75 Dollar Bill Little Big Band - Live At Tubby’s 2 x vinyl lps (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
28-GPFT103.1
75 Dollar Bill is the wonderful band (ranging in size from the core duo to much larger lineups) of percussionist Rick Brown, formerly of V-Effect, Curlew, Fish & Rose, etc and guitarist Che Chen.
It's a really great; it's different from but absolutely in the same kind of league and sound as Horse Lords, taking aspects of the Theatre Of Eternal Music idea into rock territory!
This live recording has the largest version of the band yet and it’s pretty glorious.
Rick Brown: plywood crate, percussion, funnel horns
Che Chen: guitars, violin, cowbell
Sue Garner: bass guitar
Cheryl Kingan: alto and baritone saxophones
Steve Maing: guitar
Jim Pugliese: drums, cymbals, bells, shakers
Karen Waltuch: viola
"At the beginning of March, just as the first signs of the COVID-19 pandemic were starting to appear in the Northeast, Rick and I did a short run of shows in Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, and the Hudson Valley. We ended the tour at Tubby’s in Kingston, NY, which turned out not only to be the last show of the tour, but our last show for the foreseeable future. Amherst College had completely shut down its campus within days of our concert there, and New York City’s infection rate started exploding shortly after we returned home. There’s a bittersweetness to these recordings in this context. People have lost their lives, their livelihoods--which is certainly true of many musicians and “gig workers” we know--and we’re often cut off from the ones we love. No one really knows how long it’ll be before live shows will be able to happen again. And while I’m heartened by all the ways that people are finding to stay connected and keep music alive online, listening to this recording really brings home all of the reasons that playing music with people that I love, in a room full of people who are vibing off that energy and projecting it back at us, is so important to me.
It was one of those gigs that had just the right balance of energy, atmosphere and that little bit of chaos required to allow everything to fall into place. It was our first time at Tubby’s, an unassuming little bar we’d been hearing nothing but good things about, one of those places where you can tell the owners are probably nice people because everyone that works there is a nice person too. It’s a warm, worn in spot that reminded me a lot of Troost, the tiny Greenpoint cafe where the band cut its teeth in its early days, only wider. With Kingston being so close to the city, and some of our friends and frequent collaborators now living in nearby Poughkeepsie, Rick and I had put out the call to see how many members of our “little big band” we could get to come join us for the show. A few couldn’t make it because of schedules or impractical distances (we missed you Barry, Talice and Andrew!), but we were able to assemble the septet with Sue, Jim, Karen, Cheryl, Steve, Rick and I that you hear here. Two percussionists, two guitarists, electric bass, saxophone and viola. We hadn’t rehearsed, but everybody knew the tunes and I like to think our lack of preparation lent a spontaneous, if occasionally ragged, charm to the proceedings. The gift of getting on the bandstand with lovely players like these.”-Che Chen
- LabelGrapefruit
- UPC600197610312