Not that it all has to be bleak midwinter or determined revisionism. Sean Smith’s solo guitar version of Silent Night plays it straight, letting the original tune shine through sheer patience, giving each note, each transition its resonant place before moving on. The rest of the album on which that track occurs, simply titled Christmas, exhibits the same virtues. Oscar Peterson’s riotous God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, on the other hand, sparkles with joyful virtuosity without overstaying its welcome. Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Remedios the Beauty, from a Sonic Trout Records Christmas compilation, is just over a minute of light-hearted, playful bass and scat singing, but has more than its share of “songness” and brings a carefree tone that is, I think, not an entirely unfitting response to the original.
We’d like to add that the track is available for download, as is the full album. In addition, from now until the end of 2011 we are offering free shipping on orders of the actual CD (along with other Chandler Travis Philharmonic CDs and T-Shirts).
Album Review: ‘Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows!’
Lori Alamia
11/6/2011
Do you think all philharmonics are classic and traditional? Think again.
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic is a nine piece ensemble of musicians out of Boston. With a name like Philharmonic, it would be easy to assume that they are a sophisticated bunch offering up strictly classic music. Well, think again. CTP’s most recently released album is called Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows!
With a crazy title like that, expect the music and the members to follow suit. From photos on their website, you can see that they dress rather eccentrically and don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Despite the humor however, they are accomplished musicians who are just inviting us to have fun along with them. CTP has a horn section, string bass, keyboard, a mandocello (a bigger version of a mandolin), guitar, drums, an accordion and singing valet – Fred Boak.
For the first track on their album, “Mid-Morning in Moscow,” you feel like you should be dancing or at least sipping a cocktail in a swanky supper club somewhere. This primarily instrumental piece has lots of sexy sounds from the clarinet, trombone, french horn and bass. It is one of my favorites as it represents all that is wonderful about jazzy, big band type music.
The rest of the album that follows is a scattered collection of songs from various genres that fall under their description as being “alternative Dixieland and omnipop.” Once I heard them sing, I likened it to combining Louis Armstrong’s All Stars with the musical humor of They Might Be Giants. It’s hard to anticipate exactly what to expect as you let the unique album play through, but I recommend just going along and enjoying the ride.
Here is an overview of the rest of the songs:
Track 2: “You and Me Pushing Up Daisies” has an Irish feel with amusing lyrics.
Track 3: “Graciously” is another personal favorite as it has upbeat jazz piano and a swinging beat.
Track 4: “All My Good Luck Is Gone” has a country feel and funny lyrics.
Track 5: “Fruit Bat Fun” Have you heard of the song by Duck Sauce “Barbra Streisand”? They just repeat Barbra Streisand and you wonder why. Well, during the catchy little rhythm in this song, “Fruit Bat” is repeated every so often resulting in nonsensical fun.
Track 6: “Anne” is another country feeling tune that also uses humor as most of their songs do.
Track 7: “Work It” takes a different twist as it captures some island rhythms.
Track 8: “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden” tells a story as the song title suggests and sounds more like speaking in tune than singing.
Track 9: “Tomatohead Blues” is another instrumental song that utilizes great horn playing. Track 10: “The Number Song” sounds like a children’s music song that They Might Be Giants might have done.
Track 11: “Taoist vacation with Mashenka” has smooth jazz sounds with lots of sax.
Track 12: “Everything Can Go Wrong” is another jazzy track with plenty of bass as well as accordion accompaniment.
Though, “everything can go wrong,” Chandler Travis Philharmonic has definitely done something right on this fun, zany musical journey.
Below are highlights from the “SoundOut Consumer Insight Report” on the Chandler Travis Philharmonic’s recording of “Anne” (This was a you-get-the-first-one-free situation, presented by the always heinous Sonicbids organization, the folks who made it possible for artists to pay people to reject them who used to do it for free); for no particular reason, I submitted a song called “Anne” (off our latest debacle, “The Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows”)…
For you to use as a reference and play along at home/work, here is a live recording of “Anne”, recorded by the Valet at one of our summer homes, Bubala’s By the Bay in Provincetown, MA. This one is from way back on September 7, 2006 and features Tim Dickey on mandolin, Berke McKelvey on soprano sax, Keith Spring on keyboards, Whitey Houston on bass, and Rikki Bates on djembe.
Chandler Travis Philharmonette - Anne (Live at Bubala's, September 7, 2006)[ 2:18 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (64)
According to the SoundOut Consumer Insight Report, we rated:
45 (out of 100) for market potential (tho somehow, we’re in the “above average” category -one of 5 categories. Wonderfully enough, the lowest category is “average”; we just missed “good”- damn!
