#listens to break up songs and contemplates the tragedy of youth

[sweaterregrets]

Well I might be bitter and twisted and broken and petty and lying

/im trying (not friends)- maisie peters)/

[dustedmagazine]

Year End 2018: Derek Taylor

Another year above ground. Another year salvaged in no small part through the solace of music. That may register as a Limbo-worthy low bar for measuring life satisfaction, not mention one hopelessly awash in hyperbole, but there’s a reason. The sobering sense of normalcy that’s come to characterize the daily insanity of the world writ large and small makes the railing and grousing about it through a laptop keyboard feel at once futile and arrogant. Many of us still have it pretty good, if not better. Able to move and think freely. Fortunate to readily find the time to spend sequestered with art, whatever the senses and thoughts it stimulates. Plenty of others can’t consistently say the same. That ever-widening disparity weighs on my mind with a regularity that makes the compiling and commentary of lists such as this seem both a luxury and a necessity. We’re all in it together and revitalizing music is as meaningful a reminder as any of that steadfast reality. If only the orange orangutan still soiling the Oval Office and the psyches of millions (if not billions) would swap the MAGA-emblazoned nonsense that’s his usual headgear for the Burnside brim pictured above and mean it!  

No real ranking to the entries below other than the general order to which they visited me through contemplation and return engagement.

Eric Dolphy – Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Sessions (Resonance)

Released in haphazard, infrequent and incomplete editions, Eric Dolphy’s interstitial work (landing between his formative tenure at Prestige and his solitary masterpiece for Blue Note, Out to Lunch) under the aegis of producer Alan Douglas has never really received a fair shake from curators and critics alike. That long-standing slight was rectified this year with the Record Store Day release of Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Sessions on the Resonance label. Rescued, enhanced and appended with 85-minutes of previously unreleased music and a lavish 100-page book stocked with scholarly essays by the likes of flautists James Newton and Nicole Mitchell, Sonnys Rollins and Simmons, Han Bennink, Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake and others it’s an unprecedented boon on all fronts. The CD version of the set is slated for a 1/25 street date.

Barre Phillips

Octogenarian expatriate bassist Barre Phillips has sustained a relatively steady output in the 21st century, but End To End, a solo set (his purported last) for ECM, and a Oh My, Those Boys!, a timely reissue of his extended duets with Japanese confrere Motoharu Yoshizawa on the Lithuanian No Business label are aural confirmation of his consistency across decades. Alone and self-limited to the length of a LP he sculpts a somber soliloquy of intimate communion with his instrument. In the fast company of Yoshizawa, who fields a custom-made electric upright, the mood is much more frenetic in playful. Both settings are aurally transfixing.

Mingus – Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden

Weighing in at a mighty five-discs, Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery46 Selden dispenses with Christian name specifics and allows surname to suffice in announcing its bigger-than-life subject. Mingus’ instrumental faculties weren’t quite as consistent as the virtuosic powers that propelled him in youth (he had just over six years to live in the winter of 1974 when this material was captured), but any effects of advancing age fall away when he calls a tune, soloing with strength and at length and according his auspicious sidemen including drummer Roy Brooks who is ostensibly responsible for the recording’s survival. Retooled staples like “Pithecanthropus Erectus” and “Peggy’s Blue Skylight” join newer improvisational springboards like “The Man Who Never Sleeps” and “Noddin’ Ya Head Blues” to form a veritable smorgasbord of vibrant small group, stage-born jazz.

Peter Brötzmann

The venerable German road dog always has a place on this list. Now somewhat miraculously pushing eighty he’s still at it, crisscrossing the globe and breaking hearty musical bread with friends old and new. Three releases stood out to these ears: two recent duos and a welcome reissue of Hot Lotta, one of his early free jazz missives recorded almost five decades earlier with faithful countryman Kowald and the Finnish duo of Juhani Aaltonen and Edward Vesala. In the must-hear duo column reside, Ouroboros, a 2011 German club date with Chicago cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm on Astral Spirits, and Sparrow Nights on Trost, a wrenchingly intimate studio encounter with pedal steel phantasmagorist Heather Leigh, who ranks easily among Brötzmann’s most intriguing recent coconspirators.

