Music Blog

It has been exactly a year when I last set foot in a church. In fact, it was the same church I was in tonight to see, hear, and experience the elegant chaos of British duo Binker and Moses. B&M rocked Christ Church like a hell-bound stage coach reverberating around the nooks and spaces usually reserved for the word of God.

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• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

Saxophonist Binker Golding was prolific and profound as he erected tunes out of nowhere. Destination: the center of your mind. This is where he and drummer Moses Boyd, who played like an octopus hailing a cab, squared off. It was like sonic ballet and in spots sonic MMA. They switched off who would kick off each number, bandied it about, and proceeded to take it skyward. Binker and Moses simply have to be experienced live.

Find more on Binker and Moses at binkergolding.com.

I ran over to Kodak Hall to see King Crimson, who as it turns out wanted no photographers and no reviewers. I heard a rumor our 45th President, old tweeter-twat himself, was in the audience. Sure enough, I checked my Twitter: "Fake band King Crimson is afraid of a bad review. They should. I have tapes! SAD!"

Anywhat, the last show of the night was a beautiful cross section of humanity as little kids and old kids danced their faces off to Paris' Caravan Palace, a band that mixes Gypsy jazz with the throb of electronica. And talk about a throb, walking in front of the speaker stacks was like a full-body massage or a post-9/11 pat-down at the airport. The crowd was as good naturedly rabid as it was diverse.

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• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

Caravan Palace has a huge following, with more than 76 million hits on YouTube, and that's a lotta YouTube. The band, complete with choreography and a gaggle of traditional instruments augmented by the electric gizmos on stage, was utterly relentless. Between-song banter was minimal. And speaking of instruments, my favorite for this Jazz Fest is the vibraphone. They were pounding out Ram Jam's "Black Betty" as I vacated the joint.

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY FRANK DE BLASE

Check out Caravan Palace at caravanpalace.com.

Tomorrow night I'll be freestyling a bit and will conclude at Parcel 5 for The Hooligans' shenanigans and Danielle Ponder, who will rock your world.