Before the show sound check. Friend and fiddler, John Kirk, standing in the entrance stairway listens to the warm up; his family were downstairs having dinner at Hattie's.
The band's sound is energetic but not overly loud. Tony thanked our new
sound volunteer, Ryan, twice for the clean, supportive, unimposing amplification
- just enough to be not noticeable.
The evening started a bit late but held a well received variety of unique arrangements. A special tape was available containing many of the evening's tunes. For me the the peak of my interest came with a cute sort of talking banjo blues featuring Tony on banjo and recitation of sax player Michael Amendola. It was great fun. There was a lot more good imaginative music. It appealed to an enthusiastic audience of ages about 10 years old to post 60's.
The evening ended with a wonderful encore of Foggy Mountain breakdown which sounded traditional as it began then incorporated the sax, electric guitar, etc. It was new spice on an old dish. Everyone left smiling. We look forward to seeing him again at our intimate Caffe, in whatever incarnation.
The Band consisted of Tony Trischka on banjos, Glenn Sherman on guitars, Marco Accattatis on bass, Michael Amendola on sax and Gresha Alexiev on drums.
Tony has long been a leader on the bluegrass and melodic banjo, a perfect
match to Caffe Lena. This band shows the diversity of music played
at the caffe these days. We are almost religiously acoustic but a
bit of electrics sometimes fits. Give thanks to Abigail Reid and
George Ward for their vision and broadmindedness in booking at the Caffe.