Corbett vs. Dempsey

Keeping the Corbett vs. Dempsey count to just three for the year is a tough task as their usual prolificacy combined with a commensurate excellence. The reissue of Steve Lacy’s seminal Stamps, originally released in 1979 as his debut for the Swiss Hat Hut imprint narrowly edges out the equally edifying appearance of Milford Graves long-lost Bäbi if only because my spouse allows me to spin the cacophonously calorific latter platter only in her conspicuous absence. A decade was a long time to wait for Joe McPhee and Hamid Drake’s duo follow-up, Keep Going, this time trading stage for studio. But from the music to the mantra-ready title it’s a welcome inoculation against the forces of idiocy and ire globally arrayed against those with humanist allegiances.

Guy Lafitte

Last year it was Lucky Thompson. This year French tenorist Guy Lafitte got the Fresh Sound archival treatment with four full discs of material from his heyday as one of his country’s most popular indigenous purveyors of jazz. Each set delves into a different side of his folio from tight ensembles to modestly-sized orchestras, sometimes in the company of visiting guests, but more often plying his sound amongst a core crew of fellow believers. One of former, Michel de Villers, also earned a survey with The Complete Small Group Sessions 1949-1956 that shows him living up to the sobriquet of “Low Reed” at length on deftly deployed baritone saxophone.

Steeplechase

The Danish Steeplechase label always seems to slot in my yearly look back, mainly because of the consistency of both their roster and long-standing aesthetic. Sea changing surprises instigated by their records are exceedingly rare, but the odds of a stimulating listen are conversely high with virtually every release. Guitarist Pierre Dørge’s Soundscapes convenes a quintet with tenorist Stephen Riley and cornetist Kirk Knuffke in the service of the leader’s customarily open-ended compositions. Riley’s Hold ‘Em Joe is at once a canted tribute to Sonny Rollins and a welcome return to the piano-less trio format he first cut his teeth on for the label a decade ago. Baritonist Gary Smulyan’s Alternative Contrafacts yields winsome results with the instrumentation as well in a creative nod to the sort of extrapolations that were the fertile province of the Tristano School in the last century.

No Business/Chap Chap

A partnership between the No Business label and the Korean Chap Chap imprint continues to yield impressive reissues. All in circulation to date are worthy of consideration, but two bent my ears with pleasing consistency. Kang Tae Hwan’s Live at Café Amores offers an extended concert for solo saxophone that is equal measures Zen meditation and extended techniques master-class. Choi Sun Bae Quartet’s Arirang Fantasy teams a trio of Korean improvisers with visiting Japanese bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa for another café set that is ripe with cross-cultural creativity. Lastly, a reissue of sorely unsung vibraphonist Bobby Naughton’s 1976 masterstroke The Haunt with Leo Smith and the recently-deceased Perry Robinson (R.I.P.) in a setting of creative chamber jazz perfection.

Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland 50th Anniversary (Sony)

Repackaging of milestone rock albums is still the rage even as the compact disc as a physical musical format continues to wane with advance of other intangible digital formats. Hendrix has had his fair share of legacy parceled and promoted along these lines and it’s hard to fault the family for seeking to both cash-in and do right by his memory. Electric Ladyland 50th Anniversary does better than most past projects in this regard by hewing to a logical presentation and proffering some genuine value across three compact discs, a Blu-ray and a lavish LP-sized container replete hardcover tome covering all the minutiae of the original double-album phenomenon. And let’s face it, Hendrix fooling around with songs in their protean forms is more fun than sitting down with most rock musicians’ finished product.

Jack Sels – Minor Works (SDBAN)

Parts of Belgian Jack Sels biography read like Hollywood-ready bohemian melodrama with riches, rags, tragedy and triumph all sewn into the story of a saxophonist who spent much of his life trying to capture the magic of his American idols while remaining fiercely true to his European roots. That latter decision explains his relative anonymity today, but the expertly-curated if humbly-titled Minor Works is practically bursting with recovered music and anecdotal context that frames a vivid portrait of a player well-deserving of posthumous consideration.

Jon Irabagon

Irabagon’s a dues-payer, tireless and admirably selfless in his dedication to a revolving door of projects and regular gigs. A recent interview with clarinetist & podcaster Jeremiah Cymerman reveals just how cool and unflappable a customer the Filipino-American saxophonist can be as he relates exercising the patience of Job in the face of dunderheaded racism by erstwhile peers. On the aural front two specific contexts stuck with me as evidence of his indefatigability. Dr. Quixotic’s Traveling Exotics on his own Irabbagast imprint teams his quartet with veteran trumpeter Tim Hagans in a program that feels like a natural and more focused extension of earlier work in Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Dave Douglas’ Brazen Heart: Live at the Jazz Standard released on the trumpeter’s Greenleaf label explores one of Irabagon’s recurring sideman posts and at length over eight discs covering a four-night stand at the titular NYC club in 2015.

