Well it’s not Caveau de la Huchette, but Sunset-Sunside is a great place to see a jazz show, especially if you want to sit close enough to the stage to read the music off the guitar player’s stand! We were lucky to catch the album release show for The Pull by Karl Jannuska (of Manitoba Canadian-fame now living in Paris). The show was very good.
Just how close to the stage?
A complete version of Unsung (track 11 on The Pull).
Karl is an absolutely outstanding drummer.
This guitarist is also astoundingly good. Revel in his finger work and tasty, subtle melody stitches (partial).
A jam (partial) from Picture Perfect, track 6 from The Pull.
The piano player (who also worked on the recording in an important capacity) held down the bass. This was by far the trickiest part of the gig and mostly worked. Seeing Karl preside over the rhythm section with a real bass player would be a dream.
I know the challenge of having recorded tracks that you perfected in the studio in your head that are nigh on impossible to redo live due to the two instruments problem. Sometimes I switch back and forth inside of one song when performing. At least piano players get two hands.
So What’s Next?, track 2 on The Pull, featured an outstanding release jam reminiscent of Miles’ Bitches Brew tracks. Watching this happen live really makes me want to grab my fiddle and hop in.
The sound guy spent a bit too much time recording and not enough watching what was going on. But I’m sure those were his marching orders.
Track 13 from The Pull, Unfiltered Life (complete) features some excellent guitar work from the other guitarist (whose back we watched). In this track he channels Andy Summers. I like this live version better than the recorded track, mostly because there were points when things got iffy and the band persisted).
For the third set, we moved out front.
For a last minute, “lets just pop the TGV to Paris early” plan, attending this show was absolutely lucky as hell. Thanks Karl for a very memorable evening. May we cross paths again.
Get a copy of The Pull from Bandcamp here. You won’t regret it.
