~
GroWiser ~
Ball & Chain
CD pamphlet back
photo by Styrous®
One
of the perks of living in a major metropoitan area is the chance
operation that puts one in touch with amazing things, events, people,
art and, of course, music.
I experienced one of those perks yesterday at the
Old Oakland Farmer's Market where I met three members of the group
GroWiser performing.
I had a fantastic time listening to their music and talking to the keybordist and leader, Hubert Emerson,
saxophonist,
Sahar Imani Miller and Ralph Eutsey on
congas.
Man! Can Miller wail out a tune on that sax! They also did some
mellow tunes in which she "crooned" her way into my heart. Like
Sugar, I've always been a sucker for the
saxophone;
Woody Herman in the forties,
Earl Bostic,
Charlie Parker &
Sonny Rollins in the fifties,
Ornette Coleman,
John Coltrane &
Dexter Gordon in the sixties,
Stan Getz,
Grover Washington, Jr. in the seventies and of course, in the eighties,
John Zorn.
Emerson told me his group had been performing at the market for decades but for some reason I had missed him and this was my first encounter with them.
Ralph Eutsey, Hubert Emerson & Sahar Imani Miller
photo by Styrous®
I bought several of their CDs, a couple of which they autographed for me. I'll write about the albums as I listen to them.
GroWiser ~
Ball & Chain
CD pamphlet cover
photographers unknown
photo of cover by Styrous®
The group's music is a fusion of jazz, blues, funk and maybe a hint of soul. They played a beautiful song,
Hungry Eyes, (not to be confused with the song of the same name by
Eric Carmen) that is a knockout (
link below)! I could easily imagine moving in ecstacy to it when I was younger and in a dance club. The song is on the
Tears of God album, which I bought and will write about at a later date after I've listened to it.
GroWiser ~
Ball & Chain
CD case
photo by Styrous®
There is a video of them during a recording session of
Middle of the Night, from the
Don't Look Back album, and
Out On the Town from at the
Jingletown Studios in Oakland on YouTube (
link below). Miller totally wails out on sax as well as sings in it.
The
Jingletown Studios was the next block down from my studio. It was founded by the members of
Green Day. There were many rock groups who recorded there, the
heavy metal band from
Oakland,
Machine Head, the
rock band from
San Jose,
Smash Mouth,
Iggy Pop, as well as
Green Day. There are a couple of videos by
audio engineer,
videographer, and
musician Chris Dugan about the studios (
link below).
The last I heard, the studios were up for sale. Before it was turned into a recording studio, the building had been gutted in a massive fire in 2006.
I haven't had time to listen to the
GroWiser albums I bought yesterday but judging from the fantastic time I had listening to them perform, I look forward to many hours of blissful listening.
GroWiser ~
Ball & Chain
CD
photo by Styrous®
Viewfinder link:
Net links:
YouTube links:
~
~