Recording: Mad's Happy Music

Artist: Mad's Happy Music

Songs: Plan D + Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) [Beach Boys cover]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #74), December 6, 2022.

Mad's Happy Music - Plan D

Mad's Happy Music - Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

I've seen trumpeter Madeleine Ertel enlisted for quite a few noteworthy local ensembles and was pleasantly surprised to see her also enjoying a sideline in piano pop, so when offered a chance to bring something to TCB I was happy to see her vision combining those threads. Emerging as something of a chamber pop ensemble, this group (with Aline Homzy on violin, Beth Silver on cello, and Alexa Belgrave on keys) played some of Ertel's instumental pieces, but also incorporated her singing as well. Covering Brian Wilson and Antônio Carlos Jobim gives a sense of her ambitions, and her arrangements of self-penned material like "Giving Up Again", which offered some Bacharach vibes, shows she's willing to take on the challenge. Hopefully we'll get more chances to hear further developments in this vein.

You an check out some video from this set over on the TCB youtube playlist:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona tonight (January 3rd) with music from Alex Ven's Ambient Works (featuring Andrew Noseworthy/Alex Ven/Yang Chen/Zain Solinski/Adrian Irvine) and Chapped Lips (Annie Elgie/Patrick O'Reilly/PT Sandberg)]

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Songs: [excerpts from two sets]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), October 27, 2022.

Many People - [set 1 excerpt]

Many People - [set 2 excerpt]

I think "Many People" was at first merely meant as a description of this agglomeration of friends assembled by Karen Ng, but we might as well treat it as a de facto band name. (It turns out that every once in a while, everyone you invite out for a gig is able to make it, when you were only expecting some fraction of them to be able!)

With eight (and later nine) musicians playing, it was unsurprising that there were some crowded honk'n'squeak blastoffs, but for the most part, folks gave each other space, stepping back to let shifting smaller sub-groups stand out and letting the ensemble sections work as texture-knitting rather than volume competition.

The full group consisted of:

• Mark Ballyk - drums
• Ted Crosby - reeds
• Madeleine Ertel - trumpet
• Colin Fisher - guitar
• Andrew Furlong - double bass
• Naomi McCarroll-Butler - sax/flute
• Kaelin Murphy - trumpet/contra-alto clarinet
• Karen Ng - reeds
• Jay Hay - sax/flute (2nd set)

Recording: Madeleine Ertel & Abbey Ertel

Artist: Madeleine Ertel & Abbey Ertel

Songs: Hole in My Chest + I See You

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 12, 2022.

Madeleine Ertel & Abbey Ertel - Hole in My Chest

Madeleine Ertel & Abbey Ertel - I See You

It's always a delight to discover musicians you know playing in a totally different context. I've seen listings promoting Madeleine Ertel in song-singing mode, but hitherto had only seen her on trumpet, playing in Never Was and alongside various friends. This voice + piano set also brought along another discovery in the form of her sister Abbey, an excellent vocalist in her own right, and the pair offered up some sibling chemistry in a selection of originals and covers. Hints of The Roches singing from the Elliott Smith songbook, especially in the first (Madeleine-penned) selection here. There was also some pleasing variety in the set as well, such as the switcheroo for the second pick here (written by Abbey and with her on piano) as well as a guitar excursion from Madeleine and some special guest performances.

Recording: Country Phasers

Artist: Country Phasers

Songs: Most of the Time [Bob Dylan cover] + Blank Lace [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country + Comedy for Communists), May 12, 2022.

Country Phasers feat. Thom Gill - Most of the Time

Country Phasers - Blank Lace [excerpt, part 1]

Country Phasers - Blank Lace [excerpt, part 2]

This version of Kurt Newman's Country Phasers included frequent phasers Andrew Furlong (double bass) and Patrick O'Reilly (guitar) alongside first-timer Madeleine Ertel (trumpet), as well as a special appearance from guitarist Thom Gill, who not only added his usual crafty, subtle tones but also stood up to close out the second set as the group's improvised abstraction coalesced into a spare version of Dylan's "Most of the Time". The first set, meanwhile, was given over to "Blank Lace", Newman's open score that here was rendered in a manner that can be best described as "country ambient". An album version of this, please!

