NRBQ from left to right:
Johnny Spampinato (not pictured), Joey Spampinato, Tom Ardolino, Terry Adams & guest Ellery Eskelin
photo by Phil Milstein
An Evening with NRBQ
February 14th, 2004
Northsix / Brooklyn, NY
by Ellery Eskelin
Well, this night ranks up there as one of the high points in my musical career. A celebration of song-poem music (centering in some measure on the work of Rodd Keith) and the opportunity to play with a legendary band, a real rock and roll band, NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet). NRBQ started out in the '60s and is still going at it with as fresh a sound and attitude as anything out there. From the first moment playing together on the sound check I was immediately knocked out by the band's feel. A feel like that only comes from years and years on the road, you don't get it any other way. And it also comes from a genuine love for and awareness of a lot of roots music. These guys got it!
This event came about via Tom Ardolino, the band's drummer and the man responsible for discovering and sharing with the world the unique American art form of the "song-poem" (the send us your lyrics branch of the music business). His compilation "Beat of the Traps" started the ball rolling, leading to Phil Milstein's "American Song/Poem Music Archives", my CD compilations of the work of song-poem legend (and my late father) Rodd Keith and most recently filmmaker Jamie Meltzer's humorous yet poignant documentary "Off the Charts - The Song Poem Story" which aired on PBS in 2003 and is now available on DVD.
The evening's events began with a charming set of music by Kate Fenner and Tony Scherr, then proceeded to a screening of "Off the Charts", which got the audience primed for NRBQ with yours truly as guest saxophonist. We played renditions of a number of song-poems, some by Rodd Keith and others that were made up on the spot from lyrics penned by audience members and handed up to the stage. We were also joined by songwriter and singer David Fox (aka Art Kaufman) who runs a song-poem company and is featured in the film. David sang a couple of numbers and handled vocal duties on a few of the audience submissions with a highly energetic performance.
Considering that the story of my relationship with my father (I never really knew him) through his music has been such a deeply private one for most of my life I can't easily describe the feeling of being in a packed club with Rodd's music pumping through the sound system. The film was projected on a huge screen and the audience laughed and applauded the whole way through. And all during the breaks more song-poems were being played. I really had to pinch myself a few times.
And so there I am in the midst of this musical celebration on stage with NRBQ. I just can't say enough about this band. I've played a lot of music over the years although most of what I do these days centers around my own band of ten years (Ellery Eskelin w/ Andrea Parkins & Jim Black) plus a number of other groups that deal with improvised music coming out of jazz (and a few other places). When I first hit New York in '83 I played every kind of gig imaginable but the straight jacket mentality of the commercial scene eventually took all the life out of it for me and so I decided it was time to do my own music. But I gotta say, playing with NRBQ was just as open and loose as any jazz or improv gig I've ever done in my life. I never felt like I had to adapt to someone else's version of what a horn player in a rock and roll band is supposed to be. It literally felt as if anything could happen at any moment. NRBQ plays any kind of music from country tunes to noisy free improvisation and kicks serious ass in the process. We even played a Charlie Parker tune ("Now's the Time") and a Monk tune ("Bye Ya"). Everyone in the band, Terry, Johnny, Joey and Tommy are serious about what they do yet are not afraid to be zany and create a festive party atmosphere in the process.
Terry Adams, front man and keyboardist, strikes me as something of a rock and roll version of Thelonious Monk with a dash of Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra thrown in for good measure. But he's Terry Adams, whose sound is his own and who's timing and phrasing are impeccable. Everything he plays, no mater how far out, relates exactly to what's happening. And he's a great front man, able to get any musical idea across to an audience without compromise. Joey Spampinato plays bass and handles a lot of the vocals, his brother Johnny plays great lead and rhythm guitar and Tom Ardolino makes everything feel joyful on the traps. And it's more than obvious that they love what they do. Everybody sings and the band writes great songs that consistently deliver that unmistakable NRBQ sound. Being a musical omnivore myself I couldn't imagine a better fit for how I hear and play. I have the highest admiration for "the Q" and am personally grateful that they keep it together and deliver their message to the world, a message that's more important now than ever.