Roscoe Mitchell

Recent and nascent masterworks with nearly a half-century of revelatory activity between them, Ride the Wind (Nessa) and Sound (Delmark) represent two essential signposts in Roscoe Michell’s reliably iconoclastic career. Both center on the blurring the subjective boundaries between improvisation and composition. Whether adapting improvised solos to orchestral charts or atomizing ensemble interplay into a freeing malleable framework that can take participating musicians in a multiplicity of expressive directions, Mitchell’s courageous adherence to personal designs and investigations has always been the bedrock of his work.

Intakt

The Swiss Intakt imprint bridges the best aspects of a classic label construct (reliable stable, dependable production values, deep catalog, etc.) with a refreshing willingness to tweak the formula through a voracious ear for new talent. German altoist Angelica Niescer’s triumphant Berlin Concert and a pair of from Cuban pianist Auran Oritz, Live in Zurich with his working trio and Random Dances and (A)tonalities in the unexpected company of clarinetist Don Byron fit that latter bill. Globe Unity 50 Years celebrating the half-century longevity of Europe’s most influential improvising orchestra and Music for David Mossman by the equally indelible trio of Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Paul Lytton argue conclusively that the former end of Intakt’s endeavors is equally secure.

  Clean Feed

Staunch loyalists to the tradition of improvisational album in physical form, Lisbon-based Clean Feed doesn’t just soldier on, it leads away with a release docket that reliably weds frequency with dependability. The sixteen discs that hit circulation in the span since January all have elements to recommend them, but two stuck to my ears and cranium more tenaciously than the others for both their audacity and intimacy. Vocalist Serpa’s Close Up is exactly that, a sans-net song forum with the stark support of Ingrid Laubrock’s saxophones and Erik Friedlander’s cello as the sum of sounding board. Similarly, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva’s All the Rivers situates her solitary horn in the unforgiving acoustics of the Panteão Nacional, a vast marble cathedral, for a recital rife with reverberating complexity.

  Satoko Fuji – 12 for 60 Project

Year-long artist celebrations through output aren’t exactly common, but there’s certainly precedence (bassist Reuben Radding’s 12 in 2007 springs to mind). Already admirably prolific Japanese pianist Satoko Fuji decided to commemorate her 60th birthday on the planet by releasing a dozen albums on the Libra label over the course of the annum. As with her back catalog, many of them featured her kindred spirit Natsuki Tamura on trumpet as well as ensembles both familiar and freshly-minted. I’m still digesting the series in sum, but the standout so far is Aspiration, the core duo’s conclave with Wadada Leo Smith and electronicst Ikue Mori. Fuji has an admitted tendency to crowd the market and numb the senses with her productivity, but the focus and unity guiding these releases sets them apart.

Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris

In common with the intimation of its name, Dust to Digital is a label that takes its time in the laudable work of producing archival music collections that stand instantly apart in terms of quality, scope and expertly-examined context. Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris is a work of art from the packaging to the sounds (and sights) contained within. Incisively indexed into three categories (Blues, Gospel & Folk), the field recordings are immersive and often carry the mesmerizing magic of incantations. A fourth disc containing a DVD collection of Ferris’ hand-shot films evokes time, place and person even more vividly. Temporary antidotes to slowly normalizing nightmare we find ourselves in as a world abound on this list, but this the one I have probably returned to most since my first encounter. It’s that transportive.

V/A – Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Delights

Exotica was originally indicative a certain slice of commercial music expression, one inextricably entangled in associative issues of appropriation, exploitation and in many cases mollification of indigenous cultural capital. Sometimes it was a complete recontextualization entirely as Numero Group’s Technicolor Paradise explores over three discs and an associative booklet brimming with commentary. This sort of deep crate project is nothing new for the label, but it is gratifying to see them go at it with such gusto after an earlier and unexpected embrace by the label honchos of streaming as a means of revenue. Some selections tip irrevocably into bromidic kitsch, but the first disc especially, which focuses on guitar bands keeps a more even keel of interest.

