champagnemusic

For those of you living in the Baltimore/Washington DC area, The Wallace Roney Quintet will be performing @ The Bohemian Caverns Thursday August 27th - Sunday August 30th. For information Call 202-299-0800 or online: www.bohemiancaverns.com/calendar/public.cfm

Wallace has kept alive the tradition of nurturing young and talented musicians as key components in his working band. His current configuration has Rashaan Carter on Bass, Aruan Ortiz on Keyboards and 17 year old Kush Abadey on drums. With Wallace and his brother Antoine on Tenor, Soprano and Bass Clarinet, the infusion of new blood has synergized into an incendiary unit, taking the eclectic Roney Quintet repertoire to fiery heights of intensity, and eloquent, poignant expressions of virtuosity. The young Abadey has created an almost spooky parallel with Roney, much the same way that Tony Williams added something unique to Miles Davis’s second great quintet of the 60’s. The fact that bassist Rashaan Carter’s last name is the same as Ron’s from that same group, is purely a coincidence. But Rashaan is establishing his own reputation and adding the funky, swinging bass lines that along with Abadey, propels the band to musical bliss on any given night. Aruan Ortiz on Keyboards is not Herbie, but he has that same tasteful, elegant sense of when to play sparse, when to play intense, when to play acoustic, when to play electric, that accentuates what his rhythm mates are doing with the foundation, and what Wallace and Antoine are doing with the horn lines out front. The end result is at times, sonic internal combustion and at other times, lyrical, hypnotic, musical tapestries, that can soothe the stress of everyday life in America. If you live in the area, you should come out and see and hear this band. You will enjoy this music, no matter what your taste