I want to end by saying that I am particularly and forever indebted to Tom Ardolino for discovering Rodd and sharing him with the world. I love you Tommy! And I offer heartfelt gratitude to my good friend Phil Milstein (love you too!) for his tireless research. I would never have located many of the people in Rodd's life without Phil's help. And of course Jamie Meltzer for making this wonderful film and presenting Rodd to a larger audience. Thanks also to my favorite radio station in the world, WFMU for being a catalyst in this whole thing. It was through WFMU that I found out about Tommy's compilation. Special thanks go to DJs Bethany Ryker and Chris T for helping promote the event with on air performances and promotion of the show.
And thanks to NRBQ for inviting me to play with them! I'd love to do it again!!
Ellery Eskelin and Tom Ardolino
photo by Phil Milstein
Michael Goodman is an avid song-poem fan and was instrumental in getting the Northsix show set up. Thanks Michael!
Michael also wrote a report on the evening which I want to share.
Part One - Who Would Have Thought?
by Michael Goodman
Well, Valentine's Night saw what could be coined the world's First Song-Poem convention with people coming as far as Utah and Boston to attend. In attendance were members of Yo La Tengo, our benevolent leader ASPMA czar Phil Milstein, members of the WFMU radio staff, and of course, Off-the-Charts director Jamie Meltzer, song-poem singer (and former MSR employee) Art Kaufman aka David Fox, the Christopher Colombus of song-poem collectors Tom Ardolino along with the rest of NRBQ-Joey & Johnny Spaminato, Terry Adams, and most appopriately (and to my disbelief) saxaphonist extrodinaire Ellery
Eskelin, son of Rodd Keith. I also was there. You can call me Mike!
You want to see what Northsix looks like?
http://www.northsix.com/photos.htm
Here's what it looks like when there's a show:
http://www.northsix.com/photosmisc.htm
http://www.northsix.com/photosmisc2.htm
When one came into the space, I was dj-ing song poems. This first set was easy going and started with mostly older song poems (or older SOUNDING song poems, since records on the Halmark label often sound like they're from the 50's but were actually recorded in the
70's) like "The Wall Street Daily Cry", "Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Potassium", "Keep Your Hopes High", "Let's Really Rock", "Checker's Blues", "Let's Lay It On the Line" and Rodd tunes like "Big Weekend" (which seguewayed gorgeously into Cara Stewart/Lee Hudson's "Mr. Memory") "Elmer 21st Century Hop",and, thanks to MAGNUS and this great group, "Song of the Palms" (thanks Magnus! It sounded great!). Also, people heard more recent styled song poems like Dick Kent's Mean Woman Blues and Ralph Lowe's "Friday Night" (that's not the exact title, sorry). "Darling Don't Put Your Hands On Me" was in there as well, so was "Pinch Me" as was a ton of others. After an opening set by a duo (not song poem related), I started playing more up tempo stuff kicking off with a great Film city record I have
called "Brand New Girl" (I've donated this to the ASPMA and will probably be on there soon), "Just Running Wild", "Tahiti" and basically mostly, but not only, great Rodd stuff that's familiar to all of us. By the way, these records sounded fantastic and otherwordly cranked through a giant PA.
At some point, Jamie Meltzer got on stage and asked the audience to write their own poems on pads distributed around and NRBQ would create a song right on the spot (this is also what we did on WFMU the previous day, more on that in Part Two!)
MOVIE TIME! All I'll say is this.....any filmaker would want this audience. They were cheering and laughing and applauding like crazy....they totally loved this movie. One of the big burly security guards who worked at the club (NOT the first candidate I'd expect to be a song poem convert) was transfixed by the film. When Tom Ardolino appeared on screen, the place went nuts. It was really great to see the film on a GIANT movie screen (Jamie Meltzer and I actually had quite a time assembling the screen in the afternoon....not something I'm jumping at the chance to do again! It was frickin' HUGE!)....once again, the sound was just stunning, at loud concert level.