Charlie McCoy – Real McCoy/Charlie McCoy/Good Time Charlie/Fastest Harp in the South

Jerry Reed – Jerry Reed Explores Guitar Country/Cookin’/Georgia Sunshine/Me & Jerry (w/ Chet Atkins)

Time was when a two-fer reissue was a common currency in the compact disc market place. BGO’s done that erstwhile staple two better maintaining a fearsome foursome reissue program. Sets by country mouth harp maestro Charlie McCoy and good old boy-turned-ace guitar picker-turned-movie star Jerry Reed. Both are dipped liberally in countrypolitan production values that only occasionally slide over into schmaltz and McCoy wisely avoids vocals in favor of instrumentals that often sound like they could serve as soundtrack snippets to The Rockford Files (not a bad thing). Reed by contrast had a decent set up pipes to complement his strings-slinging skills and the chutzpah to try his hand at dry humor like the hilariously off-the-cuff ode to inconsolable nicotine addiction, “Another Puff.”

V/A – The Beginning of the End: The Existential Psychodrama in Country Music 1956 to 1972 (Omni) V/A – Hillbillies in Hell: Country Music’s Tormented Testament (1952-1974) – The Resurrection (Omni) V/A – Hillbillies in Hell: Country Music’s Tormented Testament (1952-1974) – The Rapture (Omni)

After an unexplained although far from unnoticed hiatus several years ago, the Omni Recording Corporation out of Australia roared back to life with renewed reissue campaign. The schedule of new projects eschewed full album(s) + plus bonus tracks for keenly curated collections focusing on the wilder and more tortured sides of the vintage country and country/pop spectrum. The Beginning of the End details descents into madness committed to song while two volumes more of the ongoing Hillbillies in Hell series doubled the entries to date describing that region of idiom(s) devoted to Beelzebub and his myriad earthly incarnations. All three are archly edifying as they are fun.

Sun Ra

Sun Ra reissues are once again a semi-regularity now thanks to reissue operators like Modern Harmonic and Cosmic Myth, both of which have conscripted longtime Ra repository Michael D. Anderson in their noble endeavors. Cymbals/Symbol Sessions: New York 1973 covers ground previously mapped by an earlier set on the Evidence label pairing worthy material including the (16:33) John Gilmore tenor <I<tour de force “Thoughts Under a Dark Blue Light.” God is More Than Love Can Ever Be has singular status as the solitary piano, bass and drums trio album in the entirely of Ra’s omniversal oeuvre and largely lives up to the stated promise of that proposition.

25 more in no fixed order...

Tyshawn Sorey – Pillars (Pi)

Henry Threadgill – Dirt… And More Dirt (Pi)

Peter Kuhn Trio – Intention (FMR)

Dave Holland – Uncharted Territories (Dare2)

Devin Gray – Dirigo Rataplan II (Rataplan)

John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Impulse!)

JD Allen – Love Stone (Savant)

Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFunk – Wet Robots (ESP-Disk)

A Pride of Lions – The Bridge Sessions 8

Michael Adkins – Flaneur (hatOLOGY)

Houston Person & Ron Carter – Remember Love (HighNote)

Spontaneous Music Ensemble – Karyobin (Emanem)

Cecil Taylor – Poschiavo (Black Sun)

Paul Rutherford – In Backwards Times (Emanem)

Mike Westbrook Concert Band – The Last Night at the Old Place (Cadillac)

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar – Raga Yaman & Ragas Abhogi & Vardhani (Ideologic Organ)

Kitsos Harisiadis – Lament in a Deep Style: 1929 to 1931 (Third Man)

Asnakech Worku – Asnakech (Awesome Tapes from Africa)

V/A – African Scream Contest 2 (Analog Africa)

Mulatu – Afro-Latin Soul (Worthy/Strut)

V/A – Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central & East African Music (Dust to Digital)

V/A – Ocora – Le Monde Des Musiques Traditionelles (Ocora)

V/A – Music City Blues & Rhythm (Ace)

Professor Harold Boggs – Lord Give Me Strength: Early Recordings 1952-1964 (Nashboro/Gospel Friend)

Yuri Morozov – Strange Angels: Experimental & Electronic Music (Buried Treasure)

[hetmusic]

