Star City Blog / Music

Bill Hoover to Perform at Lincoln’s Clawfoot House January 9th

Bill Hoover (of the well-loved ramshackle-howl cabaret act Darktown House Band) is playing a show on January 9 at Clawfoot House, with McCarthy Trenching and Ember Schrag. Hoover has been a full-time painter since the retirement of Darktown, and a performance by him is considered a rare treat. His set will be backed by McCarthy and Schrag. Clawfoot House is an apartment venue in Lincoln at 1042 F St. The show begins at 8 pm on January 9, and admission is $5.

The Chicago Tribune declares that Bill Hoover’s songs “tell stories that seem oddly distanced from time and oddly rich in language. This is not the sort of too-clever lyricism of coffeehouse folkies, nor is it the blunt autobiography of many grunge bands. It’s more like a scrap of poetry found buried beneath a burned out church. Riddled with outdated slang and antique passions, it hints at the entirety of 20th century songwriting.”

The Plymouth Brass Presents 'Last Blast 2009'

The Plymouth Brass will bring in the new year with many fresh and engaging pieces to inspire and lift the spirits for the season with a New Year's Eve concert, December 31st beginning at 8:00 p.m. located at First-Plymouth Church, 20th & D street in Lincoln. 

The new repertoire you've been waiting for is here!  New arrangements of British Brass Band pieces by Tony Falcone from the movie "Brassed Off" will keep your toes tapping along with an arrangement of "Return With Honor" by local pianist and composer, Jack Rinke will take your imagination to the next level with both his arrangements and rare piano performing talent.  Maestro for the evening's concert, Jeremy Bankson will also be conducting his way through his soulful new arrangement of Aaron Copeland's "At The River."

Record Review: 'Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas'

By Tom Ineck

This story is reprinted courtesy of the Berman Music Foundation.

Guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas” is one of those rare jazz holiday recordings that stands the test of time while avoiding cliché. Recorded in October 1966 and originally released on the Chicago-based Cadet label, it remains as fresh and moving as it was more than 40 years ago, thanks in large part to a 2003 digital transfer.

 

Burrell’s Wes Montgomery-inspired guitar is the star of the show here, accompanied by an orchestra of unidentified musicians conducted by Richard Evans. It all begins with a stunning version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” which was still a popular novelty tune in 1966, having become a huge hit just a few years earlier. Burrell’s playing builds in bluesy intensity as a bolero, the horns providing powerful punctuation behind his soulful outpouring of notes.

NJO presents 'Christmas & All that Jazz' Tuesday, December 15

Celebrate the holidays with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra at its most popular concert of the year. Let the NJO inspire the holiday mood during this annual concert of seasonal favorites, including “Christmas Time is Here,” “We Three Kings,” “I'll Be Home for Christmas,” “Carol of the Bells,” and “White Christmas.”

“Christmas & All That Jazz” will be held Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at the Cornhusker Marriott, 333 South 13th Street in Lincoln, Nebraska at 7:30 p.m. and will include a silent auction fundraiser to support the programs of the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra.

Single admission tickets are $20 for Adults and $10 for Students and may be purchased by contacting the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra business office at (402) 477-8446 or njo@artsincorporated.org.

Come celebrate with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra next Tuesday!

Chiara String Quartet to Perform at the Intimate Clawfoot House December 12th

By Hanna Day-Woodruff

This Saturday, Lincoln's own home concert venue will host the Chiara String Quartet, artists in residence at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Between twenty and thirty people will pack themselves into the cozy upstairs living/dining room-turned-performance space that is Clawfoot House and hear chamber music as it was intended: intimately, viscerally, with melodies and harmonies wrapping around the audience like an exquisitely woven garment.

Chiara (pronounced key-ARE-uh) is comprised of four Juilliard-trained friends: Rebecca Fischer, violin; Julie Yoon, violin; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello. The tag line on the group's website proclaims that Chiara performs “chamber music in any chamber.”

Making good on this promise, Chiara travels near and far, performing classical, modern and contemporary chamber music in unexpected venues: bars, clubs, living-rooms, as well as more formal classical concert halls.

Record Review: 'Glory' by Flashbulb Fires

By Cory Kibler
     
Before I had even listened to Glory, the debut album from Denver’s Flashbulb Fires, I read a telling statement on the cover of their press-kit.  It read: “Indie rock for the whole family.”
     
This is an interesting statement.  If you haven’t heard the music it is meant to describe, it can be taken many ways.  To be honest, the first thing I thought when I read it was that Glory was going to be “mainstream-indie,” that is, bland indie-music without the facets that make good indie-music exciting, different and worth hearing.  I am glad to say that I was sorely mistaken.

Record Review: Jazzy Brass for the Holidays

By Tom Ineck

This story is republished courtesy of the Berman Music Foundation.

Trumpeter Eddie Allen is the leader on “Jazzy Brass for the Holidays,” having arranged all 14 tunes, but he keeps a low profile along with the others, who include Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, W. Marshall Sealy on French horn, Clark Gayton on trombone, Kenny Davis on bass and Carl Allen on drums and glockenspiel.

Together, they form a formidable ensemble, ideal for the brass chorale treatment of traditional Christmas favorites such as “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” the opener. Sealy and Gayton create a warm glow in the lower registers as Allen and Bridgewater soar overhead on their brighter, brassier instruments.

This Week in Shows 11.30.09

Compiled by Jeremy Buckley

Tuesday is the start of a solid week of shows here in Lincoln.

On Tuesday at the Bourbon Theatre, Songwriter Power Ranger makes its next to last weekly visit with sets by Magic Pictures (NY), Bigger Princess (NY), and Melanie Degenhardt. Over at the Zoo Bar, John Nemeth will share his talents on the harp, blues style.

Wednesday brings a night with the Kris Lager Band over at the Zoo and it looks like Duffy’s doesn’t have its usual Wednesday show this week. DJ Spence continues his weekly residency at the Bricktop with his Digital Love series.