|
AllAboutJazz.com: Club d’Elf: Mystery, Science, Theater (added 8/06)
-Chris M. Slawecki
Club d'Elf is a Boston-based band led by bassist Mike Rivard. They've just released three two-CD live sets - recorded at the Knitting Factory in New York City in 2000, at Vassar College Chapel in 2001 and in Athens, GA, in 2002 - on Kufala Records. These are just about the only simple statements you can make about Club d'Elf. What kind of band is Club d'Elf? What sort of music do they play? Ummmm…
article source | link to this article
Crazewire Review of Club d’Elf: Live 3/28/02, Athens, GA, Georgia Theater
A visit to a haunted house where you’re served berries that taste metallic and let you see music as colors. Club d’Elf represents the continued emergence of electronic music in the live setting. Reeves Gabrels (guitar), John Medeski (keyboards), Mat Maneri (electric violin), Mister Rourke (turntables), Brahim Fribgane (oud, voice, percussion), Eric Kalb (drums) and center pillar Mike Rivard (bass) are all high brow, big eared musicos playing something akin to skunky Jack Johnson Miles Davis flavored with the chop-and-cut of modern electric instrumentals. Think the Talking Heads’ Remain In Light stripped of the vocals and peppered with samples from David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.
article source | link to this article
Boston Phoenix Show Review: 7-14 MFA, Boston, MA
-Jon Garelick
A groove-based band like Club d’Elf depend on varied textures and strong soloing to avoid monotony. That’s why it’s so remarkable that the band’s three recent double CDs on the live-concert-specialist Kufala label are consistently compelling. At the MFA’s Concerts in the Courtyard event on Bastille Day, Club d’Elf were sometimes less than compelling, but the high points were very high indeed.
article source | link to this article
Jambands.com Show Review: 5-26 Tonic, NYC
-Jesse Jarnow
In the first half of the 20th century, jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong toured with ever-morphing orchestras comprised of the finest players of the day. Mike Rivard's Club d'Elf revives that tradition, albeit on a smaller scale, for the early 21st. Foraying only occasionally from Rivard's native Boston, the band's lineup for their recent jaunt to Manhattan's Tonic included regulars like turntablist Mister Rourke and percussionist Brahim Fribgane, as well as local buddies keyboardist John Medeski and guitarist Marc Ribot.
article source | link to this article
AllAboutJazz.com Review: Live: Vassar Chapel 2/26/01
-Nils Jacobson
Boston area bassist Mike Rivard has led a running jam at the Lizard Lounge for over five years now, which is an impressive tenure for such an exploratory project. Club d'Elf, as the adventure is known, released its double-disc debut, As Above, in 2001 to critical acclaim; this year's output includes three (count 'em, three) more double-disc live sets recorded live in Athens, GA; New York City; and Poughkeepsie, NY, respectively. The ultra-low budget packaging leaves something to be desired, but the contents are infinitely more important.
article source | link to this article
TimeOutNY.com: Heads Up
Led by bassist Mike Rivard (formerly of Either/Orchestra, Morphine and the Story), Boston collective Club D'Elf begins in the gray area between Live Dead and Get Up with It and heads for uncharted territory on its newly issued Live Vassar Chapel 2/26/01 (Kufala). That set benefits from the contributions of oud player Brahim Fribgane and violinist Mat Maneri, neither of whom will be on hand tonight; still, with John Medeski making a return visit and friends like Marc Ribot and Adam Deitch dropping by, plenty of sparks should fly.
link to this article
|