FAST 'N BULBOUS: the CAPTAIN
BEEFHEART PROJECT
featuring GARY LUCAS, arranged
and conducted by PHILLIP JOHNSTON
What's new with Fast 'N' Bulbous?
1. 2006 European Tour
2. There is a very interesting and musically literate interview with Phillip and Gary by Beppe Colli at:
CloudsandClocks.net, as well as a wonderful review of the record.
3. A very smart review by Alexander Varty of Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind at The Georgia Straight
4. Interview with Gary & Phillip at Cucamonga [Netherlands],
with interesting use of the word "absolving"...
Who Is Fast 'N' Bulbous?
Gary Lucas guitar
Jesse Krakow bass
Richard Dworkin drums
Phillip Johnston alto saxophone
Rob Henke trumpet
Joe Fiedler trombone
Dave Sewelson baritone saxophone
Songlist: The repertoire is drawn from the entire range of
Beefheartiana, from Safe As Milk through Ice Cream For Crow, (and concentrating
heavily on Troutmaskreplica.)
Description of Music: The idea is to use the compositions of Don Van Vliet
as a vehicle for improvisation and arranging. The band consists of a steady crew of seasoned
improvisers from both the worlds of avant-garde jazz and rock, who will render the music
in both a tribute and a creative adventure in improvising. We use the horn section to
take the place of the vocals, as well as transmute this guitar-based music into ensemble
interplay, between horns and guitar and rhythm section.
First performances of the group were in Reggio Emilia, Italy, Brugge, Belgium, and Bremen, Germany in
October of 2001. On Feb 9th, 2002, the group made its New York
debut, in a sold-out show at The Knitting Factory that included a reading by
Mike Barnes from his biography of Captain Beefheart, and a program of rare
videos of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. (see reviews)
Subsequent gigs
include Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space (sold-out), Joe’s Pub, the 2002
Saalfelden Jazz Festival, the Walker Art Center (sold-out) & Wexner Center
in Columbus, Ohio, and the 2004 Frankfurt Jazz Festival.
Gary Lucas statement: Seeing Don Van Vliet's NYC debut at Ungano's in '71 with a bunch of
my Yale buddies changed my life radically (and I'm still trying to recover!)--that night I vowed
to myself that if I ever did anything in music it would be to play with this guy...and I got my
wish in 1980 when I joined Captain Beefheart's merry Band as guest soloist (and manager by
default)/ Over 4 years, 2 albums ("Doc at the Radar Station" and "Ice Cream for Crow", 1980 and
1982, Virgin Records), a world tour and video ("Ice Cream for Crow"), wrapping my fingers around 2
Van Vliet solo compositions ("Flavor Bud Living" and "Evening Bell") and a whole album as part of
the Magic Band ("Ice Cream for Crow) was wonderful training for a career spent carving out my own
niche in the post-modern music biz since Don chucked it all for painting in 1984. While
my own music bares scant resemblance to his (I would never ever presume to emulate his singular
approach) I feel that Van Vliet's sensibility and aesthetic definitely informs my guitar playing
and overall worldview--it's like I went to Beefheart University.
Phillip Johnston statement: In about 1970 I heard my first Captain Beefheart tune, Ella Guru;
it was one of the things that changed my life and made me want to do music. From the first
concert of Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band that I heard (Ungano's Ritz Theater, in Staten Island).
I was hooked, and I followed them somewhat fanatically for years. To this day I listen to my same
LP of Troutmaskreplica regularly, and it's still just as amazing. Although my main musical
interests took me more often into the area of jazz, the music of Don Van Vliet remained a
guiding principal throughout. I led a rock band, called the Public Servants in the early '80s,
with Shelley Hirsch; and the tune "Pipeline" on my CD "The Needless Kiss" is my idea of a
Captain Beefheart-influenced tune (and I say so in the liner notes). In much of the music I've
written over the years, I see the guiding spirit of Don Van Vliet.
Now for the first time, after almost 30 years, having done re-arrangements and deconstructions
of Raymond Scott, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk, Steve Lacy, Herbie Nichols, and others,
with my groups The Microscopic Septet & Big Trouble, I've gotten together with my friend
Gary Lucas, to do something with the music of Captain Beefheart.
Read more about our new record, Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind
Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind (Cuneiform 626) is the new CD from Fast 'N' Bulbous.
Culminating nearly three years of performances world-wide, this long awaited debut CD
captures the band at the height of their improvisational prowess. Described by some as
"a New Orleans marching band plays the music of Captain Beefeheart" this terrific CD,
recorded live in the studio, with very few overdubs, captures the spirit of a live
performance.
