Say It Plain, and I feel like I’m divulging a secret that shouldn’t have been secret nearly so long. The lineup of guest artists who showed up for these 2008 recording dates – topped by cameos from fellow trumpet aces Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis – is an accurate gauge of the high-grade straight-ahead jazz you’ll hear throughout. Keyboard giants Marcus Roberts and Ellis Marsalis also show up separately on five of the 12 tracks, Ellis at his silky best on the Jimmy Dorsey ballad, “I’m Glad There Is You,” Roberts most memorable on “The Burning Sands,” one of five Barnhart originals.

Wynton joins Scotty on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma,” while Terry blows and sings – in his trademark mumbledy fashion – on the closing track, “Pay Me My Money,” a freshly-minted Clark/Barnhart tune. Unity Music stablemate Jamie Davis drops in for “Young at Heart,” mellow payback for Barnhart’s contributions to the singer’s Vibe Over Perfection last year.

All it takes is a few bars of “Giant Steps” to be hooked on this release as Leon Anderson, Jr., opens up on drums and a ref’s whistle. Barnhart comes in on trumpet with Todd Williams overlapping on soprano sax, and suddenly you realize that Scotty has rearranged Trane’s hardbop classic into a festive New Orleans shuffle – with Roberts applying another twist later on with a stride piano solo. Occasionally, you do get samplings of what Barnhart’s core quartet/quintet sounds like. A taste of “Put On a Happy Face” provides all the joyous reassurance you need, with Barnhart blazing and pianist Bill Peterson sounding a little like Oscar.

None other than the esteemed Stanley Crouch pontificates in the album notes, and there’s a celebration of the new Say It Plain release up in New York this Saturday evening – at the renowned Blue Note Jazz Club, where Barnhart’s quintet is scheduled to make joyful noises at midnight. Yes, it seems Barnhart has arrived. I damn sure hope he stays.

Here’s a video of “Haley’s Passage” in a longer, less artfully mixed version than you’ll hear on the CD, but with the same sextet: Scotty Barnhart (flumpet), Todd Williams (soprano sax), Rick Lollar (guitar), Bill Peterson (piano), Leon Anderson, Jr. (drums), and Rodney Jordan (bass). Camera works sucks – you never get a good look at Scotty’s flumpet – but the music is golden.

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Prevue in NoDA will be hosting a Michael Jackson Tribute this Wednesday. Door proceeds will go to Angel Food, a MJ Charity. Also please bring a canned good to donate. Music will include Michael Jackson classics, remixes and mash-ups. Doors open at 9 pm.

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*Disclaimer: We don’t care about his sexuality and we are aware that he has been involved in theater, but these were too entertaining not to share. Enjoy!!

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Check out this pic we took of him.

(We got a few new pets at the CL office. Our four new goldfish are all living in their own tanks and apparently have names tags too.)

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TUESDAY, FEB. 3

Wayne “The Train” Hancock Step up to the juke box in an old-time honky tonk in the middle of rural Texas circa 1950s. The juke contains usual suspects, Hank Sr., Bob Wills and Wayne Hancock. What? Hancock? Wayne Hancock is a Texas country crooner who sounds so authentically old-school and twangy that you wanna buy the dude a beer. This is unslick country, twilight twang, Western swing and vintage country-blues that happily flips the finger to contemporary Nashville. Snug Harbor (Shukla)

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SATURDAY, JAN. 31

Citizen Cope Clarence Greenwood, the estimable “Citizen Cope,” was a former DJ and keyboardist with the underrated folk/rap/rock/industrial complex Basehead. Sort of like G. Love with a little less Philly and a little more chili, Cope does a fair enough job at masking his record spinning and genre-blending on the new Acoustic Tapes Vol. 1, a record that manages, despite its sonambulant title, to do a fair enough job of engaging the head and hooves equally. Neighborhood Theatre (Timothy C. Davis)

