Set List for Dry Land Distillers, May 1st 2024

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a.k.a. “Vic plays all the ballads no one ever calls”

Set 1

  • Questioning (Vic Dillahay) / Blue Room (Richard Rodgers & Lorenzo Hart)
  • You Belong with Me (Taylor Swift & Liz Rose) /
    I’ve Got a Crush On You (George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin)
  • Bad Guy (Billie Eilish)
  • Waltz for Zizi (Yoko Kanno) / The Way (Tony Scalzo)
  • On the Sunny Side of the Street (Jimmy McHugh but likely Fats Waller, Dorothy Fields)
  • My Yoke is Heavy (Daniel Johnston) / Who Does She Hope to Be? (Sonny Sharrock)
  • Oleo (Sonny Rollins) / Seven Come Eleven (Charlie Christian)
  • Ain’t Misbehavin (Fats Waller, Harry Brook, & Andy Razaf)
  • If It Be Your Will (Leonard Cohen)

Set 2

  • Work Song (Nat Adderley)
  • Laetitia’s Lost Chords (Vic Dillahay)
  • Check Up (Ornette Coleman) / Somewhere Else Entirely (Vic Dillahay)
  • My Funny Valentine (Richard Rodgers & Lorenzo Hart)
  • Ricky Loves LuLu (Vic Dillahay)
  • Thanatos at Eventide (Vic Dillahay)
  • My One and Only Love (Guy Wood & Robert Mellin)

Music at Dry Land Distillers, March-May 2024

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Fearless leader of the Jazz Unit, trumpeter Eric Ottem, joins me in March. Nico Steffens (KoSnoCo himself!) is with me on baritone sax in April. I’ll play the rare solo gig in May, possibly with a special guest or two.

But that’s not all! Pianist Adam Bodine will be playing jazz and beyond on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. He’s a killer player with a unique sound that you definitely need to hear. And with a dj spinning themed vinyl on 4th Wednesdays your midweek blues are cured, at least through May…

Ellis Island Day Samper 2023

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Here’s a smattering of tracks from Curious Automata’s 2023 releases, including “Somewhere They’ll Find Our Pieces” off my album “What Was”. Richard Ellis has the other 5 tracks… that dude was busy.

Extrapolations on a Familiar Theme by Ellis/Carrillo/Crews (Produced by Vic)

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Disaster Squad’s jam is finally fully released. 20 years ago, in pre-Katrina New Orleans, guitarist Richard Ellis, percussionist Louis Carrillo, and bassist Kendal Crews met to run some tunes. Richard was hoping to start a band balancing covers with long improvisations. They played “Strange Brew”, then jammed for hours, filling 5 cassettes. The sound was there, they just needed to refine it and gig. Then came Katrina. Homes were destroyed, clubs closed, and Richard moved to Colorado.

But we have these remarkable tapes. And you can now hear the tune that started the jam, their cover of “Strange Brew”, and wonder what might have been.

Bolder Boulder 2023 with the Eric Ottem Jazz Unit

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The Eric Ottem Jazz Unit played the Bolder Boulder 10k this weekend. Playing jazz at 7am is a bit odd but you can watch the coffee kick in as we go

Also, the numbers on this gig crack me up: we played 31 tunes over 4 hours for about 40,000 people. That’s a massive show even outside the jazz world. But, then again, the runners were stuck listening to us as they passed by and probably only heard us for a maximum of maybe 15 seconds so maybe it’s more a typical jazz in the park gig…