5.9 (out of 10) for “track rating”
a “passion rating”(!!) of 66 (out of 100).
They also volunteered that generally, males liked it better than females (70% vs 40% -the story of my life), and younger people better than older ones (esp. 16 to 24 year olds -god only knows what the hell is up there).
Here’s some of the more striking comments (sorry for all this, but too funny not to share!):
”the tone this singer has is a cross between dylan and jazz.The vocals cram a lot in in the verses. A very bad melody.Th epercussion has a very celtic feel.”
“good start of the song the truth would definitely like, but the coordination that used both the acoustic guitar as I liked the drums, and bass that sounds great”
“ok to follow, it just wasnt a performance of huge entertaining value.”
“didn’t sounded bad… sounded a bit monotonous after a while, however it was a nicely executated song”
“I feel there is potential in the artist vocally, these vocals weren’t stretched at all though and quite a boring song was produced, up the pace at times, stretch the voice, grab the audience, dated instrumentals which i’m sure was meant but not for modern music”
“the brute is done well”
“Out of nowhere it’s a trumpet! Don’t know if this is a comedy act or an actual song. Gave me a chuckle.”
“quite a nice mellow track, that musically reminded me of eels.”
“This song is very cinamatic and interesting. Male singer has a good voice and it’s interesting. Male singer has a little weak voice.”
“i love this song very much its very grapohical and makes you feel so good i love it so much and the drums and strings are so tuned for the song”
“the singing should have been rectified”
[Apparently this next guy hated it so much it made him turn french (or something)]:
“voice and lyrics have no sens common men stop it please. yo mon gars te vrm une grosse pourriture ge arrete la music et le domaine musical c pourri comme music :O.“
“Okayi didnt really think this song was all that great. I dont want to say it was good when it really wasnt. I didnt enjoy it and i thought the music was just.i dont really know how to explain it. maybe a faster tempo would help it out a little.”
“Bible refences is a BOG NOOO! So, not good at all.”
My response: the report was accompanied by lots of scientific-looking bars and graphs… this is the greatest! -now I gotta get SoundOut Consumer Insight Reports on all my songs!!! At last, a reason to keep writing! Highly recommended!
If you care to subject yourself to the hideousness which apparently is the officially released version of “Anne”, you can buy it directly from us at our new catalog page here. “Out of nowhere, it’s a trumpet!”
The world is full of acts who get it into their heads they can revive (imitate) some specific past musical genre or other and devote a career to it. They can be pretty good at it, but are also totally unnecessary when the real thing is preserved on record. Rarer, however, are those acts that have assimilated all sorts of musical styles – from rock to ragtime, brass band and klezmer to jump blues, swinging dance music to sensitive songwriting – and know how to mix it all together with energy, humor, unpretentiousness and consummate chops.
They are not imitators; they’re creating something new out of a knowledge of the past and a joy for the present. NRBQ comes immediately to mind (although they’re on hiatus while members pursue individual projects). But another band that belongs in this category is Boston’s Chandler Travis Philharmonic. Travis’ history is actually intertwined with NRBQ’s – Johnny Spampinato was a member of Travis’ Incredible Casuals band before joining his brother Joey in NRBQ. But more than that, the overall sensibility is close.
Blows first and foremost is a showcase for the horn section – at various times ten players are featured, and they add cheerfully exciting color and snazziness to the proceedings. And goofiness – the polite punctuations on “Fruit Bat Fun” sound like a novelty hit. But then the players go off on irresistible, finely attuned solos that flow together like hot lava and the song climbs to a higher level. It’s like Mingus’ Big Band with grounding in rock rhythm (courtesy of drummer Rikki Bates), or Sun Ra’s Arkestra playing with NRBQ.
But as satisfying as the Philharmonic is musically, and as prone as Travis is to let the songs exist primarily to showcase the playing, he is also a fine pop singer-songwriter. His ear for melody, as well as his smarts at combining humor with romanticism and mundane observations with the poetic, place him with Todd Rundgren or Ben Folds. And his voice can have the tender vulnerability of Terry Adams.
While his recent solo album, After She Left, showed that writing talent off, he has saved some poignant tunes for this. “Anne,” with a lovely opening trumpet flourish reminiscent of “For No One,” and about an alluring neighbor, starts with this lovely, novelistic refrain: “When it’s after Judge Judy in the afternoon/And it’s time to walk the dogs/Across the street/Sometimes I see a friendly face.” It tells as much about him – and his life – as her.
