So I’ve been counting down a dozen (or so) of my favorite shows I caught this year around the country and I decided to break this into two parts, just to make it easier to navigate.
Here I’m counting down from 6 to 1.
I’ve also decided to flip the order, and a reminder, these are numbered in chronological order.
You can check out shows No. 7 to 12 here.
This post will be active until I get down to 1 — or, as I’ve teased, one last show, completing a Baker’s Dozen — so come back or look for updates on my social media channels at Instagram and Facebook. I’m trying to rap up this countdown by the end of the year.
John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood), Jorge Servin (A Love Electric), Todd Clouser (A Love Electric) and Mark Joseph (The Big Wu) jammed in a back yard in Saint on a perfect September evening.
PHOTOS BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
No. 6 Medeski, Clouser, Joseph and Servin, private backyard, Saint Paul, Minn., Sept. 15
Icehouse is one of the gems of the Minneapolis music scene, in part for creating the kind of space where legendary organist John Medeski — of Medeski, Martin & Wood — has been collaborating for years with Saint Paul native Todd Clouser, a guitarist based in Mexico and drummer JT Bates, in an epic convening of experimental, jazzy minds.
This time, the performance was moved to a private backyard in the Como Park neighborhood of Saint Paul.
I published a more extensive photo gallery of the show here.
Bates was on tour with Bonny Light Horseman, which opened the door for Clouser bringing along A Love Electric bandmate and drummer Jorge Servin and adding as special guest The Big Wu’s Mark Joseph.
Joseph brought the dirty blues as the group meddled in the organ funk as dusk settled in front of no more than 70 attendees. Everyone shined as Medeski wailed on a Hammond owned by keyboardist Eddie “Hondo” Juntunen of White Iron Band.
The original trio has played Icehouse together several times, also producing one live LP, 2017’s You The Brave: Live at Icehouse, and, this year, an original LP, Flowerchild, which was released in May.
This long-time collaboration between these three amazing musicians is the gift that keeps on giving.
And, seriously, props to Bates and Icehouse for curating a venue that’s hosted top-level musicians such as Skerik’s Bandalabra, Charlie Hunter Trio, or the upcoming LaMP (Scott Lawson, Scott Metzger and Ray Paczkowski) gig on March 18 (get tickets here).