Alan Lechusza's Night of the Iguana, 6/26/04

First and foremost, my sincerest apologies to Alan, the Yellow Chair Ensemble, and the viewers for getting this review up so late... icon_eek.gif

...but here it is... icon_biggrin.gif

It is unfortunate that people donıt attend functions where there is good music. Maybe there just havenıt heard good stuff. Maybe MTV is successfully sweeping the musical mindstate of the masses. Or maybe they simply just donıt know itıs out there.

Regardless, whether you know heıs out there or not, I have a name to shout to the world. Alan Lechuza. Now, some of you know him, some of you donıt; either way I would like to (re)introduce him to you with his latest show ³Night of the Iguana.² Damn! If you like funk, soul, jazz, ambience, blues, rock, or just good music in general, this was definitely a show to catch. It was a beautiful fusion of all that and then some.

The night segued way into some good funky jazz. Then we hit some ambient space before we hit some jazzy funk reminiscent of some Miles Davisı Bitches Brew. From there, the Yellow Chair Ensemble, made up of drummer Chris Garcia; guitarist Robert Jacobsen; electric bassist Karthik Suresh; cellist Carolyn Tyler; guest keyboardist Craig Ochikubo; and, of course, wind player Alan Lechuza, takes us into some new music where everybody takes solos, and some of these solos were fierce! From groovinı with Karthikıs bass and Garciaıs breaks to some high ridinı sax solos by Alan along with Tylerıs driving cello, Jacobsenıs smooth guitar licks, and Ochikuboıs ill keyboard techniques, all the musician give us something to nod our heads to.

Robertıs bluesish guitar solo builds us up into an almost rock feel where all of the sudden Carolynıs stylistic extended techniques were rocking the crowd. From there, we hit Noche de la Iguana, with a super jazzy beginning that takes us into some very sophisticated solos and ends up into a runaway-train like momentum that finishes the show on a high and energetic note. The head nod factor for the whole show was an 8.5 on a scale from 1-10.

Now for real, for those who continue to miss any Alan Lechuza show, or any Lira Production show for that matter, yıall need to wake up because yıall sleeping!!! Get ready for the upcoming season and look our for any of these folks. You missinı out if you donıt!!!!!!! 

Arash