The humor of “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden” is so deadpan – a la Randy Newman – it can be hard to realize how excited Travis is about this travel adventure. That sneaks up on you as the details accumulate and the Dixieland horn arrangement provides momentum.
Travis seems to be so in demand in Massachusetts as a live act (and a musical institution) that he doesn’t get out much beyond that area. Glad to know he has such a supportive base, but it’s a shame for the wider world. The Philharmonic could tear up the summer festival circuit – maybe on a bill with a reunited NRBQ?
From local to national releases, 2010 was a rich year for sounds
by Cory Frye
ALBANY — Can I be honest with you? I hate lists. They’re the bane of my existence. But, unfortunately for me, I love being a critic (grouser for profit), and for my species, lists are a necessary evil.
They tend to be disseminated in increments of five or 10 because, for whatever reason, that’s how we like ’em. They seem complete, somehow. “Top 10 Songs of All Time” — that’s a pretty standard one, perfect for hit-bait and heated confrontations.
For the more serious among us, there are specific lists, like, say, “Top 5 Album Openers Ever,” which ideally demonstrates the writer’s geeky depths and helps fuel stalemates between stubborn proponents of Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days,” Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-IV” and Pink Floyd’s “Speak to Me” (correct answer: Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”). If you’re really good, you can go super-meta: “Top 10 Songs Where the Singer Goes ‘Chaaah.’ ” Don’t touch that one yet; it’s a work in progress.
But the absolute worst are the year-enders, where you chum through 12 months of accumulated entertainment in a futile attempt to condense everything into a satisfactory coda. From a single-minded perspective, you have to somehow create something definitive and universal. The punchline, of course, is that you can’t win. You’ll always miss something vital and second-guess every excision and inclusion until the thing’s been typeset for embarrassing posterity — and still you won’t be satisfied.
It’s excruciating enough to winnow a master list of 100 or more items into a more reasonable number. Because of those 100, there’s always at least one you’ll regret losing in a fit of impetuous slash or a temporary loss of clarity.But it doesn’t matter how carefully you prune: You’ll still field weeks of e-mails from members of the Whadabbout tribe, each wounded by some criminal omission.
I’m definitely not man enough to declare an Album of the Year. I tried it in the Entertainer once, about a decade ago, with the Flaming Lips’ “The Soft Bulletin.” Although I championed the disc with passion and still love it today (“Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” — brrr!), I was never convinced I was right. There was just that, y’know, professional obligation. David Fricke had an Album of the Year, why not lil’ ol’ me?
So rather than contend with the madness and migraines of this imperfect science, I’ve ixnayed the imperious “Top”-this jazz and “Best”-that jive and called this list “The Year in Spin.” It is exclusive to me (as most lists are to their creators) and includes albums from 2010 that I think you should hear. My sole criteria: I played the hell out of ’em.
[ed note: other reviews removed - but some good stuff; check out the full article at the link below]
They don’t mean “blow” in the way you think (although the title’s a deliberate pun) but in the way jazzbos would describe explosions that flattened dance halls to firewood. Discs like this restore my love for sound and the written word. With its pickled Dixieland ebullience, wicked irreverence and demented melodic sparkle, “Blows!” is unbridled joy clasped between two covers (both of which, incidentally, are hilarious).
Titles like “You and Me, Pushing Up Daisies” (sweetly silly), “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden” and “Fruit Bat Fun” (the words “fruit” and “bat” bounced ‘round whimsy) front jazz-thrashed whirligigs of inspired lunacy shaped by genuine freaks be-fleshed as accomplished musicians. Lock ’em up and hope they invite you in. (www.chandlertravis.com)
When I was a little kid, we used to take vacations out on Cape Cod. Back then there was a target ship anchored out in the bay, the SS James Longstreet. There was something both creepy and majestic about that ship. Of course, the boy in me wanted to walk out there at low tide. Me & my cousins tried it once, but when the water became waist deep we gave up. What the heck. It was good clean summer fun.
This has almost nothing to do with the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, except for one thing—Mr. Travis is from Eastham, Massachusetts—right out there on the Cape. I’d be willing to bet that on one of those warm summer nights, while I was sitting out on the dunes watching the bombers take aim at the Longstreet, Chandler Travis was having his own summer fun with one of his early bands, The St. James Infirmary or (later on) Travis Shook and the Club Wow.
I was too young to have been aware of the goings on in the rock & roll world, but Travis’ next gig was too big to ignore. Living in southern New Hampshire in the mid-1980′s, it was pretty much impossible to avoid The Incredible Casuals. They played everywhere, they played often. They pretty much took over the Beachcomber in Wellfleet. How I managed to never see a show is beyond me. Maybe I was unaware of the NRBQ connection (Johnny Spampinato was their guitarist until he joined his brother Joey in the Q after Big Al Anderson left). Maybe I was just too young to appreciate music that didn’t sound like a chain saw. Maybe I was just stupid!
