Eugene Chadbourne

Café Jazz, Cardiff, 30/09/2010

Tim Owen’s review of Chadbourne’s London performance at The Vortex (see elsewhere on this site) persuaded me to check him out when he rolled in to Cardiff. Tim was spot on, Chadbourne is one of music’s true one- offs and I can safely say that I’ve never seen anything quite like Chadbourne’s extraordinary performance ever before.

It’s also a truism that no two Chadbourne shows are ever alike. The American guitarist/banjo player/singer/songwriter likes to collaborate with local musicians wherever he plays and for his two Welsh gigs (he’d performed the previous night at the Queen’s Head in Monmouth) he’d assembled a group of South Wales’ finest with Lyndon Owen on tenor and soprano saxes, Ashley John Long on double bass and Caractacus Downes on the extraordinary contra alto clarinet.

Chadbourne’s shows are a remarkable collage of Americana-country, blues, bluegrass etc.-and free improvisation. On first impression it seems to be a musical car-crash but somehow Chadbourne’s song/free improv cycles eventually come together to make some sort of musical and emotional sense. There’s a wry humour about both Chadbourne’s writing and delivery and his group’s performance had some real laugh out loud moments to leaven the uncompromising nature of some of the more outré free improvising.

The first set featured Chadbourne on a distinctive electro/acoustic guitar and featured a sequence of songs punctuated by variously squalling or brooding passages of free improvisation. The songs began with the pro drinking ditty “I’ve No Reason To Quit”, followed by “The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me” with tongue in cheek solo slots for each member of the band. Then there was “The Highway Is My Home”, “Wishing All These Old Things Were New”, a song about lost youth and the poignancy of middle age, and a remarkable version of Nick Drake’s “Thoughts Of Mary Jane”. “Good Girl Going Bad” featured belligerent, fuzzed up guitar and the set closed with “Happy New Year” which simultaneously managed to be both rueful and elegiac. 

The instrumental episodes included some powerful blowing on both tenor and soprano from Owen, robust playing from Long, both with and without the bow, and the sinuous, burbling, low register lines of Downes on an instrument lower in pitch, but broadly similar in sound to the more familiar bass clarinet. Chadbourne’s own guitar technique is extraordinary and in the more out moments he was seen to use various devices, such as placing a comb under the strings, to produce unconventional sounds. One minute he’s finger picking like on old delta bluesman, the next experimenting in the manner of Derek Bailey. Long followed suit using a similar range of implements on his bass. I’ve seen Long several times before in more conventional settings, it was certainly a surprise to see him approaching free improv with such obvious relish in a style occasionally reminiscent of the great John Edwards. 

The first set was appended with a lascivious coda of Muddy Waters’ “Catfish Blues”, one of the tunes featured here that had also found its way into Chadbourne’s London performance.

After the break Chadbourne took up the banjo, which he then deployed for the whole of the second set. Perhaps because of the limitations imposed by the instrument the second half seemed to lack the impact, intensity and urgency of the first. The pattern was the same, songs interspersed by passages of gritty free improvisation but somehow the songs were less memorable despite the inclusion of humorous items like “Here Rattler” and the bitter-sweet “The Old Piano” which closed the set. There was however a higher degree of political comment, Chadbourne comes from a venerable US leftist tradition. Instrumentally there were some great moments from Chadbourne himself, Owen on piercing soprano and Long on shuddering arco bass.

As a first timer at a Chadbourne show the evening was something of an eye opener and, as I’ve already intimated, it was very different to anything else I’ve ever seen. Chadbourne is a phenomenal technician with a unique world view and I’m sure there’s no one else blending the American folk/blues tradition with European style free improvisation in quite the same way.The UK’s own Billy Jenkins is the only person I can think of who might come close. The collision of styles clearly confused some of those present but most audience members stuck with it and Chadbourne and his colleagues received a very warm approbation from a receptive Cardiff crowd.

Although no two Chadbourne shows are the same and he clearly has a wide repertoire of songs to choose from his basic MO, the blend of songs and improv, is unlikely to vary from gig to gig. I enjoyed what I’d seen but that initial impact would inevitably be dissipated if I were ever to see Chadbourne again. I’ve not heard him on record, with his home made covers he’s something of a cottage industry, but get the impression that like much free improv this is probably music that is best experienced in a live context. Despite these reservations my thanks to Tim for alerting me to a unique live experience.

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