Tuesday Jam - It's a miracle!

report filed 6/9/00 7:10 am est - Got another dose of live music at Peasants on Tuesday. One of the hottest jamband clubs in the country, Peasants is just a quick roll down the road from the Anytime/Anywhere Studio's new location here in Greenville, N.C. It's a good thing. No, make that a very good thing. Lots of the best HGMN bands flow through there.

Case in point - Tuesday night. Didn't even know it until a few hours before the show, but the Miracle Orchestra, a band we've enjoyed listening to for a while now but hadn't yet seen, was in town. Thanks to our kind buds at HGMN HQ for the info!

Based out of Boston, the Miracle Orchestra is an outstanding quartet with serious jazz chops. The MO's hard boppin' vibe starts with Garrett Sayers on bass. The guy is a monster! Usually frenetic but occasionally ethereal, Sayers is a relentless bottom end rumbler who slips up and down the neck of his fretless ax to craft complex yet compelling bass lines... think Jaco Pastorious meets Jack Casady.

And the rest of the band is just as impressive. Sayers' rhythm partner, Bill Carbone is all business on drums. An efficient time keeper with a knack for funked up backbeats, Carbone is just as solid in free space jams, stretching an underlying percussive canvas for the horn and guitar to color in and texture. Plenty-o-skill here.

Guitarist Geoff Scott brings an understated, balanced attack, at times filling spaces typically explored by keyboard players. In addition to a very strong rhythm sense, Scott occasionally lets loose and rips a solo of head turning proportions. Which brings us to Jared Sims on sax. Melodic, passionate and rich in tone, Sims' steady stream of high grade horn lines rounds out the MO's sophisticated and dynamic sound.

The Miracle Orchestra is currently on the road, so if you get the chance, go check out this excellent band! Look for a review of The Miracle Orchestra's new CD, Live Volume One in next week's update.

In other news: managed to pound out a couple of articles this week. Banjo Beethoven is a feature on the incomparable Bela Fleck, and Solo Salvation takes a look into the world of guitar phenom, Tim Reynolds. No CD reviews this time, but we've geared up production on that front and should have some next week. We've also been assigned to do a feature on all the animosity among the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and whether or not it's tarnishing the Dead's legacy - look for that next time as well.

Keller Williams is playing at Peasants tonight and if everything works out, we'll post photos of the show next week when the adventure in music journalism continues...