You can check out the full rendition of "Blank Lace" over on youtube:

Recording: Never Was

Artist: Never Was

Song: Pebbles [composer: Madeleine Ertel]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 13, 2022.

Never Was - Pebbles

This group evolved from Joe Sorbara's musical and community building activites when he was presenting "Music By & For Ken Aldcroft", and has continued evolving as performances take shape around members' busy schedules. That means, for example, while Naomi McCarroll-Butler is occupied with other projects, Patrick O'Reilly has been brought in the fold to emboider the tunes with his guitar and effects. Here, you can hear him underpinning trumpeter Madeleine Ertel's piece with a calm bassline before heading off into the stratosphere. Look for the band in the Southern Cross on the second Wednesday of every month.

Recording: Ertel/Harrett/McCarroll-Butler/Sorbara

Artist: Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara

Songs: Untitled [composer: Reknee Harrett] + Pink Eye [composer: Lina Allemano]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 9, 2019.

Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara - Untitled

Madeleine Ertel/Reknee Harrett/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Joe Sorbara - Pink Eye

Returning to town after a couple cycles on the West Coast, Joe Sorbara oversaw the conclusion of the "Music By and For Ken Aldcroft" series before transforming the timeslot to celebrate both presentness and local legacies in a new way. After working on their own book a bit, the plan for this as-yet unnamed new quartet (spotlighting three emerging talents on the local creative music scene) is "to have a guest each month who will add a few original compositions to our book and join us in playing their music to open the night." In a preview of that, the group tried on this Lina Allemano piece in addition to a variety of their own works.

[You can see this group at The Tranzac on the second Wednesday of the month, so next one up will be December 11th.]

Recording: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7

Artist: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music By Harry and Furlong Season 2 Spectacular!), September 25, 2019.

The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 7 - [excerpt]

This self-declared spectacle — which came complete with celebratory cupcakes — was an anniversary party for Andrew Furlong and Harry Vetro's Tranzac residency. As usual, each of them put together an ensemble to play a set. Vetro's shifting ensembles are regularly dubbed a part of his "Search For Eternal Happiness", and this large group brought together most of the players who came together at the series' first outing. This part of the search was less "composed" than some, but there was still the strong shared sense of a game plan, with the crew managing to hold onto a reasonably-layered structure and not just pile sounds on top of other sounds, raising up to a swell worthy of a birthday party.

The full ensemble was:

• Harrison Argatoff (sax)
• Madeleine Ertel (trumpet)
• Ben Frost (flugelhorn)
• Kaelin Murphy (bass trumpet)
• Patrick Smith (sax)
• Meghan Gilhespy (vocals)
• Nick Donovan (drums)
• Patrick O'Reilly (guit)
• Harry Bartlett (guit)
• Caleb Klager (double bass)
• Harrison Vetro (drums)

[Music By Harry and Furlong will continue at The Tranzac on Wednesday, November 27th, with sets from Harry Vetro's Drum Trio (Harry Vetro, Nick Donovan, and Miles Fuller) as well as a duo of Andrew Furlong and Kurt Newman.]

Recording: Bearrah Fawcett

Artist: Bearrah Fawcett

Songs: Improvisation [excerpt] + Intro to The Dog Walk + The Dog Walk

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ornate Presents), June 11, 2019.

Bearrah Fawcett - Improvisation [excerpt]

Bearrah Fawcett - Intro to The Dog Walk

Bearrah Fawcett - The Dog Walk

One cool thing about living in this town is that there are more cool gigs to go to than you could ever have time for. The corresponding downside is that you're going to miss some stuff — and due to those Tuesday night conflicts, it had been a while since I had checked in with the Ornate Presents series at The Tranzac. This night featured a couple sets from the wryly-named Bearrah Fawcett, a casual sort of jazzish group consisting of (at least for this show) Alex Fournier (double bass), Stefan Hegerat (percussion), Rob Grieve (guit) plus Madeline Ertel and Kaelin Murphy up front on trumpets. There was a game plan here, with the group tackling a half-dozen compositions, but there was also room left for some off-script moments as well.

[The next edition of Ornate Presents (on Tuesday, August 13th) features Mike DeiCont offering some solo bass sounds.]