New downtown music festival Aug. 22

July 30, 2009

By Randy Otto

As the relentless parade of summer music festivals continues to roll through Milwaukee, one is conspicuously absent.

In its short history, the Third Ward Summer Sizzle had become a mainstay on the festival calendar, a great showcase for national jazz acts and local favorites in a fabulous setting, providing a welcome alternative to the music offerings at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Unfortunately, the Sizzle has become yet another victim of the current recession. The Historic Third Ward Association, which stages the festival, concluded several months ago that it just could not muster the necessary funds to stage this year’s festival, so the Sizzle has been suspended for 2009. Here’s hoping it makes a triumphant return in 2010.

In the meantime, Frontier Radio WMSE has stepped into the breach this month with their Summer Radio Camp, culminating in the first Big Backyard BBQ blowout in Cathedral Square Park Saturday, Aug. 22. From 11am to 9pm, free performances from seven acts will fill the skies of East Town. Among the highlights are local favorites Alex Wilson Band and The Championship, plus guitar whiz Bill (”Hot Rod Lincoln”) Kirchen and his band, exciting up-and-comer Justin Townes (Son of Steve) Earle, and Milwaukee music icon Paul Cebar and Tomorrow Sound.

If this reminds you more than a bit of the late, lamented Gil Fest, you’ve got the idea. It should make for a great summer’s day of music, and hopefully the start of yet another great Milwaukee summer music tradition.

NOW HEAR THESE!

LIVE PERFORMANCES:

Irish Fest, Aug. 13-16, Maier Festival Park

Ramping up to a colossal 30th anniversary celebration in 2010, Irish Fest 2009 will not be lacking for its usual abundance of great Celtic music and culture. Along with local favorites like Leahy’s Luck, Frogwater, Baal Tinne, Finbar MacCarthy, and Blarney, there’s plenty of national and international acts, focusing this year on the Celtic music hotbed of Nova Scotia. Among the highlights:

Gaelic Storm

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the rollicking band’s first Irish Fest appearance, the band’s first gig outside of their southern California home base (and their first outside a pub!). Thanks to their sensational appearance in the now classic film Titanic, Milwaukee was more than ready to welcome them with open arms, and the band responded with their trademark party-time sets, leaving thousands wanting more. And a decade-long love affair was born. Do Patrick, Steve & Co. have anything special planned for the occasion? You’ll just have to come down and find out!

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy

Fiddle fans will probably attend every performance by these Nova Scotia residents who are both great stars in their own right. Natalie is a brilliant fiddler and step-dancer with many albums to her credit, but was most recently a guest on Yo-Yo Ma’s great 2008 Christmas album. Donnell is the fiddler from PBS favorites Leahy, the family band personally picked by Shania Twain to open for her recent world tour.

Either of these great musicians would be more than enough, but put them together and you have a show that should become part of the Irish Fest legend.

Carmel Quinn

Still performing in her 80s, this feisty cabaret veteran has been charming audiences going all the way back to the days when she was a regular on Arthur Godfrey’s TV shows in the ’50s. Sure, some of her shtick might be a bit corny, but rest assured all three of her performances will draw packed houses, truly befitting her legend status. And she still signs autographs!

Tommy Sands

As a prelude to next year’s fest, which will showcase music of Northern Ireland, here’s a folk legend from Ulster who will be returning to Milwaukee after too long an absence. This troubadour will be performing in several of the fest’s more intimate venues, a special treat for fans of all ages.

Cara

Irish Fest has presented acts from French Canada and Australia, but are you ready for a Celtic band from Germany? That’s right, after making a sensational Milwaukee debut at the Irish Cultural Center in September 2008, this band makes its first fest appearance, and rest assured, it won’t be the last. Their energetic performances make them my Irish Fest Hot Tip for 2009. By the way, the group is based in Esslingen, Germany, the sister city of Sheboygan, Wis.!

Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Salsa Celtica

Wouldn’t these Scottish bands’ names alone make you want to check them out?

More info, including audio clips from many artists, at irishfest.com.

