Wednesday, April 21, 2010

01/01/05 L. Cool Trio w/Mike Gordon @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY


After a uneventful New Year's Eve spent at a friend's parent's house party, this was a nice New Year's Day treat.

The original Knitting Factory on Houston was known, in conjunction with the aforementioned Tonic, as the center of downtown's early 1990s underground alternative jazz scene that spawned such vaunted cats as Medeski Martin & Wood and Steve Bernstein's various projects.

The new location expanded the pallette to include everything from punk to funk, often simultaneously held in any of the venue's three separate performance spaces.

I believe this may have been my first time at the club.

The line-up was a supergroup of sorts comprised of Mark Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits on bass, Jamie Shields of The New Deal on keys and Joe Russo of Benevento Russo Duo on drums. These were (and still are) some of my favorite musicians from some of my favorite bands.

The vibe in the crowd was fairly laid back, fully understandable for the night after the biggest party night of the year.

We secured a spot in the balcony and danced our way through the improvised electronic grooves that the trio laid down in the first set.

At the start of the second set, a familiar face emerged on stage.

It was none other than Mike Gordon, bassist for recently disbanded Phish, who just happened to live in an apartment above the club.

Since Brownie was already holding down the low end, Cactus tried his hand at guitar, capably strumming along to the L. Cool concoctions for the duration of the show.

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