After a period of transition, Travis formed the Chandler Travis Philharmonic. Blows! is the followup to their first record Let’s Have A Pancake, released in the year 2000. And what a run record it is. An eight-piece band with a full horn section, the Philharmonic is like no big band you’ve ever heard. There’s R&B, jazz, some lopsided Dixieland, blues, and rock & roll. Best of all, this stuff is just hilarious! From the opening stomp of “Mid-Morning In Moscow,” to the crazy Casuals travelogue of “The Day The Casuals Went To Sweden,” the album is relentless in reminding the listener that serious music (whatever that means) doesn’t have to be, well…serious!
There’s no way I can pick a favorite track here. I mean, how do you weigh the New Orleans strut of “Tomatohead Blues” against the bittersweet “You And Me, Pushing Up Daisies”? And then there’s the sly look at an attractive neighbor in “Anne.” Do I take her (the protagonist sorta wants to) over the NRBQ-ish goofy fun of “The Number Song”? In truth, I can’t…because the deliciously silly pop of “Fruit Bat” (the song’s only lyrics) makes me giddy. And so yes, I have no Cape Cod history with Chandler Travis and his music. At least not in a direct way. But that’s part of the fun of music. The cliché is that music is a part of our lives, but often it’s more than that: there’s the music, its history, your history, and what could have been. Do I think of it as a missed opportunity? Nah! C’mon, we almost made it out to that ship!
Guitarist and singer Chandler Travis is a bandleader with a sense of humor, and his nonet Chandler Travis Philharmonic can be described as a sort of demented Dixieland outfit, notably on the leadoff track on this album, “Mid-Morning in Moscow,” and on “Tomatohead Blues,” a left-handed rewrite of “Potatohead Blues.” But that’s only the beginning. Depending on his whim, Travis may turn to quirky folk-pop, as he does on “Anne,” which finds him pleasantly propositioning a neighbor, or to dub reggae, as on “Work It.” Also a member of the Incredible Casuals, he details that band’s travails on “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden.” As a big-band leader, Travis isn’t quite Spike Jones, but he is some ways down the road in the direction, and like Jones, he manages to get some impressive musicianship out of his bandmates, even as they support his zany ideas.
From the new kids on the block to the New England band from another universe: the Chandler Travis Philharmonic swings in from the outer reaches (of Cape Cod) for a big show at the Iron Horse on Friday at 10 p.m.
The CTP is related to NRBQ not just in personnel (both bands share members with The Incredible Casuals, plus satellite member Keith Spring was in the ‘Q’s Whole Wheat Horns) but also in attitude: good music is good, so throw labels and categories out the window with a hearty heave-ho.
That leaves Travis and his band using the term “omnipop” to try and describe its indescribable sound; reviewers drop words like “cracked” and “skewed.” The nine-member Philharmonic plays a quirky smorgasbord of rock, blues, boogie-woogie, dixieland and some free-jazz zing here and there. Sort of like NRBQ crossed with a circus in the middle of a just-exploded thrift store. Expect a test-pattern rainbow of pajama robes, fez and other headgear, checks and stripes and leopard print and polka dots. One of the nine members is a “singing valet.” And holding it all together is the super-swinging backbeat of transgender drummer Rikki Bates.
“The Chandler Philharmonic Blows” is the group’s new record, another all-over-the-map affair, showing that under the loud-patterned mismatched clothes is pure, unadorned heart. The chorus to one affecting, bucolic, Kinks-ish song (co-written with David Greenberger) goes “We’ll grow old by not being lazy / our hearts will beat until they stop / bury us close but leave room at the top / for you and me, pushing up daisies.”
“Graciously” is another of the album’s highlights. Starting with a piano riff so classic you can’t believe it hasn’t been used before, the band members jive around until Travis sings “Soon there will be a chorus / so fine, you will adore us / graciously / then you all on the dance floor/ will get everything you came for / eventually” and the song breaks out into a Mardi Gras party of cacophonous horns, funky second-line drums and joyous backing vocals.
Even if you’ve never seen the band before, the wild carousing brass, ringing electric guitar, boisterous handclaps and whoops make it clear how amazing it must be to experience the band live. Friday is your chance! Don’t sleep on it. Or just wear your pajamas to the show. You’ll blend right in on the dance floor.
