Seeing music in (usually small) rooms with like-minded people has – for my adult life and a few years before – been the art form I’ve thrown myself into with the most gusto, where I’ve met the largest groups of my dearest friends, and the most constant source of picking me up and putting me back together when I’ve been down.
So, the return to that energy, that joy, that magic – even in modified forms, with fewer artists back on the road – was a balm and a beachhead against so much despair this year. It’s unsurprising of the 75ish nights I found myself in a room soaking up some sounds, Dick’s Den saw me the most often at 13 times as of last night.
Dick’s is also where I found myself, against a wall, talking to old friend and drummer Pauly Abbott, about that surge of energy from people I was used to seeing at shows then didn’t see at all when things switched to live streaming. I am eternally grateful for the close friends I’d see on one of our lawns or a coffeeshop patio, but my extroverted nature craved those next concentric circles of people. Friends I have real love for and who add vital color to my life even if our friendships are more situational in nature. Thank you all, whether you read this or not.
That’s also not to overlook the streams that kept giving me a little taste of music happening, music unwilling to be stopped. It was a little bittersweet when the regular streaming series of John Paul Keith and Jesse Malin came to an end, I’m glad ongoing series from Goner Records in Memphis and SFJAZZ in San Francisco persist, and I hope we’ll find a way to keep making these available for people who can’t get to a show as easily.
I don’t know what happens next, but I’m profoundly, jubilantly grateful for everything listed below, and far more shows than this best-of-the-best 20. Everything is in chronological order. In Columbus unless otherwise specified. All photographs taken (with varying degrees of ineptitude) by me.
- Jerry Wolf, The Top Steakhouse, 04/24/2021 (and other nights) – The first indoor dining Anne and I treated ourselves to was classic steakhouse and cocktail bar The Top. One of the signature pleasures of this gently-updated since the ‘50s room is the curved piano bar in the corner, where we always try to either start or end up with one of their perfect martinis or manhattans; three of those nights we were lucky enough to have Columbus jazz and cabaret legend Jerry Wolf rain down pure, icepick-in-the-heart beauty. An encyclopedic array of songs – I’d ask for “Try to Remember” for Anne or her mom and he’d expand it into a bouquet of songs from The Fantasticks; I’d mention Cole Porter and for the next ten minutes, he’d build intricate harmonic bridges from “Just One of Those Things” through “Don’t Fence Me In” onward to “Night and Day.” And he’d take requests from folks with less interest in standards than I have – one night we heard a surprisingly spry, sparkling “Hotel California” waft over the tables – but just getting to appreciate one of the masters of this art, of this love, of the middle 20th century American song, is something I treasured every minute of and anyone in Columbus should avail themselves of at least once.
- Reigning Sound, Harbor Town Amphitheater, 06/05/2021, and Railgarten (Gonerfest), both Memphis, 09/24/2021 – We already had plans for a beach house recharge trip with dear friends the following week of June but the confluence of surprisingly cheap flights and the opportunity to make the last band we saw out of town – in Cleveland the same weekend the first cases of COVID were identified in Ohio – the first band we saw out of town, in their hometown of Memphis, for just one additional vacation day was too tempting to pass up. Still cautiously placed in an outdoor amphitheater we’d never visited on our trips to town, Anne and I were treated to a dazzling set from an expanded Reigning Sound – the classic four-piece lineup of Greg Cartwright on guitar and vocals, Jeremy Scott on bass and harmonies, Greg Roberson on drums and percussion, Alex Greene on organ and guitar, augmented by Graham Winchester on drums and percussion, John Whittemore on various guitars and pedal steel, cellist Elen Wroten, violinist Krista Wroten, and Cartwright’s Parting Gifts partner Coco Hames on additional vocals – hitting most of their joyous, sun-drenched 2021 release A Little More Time With Reigning Sound – and more classics than I had the right to expect, in interesting arrangements. When we saw them again three months later – with that same lineup, but with Marcella Simien in place of Hames – there was the added magic of Gonerfest sprinkled over everything, gorgeous weather, and a dancing crowd, but I still remember the sigh of relief on that rainy June afternoon.
- The Veldt, Pour House, Raleigh, 06/12/2021 – We bookended that trip with an overnight in Raleigh. The best part of that stop was seeing old friend and mentor Rich Dansky on his home turf for the first time in years, but I also found time to be stunned by a set from reunited shoegaze-soul band The Veldt at the terrific venue/record store combo Pour House. A sticky afternoon and songs I didn’t know that hit everything I want in a band. Pure, rejuvenating magic.
