Aram Shelton Quartet looks like Fast Citizens but sounds different

by walter tunis — Contributing Music Writer

Posted: 4:59pm on Jul 29, 2010; Modified: 11:35pm on Jul 29, 2010

The Aram Shelton Quartet performs Saturday at Gumbo Ya Ya. PHOTO PROVIDED

  • The week that was

    Peter Case at Natasha's Bistro: Among the many amusing remembrances Peter Case offered during this wild, comprehensive two-hour-plus solo concert was one of his desire as an academic youth in Buffalo, N.Y., to work as a sharecropper or "an itinerant blues musician."

    "I knew I would have trouble getting into the after-school work program with that," he said.

    Along with a reading from his 2006 book, As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport, a whimsical spiritual journey to the Summer of Love taken a few summers too late, the spoken interludes helped to balance a remarkable repertoire of songs that spanned nearly all of Case's career.

    Performing on solo electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar and electric piano, Case meshed story songs with engrossing and often bittersweet narratives (the sublime On the Way Downtown), covers that shifted from rugged blues (Leadbelly's Thirty Days in the Workhouse) to vintage Dylan (Pledging My Time) to even leaner versions of the roots-driven originals from his new album, Wig!, a wonderfully light but still-pensive recasting of The Words in Red.

    Case shuffled it all in true troubadour fashion with a voice that, at times, reflected a slight coarseness of age that only added to his music's literary color. Mostly, though, his singing possessed the animation of an Americanized Robyn Hitchcock in its mix of playfulness and folkish wonder.

    Especially engaging were instances when Case slapped together these disparate influences within the same song. Dig What You're Putting Down (another Wig! original) channeled bits of Elvis Presley (in the segments of the singing), Blind Willie McTell (in the stage banter) and early ZZ Top (in the appropriately Southern-drenched guitar fuzz).

    Similarly, the wistful First Light jumped out of romantic waters to reel in verses from Bukka White's Fixin' to Die Blues, and the show-closing Memphis snapshot Walkin' Home Late incorporated a soulful detour through Eddie Hinton's You Got Me Singing.

    Case was derailed from touring for nearly all of 2009 because of cardiac surgery, but his expansive performance wasn't merely a return to form. It was an artistic affirmation from a crafty, learned and powerfully resourceful American music original.

Aram Shelton Quartet

8 p.m. July 31 at Gumbo Ya Ya in the Bar Lexington complex, 367 E. Main. $5. (859) 523-9292.

What happens when a Fast Citizen decides to cool his stride a little? For tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Aram Shelton, that means working with bandmates in his former hometown while living at the opposite end of the country. It also means establishing fresh musical directions.

Let's rewind. Just before Christmas, Shelton — a veteran of vibrant Chicago jazz now living in Oakland, Calif. — was onstage at Gumbo Ya Ya with Fast Citizens. The group is an indie jazz collective centered in Chicago that shifts leadership roles with every album. Last winter was Shelton's turn as chief Fast Citizen.

Friendships new and old within the band, and the desire to attempt a performance project that was a touch smaller, led to the formation of the Aram Shelton Quartet. That lineup — Shelton, fellow Fast Citizens Keefe Jackson (tenor saxophone) and Anton Hatwich (bass), and Marc Riordan (who subbed for the band's usual drummer, Frank Rosaly, on last winter's tour) — plays Gumbo Ya Ya on Saturday night.

"We definitely have a friendship," Shelton said recently from his home in Oakland. "I think that's what's coming through musically. We're supporting each other. We've known each other for almost a decade. Even though we haven't lived in the same space for a few years now, it's still a classic case of picking up the conversation where you left off."

Such camaraderie carries over to These Times, the quartet's newly released debut recording. The album draws from the compositional strengths and improvisational invention of Fast Citizens, but it also opens up the music.

For example, a patient, almost hushed drum serenade from Riordan sets up the blue-tinged Relief, and the minute-long blast of solo bass bliss by Hatwich on Rise and Set sets up a contemplative Coltrane-like mood. Especially telling, though, is the animated harmony that ignites Rings and An Interrupted Stroll when Shelton and Jackson play off each other.

"I never really enjoyed playing with other saxophonists much," Shelton said. "I always thought that was doing too much of the same thing. In a small group, a quartet, it seemed a little redundant. But in this group, it's really fun to play with Keefe. Our styles complement each other because we're different."

One thing that hasn't changed from Fast Citizens is the challenge presented when a band chieftain lives in one city while the rest of the group resides in another. Shelton said a little prioritizing keeps an ensemble spirit vital and alive with his Chicago mates.

"Whenever I'm in Chicago, I'm just a lot more focused. I can block out the other distractions. When you live in the same city as everyone else in your band, things can kind of get pushed off to the side. The good thing about doing the project from a distance, I guess, is that it's a lot more focused. There is an urgency that can really push you along."

Prophet sharing

Great Americana song stylist Chuck Prophet, whose springtime concert at Cosmic Charlie's stands as one of the most seriously rocking performances this year, is back in town Sunday. This time, Prophet brings the songs from his extraordinary 2009 album Let Freedom Ring and more to the intimate Natasha's Bistro, 112 Esplanade (8 p.m., $12). Call (859) 259-2754 or go to www.beetnik.com. Consider this one a must-see.

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