Movie over, start cranking up (not in this order)"Like the Lord Said", "Ecstacy to Frenzy", "Get Down and Wiggle It", and for you Gene Marshall groupies "Shut Up and Quit Talking", "All You Need is A Fertile Mind", and many others.
Right as I began "The Best Behind the Wheel", NRBQ took the stage with Ellery Eskelin, who played with the band the entire set. I am ashamed to admit but I can't report too extensively on their set as I don't know NRBQ's material by name so please bear with me. I do have a tape of the gig. They began with some of their own stuff and then played Rodd's "That Martian Jubilee" sung by Joey Spaminato. Now for those who aren't in the know, I must tell you that this is not the easiest song to execute because there are many, many key changes. Even Rodd himself runs into some trouble on the original recording! During soundcheck (which I heard) the song sounded every bit as difficult as I just described, but miraculously in performance it was great....I don't know that everyone in the crowd noticed how difficult it would have to be to perform that song, but I sure did and I was impressed! It's also not a song I'd want to have to perform under those circumstances!
Next came Terry Adams leading the band through "Jimmy Carter Says Yes". When they announced this was to be the next number, the audience went bananas, perhaps because they had just heard the song almost in it's entiretly during the movie to which they had reacted wildly with uproarious laughter! When it came time for the "recitation" in the middle of "Jimmy Carter Says Yes", Terry embellished and added lots of funny quips of his own. He didn't quite have the melody right in a couple of places but I'm sure a man who personally knew Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra might not have the inclination to make too much head space for "Jimmy Carter Says Yes" (no offense Gene Merlino)!!!! On the other hand, Ellery Eskelin took a particularly fantastic solo in this song, elevating the song still yet higher from it's most humble beginnings!!!
Next they introduced a friend of theirs, Pat O'Connell, who recited "Richard Nixon" pretty much to Tom Ardolino's drumming. Though there was no real backing by the other members of the band, I must say Mr. Ardolino was doing the exact part from the record.
Incidentally, Pat has just made a record backed by NRBQ, he's a really nice guy.
At this point (or close to it!), they introduced David Fox who came bounding onto the stage with much verve and spirit. David is a really fun guy, with a great spirit and infectious energy....he really has a heart for the people he makes these records for and I give him alot of respect-I didn't know too much about him before I met him (other than his appearance in the movie) but this guy is a living embodiment of the song-poem musician ethos which is to just simply JUMP IN and give it 100%.....more on David Fox in Part Two.
Anyhow, David came up and performed "Non Violent Tae Kwan Doe State Troopers" and "Annie Oakley". David totally worked the room. When he came on stage, the audience totally was cheering since they had just seen him in the movie. He went right up to NRBQ members Joey Spaminato and Terry Adams and sang right into their faces, eyeball to eyeball....and what could they do in response other than sing along! Again, I must say, Ellery played especially beautifully during these songs and I felt like Mr. Eskelin, more than anybody, gave David Fox alot of respect and encouragement. It's not easy to do what Mr. Fox does and it is especially courageous to jump in and spontaneously make up music for something like"the Meow Meow Song" as he later had to do in the night. (in fact, let me take a time out right now to say that Ellery Eskelin himself is a really, really nice guy, a complete gentleman, and a true professional. Simiarly, I'd like to assure any NRBQ fans who haven't gotten the chance to meet Tom Ardolino that he is as sweet-natured of a guy as they must
imagine him. Tom especially seemed very moved by the night.....and I later got the opportunity to personally thank him for sharing his musical discoveries like song poems and the Shaggs with all of us and for starting something that is snowballing, albeit at a snail's
pace...I mean who would have thought even just a couple of years ago!)
David finished Annie Oakley (great) and left the stage and NRBQ did some other of their material. One of the absolute highlights of the show for me was Tom Ardolino and Terry Adams doing their very own warped version (if such a record could get even more warped!) of "More On Ode to Billy Joe". Ardolino mimiced the EXACT vocal inflections of the original "recitation" while Terry would insert his own variations of the refrain "Sure wish there was some way to bring back Billy Joe", always concerning the ambigious story of the
original Bobby Goldsboro record as well as the lesser known but no less convoluted song-poem sequel! I don't know that the audience got the bit as much as me but it was probably my favorite moment of the set.