Opening the show is Northampton’s own Salvation Alley String Band, a sprawling band of a different sort, led by singer-songwriter Ryan Quinn and featuring pedal steel, mandolin and high lonesome harmonies from Brandee Simone.
Those are the bold-faced adjectives that are splayed across the inside cover of the latest digital-friendly disc that’s dropped from the slightly surreal mind of Chandler Travis and his equally off-center band. And the only one of those descriptors that I’d argue with is “startling” because, well, after all of these years, we’ve come to expect the unexpected from Mr. Travis, which, of course, diminishes his power of startlement.
A veteran of such fun-loving combos as Travis Shook & the Club Wow and the Incredible Casuals, Travis hasn’t changed his stripes (or his pajamas) this time around. Although rooted more deeply in jazz than his previous outfits might indicate, these dozen tunes make for a rompin’ good time.
“The premise of ‘Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows!’ is that combining jazz and rock doesn’t need to be earnest and pretentious,” explains the singer-guitarist-songwriter. “In fact, there’s a lot of fun that’s gone un-mined there. Jazz, in particular, has gotten so clinical in the last 40 years or so, and ‘Blows!’ is kind of a call to remove heads from asses…”
A nod to trumpeter Kenny Ball’s 1962 hit song “Midnight in Moscow,” the album opens up with “Mid-Morning in Moscow,” a slinky but sassy instrumental that gives the bandmembers plenty of room to strut their stuff before erupting into delicious Dixieland cacaphony. “Graciously” – co-authored with Nippertown writer-artist-Duplex Planet founder David Greenberger (as is “You and Me, Pushing Up Daisies”) – is a flat-out party set to an irresistible New Orleans second-line parade beat.
Indeed, it’s the horns – and there are quite a bevy of them on this disc, in addition to Philharmonic regulars Mark Chenevert, Ken Field and Bob Pilkington – that drive these tunes.
And while there are a fair number of instrumentals featured here, Travis’ vocals are just as sharp – especially on the what-else-could-go-wrong travelogue of “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden,” the dub reggae workout of “Work It” and “Taoist Vacation with Mashenka,” his sashaying, bossa nova duet with Jennifer Kimball.
Startling? No, just more great musical merriment from CTP.
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic celebrates the release of “Blows!” with a party and performance at The Linda in Albany at 8pm on Saturday. Tix are $17.
Chandler Travis blows. With his funky Philharmonic he also swings, grooves, croons, and clearly has a helluva blast doing so.
One of the things I love about this latest CD from the Cape’s quirky musician is the delightfully personal feel of having been invited to an afternoon jam session, complete with adult beverages and lots of laughter.
The album begins with “Mid-morning in Moscow,” a slowly rollicking tune that is guaranteed to get you up and moving, even on the most overcast and Moscow-esque of the Cape’s winter morns.
From there, Travis and his Philharmonic segue into “You and Me, Pushing Up Daisies,” an endearing, oddly sweet song about lasting love. Meanwhile, the next tune, “Graciously,” is so upbeat and fun it will yank the bad mood right out of you and dance it into a much better frame of mind.
“All My Good Luck is Gone” is a hilarious tongue-in cheek-look at life that puts woes and troubles into better perspective. When someone sets to whining about his or her lot in life, play this song.
Next up is “Fruit Bat Fun,” a tune with a calypso feel, reminiscent of the islands. Kids will love this song for its plain silliness.
“Anne” is a cheeky ditty that pays homage to a friendly neighbor. I particularly love the plaintive trumpet, and the way Travis factors “real life” elements into his lyrics such as doing the laundry, getting the mail, and cheating on a spouse, sneaking these elements into such infectious melodies that you almost miss the head-shaking revelations.
“Work It” is the song to listen to when you’re at the end of your rope and don’t know whether to let go or swing. This song, a swell combination of catchy music and to-the-point lyrics, is a much-needed reminder that life gets better, especially when you’ve got the Philharmonic to listen to.
For those possessing a sense of wanderlust, “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden” tackles the myriad frustrations of international travel, while “Tomatohead Blues” transports one instantly to New Orleans. Get your beads on.
“The Number Song” is another fun kid-oriented tune that offers reminders of Raffi, should he indulge in a shot or two of Cuervo, and “Taoist Vacation with Mashenka” is almost meditative, in a fun sort of way. Imagine meditating with the assistance of a funky guru who makes you smile real wide.
The CD wraps up in fine Philharmonic style with “Everything Can Go Wrong So Easily.” Don’t be fooled by the title. This is a song that will have you so happily lost in its groove you might not notice the world collapsing around you.
Things might go wrong easily, but with such swingin’, groovin’ tunes, who cares?
