The funk-riffing Ils Sont Partis (We’re off) band Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. inherited from his late father grooved hard enough at Music Haven Sunday to break a sweat, onstage and off, even before Jr. came on to claim his birthright as accordion-wielding prince of south-Louisiana dance music.
Son Kyle (fourth generation in this musical dynasty) helped Jr. doff his suit jacket, strap on a bulky piano accordion, proclaim “I know what you’re waiting for” and they were, indeed, off. Irresistible beats of thick bass undertow on snare and kick-drum boom pushed hard down below, Creole melodies in accordion riffs rolled up top, with alto sax solos here and there and bluesy guitar and metallic frottoir diving into the seams.
The stuff was built to party, and it worked: Between seats and stage, up the side past the seats and on the jam-packed terraced hill, dancers did everything from precise and sedate authentic two-steps to wild I-Was-A-Hippie human corkscrew writhe and – most fun of all to watch – that t-shirted guy who dropped to the dancefloor when the music paused before revving up again in an ambush coda.
Onstage, the band grooved with such engaging, friendly confidence they could have swung the same song all night and the dancers wouldn’t have minded a bit. But instead, they changed things up, again and again; tackling not only familiar groove songs dating back generations but also pop hits that got their funk on.
Jr. led the band with a firm hand, cueing solos by challenging “Give me a taste” or “Talk to me!” and stop-on-a-dime rhythm jumps with “We gone!”
Early on, he assured, “Everything Gonna Be Alright” and “I Heard the News” with an intro claiming he’d heard Schenectady folks are ready to party and then proved it. Sometimes more mainstream materials merged straight into old-school zydeco blasts; sometimes things mutated the other way. After “What You Gonna Do” (when the zydeco hits you), “Rock Me Baby” rode a Grand Canyon mainstream groove before reaching back to the tradition with a two-step shuffle pushed by Kyle’s frottoir – steel chest-mounted rub-board, scratched with spoons.
Jr. switched to organ when he went jazzy, and to melodica near the end; otherwise he steered things from behind the accordion. Al Quaglieri, who had played one, called the instrument “musical luggage” and Jr. packed a lot into it: hypnotically repeating riffs that animated your feet whether you wanted them to move or not, dazzling octave jumps and zippy arpeggios.
The songs went all over, too, from Fats Domino’s “Walkin’ to New Orleans” to Jr.’s late father’s “Hot Tamale Baby” to Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles,” then back to his dad’s songbook for “Zydeco Boogaloo.” An even more antique-sounding two-step set up his own “Zydeco Party” from his recent Grammy winner “New Beginnings” – then back in time once again to Lee Dorsey’s “Ya Ya” – some fine, fun minutes past the usual 9:30 catch-our-breath-and-find-the-car time.
The Brass Machine started the party right at 7 in humid daylight, parading through the surprised/delighted crowd to the stage where they, too, mixed Louisiana traditions with more mainstream fare: “Your Mama Don’t Dance” as a street parade? Yes, indeed – plus another, “Iko Iko,” then the happy menace of Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time.”
Another Mardi Gras favorite, “Hey Pocky Way,” set up their own cocktail tribute “Mojito,” blurring into Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” before closing with “When the Saints Go Marching In,” claiming this was “legally obligated” for New Orleans-style bands. What in fact is legally obligated is a powerful surge of beat and horn-blasts. The Brass Machine did not break that law.
Music continues at Music Haven with Slavic Soul Party and Niva on Sunday, July 21.
Hoke's Jukebox 