Scully Sound

In April, 2005, Bobby Hill and Transparent Productions brought another jazz legend to Takoma Park at Sangha. Byard Lancaster wove a continuous tapestry of sound from the pre-show tune-up through the enthusiastic audience reception at the end of the concert, never stopping for more than a second.  His mix of African and Caribbean folk music, traditional jazz standards and original compositions blended into one long, joyful celebration. This was an amazing opportunity to witness Byard’s energy and how it affected everyone present.

Posted on 04/29/2005 under: folk, horns, jazz, reeds

The EHE combines a unique blend of native and jazz instruments to explore African-influenced and free-form jazz. The highlight of this show was the vocal contribution by Kahil El’Zabar. Fortunately, the small size of the venue made it easy to capture this nuanced performance on the recording.

Posted on 02/05/2005 under: folk, jazz, percussion, reeds

As with Bill Cole’s previous appearance at Sangha, I used matched pair of small-diaphragm microphones set up about 15 feet from the stage. The larger band and small stage area created a bit of a challenge, so I used a wider pattern to capture all of the instruments. Fortunately, Sangha is a great recording space. There is little street noise and the audiences are usually quiet for these gigs.

Posted on 11/14/2004 under: experimental, jazz, reeds