12/02/2000 - Steve Kimock Band
The Wetlands Preserve, New York, NY
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December 2nd was another cold night in NYC. The wind whipped around the tall buildings and through the alleys causing folks to bundle up, put their heads down and, head for warmth. Warmth was to be found inside The Wetlands Preserve along with a throng of folks of all sorts and, of course, The Steve Kimock Band. On the third night of SKB's triumphant return to the Wetlands where the new name and the first of a steadily rotating lineup debuted ten months prior, fans and casual music listeners alike packed the club.
The first two nights had; by all reports and this writer's recollection, been excellent shows. The band seemed to be getting to know one-another all over again as Tom Coster had finally brought in his Hammond Organ-- opening a new range of sounds in his department-- and a new drummer began to find his feet in the songs.
This drummer- Rodney Holmes- had become the talk of the fans. Most folks I spoke to really seemed to like him although some clearly felt that he needed to settle back a bit and go easy on the solos. To my ear he came through as a hugely talented player (His resume speaks volumes: Joe Zawinul Project, work with Wayne Shorter and, most recently, several years with Carlos Santana including performing on the Grammy-Winning track "Smooth".) Bass-Player extraordinare, Bobby Vega seemed thrilled to be playing with Holmes and they continuously worked off of each other keeping the bottom strong, popping and, funky. Steve could often be seen grinning as Rodney tore the skins off of his drums.
Saturday night began just before 10:30 with Steve soliciting new band names from the audience and commenting about the frigid dressing room and checking out Bruce Hornsby on the Today Show set that morning. I've never seen or heard of Steve being this conversational with his audience in the past and its nice to see him warming up to a frontman position.
Baby Baby opens strongly with the band clearly locked in through the intro theme. Steve yields quickly to Coster who leads with some subdued Organ work as the rest of the band lays back. They did not, however, lay back in the jazz bring-it-down-and-let-that-guy-take-it sort of way rather, more in the JB's if-you're-not-playing-lead-you're-playing-rhythm funk sort of way.
Steve moves in shortly and takes a lead that reprised the theme and proceeds to modify, multiply and break it down to a quiet groove. From there, as the band plays a quiet backing punctuated by Holmes' bass drum, Steve wails a time or two and then slowly starts leading the group back upwards. Here and throughout the night they display excellent dynamics which can only come from big ears and eye contact. As Steve's guitar screams out the theme's return, Holmes steps up his double bass and then Vega takes his first lead outing of the night in a bass/drums duet. Brief but intriguing, that duet closes as Steve hits the theme once more, bringing the song to a close at seventeen minutes.
Steve introduces and complements Rodney Holmes' "good work" and then introduces Tom Coster- both to enthusiastic applause- before Bobby Vega brings us into Rocco. Holmes breaks down the beats tightly as he and Vega hold together like glue throughout this short number. Kimock hints at going somewhere with his leads but the groove sticks without breaking stride and wraps up neatly after four and a half minutes. I'm not sure who wrote this one but, with this line-up, it has the cohesion of a Meters song.
After Steve makes a crack about folks assuming that his sitting down means he's a junkie (the folks in front heard him and laughed, the rest of the club continued to mill about talking, drinking and sweating), Rodney counts off and they begin Sea Blues (a.k.a. If You Only Knew). One of Steve's pun-oriented names, Sea Blues is just that: a blues in the key of C. Beginning with a simple, syncopated bassline, Steve joins in with a slick blues riff and gets down with it. Steve plays out-of-the-box, melodic blues and carries that into a brief rollicking bridge; constantly riding on the crest of the dialed-in rhythm section and Coster's organ. The first break goes to Coster who begins with a nice solo reminiscent of Jimmy Smith's old combo records before they bring it up to the now with hard-bopping blues.
Steve takes another stab at it with the band quietly riding on Holmes' high-hat. This time he goes into more ethereal directions playing quick runs off of Holmes' quiet beats. Rodney then brings it back up and Steve rolls back onto the theme. The final bridge segments comes off quite unusually with Steve laying more heavily into it before what feels like an abrupt ending. At fourteen minutes, this blues number should be convincing to many folks who think "psychedelic" guitarists can't play the blues. It's not quite like Albert King but, B.B. King would get a kick out of it.