Reviews of Fast 'N' Bulbous Performances:
"... Led by saxophonist Phillip Johnston and featuring ex-Magic Band guitarist
Gary Lucas, Fast 'n Bulbous
proved that Beefheart's songs deserve to be played in his absence and are, for
all their knotty logic, quite PLAYABLE. It was odd to see four hornmen reading
charts as they tore through the messy ecstasy of "When Big Joan Sets
Up," from 1969's "Trout Mask Replica." But Johnston's brass
scores hit the R&B meat and twisted swing that Beefheart embedded in
spidery guitars. "Pachuco Cadaver," also from "Trout Mask",
became a New Orleans marching-band romp. A power-trio medley of "Click
Clack" and "Ice Cream for Crow" with Lucas on searing bottleneck
guitar celebrated the rock in Beefheart's extremes. Beefheart never became the
star he felt he should be. Yet on nights like this, it still seems possible--if
he'd just come back.
- David Fricke, The Rolling Stone.
"...the all-instrumental Fast 'n' Bulbous slammed into Trout Mask's "Pachuco
Cadaver," replacing Beefheart's vaguely licentious Howlin' Wolf vocals
("She wears her past like uh present/Take her fancy in the past")
with rich, brassy harmonies that illuminated the epigrammatic contours of the
composer's earthy expressionism.
Fast 'n' Bulbous didn't try to replicate the Magic Band's unique deployment of
parallel themes in differing tempos and keys. And while I missed John
"Drumbo" French's almost linguistic drum parts, I fell completely for
the rampant party spirit that pervaded "Veteran's Day Poppy," "When
It Blows Its Stacks," and "Tropical Hot Dog Night." The band's
joyful noises did justice to Beefheart's nature-boy ardor for flesh and grit,
in anticipation, let's hope, for some after-school specials down the
line."
- Richard Gehr, The Village Voice.
"...as if by magic, the musicians began to grow fractious and obstreperous, with the
horn players tugging in opposite directions from the core of "Abba
Zaba," chattering and arguing like squirrels engaged in a turf battle.
That sound, at once grating and charmingly nature-rooted, would've made
Beefheart proud. The same could be said for the band's deconstruction of
"When Big Joan Sets Up" (a piece that's loopy even by Beefheart
standards): Braying, giggling and cajoling brass elements -- and wiry
contributions from a slyly grinning Lucas -- converged, creating a veritable
carnival midway onstage."
- Reuters
"...As arranger, Mr. Johnston had some clever ideas: he turned Mr. Van Vliet's
art-brut soprano-saxophone playing into notable material and assigned some
slide-guitar parts to the trombone. The rhythm section, the bassist Jesse
Krakow and the drummer Richard Dworkin, had a tough job in playing these
saw-toothed, broken-field rhythms; they came close to the intended sound, and
Mr. Krakow in particular played every nuance of the originals. The set kept
returning to "Trout Mask Replica," Beefheart's masterpiece. From it,
the band played the jerky "Pachuco Cadaver"; "The Blimp,"
with its nutty recitative; the tearing-tempo "When Big Joan Sets Up";
"Veteran's Day Poppy."
- Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
"...Fast 'N Bulbous play it just right. For starters, they are all excellent,
exploratory musicians and cope with the structure of even the "Trout Mask"
songs with great aplomb;
"Pachuco Cadaver" had all the obtuse correspondences of instruments -
and sudden time changes plucked from the ether - down brilliantly. The guitar
and bass parts were spot on and only an ultra nerd/pedant would criticise the
drummer for not playing John French's parts exactly beat-for-beat. Anyway that
wasn't the point he got under the skin
of the rhythm in a freewheeling, French-ian style and hit all the cues spot on.
Meanwhile, Gary has obviously done his homework and got all the knuckle-busting
chords down, and the bass player is a dextrous monster. I'm not surprised the
crowd were baying in between the pieces.
The group's big, physical yet intricate sound was a joy to hear for both the
Beefheartophile and, I'm sure, for the merely curious. I was expecting it to be
good but my expectations were surpassed in grand style. Who knows? Maybe even
Don would have liked it."
- Mike Barnes, Wire writer, and author of "Captain Beefheart."
Fast 'N' Bulbous links
For booking contact:
Email Phillip Johnston.
Email Gary Lucas.
return to front page of phillipjohnston.com
return to front page of garylucas.com