Review: Area Acts Star and Stir in Porchfest 26
Schenectady’s fourth Porchfest Saturday presented fifteen artists – from bluegrass to classical to jazz on six porches and inside a church. Among this year’s “bests” – nicer weather than forecast.
Jazz dominated with seven acts; plus two bluegrass-y bands, two classical ensembles, a Latin dance band, an Indian sitar and tabla duo and a church choir.
Top: Alex Torres Orquestra on Wendell; Torres playing bass. Middle: Matt Steckler and the 518 on Douglas, from left: Jeff Siegel, drums; Rich Syracuse, bass; Pete Levin, keyboards, and Steckler, alto saxophone.
Above, kids and parents – and Nice Hockey’s punk rock at Ardsley and Rugby
I caught eight, but only a song or two of some sets, starting with the Alex Torres Orquestra, a Latin rhythm section and brash jazzy horns in Caribbean dance tunes on Wendell, Porchfest’s biggest lawn. They likely chose the 11 a.m. slot to hit other gigs later Saturday. Playing a lot tightens them into an irresistibly inviting reason to dance; and people did. No reason to yell “More COWBELL!” – plenty of that in salsa, merengue, cha cha and (especially) rumbas. Even in Spanish, their meanings were clear to fans’ feet. Cool solos by Tyler Giroux’s trombone and Roberto Lopez’s tres (double-strung guitar); but their groove was the thing.
Next, on the most distant porch from Wendell’s wide slope of green, on Ardsley and Rugby, Hansbrough and Quigley fought a sometimes losing battle against road noise to play
baroque and Celtic pieces. What we could hear of Mauro Giuliani, Erik Satie and Carolan duets charmed the early, still-small crowd.
After those intimate antiques came the family-friendly clamor of the Boulevard Area Neighborhood Association’s street fair. Jamming the short west-most block of The Plaza with non-profit groups, vendors, Stewarts’ free pizza and drinks, it offered a tented stage, seating provided, for Scott Hopkins’s bluegrass duo. Kids’ crafts and toys, free books from Friends of the Library and other give-aways warmed a community feel. Hopkins’s engaging music was antique, too; finger-picked guitar and banjo gems from Flatt & Scruggs and more.
Buzzing back westward to Douglas Road, I was happy to catch the end of Dylan Canterbury Quintet’s set. This virtuoso crew started at 1, like Hopkins, and featured area jazz giants. Tenor saxophonist Brian Patneaude shared solo time with Canterbury’s trumpet and Rob Lindquist’s piano on grooves by Dave Shoudy’s bass and Bob Halek’s drums. They closed strong with Canterbury’s wistful “Another Place, Another Time” and the playful “Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives” – sourced from a Daffy Duck cartoon.
Back on Wendell, Keith Pray’s Ortet trio of Pray at the organ with Mike Novakowski’s guitar and Joe Barna’s drums similarly mixed originals and borrowed/mutated materials. It was all in service of the groove, from Pray’s spry “Circular” and “Jimmy’s Blues” (tribute to organist Jimmy Smith), to the 70s pop hit “Sunny,” Sade’s ballad “I Couldn’t Love You More” and deliciously twisted James Brown and Beatles classics. Solos worked well, including splashy Barna blasts, but the trio line-up required everybody to fit perfectly in the beat; and they did. Novakowski grinned his happiest, not while soloing but when chopping rhythm chords, Barna was at once all over the place and right in the pocket while the always workmanlike Pray held it all together.
Around the corner on Douglas, Matt Steckler added keyboardist Pete Levin to his usual crew of Rich Syracuse, bass; and Jeff Siegel, drums. This took some adjusting, Levin tentative at first, before tackling reedman/composer Steckler’s more complex compositions. But once in motion, they sailed through his originals with happy swagger in the up-tricky-beat “Prince Eleventy,” the cheerful “Labor Day” and “I’d Know It If I Heard It” while “Privilege” balanced melancholy with serenity. Always fluent, Steckler played alto, tenor and soprano saxes and flute beautifully.
Tim Olsen’s Quartet followed, on Wendell. Using similar instrumentation to Steckler’s, they had plenty of skill: Olsen at the piano; Pete Toigo, bass; Pete Sweeney, drums; and Dave Lambert, tenor sax and clarinet. Yet early on, they seemed lower energy in their traditional approach than Steckler’s modernist style. Or maybe I’m taking Olsen’s title “I’m Tired” too literally; but the Latin “Noche Azul” felt languid. They saved their best for last; tributes to Louis Armstrong with Lambert’s best clarinet solo, and the exquisite yearning of a Sinatra tribute, again with fine Lambert riffing. A wonderful/distracting comic interlude spread laughter across the bandstand as a dog appeared at the window behind Sweeney and barked and barked. If it had been on the beat or in the right key, this would have felt even funnier.
Nice Hockey’s raucous punk rock drew a peppy, non-stop crowd of kids and parents to bassist Chad’s home on Ardsley and Rugby. “Lively” doesn’t come close to the energy there. The band’s two- or three-minute song/blasts levitated that whole corner, packed with people and fed by the Broken Inn mobile kitchen.
Their opener “Swell Siren” lamented how sirens keep the residents awake. Road noise had sometimes drowned out the quiet Hansbrough-Quigley classical duo in the first set on that porch. Nice Hockey cranked up nice and loud, and that worked better.
Nice Hockey’s lyrics let you know they’re professors: Who else would sing of “Chameleonic Vibes” or introduce a tune as a soupcon? But their Ramones-y gleeful sonic force, jump-up muscle and principled uplifting messaging all hit with simple joyous energy.
They turned serious, even blunt, in three mid-set tunes branded as “Not-Nice Hockey,” accusatory doomsday dirges about contemporary environmental and social ills – but rocking. And they closed with the triumphant “We Did It!”
Meanwhile, happy chaos in the audience, especially in the revved grade-school age kids who flew around the place or flew in the air, thrown high by grinning parents. Way worse ways to raise kids than with principle-guided punk rock from a porch.
This – in fact, the whole day – raised my hopes for Schenectady: If these people are here, having this much fun together, than the future looks just fine.
Musically, as usual, I often wished I could be in two or three places at once in order not to miss acts I admire and enjoy: the always solid jazz crews Art D’Echo Trio, Michael Benedict Jazz Vibes and Cliff Brucker Trio, also the earthy acoustics of Unken Brew and classic/soulful Epilogue Trio. And organizer Steve Weisse – still in lederhosen after an Octoberfest oompah gig elsewhere – spoke with warm awe in hearing sitar music sail over the streets. He also wanted credit for the fine weather he’d arranged for Saturday.
Folks wore hats and sunblock, carried chairs from lawn to lawn, toted kids in wagons and strollers, rode bicycles or scooters, and one Harley.
Some porches have changed over the four Porchfests, but the vibe and the sound of it seemed happily the same.
Sponsors supported the Porchfest multi-stage, dozen-plus bands free event (alphabetically): the American Federation of Musicians, Dance and Music School of India, Mona Golub, Harbrook, Mohawk Valley Society for Live Music, the Recording Industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund, Schenectady County Arts & Culture Grant, The Schenectady Foundation, and Stewart’s Shops.
The Broken Inn and Greek on the Run Food Truck brought food and drinks.
The lawn on Wendell
MORE PHOTOS GOING UP LATER TODAY
Hoke's Jukebox 