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Topic: Greg Leisz tonight in Ann Arbor |
Kevin Swan
From:
Medina, Ohio
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Posted 8 Dec 2018 8:53 am |
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Greg is the player who finally pushed me over the edge from four decades of "regular" guitar to attempting pedal steel. He's got such a great touch, a good ear and most of all "plays well with others."
Tonight he'll be with Bill Frisell, one of his main collaborators, in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Michigan Theater playing with Charles Lloyd & The Marvels and Lucinda Williams. It will be around the 16th time I've seen Frisell dating back to 2002, but only a handful of those were also with Leisz. In fact just last year I drove two hours to see Charles Lloyd & The Marvels only to find that, while Frisell was there, Leisz was NOT with them that night. I was not amused. (Leisz also often works with Jackson Browne; a friend went to see them live in NYC and a couple songs in, there was STILL no Leisz. So he shouted, "Where the EFF is Greg Leisz?" Browne had to apologize, saying Greg had booked a recording session and wouldn't be there. He, too, was not amused.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Csw1KvqFA
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"Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time." Thelonious Monk |
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 8 Dec 2018 6:25 pm
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I’m never amused when people shout stuff like that from the audience,whether I’m on stage or in the audience myself. Greg is busy because he is good. If he’s not in the band that night, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Kevin Swan
From:
Medina, Ohio
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Posted 9 Dec 2018 6:31 am Sitar Pedal Steel
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Greg and the rest were wonderful last night. On one song, his pedal steel sounded like a sitar and I wondered if maybe that were an effect pedal. Then I looked back on the Forum and found a discussion about Leisz and Frisell playing Yoshi's in Oakland. I saw one of those shows but didn't notice that sitar sound, then.
But a forum member was sitting close enough to see that he was switching bars and during that "sitar" sound was using something glass, with a US flag inside that they described as being twisted. Not sure if they meant that the glass itself was twisted. Sure is an interesting sound, though. Wonder if anyone has any insight on the sitar sound. I was able to take a picture of his Williams and what I think must have been a red Asher lap steel but couldn't see his pedal array.
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"Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time." Thelonious Monk |
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Kevin Swan
From:
Medina, Ohio
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Posted 9 Dec 2018 6:51 am Missing steel
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| K Maul wrote: |
| I’m never amused when people shout stuff like that from the audience,whether I’m on stage or in the audience myself. Greg is busy because he is good. If he’s not in the band that night, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. |
I generally agree. But in this case? The show was promoted as Browne AND Leisz. He wasn't a no-show due to illness, or a car accident, or his rig was lost. He chose a studio gig. Browne should have at least fessed up at the outset, rather than waiting for someone to ask where Greg was. I don't begrudge him working a paying gig, but when your NAME is on the concert poster? That's an issue. Garfunkel wouldn't show up and not mention Simon decided to go to a recording studio instead of the concert that night. He wasn't merely a band member, in this instance. It was just handled poorly, in my estimation.
When I drove all that way to see Charles Lloyd & The Marvels, without Leisz, I was disappointed but didn't say anything. I sure did miss his parts in the music, but he wasn't on the billing. Very different situation.
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"Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time." Thelonious Monk |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 9 Dec 2018 9:30 am
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Kevin, I’m glad you came back to elaborate on your initial post regarding the episode with your New York friend at his show. If you had originally written that it was actually billed as Jackson Browne and Greg Leisz, that’s a different scenario. I have seen Jackson a bunch of times over the years and often the show is billed as “Jackson Browne†regardless of who accompanies him.
This case - yes, of course - with Greg’s name in the ads leading up to the show and on the theater marquee - different. But since it wasn’t clear, right off I was thinking the same sort of thing as Kevin.
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Mark |
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Kevin Swan
From:
Medina, Ohio
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Posted 9 Dec 2018 9:54 am Frisell & Liesz
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Since we showed up very early, we of course wandered down to the front of the stage to check out the live rigs they were both playing. But before we even started down the aisle, Frisell comes out to sort through his stuff and we chatted him up a bit.
I made a very mild complaint that we had to drive 350 miles round trip just to see him play, and asked when he'd be playing ANYwhere in Ohio again. He was polite, saying, "Soon." I thanked him for all the shows over the years, and let him get back to his pre-show ritual. Both he and Leisz strike me as kinda old-fashioned, craftsmen very serious about their art but also very generous with both their fellow musicians and the audience. That they both share a long history with Lucinda Williams was obvious. They all appeared to be enjoying themselves very much.
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"Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time." Thelonious Monk |
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