NEW ALBUMS:

Various Artists, Woodstock 40 Years on: Back to Yasgur’s Farm

Capping the recent Woodstock 40th anniversary releases is this six-CD box, arriving Aug. 18, the actual anniversary of the legendary festival. The box is the most extensive collection of performances from that weekend. In fact, only two of the acts (The Band and Ten Years After) are not included on this set, due to technical and/or legal reasons. Rhino’s compilation producer Andy Zax has done a meticulous job researching and restoring the tapes to produce a state-of-the-art sounding collection. Also, the music is presented chronologically for the first time, along with the famous stage announcements. This set also presents the legendary onstage confrontation between The Who’s Pete Townshend and activist Abbie Hoffmann during the band’s set (Not a good idea, Abbie!) and farm owner Max Yasgur’s complete speech to the crowd (previously heard only in snippets). The set’s informative book contains the festival’s full lineup (with setlists) in running order, plus much more information on the background of the festival.

Speaking of Woodstock, astute reader Ric Sweet points out that Martin Scorsese was not only a film editor on the Woodstock movie, as reported here last month, but also served as Second Unit Director to Michael Wadleigh. Thanks, Ric!

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Under the Covers, Vol. 2

Following up their wonderful valentine to ’60s rock from 2006, veteran pop-rocker (and no relation to Ric) Sweet and head Bangle Hoffs return with a long-awaited sequel. The focus this time is the pre-New Wave ’70s rock, and the duo gets some big-time help on several of the set’s 16 tracks. Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham joins in for “Second Hand News,” Yes guitarist Steve Howe is on board for “Your Move/I’ve Seen All Good People,” and Dhani Harrison guests on father George’s “Beware of Darkness.” Like Volume 1, Volume 2 is a labor of love, a superbly crafted collection of remakes (that also happen to be some of the ’70s greatest songs) that makes for really groovy headset listening. Hope we don’t have to wait another three years for Volume 3!

REISSUES:

Dave Brubeck, Time Out (Legacy Edition); Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain (Legacy Edition); Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um (Legacy Edition); Tito Puente, Dance Mania (Legacy Mania)

What year 1939 is to movie fans, 1959 is to jazz fans-arguably the greatest year in jazz history. Earlier this year, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue received a 50th anniversary reissue. Now, Sony Legacy gives the deluxe treatment to four more releases from that seminal year.

Brubeck’s Time Out is one of the most commercially successful jazz albums ever, thanks to one of the most unlikely hit singles ever, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond’s 5/4 meter “Take Five” that later received lyrics and became a hit for Milwaukee’s Al Jarreau. The follow-up single, “Blue Rondo ala Turk,” was also popular. The Legacy Edition adds a CD of vintage live recordings, plus a DVD of octogenarian Brubeck reminiscing about the making of the album.

Davis’ Sketches of Spain has the trumpeter again teaming up with arranger Gil Evans for their most memorable collaboration. While Kind of Blue had Miles in a combo setting, Sketches features him as soloist in Evans’ elegant orchestral settings. The bonus CD contains outtakes and live recordings from that period. Can you believe one artist releasing two such markedly different yet immensely influential albums in the same calendar year?

Mingus Ah Um is considered by many the composer/bassist’s greatest album. Among its many classic songs, it contains two of his best known: “Better Git It in Your Soul,” and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” which was later covered by both Jeff Beck and Joni Mitchell (who wrote special lyrics for her version). The bonus CD features additional music from Mingus and his musicians from that period, including a great remake of Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.”

Tito Puente isn’t called “El Rey” for nothing. He almost single-handedly brought salsa music to a mass American audience, and how many salsa musicians do you know have appeared on The Simpsons? His music enjoyed a revival in the ’70s, thanks to Santana’s remakes of his hits “Oye Como Va” and “Para Los Rumberos.” The original version of the latter, along with many other fiery Latin big-band classics, are featured on 1959’s Dance Mania, the album that made Puente a household name. The Legacy Edition combines that album with its follow-up for one fantastic salsa package.

Kudos to Sony Legacy for these very classy reissues.

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