FESTIVAL FINDS: YPSIGROCK 2018 | The Most Radicalist

In this feature, The Most Radicalist pick out their favourite emerging artists opening up stages across the globe. For this edition of Festival Finds, we're flying out to Sicily for Ypsigrock Festival, which promises to be like no other. The festival takes place in Castelbuono, a medieval village set in the scenic hills about an hour away from Palermo and a short twenty minute drive to the Mediterranean sea. For a weekend in August (9th to 12th), this sleepy village will play host to global musicians and music fans flocking from all over the island, Italy and further afield. Festival goers can expect the best of Sicilian hospitality combined with unique performances in historic courtyards, cloisters, pine woods, desecrated churches and the iconic castle’s square. This year, this boutique festival has booked headliners The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Horrors, and Aurora, although here at The Most Radicalist, we’re all about the newest sounds and so our festival picks look at the must-see smaller acts who would be well worth seeing at any event, but especially in the castle home of Ypsigrock. Discover our Festival Finds - Ama Lou, Her, Kelly Lee Owens, Shame, Blue Hawaii, and Confidence Man - below.

AMA LOU We’ve been on the tail of Ama Lou ever since the North Londoner made her impressive debut ‘TBC’ in 2016. Then she was just 18-years-old, but her age is irrespective of the British artist's conscience as her songwriting is unafraid of approaching deeper, more serious issues that affect our society, such as oppression of minorities. This moral agency is coupled with a desire to push the boundaries of genre and production. Her music has travelled from the twitchy electronic R&B of ‘TBC’, to the soulful tenderness of ‘Not Always’, to the eclecticism of ‘Said It Already’, and lastly to pop tendencies of ‘Lost My Home’. Ama Lou is an artist who’s grown up around the influences of London’s R&B scene, her classical training and all the offerings from the online world that young creatives have access to. Each of her songs pertains a relevant, unavoidbable message based on her own experience as a young person of minority heritage living in a sprawling metropolis, against a backdrop of balanced, beautiful R&B and pop influenced music.

HER This is sure to be one of the most emotional, heart-rendering performances of the festival and not for the reasons you’d usually expect. Her’s music isn’t overtly designed to evoke the buried hatch of feelings we all store away - their music is fresh, sexy and built around slick, slow-jazz rhythms. However, anyone who has been following Her since debut single ‘Quite Like’, when this project was still in its anonymous genesis, you’ll know that the band was struck with tragedy last year. Sadly, one half of the duo Simon Carpentier passed away after a long and private battle with cancer. The loss is commemorated by remaining band member Victor Solf in a song called ‘We Choose’, through which the musician’s energy continues to live on. It will certainly be a powerful experience to hear Solf’s dedication to his friend and long-term collaborator in a live setting, bring that presence from the studio in Paris to the sage in Sicily. Through tracks ‘Quite Like’, ‘We Choose’ and many more, Her add that chic French touch to Ypsigrock’s lineup. KELLY LEE OWENS Speaking with the organisers behind Ypsigrock Festivals, one of their first recommendations for an artist to see this year is Kelly Lee Owens, the London-based Welsh musician who swapped indie-rock for dream-pop and ambient techno in a much acclaimed debut album. The self-titled record takes the listener on a journey through meditative soundscapes, deft production and creative arrangements that smoothly introduces club beats appealing for newcomers and the most seasoned ravers alike. If this is your first introduction to Kelly Lee Owens, then we’d like to turn your attention to album track ‘Lucid’, which is the perfect example of her hybrid style. Beginning with orchestral violins, the song expands into dreamy electronica and Owens’ floating, reverb-soaked vocals; the tension is kept at arm's length until the last moment, where the dance beats break through into murky overtones and space-age synths. CONFIDENCE MAN Confidence Man make music for letting go of your inhibitions. Their album Confident Music For Confident People is a hedonistic melting pot of early LCD Soundsystem, Le Tigre, Beck, Hot Chip, and Jagwar Ma. Far from sounding like a dizzying mix, Confidence Man is an exhilarating kaleidoscope that alters your usual perception in favour of an optimistic outlook. The Melbourne outfit is made up of four characters Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild and they’ve built up a mighty reputation for raising the roofs (figuratively and literally) at a string of festivals. We can only hope that the castle is left standing once Confidence Man are through with their high-octane performance. SHAME South London rockers Shame are a refreshing dose of youthful and raw post-punk that sounds like a combination of Fat White Family and The Stone Roses. Far from old school bravado, Shame are aware of their newness, although their approach shows a maturity beyond their years. As charismatic frontman Charlie Steen says of popular single ‘One Rizla’: “Embracing insecurity as a strength is what this song is about. It's the first song we ever wrote as a band and I think that's reflected in the simplicity of it. It's honest and raw, whilst attempting a stab at number one in the pop charts across the eastern hemisphere.” We suspect you may have to take any statements made by this British band with a pinch of salt, especially listening to songs like ‘Dust On Trial’, a grungy death rattle that hardly seems fit for today’s charts, but perfect for the open-minded audiences of Ypsigrock Festival. BLUE HAWAII Blue Hawaii aren’t ones to toot their own horn, instead allowing their fans to organically find their music, and once found, you won’t be able to draw yourselves away from their magical folk-pop. Back in 2010, the pairing of Raph Standell-Preston (also the lead singer in the band Braids) and Agor (aka Alexander Cowan) quietly released their debut EP, Blooming Summer, and since then the Montreal bandmates have continued to refine their soothing sound. Tinged with disco, dream-pop, tropical house and indie-folk, you can’t help but appreciate Blue Hawaii’s bold and well-handled variation. One moment you're transfixed on the delicacy of ‘Try To Be’, then you're grooving on down to ‘No One Like You’, before going back to gentle, melodic contemplation with ‘Get Happy’. If you're looking for diverse listening experience over the festival weekend, you can’t afford to miss Blue Hawaii.