- Brett Burleson Quartet, Dick’s Den, 07/02/2021 – Brett’s not only a friend but a pillar of the jazz scene here in town I love so much. This was one of the first trips back to Dick’s, along with a Rhinestone Quartet show a couple weeks earlier Brett also played in, where everything felt right. A whirlwind of love: hugging old friends, watching no-bullshit jazz played so directly and passionately it moved crowds to press against the stage and throw each other around the dance floor. Around midnight, the throbbing rhythm section of Will Strickler on bass and Antoine Fatout on drums locked into Monk’s “Rhythm-a-ning” and Brett’s guitar and Eddie Bayard’s tenor took us into the eye of a delirious hurricane. Every one of the other six or seven times I’ve seen these gentlemen on a stage has given me a few of those moments, and this reminder sank right into my bones.
- Sylvia Cuenca Quintet, Smalls, NYC, 07/16/2021 – Much as I missed that feeling of jazz in a room with people who appreciate the magic of those moments being captured, the beauty of how fleeting it is, I have a special affection for it in New York City, the cradle of most of the jazz I’ve grown up loving. So, it’s no surprise not only would Anne and I make New York one of our first stops after being vaccinated, but jazz would be a key component of that return. This trip to Smalls, always a firecracker of a time, featured a riveting hard bop set from drummer Sylvia Cuenca leading a quintet of rhythm section partners Dave Kikoski on piano and Essiet Essiet on bass behind a smoldering frontline of Craig Handy and Freddie Hendrix.
- Kim Richey, Natalie’s Grandview, 07/30/2021 – Natalie’s usually features heavily in this list and 2021 is no exception – with one of the roughest hands dealt a venue (not that it’s ever a competition), Natalie and Charlie Jackson had just opened their larger Grandview location and they were working out the kinks when everything shut down. Kim Richey was one of the many acts I hadn’t seen since Little Brothers closed, and this set commemorating the belated 20th anniversary of the record that turned me onto her and the first tour of hers I saw, Glimmer, summed up everything I keep going to singer-songwriter shows for. Accompanied by a lead guitarist – I wrote the name as “Sam” but didn’t catch the last name – she hit most of that record, along with stories about some of her co-writers like frequent Natalie’s visitor Chuck Prophet and some other stone-cold favorites of mine. Watching her lean into “Chase Wild Horses,” curling those lines like a beckoning, “I’m all done running from the way I was before. Things I’ve done that I ain’t proud of, I can’t even stand the sound of; I still hear them knocking at my door,” pinballed through my body as I walked down King Avenue into the night.
- Huntertones, Natalie’s Grandview, 08/07/2021 – Columbus’s current most prominent local-kids-made-good story, jazz-jam band the Huntertones have been impressing me since they were college students here under the name the Dan White Sextet, and it’s a pleasure to not only see them setting New York and the wider jam scene on fire but also watch their music get more expansive and more in tune with who they are and who they want to be. This homecoming show – I caught the afternoon of their three gigs – was a delightful callback and a reminder of the joy of everyone being together, underlined by an impassioned speech from reeds player White between songs about the energy exchange between band and audience. The touching love everyone on stage had for everyone else lit that room up like a paper lantern, burning through my hangover and making my heart pump a little harder to tunes like “Burns” with its sun-dappled pop-funk textures mingling with second line crunch; a classic quiet storm number turning into a storm of robot bees with angular improvisation; and a gnarled, righteously boozy Chris Ott trombone solo with White and Jon Lampley throwing harmonies off it that sounded like a war cry for the party just around the corner.
- The Three Speeds, Vanderelli Room/Paisha, Secret Studio; 08/14/2021 – Coming out of the last lockdown, a little shell-shocked, I was heartened to see venues springing up and working together. One of my favorite examples of that synchronicity was Franklinton art gallery pillar, Vanderelli Room, creating an outdoor stage for a fun, raucous concert series, and then coordinating it with neighbors, and more recent Franklinton residents, Secret Studio, so the two complimented each other instead of competing. That led to one of my favorite days of the summer. First, Columbus rock lifers The Three Speeds, fronted by guitarist/singer Matt Wyatt, with his brother Chris on second guitar and harmonies, and one of my favorite rock rhythm sections (as people and as players) Gene Brodeur and Eddie Blau, churned through a set of raw, catchy-nasty classic punk rock. Over at Secret Studio, Paisha Thomas, performing and recording as Paisha, had one of those sets where everything just clicked for me. She’s long been one of my favorite voices in Columbus, but I didn’t vibe with the songs as much as the voice and the charisma, this time everything fired at the same level. A tight sympathetic band of local legends – Stan Smith on guitar, Steve Perakis on bass, Danny Aguiar on drums – helped, but it was entirely Paisha’s show. When I see a singer do one of my all-time, 20th century favorite songs, Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone to Love,” so well it at once becomes the benchmark I set that song against, and I’m still raving about their own songs later that night, it’s a special, special show.
