Pioneering a daring
hybrid which crosses rock energy with the sophistication and improvisational
fire of jazz, Herring's dynamic, exploratory guitar playing has been a key
component of such renowned groups as the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead, Project Z, and, most recently, Widespread Panic - with whom Herring plays lead
guitar to this day. Much esteemed by his fellow musicians, Herring has also
been called upon for stints with Phil Lesh and Friends, the Allman Brothers,
and the Dead.
2010 marks
the formation of the current rendition of The Jimmy Herring Band, featuring Herring
on guitar, drummer extraordinaire Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is
Dead, Shawn Lane),
prolific keyboardist Matt Slocum (Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks), and the
phenomenal Neal Fountain on bass (Col Bruce Hampton, Alex Machacek).
"I love all
these guys and feel very comfortable playing with them. They're all members of an extended family of
musicians that stem from the world of Colonel Bruce Hampton. We joke all the
time about how there are two kinds of musicians, those who have played with Bruce
Hampton, and those who have not! These
three guys really have no musical boundaries.
As different as we all are, what we have in common is that we don't make
any distinction between genres of music.
To us music is music and that philosophy is one of the things we learned
from Bruce.
The Jimmy
Herring Band will be performing a wide range of material, including
compositions from Herring's long-awaited and much-acclaimed 2008 solo debut
"Lifeboat."
"The music for the upcoming tour will be a mixed
bag. Some stuff from the album and some
covers I have always wanted to play.
Hopefully there will be enough freedom for everyone to relax and have
equal creative input. It's important to
me to have fairly simple music that will allow for us to reinterpret it on a
nightly basis. Another thing I learned
from Bruce Hampton is, the simpler the music, the easier it is to reinterpret
it each time you play it."
Herring who
just toured with Drummer Lenny White (Miles Davis, Return To Forever) will be
one of the headliners at the New Universe Music Festival in Raleigh, North
Carolina on November 20-21 as well as performing there with The Lenny White
Group and paying a tribute to guitar
icon John McLaughlin with whom he co bills the House of Blues concert in Boston
on November 16th.
Tour Dates
10-Nov
Infinity Hall, Norfolk, CT
11-Nov
Chameleon Club, Lancaster PA
12-Nov
Toads New Haven, CT
13-Nov The
Met-Pawtucket , RI
14-Nov Port
City Music Hall,Portland, ME
15-Nov
Highline Ballroom, NYC
16-Nov
House of Blues,Boston
(with John McLaughlin)
18-Nov
Visulite Theater Charlotte,
NC
19-Nov The
Handlebar Greenville, SC
20-Nov Lincoln Theater, Raleigh,
NC
21-Nov Lincoln Theater, Raleigh,
NC
22-Nov Hat
Factory,Richmond, VA
1-Dec Cox Capitol
Macon
2-Dec
40Watt Athens
3-Dec
Pourhouse-Charleston
4-Dec Live
Wire Music Hall-Savannah
5-Dec
Pisgah Brewing, Black Mountain
6-Dec Rhythm and Brews, Chattanooga, TN
7-Dec Minglewood Hall Memphis
8-Dec Mercy
Lounge, Nashville
9-Dec Bijou
Theatre, Knoxville
10-Dec
Variety Playhouse, Atlanta
11-Dec
Workplay, Birmingham
First it was time for Philly's favorite The Disco Biscuits who promptly started at 7:30 with "Hope", a slow going but meaningful start that quickly picked up steam with a dirty "Astronaut >Spacebirdmatingcall> Astronaut" sandwich with a highlighted tease of "Suspended in the Air." Following was a danceable "Shimmy in a Conga Line" which seemed to also go unfinished; the set abruptly ended with an epic, heavy tranced "Basis for a D
Hosted by Nick MacDaniels and his band mates in the Big
Something, the event offered a nice highlight to close the summer festival
season and celebrate work accomplished. For
those new to the phenomenon, the roots of the Big Something were born in the Anonymous
Band, a Burlington, North Carolina group that had labored in the trenches over
the years. After coining themselves "the Big