http://www.themostradicalist.com/features/festival-finds-ypsigrock-2018/

[larryland]

Godspell is a show of my youth, and it has been scientifically proven that music you listen to during your adolescence holds a special meaning for you all your life. But while I still know all the songs by heart, it has been nearly twenty years since I have seen a production, and the show in its entirety is still stunning in its simplicity and powerful message. Seeing it the day after the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a deeply emotional and spiritually moving experience.

Godspell is an older spelling of the word gospel, which means “good news.” It is based on the Gospel According to Matthew, with bits of Luke’s gospel thrown in for good measure. The librettist, John-Michael Tebelak, who created the show for his Master’s thesis project at Carnegie Mellon, had contemplated pursuing ordination. Many of the lyrics not written by composer Stephen Schwartz are taken from hymns or even older liturgical sources – “Day by Day” contains writing by the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester. The central character is Jesus of Nazareth, so there is no getting around the fact that Godspell is a Christian show, but the good news embodied in it is so deeply rooted in justice and peace that it transcends any one religion. All the world religions embrace the message of this show, which is about unity, not division.

At The Theater Barn, director and choreographer Trey Compton has assembled the perfect cast for this show – ten remarkably talented young men and women – who he has formed into a cohesive team. Each actor plays at least one instrument over the course of the show, after the a cappella prologue “Tower of Babble” because, in Compton’s words: “Jesus physically brings the music with him,” transmitting his message of love and acceptance through music.

To  further this concept, this Jesus (Zack Zaromatidis) is a guitarist. He is literally crucified with a guitar slung across his body – talk about the day the music died! – and at his resurrection his hands are suddenly freed to play again. Zaromatidis is a gentle Jesus, a little too vanilla for my taste, but warm and appealing and a genuinely talented musician.

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Andrew Pace plays the only other named characters – John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot. There is a strong break in mood between Act I, Jesus’ ministry, and Act II, Jesus’ passion, and Pace’s performance in the second act is indeed passionate and riveting. Judas is not necessarily the Bad Guy, but the Guy Who Took Action. The other disciples are passive, they all fall asleep, Peter betrays Jesus by denying him. Judas’ actions literally acknowledge Jesus’ power, which he believes, at least some of the time, is dangerous to society. Pace allows us to see that deep conflict clearly.

As is traditional, the rest of the cast uses their own first names as their character names, although they are clearly playing roles, not playing themselves. The entire cast is on the stage throughout the show, and each gets a solo. It would be grossly unfair to single out one or two of them for extra praise – they truly perform as an ensemble and all are excellent – but they all deserve to be named: Nolan Baker, Megan Koumis, Katie Luke, Andrew Martinelli, Katherine McLellan, Connor Wayne Milam, Paul Urriola, and Liane Zielinski.

One of the great joys at the Theater Barn is watching the talented young actors play different roles throughout the season – Luke, Milam, and Zielinski were all in Nunsense, and Pace appeared in the Barn’s first two shows this season. I have my guesses how Guys and Dolls will be cast, and I am sure you will too.