- Tony Monaco Quartet, Woodlands Tavern, 08/14/2021 and other dates – Tony Monaco’s one of the great ambassadors of the grooving Columbus B-3 tradition (with Bobby Floyd being the other). Through playing with nationally-renowned greats like Joey DeFrancesco, regular touring of Japan, and building bridges to younger bands and audiences through years of residencies at non-jazz venues. He was one of the first acts I saw after getting vaccinated, in a trio with drummer Tony McClung and saxophone maestro Eddie Bayard, and I saw him as recently as this past weekend, always delivering, reading the crowd and tweaking his approach to the audience without pandering and changing the core of who he is. The packed Saturday night dancefloor in one of our best sounding clubs, as pal John Turck (also a keyboardist and bandleader) said, “I knew he’d be funky, you couldn’t not here.” With longstanding foils Derek DiCenzo on guitar, Randy Mather on tenor, and Louis Tsamous on drums. Digging into the repertoire of B-3 classics like Jimmy Smith and mingling them with floor-shakers like an extended, shimmering read on Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and a griding, artfully chopped take on the Booker T and the MGs classic “Green Onions.” I barely stopped moving for two sets.
- John Paul Keith, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, 08/27/2021 – One of my favorite songwriters I completely owe Anne for turning me onto. We’ve bemoaned for years Memphis staple John Paul Keith hadn’t played Ohio since we’ve been fans, so as soon as they announced he’d be playing the outdoor pavilion of the Rock Hall in one of our favorite cities, touring to promote his best album yet, Rhythm of the City, it felt like a no-brainer. Those songs with a tight four-piece band of bass, drums, and keys, sparkled in the summer night air.
- Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys, Natalie’s Grandview, 09/08/2021 – One of my favorite voices of all time, seeing Big Sandy after a few years away (though his appearances on Stellar Shows’ livestreams, often introducing video clips, were a pandemic delight) was special. My day job friend and mentor, Cindy Jackson, was retiring and doing a Columbus victory lap; CJ’s an even bigger roots rock fiend than I am, so this show lining up with her appearance felt like serendipity. Anne and I took her out to this show, and she loved it as expected – that voice in duet with Ashley Kingman’s guitar (with thanks to longtime pal Jeff Passifume for the amps in the backline) and the bouncing, supple rhythm section of Kevin Stewart’s singing bass and sweet harmonies and Frankie Hernandez’s classic big beat, undiminished by some time away. Everything brought a heaping dose of fire and gratitude like watching a prize fighter bound off the mat again and again, through a series of swinging classics, leaving some space for the dark ballads he doesn’t get enough credit for, with a centerpiece of two Freddie Fender covers that had me crying. Throughout this list, always an exercise in memory and gratitude for me, I’m reminded again that the magic is being in a room with people, sharing all of this with people you love.
- Algiers with Zen Mother, Rumba Café, 09/17/2021 – Another delayed show I was on the second it was rescheduled. The last time I saw Algiers, with a substitute bass player, at Big Ears, is still one of the best rock shows I’ve ever seen and this trip to Rumba lived up to those nostalgic expectations. Songs like “There Is No Year” and “Walk Like a Panther” shifted and roared, textures sliced through the air, leaving a lingering impression before being subsumed in waves of pummeling sound. The magpie nature of all good rock and roll, focused like a laser beam. Attention also should be paid to Zen Mother, the power trio that merged the powerful crunch of doom metal with the delicate intimacy of the Cure; I walked in knowing nothing about the opener and walked out singing their praises to everyone.
- John Luther Adams’ “Inuksuit”, VIVO Music Festival, Schiller Park, 09/18/2021 – Over the last few years, a couple organizations have done crucial work to fill in one of the few genre gaps I groused about in Columbus for a while: new music/contemporary classical. One is the Johnstone Fund, who show up right after, and the other is the VIVO festival. I was only able to hit one VIVO offering this year, but it summed up so much of what I love about Columbus. Adams’ “Inuksuit” composition, played throughout Schiller Park, around the stage where Actors’ Theatre stages their plays, the pond, wandering through areas close and far, with good friends I’d barely seen since the lockdown started, on a sunny day, and soaking in these harmonies and revealed textures I missed my first trip through this expansive composition at IJAMS as part of Big Ears.