It's 3:06 and I'm getting a bit pooped so I'm going to go to bed but tommorow I'll right Part Two and tell you about the conclusion of the night and then backtrack one day and tell you about the thrilling adventure I had with David Fox, playing live on WFMU for one hour during the evening commute, extemporaneously creating songs from listeners poems (I won't call them song-poems, as we didn't ask the listeners to pay for the privilege!). Incidentally, the link for that performance has moved to :
http://www.wfmu.org/~christ/newsite/chris_archives.shtml
It is the link dated February 13th.
In the words of John Lennon, now it's time to say good night.
Part Two
When we were last at the show, Tom Ardolino and Terry Adams had performed "More On Ode To Billy Joe" (by the way, I mistakenly credited Bobbi Goldsboro instead of Bobbi Gentry as the singer of "Ode To Billy Joe" in my last post....Bobbi Blake would have been
more like it for this group!). I understand that NRBQ has done this More On Ode to Billy Joe bit in the past.
At this point, Terry Adams announced that he was AGAINST what was coming next.....making up the songs on the spot based on the crowd's submissions......a pile of pages were brought to the stage and Terry went through them, throwing all but two down on the ground! They picked "Valentine's Hex" and the guys all huddled for a bit
to "work" on the song. The crowd started yelling things like "Do it in F!" and Terry exclaimed something along the lines of "Here, Ellery! You do it! It's in the blood!". Ellery turned around and mock-creeped off the stage as if to say "Whoah! Don't make me do it!" or perhaps as if to say "Ok, I'll just go off and do it by myself right over here"......I don't know if I'm describing it well but it was pretty funny. Finally, Terry said, "Alright I'm copping out, we're gonna just make this a blues!". And a mighty blues it was, Terry Adams growling the vocals and I seem to remember Tom Ardolino really shining on this one, playing his ass off.
By the way, while we're on the subject, at some point during the night-I can't remember exactly when, Tom played a really fine drum solo.....it was very melodic, kind of like an extended "The End" from Abbey Road.) (Abbey Road by the Beatles-just kidding!)
Next, they welcomed back David Fox and now it was his turn. Terry thrust into his hands "the Meow Meow song" and within seconds, David Fox was singing such a ditty, meow-ing like a madman right to the band members and to the audience.....just giving 100%. This, to me, was where David Fox really showed what singing song-poems for years does for a performer.....jumping right in and making the most out of the moment, making the most out of mistakes, just plowing right ahead....the very trait that I think we admire so much about Rodd Keith. I've often thought about Rodd Keith recording tons of songs in varying styles and he always has the acting part of singing down pat! Well, I think if you saw David Fox up there, prowling the stage and making the absolute most out of the frickin' Meow Meow Song! This is the mark of a true song-poem professional! And by the way, the crowd loved it.
After this, the band just went POW POW POW and ripped through a string of rocking NRBQ tunes, clearly familiar to the audience (who shouted out some requests). In fact, at one hilarious point in the set, during a quick lull, a petite blonde girl just walked right up the stage and in the most blase way possible announced "I want you to play (insert the song she requested...it was a beautiful song sung by Joey Spaminato), they said sure, and she just gave a curt thank you and nonchalantly did an about face and walked back into to wherever she had been sitting. That was also really funny.
So bam bam bam, they finish their set in a blaze of glory, and upon returning for the encore the immediatley launched into a Monk tune (I'm not sure which, but it was clearly Monk and it was a fast one). It was at this point that Ellery really let it rip....he'd been basically playing rock and roll all night (and doing a fine job at that!) but he came out on this one horn-a-blazing! My tape had stopped at the end of their set, but I had to rewind it a bit and catch a little of this...all I got was Ellery's first solo, but I can tell you that the whole band really dug into this one, a total highlight of the gig. They played one or two more NRBQ tunes and
then that was it.
