NYROCK
March 22, 2001
Street Beat
Club d'Elf
As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge
(Grapeshot Media/Live Archive)

If you watched the Ken Burn's Jazz special on PBS, you might have thought jazz was headed for the graveyard after ailing for the last 30 or 40 years. But dry your eyes, and don't believe everything you see or hear. Club d'Elf went public in 1998 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, and has slowly and steadily built a following, both on and offstage. Bassist Mike Rivard is the frontman for this free-flowing group, a sort of jazz/trance groove open jam that attracts some major players. You'll hear the pros who've played with Bowie, the Stones, Miles Davis, Sting, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and Ornette Coleman (just to name afew) sitting in and going wild. There's sampling, scratching, and all sorts of aural fireworks across the two CDs here. You tend to lose track of time while listening. And that's way cool.

-Bill Ribas