FAST 'N BULBOUS: the CAPTAIN BEEFHEART PROJECT
featuring GARY LUCAS, arranged and conducted by PHILLIP JOHNSTON
Personnel:
Gary Lucas guitar
Oren Bloedow bass
Billy Ficca drums
Phillip Johnston alto, soprano saxophone
Ron Horton trumpet
Chris Washburne trombone
Bob DeBellis baritone saxophone
Our tentative plan for the repertoire is to be drawn from the whole range of
Beeheartiana:
Repertoire will be drawn from this Tentative Songlist: Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do,
Abba Zaba (Safe As Milk); Kandy Korn, Gimme Dat Harp Boy, Mirror Man (Strictly
Personal); Steal Softly Thru Snow, Veteran's Day Poppy, Sugar 'N' Spikes, Ant
Man Bee, When Big Joan Sets Up (TroutmaskReplica); Smithsonian Institute Blues
(Lick My Decals Off, Baby); Click Clack, I'm Gonna Booglarize You, Baby, When It
Blows Its Stacks (Spotlight Kid); Big Eyed Beans From Venus, Sun Zoom Spark, My
Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains, Nowadays a Woman, Blue Million Miles
(Clear Spot); Hot Head, Run Paint Run (Doc At The Radar Station); When I See
Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy, Bat Chain Puller (Shiny Beast); The Past Sure Is
Tense, The Host The Ghost The Most Holy-O, Ice Cream For Crow (Ice Cream For
Crow);
in addition Gary will perform some of the solo guitar pieces.
In February, we hope to complete a 4 song demo including Abba Zaba, Veteran's
Day Poppy, Click Clack, and a solo version of Evening Bell. We will rehearse in
the late winter and early spring, and be ready to do our first gigs in the late
spring of 2001. We are now accepting bookings for Spring, Summer and Fall 2001.
Description of Music: The idea is to use the compositions of Don Van
Vliet as a vehicle for improvisation and arranging. The band contains steady
crew of seasoned improvisers from both the worlds of avante-garde jazz and rock,
who will render the music in both a tribute and a creative adventure in
improvising. I'm planning to use the horn section to take the place of the
vocals, as well as transmute this guitar-based music into ensemble interplay,
between horns and guitar and rhythm section.
Phillip Johnston statement: In about 1970 I heard my first Captain
Beefheart tune, Ella Guru; it was one of the things that changed my life and
made me want to do music. From the first concert of Captain Beefheart & his
Magic Band that I heard (Ungano's Ritz Theater, in Staten Island). I was hooked,
and I followed them somewhat fanatically for years. To this day I listen to my
same LP of Troutmaskreplica regularly, and it's still just as amazing. Although
my main musical interests took me more often into the area of jazz, the music of
Don Van Vliet remained a guiding principal throughout. I led a rock band, called
the Public Servants in the early '80s, with Shelley Hirsch; and the tune
"Pipeline" on my CD "The Needless Kiss" is my idea of a
Captain Beefheart-influenced tune (and I say so in the liner notes). In much of
the music I've written over the years, I see the guiding spirit of Don Van
Vliet.
Now for the first time, after almost 30 years, having done re-arrangements and
deconstructions of Raymond Scott, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk, Steve Lacy,
Herbie Nichols, and others, with my groups The Microscopic Septet & Big
Trouble, I've gotten together with my friend Gary Lucas, to do something with
the music of Captain Beefheart.
Gary Lucas statement: Seeing Don Van Vliet's NYC debut at Ungano's in '71
with a bunch of my Yale buddies changed my life radically (and I'm still trying
to recover!)--that night I vowed to myself that if I ever did anything in music
it would be to play with this guy...and I got my wish in 1980 when I joined
Captain Beefheart's merry Band as guest soloist (and manager by default)/ Over 4
years, 2 albums ("Doc at the Radar Station" and "Ice Cream for
Crow", 1980 and 1982, Virgin Records), a world tour and video ("Ice
Cream for Crow"), wrapping my fingers around 2 Van Vliet solo compositions
("Flavor Bud Living" and "Evening Bell") and a whole album
as part of the Magic Band ("Ice Cream for Crow) was wonderful training for
a career spent carving out my own niche in the post-modern music biz since Don
chucked it all for a painting career in 1982. While my own music bares scant
resemblance to his (I would never ever presume to emulate his singular approach)
I feel that Van Vliet's sensibility and aesthetic definitely informs my guitar
playing and overall worldview--it's like I went to Beefheart University.
Sidemen bios:
Ron Horton (trumpet) has recorded and/or performed for Andrew Hill, Jane
Ira Bloom, Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, Allan Chase,
Jon Gordon,Andy Laster, Mick Rossi, Phillip Johnston, Matt Wilson, Rez Abbasi,
Walter Thompson, John McKenna, Peggy Stern and many others. Horton is currently
a member of Hill's "Point of Departure" sextet and has been involved
with the Jazz Composers Collective since its inception in 1992.His composing and
arranging talents were highlighted on his debut CD,"Genius Envy"
(Sept.1999), on OmniTone.
Chris Washburne (trombone) has performed with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz,
Muhal Richard Abrams, Ruben Blades, Roscoe Mitchell, Grady Tate, Jaki Byard,
Duke Ellington Orchestra, Danilo Caymmi, Daniel Ponce, Ran Blake, Arturo
Sandoval, Hilton Ruíz, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Anthony Braxton, John
Cale, Baba Olatunje, Candido, Freddie Cole, Leslie Uggams, Dicapo Opera Company,
Bang on a Can All- stars, Regis Philbin, and the Dinosaur Annex under the
direction of Gunther Schuller. He is a regular performing member with the Boston
Art Quartet (BAQ) Jazz group, RMM Allstar Salsa Band, Manhattan Chamber
Orchestra, SEM Ensemble, Walter Thompson Big Band, American Microtonal Festival
Chamber Orchestra, Marie McAuliffe's Ark Sextet, Dadadah, The Last of the
International Playboy's, and leader of S.Y.O.T.O.S., a Latin jazz group that
features his original compositions. They recently released their first CD,
"Nuyorican Night."
Bob DeBellis (baritone saxophone) has performed, recorded and/or toured
with Mongo Santamaria, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Bobby Previte, Wayne
Horvitz, Pat Irwin, and John Adams.
Oren Bloedow (bass) is a guitarist, singer and bassist who co-leads the
group Elysian Fields. Their CD, "Queen of the Meadow", is currently
enjoying it's fifth week in the top ten of the U.S. college charts. Oren just
returned from a U.S. tour playing guitar with the phenomenally successful
instrumental trio Medeski, Martin & Wood. His other & previous credits
include Phillip Johnston's Idea, Gary Lucas's Gods & Monsters, the Lounge
Lizards, Foetus, Chocolate Genius, Otis Rush, Jewel and others too numerous to
mention.
Billy Ficca (drums) is best know as a founding member of the seminal punk
band, Television, and The Waitresses.
Contact info:
Luigi Santosuosso - grand.wazoo@pobox.com
Phillip Johnston - philjohnston@earthlink.net
Gary Lucas - gary@garylucas.com