As the applause died down and the show was clearly over, I put on "Somebody Else" from the "I Died Today " album and that set the tone for the rest of the night....basically late night , almost entirely from my collection. One song I know some of you guys know is "Someday". That song is the vibe I was dj-ing. I also played "Tired of Waiting"....once again thanks to Magnus! I also played "How Do I Know?" which I think I posted here. "Cloud 9" was in there as well.
"Cloud 9" sounded absolutely stunning and otherworldly cranked up in the big room...it was actually something that Phil Milstein commented when I had the pleasure to meet him later in the night...it was like playing with the air molecules in the room, that's all I can say. As the song was playing, I kept bumping up the faders ever so slightly so that it would swell even more and that it would be the loudest thing in the room.
As the place cleared out, I got to personally thank Tom Ardolino and Phil Milstein for all their pioneering work, something that was very important for me to do. Tom Ardolino in particular seemed to have been very moved by the whole night. The crown jewel of the night for me personally was Ellery Eskelin noticing that I was playing some Rodd that he hadn't heard before and that it was good stuff.(I wasn't playing any duds!!!) Between that and Phil Milstein remarking about how good Cloud 9 sounded....well, let's just say those 2 guys were the ones I wanted to please the most with my work because, let's face it, those guys have really carried the torch!
Also a big thing for me was that it worked out for Jamie Meltzer....I only got into song-poems almost one year exactly when I saw the film on television. The crowd had a GREAT time, they loved this movie and definitely left the night indoctrinated!!
To me, in retrospect, I think the only thing that for me was missing was a little more live acknowledgement of Rodd Keith's achievements, especially since his son was right there. I should have gone up on stage at some point and proposed a toast or something, say a few words, not in a maudlin way, but hell, 75% of what I played was Rodd (I didn't neccesarily plan it that way, but that's how it came out), I wouldn't have minded calling attention to it....I don't know exactly what I'm saying but to me this was the only little thing.
But whatever....if you see the movie (which the crowd all did) then you know who he is. I think maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing!
BUT WAIT! ONE NIGHT EARLIER!
I got a call a few days ago from Jamie Meltzer, asking me if I wanted to put together a band to back up David Fox on WFMU. He explained that listeners were going to submit their poetry and we would be making the songs up on the spot. Well, I didn't have to think about it too much. Trouble was, I kept having a hard time getting musicians....not because they didn't want to but because it would have meant being there from 3 in the afternoon to 7 at night (half worked during the day and couldn't get off on such short notice and the other half were musicians who had gigs on the Friday night!). I immediately roped in my oldest friend and a fantastic bass player, Ted Schreiber....he had told me about song poems years earlier and specifically about Rodd Keith, but I hadn't actually heard the stuff until the movie, as I earlier stated. I also roped in the cousin of my sax player, a great guitarist named Dave Weintraub. I called him at 1:30 in the afternoon, the day of the show! He was busy, but was so intrigued that he cancelled his plans and headed for the radio station.
Trouble was I was supposed to get a ride with Jamie Meltzer and David Fox (who I hadn't yet met) to the station and being from out of town, they got lost and were late picking me up.....what's worse is we got caught in HORRIBLE gridlock traffic trying to get into the Holland Tunnel (which takes you into New Jersey, which is where the radio station is). Basically, we were making frantic calls to the station that we were caught in traffic and it looked like we weren't going to make the show. We were stuck there, hardly moving, FOR
OVER AN HOUR!!!!!
Now let's back up and describe this situation....I'm sitting in a car with a former MSR employee and song-poem professional! Before you know it, my unbridled enthusiasm gets the best of me and I'm bombarding David with questions. He was such a nice guy, completely open to everything and over the course of the weekend regaled us
with stories of years of working in the business (more on this later).
But right now we were a bit stressed out. My two friends, who didn't know each other, have now arrived at the station and are trying to set up drums for me to play and get levels with an understandably uptight radio host (his show is kind of hard to explain...let's put it this way, he doesn't spin records so if we hadn't shown up, he would have had to do some quick explaining to his audience since the station had been promoting it all week. We were supposed to have been there at 3 and done a little warming up, sound checking, and maybe sketch out some changes so that we'd have something to play when they handed David the words live on the air. But this was clearly not to be and at 5:30 we were still not
out of New York City. It really looked like this wasn't going to happen when all of a sudden WHOOSH, traffic started to move and we tore our asses into Jersey City, literally burning rubber and maybe just narrowly averting major accidents....kudos to Jamie Meltzer for his French Connection-like driving!