Kissin' The Boo Boo follows, introduced by its airy, bouncing chords and delightful, bring-a-smile-to-your-face theme. Steve's guitar bleeds blues on the chorus before returning to the theme in order to prepare for departure. Holmes lays back nicely within the simple-sounding yet complex rhythms of the song and he and Vega show the kind of closeness that is a given between Vega and Kimock. Coster takes another grinding, swung out solo leading into another chorus. Steve's next solo begins to dance on, in and around the theme building dynamically into another strong chorus but never really heading outwards. This is sweet, delightful and, accessible Kimock; pleasing to the devoted but welcoming to the uninitiated. Although, at ten minutes in length, it may be a bit long for your average pop fan.
Next, an instrumental (of course) Point Of No Return seeped out of the pause and carried the listener away. This song held down a key role as an ethereal, haunting song for KVHW. Now, without vocals, it occupies the same niche quite nicely. Steve respectfully and delicately plays the melody carrying it up and outward atop the writhing tendrils of Holmes' drumming and Bobby's bass. Coster feeds the surge with swells from the organ before the band settles down into a nice mid-tempo jam featuring his organ once more.
Steve toys with the theme and chords as Coster goes for the gusto, gliding along strongly over Vega's steady bass and Holmes' running percussion. All of this comes to a head as Steve activates his Mutron and steps up to the lead. Beautifully and slowly, Steve builds the melody with while Rodney and Tom provide tension with cascading rolls and double bass and swelling organ fills. Then Steve takes it back out. A strong envelope filtered solo reaches out into the nether regions before resolving the song quietly after fourteen minutes. One could make a case for wanting Ray White back on vocals for this song but then I'd suspect that that person hadn't listened to what Steve does without the vocalist.
Steve then continued his attempts at frontmanship with an obscure remark. Claiming to quote someone from "... the peanut gallery...", he informed the audience that, "Ducks' quacks don't echo." This apparently made him "... feel better about everything." This also serves to make me feel more confident that Steve won't be seeking to bring a frontman (ala Ray White) into this line-up and that he will be most likely (and deservedly) assuming the role at long last.
Bobby thumps out a thick, winding intro to Cissy Strut which gets cheers from the crowd and goes on to demonstrate this band's standing as true funkateers. Meters funk can be identified as a stripped down, syncopated, locked-in groove. This is a band which can achieve those specifications at the drop of a hat and then turn a corner the next moment into something completely different. Steve takes the first solo and Coster follows; each staying true to the songs groove. Coster really gets down into it and gives up a tremendous solo. This turns into an intense groove backed by Holmes' growing presence and peaking with his double bass pushing Steve onward as Coster yields the lead slot. Steve steps up once more with a rousing solo that carries us back to the theme and closes out the set.
Folks got a little crazy on this Saturday night in NYC. And, while the saying tells us that "It's all good," it wasn't for everybody. A couple folks got their spin on a bit too hard and found themselves outside and cold. You know you've had too much too fast if The Wetlands throws you out what with their notorious leniency. I think that level of acceptance is part of what brings us back to this club again and again despite the fact that Steve could easily sell any number of clubs in NYC. I have to say though that a stricter club with actual sight-lines for a majority (rather than a minority) would be a reasonable trade-off. Down in D.C. things are not nearly so relaxed rulewise but you can do what you need to and still see the show.
After a lengthy set break, The band returned to a more tired and perhaps more intoxicated crowd. Steve let everyone know that a reporter from Downbeat Magazine was in attendance and asked us not to get overexcited and pretend this was "...just a regular gig."
