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NRBQ
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Otis Taylor
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Photo credit: Susie Krause
Xalaat Africa
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Viento Callejero
The week leading up to Summerfest’s first act includes performances by the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet, The Minus 5 and Viento Callejero.
Thursday, June 20
NRBQ
NRBQ @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet has been through a few lineup shifts in the band’s evolution. Keyboardist-frontman Terry Adams helped start the combo in the mid-’60s. For a band as musically omnivorous as NRBQ, it made sense that 2016’s High Noon—A 50-Year Retrospective would be released on the Omnivore label. That collection included a slew of new material with new members. The recent reissue of 1977’s All Hopped Up unearthed four bonus cuts.
But the live setting is where the Q created its legend. Passing the hat to take requests and venturing into any musical genre known to man (and likely inventing new ones in the process)—as the cliché goes, if they don’t move you check for a pulse.
Viento Callejero
Viento Callejero w/ The Shebeegeebees @ John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 7 p.m.
Using Afro-Latin Colombian cumbia rhythms as building blocks, Viento Callejero (multi-instrumentalists and producers Gloria Estrada and Tony Sauza) weave in electronic, experimental and psychedelic soundscapes. While Viento Callejero acknowledge history, the forward-thinking sounds give the music a vital edge.
Friday, June 21
The Minus 5 w/ Mike Fredrickson @ Anodyne Coffee, 8 p.m.
It’s hard to believe The Minus 5, a band that began as a side project, has just released album 13. While not usually considered a lucky number, the title Stroke Manor is a reference to leader Scott McCaughey’s 2017 health scare. Fortunately, McCaughey is back in the saddle. With a pedigree that includes The Young Fresh Fellows (whose long-ago Odd Rock Café show was a free-for-all), The Miracle Three, R.E.M. and the Baseball Project, they have a wealth of history to call upon. That this free-wheeling band is playing the night after their musical uncles at Shank Hall demonstrates Milwaukee’s embarrassment of riches. Opener Mike Fredrickson, who is currently working on his 52nd album, should be the perfect fit.
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Saturday, June 22
Ceiling Spirits w/ Tontine Ensemble and Nicholas Elert @ Miramar Theater, 8 p.m.
Mario Quadracci can relate to the needle in the haystack with Ceiling Spirits, his musical project. “As luck would have it, a well-known record producer stumbled upon a video of one of my shows at Shank Hall on YouTube.” As Quadracci says, “He suggested we make a record.”
The journey led to recording sessions in Ireland with 21 of that country’s best string players handpicked from its premiere symphony orchestras. The album, released in 2018, was produced by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Wire, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios. This show will be the first time Quadracci performs the album live.
Tuesday, June 25
Photo credit: Susie Krause
Xalaat Africa
Xalaat Africa @ The Uptowner, 7p.m.
In the opinion of Eric Blowtorch, “They sound how the Clash might have sounded after Combat Rock, if managers, drugs and money hadn’t fucked everything up.” Each week, Yaya Kambaye's uplifting ensemble Xalaat Africa offers to broaden musical horizons at this humble corner tap. Kambaye (vocals, kora, drums) is joined by Salia Camara (drums, vocals), Laurie Asch (violin) and Glenn Asch (plucked viola), moonlighting from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Wednesday, June 26
Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor and the Psychedelic Banjo Posse @ Summerfest Johnson Controls World Stage, 8 p.m.
Otis Taylor’s music is devastating. A master of hypnotic blues, often building a song from a single chord and a groove, the multi-skilled instrumentalist’s arsenal includes guitar, banjo and mandolin, and his music is populated with a full band including horns, cello, djembe and slide guitar. In three minutes, his tune “Just Live Your Life” boils down his existential blues philosophy.
“Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat” reimagines the murder ballad, and he describes the album of the same name as “about decisions and their consequences. It’s about how decisions and the actions that result can change our lives, the lives of our families and the lives of people we don’t even know.” His 15th album, 2017’s Fantasizing About Being Black, continues a career filled with unflinching tales.