- Mark Lomax Trio with Scott Woods, Short North Stage, 09/21/2021 – One of my favorite composers, Mark Lomax II, had touring cut short on his magnum opus The 400 (which I’ve raved about repeatedly here) but never one to be dormant for long, he reintroduced one of my favorite series, The Johnstone Fund For New Music at Short North Stage, with a brand new composition played by his longstanding trio of Dean Hulett on bass and Eddie Bayard on tenor and words from longtime collaborator Scott Woods. “In Search of a City” was exactly the kind of no-easy-answers reckoning we need, especially in a city that too-often prizes growth at the expense of people.
- Drive By Truckers, Newport, 10/14/2021 – For over 20 years, DBT have exemplified that sense of communal, going-to-church catharsis I’ve always been drawn to in a rock show. When Anne and I first met and were comparing shows we’ve both been at, they were one of the first names to arise. While my attention drifted for a few years, they won me back in full effect with their records since American Band. This 27-song, sweat-drenched classic rock and soul revue hit every era of their career, and reaffirmed the joy of being back with other people, of shouting along even when the songs are confronting an ugly truth. Patterson Hood, arms outstretched, introducing “Let There Be Rock” as “This is a song about how rock and roll saved my life, and every word of it is true,” always feels like a call to prayer and I really, really needed it this time.
- Arooj Aftab and the Vulture Prince Ensemble, Wexner Center, 10/16/2021 – I raved about Arooj Aftab’s new record Vulture Prince here a couple times, and in a preview of this show I wrote for Pencilstorm, and it’s still a piece of surprising, intoxicating beauty and mystery that’s still revealing secrets months after my first hearing. I confess I was a little disappointed when I saw the band in question was just Aftab and the great Gyan Riley on guitar, but within a few minutes any qualms or worries I’d think something was missing. This was an hour of hypnotic rapture I’m already hungry to see again (at Big Ears unless something goes wrong).
- Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express, Natalie’s Grandview, 10/21/2021 – My and Anne’s last trip to Natalie’s Grandview before lockdown was a solo Chuck Prophet show where he debuted a handful of songs from his then-forthcoming The Land That Time Forgot and teased a full-band return in the Spring. That show got delayed a few times, but he finally made good in October to a crowd that was more than ready for it. That sense of gratitude I mention a few times over the course of this list is always present in Prophet’s work, especially live, and it was overflowing this time. The band stretching some of the songs into extended guitar and keys showcases with barely a hint of wanking; at other times, stripping it down to the simplest of melodies that would break your heart and turns of phrase that could remind you how beautiful and fucked up life is. A masterclass in how much there still is in the form of a five-piece band turned up and tuned in.
- Hayes Carll, Skully’s, 11/11/2021 – One of my favorite songwriters since seeing at Twangfest 13 or 14 years ago but Anne and I hadn’t caught Carll since 2011 in Cleveland (I kind of got off the bus with Lovers and Leavers but I’ve come back around). All of that charm and empathy, and diamond-hard and pretty hooks, were in abundance at this Skully’s show where everything good about the venue (the sightlines, the sound) was in fine fetter and everything not so good (the bar service, the tendency to sell the entire capacity of the building instead of just the room with the stage) was ameliorated or kept at bay. Carll’s new songs, including “Nice Things” and “You Get It All” stood up well against classics like “KMAG YOYO” and “Drunken Poet’s Dream.” That conversational sway and disarming smile left me grinning like an idiot and talking about it with Anne and others hours, even days later.
- Marc Ribot, Wexner Center, 11/14/2021 – My favorite guitar player, and the subject of not only one of my favorite interviews but one people kept coming up and talking to me about, did not disappoint in a magical solo show at the Wexner’s Mershon Auditorium. Digging deep into standards – “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “Stella by Starlight” – and originals like “Maple Leaf Rage,” stitched together into one continuum of song.
- The Randys, Dick’s Den, 12/11/2021 and other dates – If you can’t find some joy in the Randys, I question your capacity to find it anywhere. With a handful of originals sprinkled in, their perfectly chosen mix of classic pop, honky-tonk, and R&B covers, sung beautifully and played with the gleeful abandon of spinning tops and the dazzling precision of vintage clockwork by original four members Brian Jones, Jon Beard, Canaan Faulkner, and David Vaubel, gained a little chaos-theory looseness when they added Derek Dicenzo without sacrificing an ounce of the beauty that keeps us all coming. One of the first shows Anne and I caught was two sets of them playing outdoors to benefit my neighborhood nonprofit the Clintonville Resource Center, one of the last shows I saw before writing this was their annual Christmas show, and they’ve never let me down, never played a gig I fail to see at least one old friend I was overjoyed to dance with.
Screen of Distance 