We came running, huffing and puffing into the studio, literally FIVE MINUTES till airtime. I'm not exaggerating. It was 5:55. Quickly doing some microphone checks (my two friends had set up everything perfectly) and basically we were on the air. David barely had time to shake everybody's hand.
The result? Well, I don't think I really need to say much because it can be listened to right now by clicking on this link and going to the 2/13 show:
http://www.wfmu.org/~christ/newsite/chris_archives.shtml
I will say this.....there were smiles of joy on everybody's face the entire time. When we had been in the car, I had assured David that the musicians were all good, that all 3 of us were songwriters in our own right but that we wouldn't get in his way and simply follow his lead. His response? No, that's great you guys are all writers! We're gonna do this all together!!! We're gonna be a team!!
Now let me interject something right here....all I knew of David Fox was from the movie.....I don't have any of his records. Frankly, my listening tastes are, shall we say, stuck in the 60's. Once sound engineering gets kind of standardized and generic starting I guess in the mid 70's, I just kind of shut off (even though, I was born in 1969!). I didn't know what to expect. I thought he might be like Gene Marshall in the movie, blowing his stack.
But NO! He was so infectious with his enthusiasm and positivity....it must be the only way to make song poem records in one take! Let's just go for it! Everybody pull your weight on this one, because it's the only chance we got! I think of great Rodd records, and he contributes so much to them, but so does, let's say, the drummer and sax player on "Beat of the Traps"....or how about that amazing flute solo on "Merry Go Down"? So this was a great encouragement and inspiration to me, that he had this super positive attitude. So I told him "Well, I can assure you, we've got the guys for the job"....and I knew I did!
So anyhow, there we are jamming away....sounding like no song poem record I know but having loads of fun and just trying to make each jam sound like a song. Dave and Ted tried not to do too many changes so as not to get lost and pull the rug out from under David...but
when something did veer off into clear mistake territory, someone jumped in and saved the day, usually David! That guy sang his ass off! We did a full blown, New York PUNK song.....and he just jumped right in!!! David Fox SANG PUNK...IN NYC.....AUTHENTICALLY!! Doo Wop! Everything! We just kept shouting out styles, picked a key, and counted in and hoped for the best. David was being interviewed
between songs but was simultaneously keeping half an ear on our discussions of the feel and key of whatever we were going to do next. It was a riot!
After the show was over, everyone was almost giddy with joy....we had just played on the best radio station in the NYC area during the evening commute home......and not made embarrassed ourselves or our families! It was a real love-fest and nobody was more generous with his compliments than David (I know I should call him Art....that's his real name....but it's stuck in my head...David Fox!).
Now that we could relax, I did ask him about MSR....he said they had a huge picture of George Liberace in the office and a huge record cutting machine from the 40's that they did all their pressing on. He elaborated on his story that's in the movie about even the secretaries having aliases (he would hear a secretary using different names when speaking on the phone...presumably to clients?). He was initially hired to take some of the huge workload that flooded in after Elvis died, only doing the lead sheets, notperforming. That trickled off but a year later he happened to be doing some studio work that turned out to be the MSR studio, he recognized somebody there and he started doing singing as well. I'm not so sure he and Bobbi Boyle got along (that's all I can say about it, sorry!!!). When he started his own company Magic Key, he bought from MSR letters from prospective clients for a dollar a piece. He believes song poems are definitely related to roots music, which I
think is a very interesting theory!
It's 12:30 at night right now....I've been writing this on and off since 7 (mostly on!) so I'm going to crap out! If there's any questions, fire away! As for now.......I'd just like to thank
Magnus for posting the Bill Joy record which I finally got a chance to listen to moments ago and now if you'll excuse me I'm-a-going to bed!
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