billy bang trio

[mike casinghino]

saw the billy bang trio at the iron horse,in northampton,mass.,this past saturday night. they played one extended set. not enough advance ticket sales for two sets, when i got there the"crowd" consisted of three people, a couple of doz. by showtime. they had some dude with a cowboy hat play set two. needless to say, i got the hell out of there pronto,after set one. imo,an excellent show. billy bang, violin, todd nicholson, bass, abbey rader, drums. to anyone familiar with billy bang, they played:

spirits entering

daydream

then a couple from the vietnam, the aftermath cd:

moment for the kiamia

bien hoa blues

also:

at play in the fields of the lord

know your enemy

this dude must play for the love of the music, a couple of dozen,if that, 12.50 a ticket, not your typical get rich quick scheme.billy bang is definitely worth seeing.

Edited April 13, 2004 by mike casinghino

[Leeway]

Must be tough for Bang or any other artist to have to face such indifference. Apparently, the Smithies are not huge jazz fans. You would think a college town like that would have a more active jazz scene.

[mike casinghino]

the jazz scene in northampton/amherst,mass. is excellent, with shows at the iron horse & calvin theatre in northampton,and the unitarian meetinghouse(mostly avant garde) & umass, in amherst. maybe being good friday had something to do with it?

[Hank]

I'm bummed to hear about the low turn-out for this. I'd planned on going, but then with it being Easter weekend family plans took a priority, so I couldn't go. I've seen him a few other times, all strong shows. He played a terrific show years ago with a sextet in U/Mass' old Magic Triangle jazz series. Among the selections was "Rainbow Gladiator" ; he seemed genuinely bemused by the regional demand for it, which by then, I guess, was old news to him.