last night was absolutely one of the most enjoyable concerts i have ever been privileged to see in my 50+ years on this planet.
and I have seldom seen a crowd of faces with such non-stop smiles and looks of awe and rapture for almost 4 hours (hey, there were stage changes...)
yes, both are somewhat on in years, but the musicianship, elegance, presence, and simply awe-inspiring talent of both Jorma and David was magical to experience. Jorma's solo set was understated and magnificent all at once. his rendition/reworking of "Good Shepard" was for me worth the entire price of admission.
Bromberg's band - as always in the decades i've seen him - were superb musicians. when they moved from the intro bluegrass medley into the typical Bromberg-style gritty nasty smokey Chicago blues of Things I Used to Do, the place accelerated into blissed-out.
Jorma solo, Jorma + David, Bromberg Quartet, Jorma + David duet again, and then back comes da band.....
here's a good review with setlist
http://www.philzone.org/discus/messages/439459/659215.html?1308948795 posted on philzone, with a link to short clip of Jorma solo Parchment Farm > KYLTAB
more clips are starting to appear on youtube, you can get a good overview of the solo and duet sets, as well as the smokin Bromberg closer Helpless Blues
look for "jorma fillmore 6-23-2011" and "bromberg fillmore 6-23-2011"
i really hope someone captured Lost My Drivin Wheel and Things I Used to Do.
---
to close with some fun context for the YT vid of set-closer Helpless Blues:
there were a variety of running gags / gaffes thru the show which had to do with the Fillmore & San Francisco-era music history, the presence of a wee bit of sweet-smelling air, and the shall we say medicinal effects of various herbal remedies..... to set the tone, one classic early moment in Jorma's set, in the dim room, a couldn't-be-done-better-by-CGI plume of smoke wafts up from the front rows and ever-so-lazily drifts to Jorma, envelops him, and continues drifting slowly up and back. the sly little smile that appeared on his face was priceless....
later, as Angel Band was preparing to do a tune, Nancy (Josephson, Bromberg's partner) commented to the effect that it seemed many people in the audience were undergoing glaucoma treatment... then the gag continued at various points when certain band members were late in coming back on stage after switchovers, generally being accused of medicating or also having the disease.
David pretty much blew his voice out late in his band's set. when the duets with Jorma started, Bromberg was clearly struggling to get his voice (see again the philzone post regarding the "liquids" moment). they had some back-and-forth about songs, and the amount of time left (it was maybe 25 mins to midnight); Jorma cracked that David had to remember that this was The Fillmore (implying song selection?)...
well, it happened again just before the band was called back on to join David and Jorma for How Long Blues and the last pre-encore track, Helpless Blues (aka Count the Days...): they were a bit slow in getting onstage. and speaking charitably, it appeared that there may have indeed been some alternative therapy taking place offstage.
as the band stumbled back on, Bromberg opined that John Firman (
http://www.johnnynocturne.com/ long-time sax player for DB) was upset that there hadn't been any songs for him to play clarinet..... during the setup of Helpless Blues, Firman slowly sneaks back and stealthily brings up his clarinet out of David's sight.
watch Bromberg's facial reaction as Firman starts his solo.
and remember Jorma's crack about the era of the Fillmore? you might just smile at what David blends in late in the track.
enjoy David rallying his voice for Helpless Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfEMXrNzgNIeven if you weren't there, perhaps this can give you all a smile that we were fortunate to enjoy last night.
thanks to my friend WB for a fine time, and oh, and did i mention? last night's was the best...tastiest...hugest...juciest...Fillmore apple...EVER!
chuck
