2014’s greatest moment was the three song opening to the Tomas Doncker Band’s Big Apple Blues, a crescendo of an intro followed by the title track, then the beautiful Stonesy “Can’t Say No” and finally “The New Day”. But when it comes to performing live on stage they like to keep “The New Day” in their pocket. The best political song since Regina Spektor’s “Ink Stain” from 2009, is performed later and is the heart through the heart of the Iridium.
But before the Doncker Band could get to the heart of the matter, Manu Koch And Filtron M performed 35 minutes of percussive driven funk and jazz quite unlike their excellent 2014 EP Mandatory Underground quasi new ambient jazz dalliance. Bassist Panagiotis Andreou, drummer Mauricio Zottarelli and percussionist Sebastian Nickoll joined the excellent pianist and keyboard player Manu Koch to perform very beat bound, very thrilling music. Panagiotis foregoes words for scatting and the entire first song explodes on you as it goes from soft to loud. Everything here works just as well but it is Manu’s astounding dexterity on “Labyrinth”, his fingers lightning fast, that stops you in your tracks as he works with three keyboards. Kanun (“a 26 courses of strings, with three strings per course, played on the lap by plucking the strings” -per wikipedia) master Tamer Pinarbasi from Turkey started the third song with a very lovely and delicate Harp like sound until the notes evolve and evolve and the band turn it into a Middle Eastern jam session. Let’s hope the underground doesn’t remain mandatory much longer.
A female friend on Facebook had dubbed Tomas “hot” the other day and he certainly exudes a rough hewn sexuality, tall and strong , in a pork pie hat, he commands the stage, expecting and insisting upon and audience reaction and getting indignant when no one kinda got his Jim Croce – Howlin’ Wolf reference (the only thing I can think of is some South Chicago connection)! The 50 minute set (the first of two, I missed the second) was a power blast. With the exception of a lovely “Sweet Emily” off The Mercy Suite (Doncker’s earlier collaboration with poet Yusef Komunyakaa, who is here tonight) this was one explosion of blues after another, with the entire band hitting the stage with their foot on the throttle and not letting up. The last three songs were amazing, the best version of “Back Door Man” you’ll ever hear, all rumble and danger, was followed by Doncker introducing “The New Day” with a personal exposition on “The Great Migration” before tearing at the song, the band seemed to chomp their way through, if they were preaching they were hell fire preaching, “sinner come home to Jesus” changed from an invitation to a demand, and the final song of the set “Fun City” with a fabulous sax which sounded an awful lot like Doncker’s demanding growl. It was disco gone bad. “Shall we go back…” Doncker asked before getting really funky on an extended coda.
The set seemed incomplete in a sense, it needed more down time. But the reason is obvious, essentially I saw half of the full evening, and that makes the second time I ‘ve felt I haven’t gotten the full experience, I want a 120 minute show. Where is “Peace Is Not Fiction” and “Abet Gurage” from Power Of The Trinity? Inside Out (his first solo album) isn’t even on Spotify, “Lucky Day” is Tomas’s own but should be on his upcoming cover album and makes a better closer than a Nick Lowe cover ever shall, the Marla Mase co-written track (also not on Spotify for some reason) “Piece Of Peace” should be heard. Plus where is”Kong”, which should hit the halfway mark with a bang. Surely “Fun City” should follow that (it feels like the band’s “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”). One more complaint, this band needs techs to keep everything moving, the long break almost stalls the segue between “Sweet EMily and “Back Door Man” and “The New Day”.
Actually, why dick around, TDB are ready for theatres and they are still playing clubs, they need the room and the time to really blow us away, they certainly have the musicians and the capability of doing so: they were better at NJPAC for that (and because they were turning on teenagers and college kids to the blues) exact reason. The Iridium is a lovely room but it sure ain’t the Beacon Theatre, which is exactly where we need to see them next.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, The Tomas Doncker Band are the best in town and if you have never seen them, you are missing the sound of nyc in 2015. They are always playing (they just completed a residency at Duet Brasserie) and check here for more info,.
Grade: B+
