Ronald Shannon Jackson Dallas 7/7/12

[CraigP]

An appreciative crowd of around 90-100 saw Ronald Shannon Jackson fight through an atrocious sound mix to bring the noise Saturday night in Dallas. Appearing at the historic Kessler Theatre, Jackson unveiled a new version of his Decoding Society, with only Melvin Gibbs a holdover from previous incarnations.

The night opened with some intense verses from national poetry slam champion Janean Livingston, speaking truth to power to those who could embrace the storms she unleashed. To those suckas who couldn't, better go find your momma.

This new Society began their set with Wayne Shorter's Deluge, off the JuJu album. This was as straight-ahead as things got, as remaining compositions were by Jackson and his band, veering between atmospheric, almost meditative pieces and those with his brand of harmolodics. Jackson has always had a pronounced rock feel to his playing, and this was on full display. At 72, the man can still play the hell out of the drums. The standout among his band was trumpeter John Wier, who combined great articulation with the ability to generate forward momentum, even on tunes with relatively static backdrops.

The biggest disappointment for me was someone I thought would be the biggest asset, at least on paper, and that was Melvin Gibbs. His bass was way too high in the mix, which wasn't his fault, but he turned on a fuzz device for his solos which flattened everything in its path. I know he was playing notes, because I could see his fingers move, but only noise was produced. Still, the crowd seemed to dig what he was doing.

The band played Gibb's Howard Beach Memoirs, originally done by Power Tools with Bill Frisell on their Strange Meeting album, and finished with a bang with Jackson's Bloodlife. All said, it was a solid performance by the band, who with a little tightening could prove to be a worthy addition to the lineage of The Decoding Society.

P.S. As an added bonus I was finally able to meet Mr. Dennis Gonzalez, who was there with his sons.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Thanks for the review, CraigP! You've brought another perspective to my view of the great event last night.

I have some comments to add to your words, and 2 pictures (with explanations). It was a quick pleasure to meet you and speak for a sec, and then we were both off to the main listening room at The Kessler.

The first element of the bad mix was, unfortunately, Shannon's messing with his microphone...but I didn't mind the feedback. The second element: The amp that Melvin was using was my son Aaron's, and we figured (after hearing soundcheck) that the amp was overtweaked by Melvin at the last minute, because the sound was different at the start of the concert. I think he liked the feel of the loud sound against his body, and so he really turned it up. Aaron just paid $500 a month ago before tour to get it re-tubed and tuned up, and the monster was blasting, wasn't it? I hope we don't have to pay $500 again for it again after last night.

The trumpet player was fabulous. He knows his jazz literature and even quoted from "Jean Pierre" by Miles Davis. He was off-mike a bit, and with the volume from the band, it was hard to turn him up any more without feeding back.

All that said, Shannon had said that the new version of the band was going to be more subtle, "after all we grow up and mature a bit". The new melodies are beautiful, and the leadership of Gregg Prickett in helping conduct the band from behind his guitar was incredible.

So...a picture of Shannon at his rebirth last night:


And of Melvin with Gregg, who was sharing with me last Thursday his nervousness about being the new Decoding Society guitarist. Gregg plays in Stefan's (my son's) Unconscious Collective trio and has played in Chicago for a bit, but this is his first international-level supergroup gig...we're all really blown away by his playing last night:

[CraigP]

Thanks for the background, Dennis. I figured something must have changed after the soundcheck. Yes, the whole band was great, and my wife felt I should have mentioned the violinist, Leonard Hayward. Maybe we can call him The New Wizard! (After Frank Lowe's first album, when the violin player was identified as " The Wizard."

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Hayward was the wizard, alright! Very fine playing.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

BTW...

[CraigP]

Thanks for the heads-up, glad it got reviewed. There was a mention at the show of a Kickstarter campaign for a new recording, but nothing's up at their site as of yet.

[Melvin Gibbs]

The bass was under control during soundcheck. I didn't change a thing after soundcheck, didn't turn up for the show.

What did change was Shannon's announcement/flute mic.
That mic was live in the middle of the front of the stage for the whole gig. Muting that mic when it wasn't needed would've kept the standing waves
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...es/standw.html
from taking over, which would've helped the bass and the violin as well.

As far as my onstage sound, I stand by that.

People are certainly entitled to their opinions as far as music is concerned.
I just wanted to clarify some things.

[CraigP]

Thanks for posting, Mr. Gibbs. I had a feeling there were sound issues beyond your control. For what it's worth, someone sitting in the balcony said the sound was much better up there. I just think that you were flying on that bass, and the fuzz effect took a lot of nuance away. I wanted to hear every note.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

I stand corrected, Melvin. The person who told me must have needed an excuse for whatever happened to the sound...

FWIW, the amp was in perfect condition after the show, and was run at a good volume.