Snagglepuss w/ Bruce Hazel and Some Volunteers Most regular readers (irregular readers, eat more fiber!) likely know the origin stories of these two titans of Q.C. rock ‘n’ roll. Snagglepuss (not to be confused with the shitty Florida metal band of the same name) is led by the husband/wife team of Hope Nicholls and Aaron Pitkin, two folks who’ve helped guide and nurture local music for decades now. Along with a crack band also featuring Scott Weaver, Amy Kennemore, Darrin Gray and Michael Anderson, the pair’s brass-spiked punk punch tastes extra good in this buttoned-down era of bearded acousto-mumbling. Meanwhile, Hazel and his merry mob recently made the finals of a contest run by Little Steven of E-Street fame (the winner got a record deal) but ultimately fell a few votes short. Regardless, someone needs to get this man – sonically, a mix of The Boss, Mike Ness, and not a little Howlin’ Wolf – signed soon: His mixing of moods, way with melody, and meat-and-potatoes writing chops deserves more ears. Snug Harbor (Davis)

Otis Gibbs According to lore, this gruff-voiced Indiana native spent part of his youth singing in a bar for his caretaker uncle’s beer money, worked all manner of menial jobs until discovering Henry Miller and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, then slept in hobo jungles, walked with nomadic shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, played labor rallies and anti-war protests, and (surprise!) earned an FBI file. His peripatetic life also includes a catalog of honest-to-goodness country-folk songs, like his brand-new Chris Stamey-produced Grandpa Walked a Picketline, highlighted by the legendary Al Perkins’ gorgeous pedal steel. With Death on Two Wheels and Lollipop Factory. The Evening Muse (John Schacht)

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FRIDAY, JAN. 30

Prabir and the Substitutes Among the FAQs on this Richmond, Va., band’s Web site you’ll find the following: Q: “Do you sound like the Killers or the Strokes? A: “Yes, and you are a dumbass.” You are a dumbass because Prabir Mehta’s outfit roots firmly in the infinitely less-derivative rock ‘n’ roll songwriting of the Kinks, Beatles, Zombies, etc., only cranked up to 11, handsomely adorned with skilled harmony singing, and spiced up with a hair-afire live show that makes the Strokes and Killers look like the model-courting poseurs they are. Still touring behind last year’s little gem, Five Little Pieces. Opening for rural pop icons Lou Ford. Snug Harbor (John Schacht)

Starling Electric Flip the CD booklet. Starling Electric’s Clouded Staircase was recorded a couple of years ago, not in the ’60s. This quartet makes period music, circa mid-’60s-mid-’70s, that’s smashingly psychedelic and stitched with paisley melody and prog-rock guitar work that harks back to the classic hippie era, yet sounds damn fresh. Formed by singer/songwriter Caleb Dillon, they’ve fused into this quaintly eclectic combo. With Foxchase, Naked Gods and Ultimate Optimist. Milestone (Samir Shukla)

The Benjy Davis Project Folk rocker Davis and crew play solidly written rock tunes. The Louisiana quintet isn’t flashy, or even innovative, but its songs swirl around in the head long after they’ve stopped playing. The band’s on the road plugging the new album Dust, which is stacked with cohesive pop and electric rock. RIYL: Dave Matthews Band, 3 Doors Down, John Mayer. With Milhouse. The Evening Muse (Shukla)

Tropic Culture The last time the band performed at the Visulite, the place was packed with people shaking their collective asses off to the funky, tropical, groovy, rockin’, Latin beats. This time around, they’re even supplying some Latin food. Good food, good music. What else do you need? With Solos Unit and DJ Nelson. Visulite Theatre (Jeff Hahne)

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THURSDAY, JAN. 29

Von Iva The all-girl electro punk trio may be well known to you if you’ve seen the latest Jim Carrey movie, Yes Man. They were the backing band for Zooey Deschanel – Munchausen by Proxy. They performed here last November, but they’re back again as part of the Hell on Heels tour with Semi Precious Weapons and Nico Vega. Milestone (Jeff Hahne)

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