Abe Phelps has designed a simple but flexible set which leaves plenty of room for the overflowing joy of many of the numbers. The cast spray painted the backdrop themselves and there is lots to look at and treasures to find. It reminded me of the well decorated cars of the New York City Subway system in my teens, which were – Surprise! – the 1970’s.

  Compton and cast creating the backdrop for “Godspell 2012.”

Actual 1970’s NYC subway graffiti

In the center of the backdrop is a circle with a Chi-Rho symbol in it. I had to check with Compton to make sure it was a Chi-Rho because it is done in a different artistic style than I am used to, but it is indeed the Greek symbol of the Christogram, featuring an X and a P, the first two letters in the Greek word Christos. Originally it was used by the Romans to brand Christians, but after Augustus it has been used as a positive symbol for Christianity. Compton explained that he wanted it to look like a 60’s or 70’s rock band insignia – something that might be painted on the band’s bass drum – and he has succeeded.

A traditional Chi Rho symbol.

The Chi Rho used on the backdrop of “Godspell 2012” at The Theater Barn.

The cast begins the show in 21st century hipster gear, texting endlessly on their cell phones, and then changes into more relaxed garb after heeding Jesus’ call. Jade Campell’s costumes, while contemporary, echo the 1970’s in subtle ways – fringe, crochet, a headband, long flowing skirts paired with Frye-like boots – the only thing the cast wears that we didn’t have back then are leggings (Spandex hadn’t been invented yet!) The cell phones remain though, and Allen Phelps incorporates them, and hand-held spotlights, into his lighting design on several occasions

The Barn has been raising funds over the past few years to upgrade their lighting and sound systems, and this production looks to be proof that they have achieved their goal. The performers are all miked, there are electric guitars in use, and there is actually a credited sound designer, Don Sweener. What does that all mean? Well, it is LOUD! But then rock music is supposed to be loud. There were people seated near me eyeing the size of the speaker system warily and pondering stuffing Kleenex in their ears, but as far as I could tell they didn’t feel that need and thoroughly enjoyed the show. After the initial blast of “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” I adjusted too and did not leave with ringing in my ears, as I certainly did after many musical events back in the 70’s.

I have a hard time affixing the “2012” to the title because, while I know this is an authorized new version, officially fluffed up by Schwartz, it is still Godspell to me. Like me, the show is aging. It was first performed in 1970, 47 years ago, and it probably needed a thorough updating. But whatever is new melds seamlessly with what is old. I did NOT miss the one cut number, “Alas for You,” the lyrics to which embarrassed Schwartz almost instantly, but I did miss the opportunity that song gave for Jesus to be visibly angry as he overturned the tables of the money-changers in the Temple. And “Beautiful City,” which was written for the 1972 film version, has been around plenty long enough to fit right in.

I know it has been reorchestrated, but the music, under Alan Schlichting’s direction, sounded just right to me. Unlike Jesus Christ Superstar – the rival “Jesus Musical” of 1970 – this score does not sound dated, it still brims with the exuberance and strong belief that the world can and will be changed by the current generation that was quixotically endemic to the “Hippie” movement. But looking at this young cast belting out these wonderful songs, even on August 13, 2017, I felt a surge of hope that maybe, just maybe, this generation will be the one.

Earth shall be fair, and all her people one; Nor till that hour shall God’s whole will be done.Clifford L. Bax, 1916

The Theater Barn presents Godspell 2012, book by John-Michael Tebelak, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and others, directed by Trey Compton. Set design by Abe Phelps, lighting design by Allen Phelps, costume design by Jade Campbell, sound design by Don Sweener, stage manager Chelsey Moore. CAST:Zack Zaromatidis as Jesus, Andrew Pace as John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot. Disciples: Nolan Baker, Megan Koumis, Katie Luke, Andrew Martinelli, Katherine McLellan, Connor Wayne Milam, Paul Urriola, and Liane Zielinski.

The show runs two hours with one intermission and is suitable for the whole family. Performances at the air-conditioned Theater Barn are Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm.  Tickets are $27.00 for the evening performances and $25.00 for the Sunday matinee.  For information and reservations call (518) 794-8989.  www.theaterbarn.com

REVIEW: “Godspell 2012” at The Theater Barn Godspell is a show of my youth, and it has been scientifically proven that music you listen to during your adolescence holds a special meaning for you all your life.