With a snare pop, Holmes kicks off Five B/4 Funk. This pleasing groove glides nicely with Steve chopping his chords and Bobby turned up loud and clear. The funky breaks are tightly executed and gnarly; motivating the audience to get their voices involved with excellent "Woo!"s. These even elicit a "Very good!" from someone in the band before Steve takes his first solo, hinting at Bad Hair. Some more breaks follow and the band settles down into a tight, rhythmic groove. Coster makes his move and starts a solo as Steve annunciates the changes with colorful chord voicings and Holmes drives the jam back to the breaks once more. Then, Steve grabs the reigns and starts shaping a solo over another dynamically escalating groove.
About this time I moved down towards the floor in front of the stage. Not getting any closer than directly in front of the 'DJ' booth I let the groove glue me to the wall and accepted that I would not *see* much of the band. After a nice jam Steve brings the band back from the nearer reaches of space for a continuous jam on the theme. Driven by Holmes' one-man drill team, Steve, Coster, and Vega begin bouncing beats off one-another in a heady, syncopated break-down. As I listened to that closing jam some thoughts I'd had long ago came back to me. Electric music; viewed on a certain level, is actually the art of causing magnets to vibrate at specific frequencies in order to produce desirable tones. These guys are troubadours of that art. This band, during that jam, seemed to become almost disembodied, floating above the stage yet reaching through their instruments into the speakers and entering into a duel of sorts. Each driving his rhythms opposed to everyone else, filling in each other's blanks, rising more intensely each step to the finale wherein they synch up and bring it home for a final go-round on the theme wrapping up at the seventeen minute mark.
Steve commented on the quality of the audience participation; stating that it was possibly the best. Even better than Boston and "...You know how rowdy they are..."
You're The One kicks off it third appearance in three nights with a count-off from Holmes. Steve takes this song on expertly the entire band rides the groove nicely. Steve is working his best Leo Nocentelli funky style while Bobby lays it down "Family"-style. Steve tears up the stage with a long, raging lead, reprises the theme before dropping off in Vega's lap. Bobby gets right down to it with a funky, melodic solo accompanied only by Holmes. Steve and Coster come back into it before long with Steve building a short tension jam that bursts back into the final theme reprise. At twelve minutes, its a bit longer than you're ordinary Meters song but it certainly walks and talk like one.
After a brief pause Steve begins playing. Quietly, with sparse backing he starts an open ended solo lifting upwards. Holmes dances his sticks on the cymbals and Steve starts the theme to Cole's Law. The band keeps the backing quiet (although Coster commits a slight flub of leaning to hard on the expression pedal for an instant) until the chorus when they rise up strongly before returning to the theme. Steve takes his time this time through the melody as well, only hinting at variations before driving home the chorus once more and giving way for Coster's solo. Coster, having turned towards his Korg, plays with a tubular bell-like tone a pretty melody weaving in and out of the theme until Steve comes back in for a not so dramatic chorus leading to Steve's solo. Wandering well beyond the melodic boundaries of the song, Steve illustrates a poetic tapestry and demonstrates his fluidity as his solo ebbs once more back into the theme and into the chorus. This time it is passionate and beautiful; long and strong with a delicateness that no ordinary player can achieve.
Next, with a strum, Cole's Law ends and Vega thumps a bass note while Steve plays a few notes from the high end of the neck. Then Bobby drops the intro to Tangled Hangers from the bass and Steve drills into the second part of their signature duo. Holmes picks up the pace here and carries them neatly into the quick Latin-tinged jam; back into the theme and into Coster's solo. Tom is still on the Korg and uses it well with a more piano-like tone flavoring the jam with Latin and very jazzy themes. Some familiar, some not, Tom's mesh of melodies comes to a close and Holmes takes a lead with the rest of the band playing counterpoint to each other. This moves into another solo from Steve who has picked up on Coster's groove which echos Dizzy Gillespie's Cuban-bop while Vega grooves on a steady riff over Holmes' manic drumming. Steve takes it down and the band follows without abandoning the groove at first but it dissolves into space.
Holmes rides the cymbals punctuating with swells of bass drum; Coster lays almost completely out; and Steve plays out and beyond the song; hitting harmonics until Vega drops us back into the theme. Steve plays it gently at first then repeats it twice; each with more intensity, and ending the thirty minute suite on the third time around.
High and Lonesome begins and some folks begin to drift out. It is very late by now but this band shows no sign of quitting. This song compounds the beauty of Cole's Law with its quiet and tender melody. Sound washes through the crowd as does fatigue as they slowly build the tune up from its slight beginnings. The break comes and a synthetic rhythm track comes out of somewhere; spurring Rodney to set out on a brief solo that carries us from the high plains to another plane altogether. Steve repeats a haunting raga-esque riff and Coster begins matching it with something that sounds like a snake charmer's pipe. Vega's bass is deep and steady keeping with Holmes' now settled groove. Steve starts spinning off variations from the raga-riff and Coster grows more active varying his snake charms to counter Steve.
They continue to explore in this vein, each taking short side trips and variations but still returning to this space. Steve extends a variation into a solo and Coster fades down with Holmes and Vega only to return as Steve turns back to his raga-riff. Rodney picks it up for a few bars while the band remains mellow and when he comes back down that raga-space dissolves into a much deeper space and the song ends.
Ludicrisp, a funky number which seems to be written by Coster follows with Tom back on the organ. Again, they return to the Meters-style funk. this time led by a sound more akin to Jimmy Smith, however. Coster leads strongly through the changes and the first breaks then Steve steps up and struts his stuff. This band certainly has no trouble finding common ground in funk and they go back to it constantly. Fortunately, they shred the funk and Steve delivers a searing solo before allowing Coster to take another turn. This man really knows his organ and works expertly.
In only the second performance of this tune, they really have the breaks down and after Tom's solo and a return to the core groove, Holmes takes his turn at a full-on solo. He gives it all up demonstrating dynamics, syncopation, his double-bass velocity and the rest of his arsenal. Cheers go up from the audience and the band comes back in and wraps up the tune.
By now folks are really getting beat. But they were not about to quit yet, after a brief catching of breath Steve starts with another quiet intro. Next Rodney comes in, first on the cymbals then the skins with a quick beat over which Steve plays the theme to It's Up To You. Another repeat from the previous night but a welcome one as Friday's had been vast and groundbreaking in the minds of some. Steve begins toying with the theme early and takes little detours as Coster rides a mellow backing groove on the organ.
The danceable melody turns a corner after a couple of choruses and steps outward; with Kimock still at the helm. Each chorus building on the prior Steve hit his stride once more. Time melts away and the dancers move as if possessed; which they are. Steve almost overturns the cart and takes it up yet another notch before pulling back on the reigns to settle the whole thing down. Coster tickles the Korg once more as Steve and Bobby lay out for a bit and Holmes brings it down to a mere tapping his sticks. Tom is bending notes and minds together as Rodney begins punctuating sporadically an Steve hints at returning. In fact, Coster and Holmes continue, Tom with his runs on the Korg and Rodney with what seems like another solo, while Steve begins playing the theme quietly. Holmes relents first, leaving Coster playing weird, bent runs on his keys before they all come back together on the final theme after nearly twenty minutes.
Steve introduces the band and Howard on the soundboard and they leave the stage. Its after three a.m. and I assume they will not be doing an encore tonight but, happily, I'm wrong.
A couple minutes later, they return to the stage. And the surprises never cease. Little Wing is a song I would not have predicted on any day and yet here it is. An ethereal intro with swirls of cymbals and organ yield to Steve's lead guitar. Coster complements sparsely on the organ as they moved quietly through the tune. Steve steps well beyond that record and delivers a personalized message that equally conveys the stirring music and the beauty of the lyrics although they remain unsung. With the final chord following a pregnant pause, they close the show leaving me speechless.
Steve comically plugs their New Year's show "...with The Other Guys.", and leaves us to gather ourselves and our friends and slip out into that pre-dawn New York night. The sky never actually grows dark in New York City giving nighttime an illusion that the sun is approaching the horizon. Poorer in finance yet richer in spirit, we sped off to our hotel to catch the last few winks before sunrise and traveling home.
©2001- jmh
About the Author jmh is a family man who is thankfull for beer, LPs, and extra guitar strings. Donations of any of these things or cash for their purchase will be happily accepted.