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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
On Monday, a local brewery hosted a pre-Mardi Gras kickoff with a mostly-jazz band from New Orleans: The Willie Green Project.
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
My housemates, Susie and Beck, accompanied me. We sat at a small square table close to the stage, on hard-seated chairs, the discomfort of which would delight even the sternest of Calvinist preachers.
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
It is not uncommon for alcohol-selling venues in the area to allow customers to bring their own food. Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery, which presented Willie Green, is an example of such a place. I brought my dinner with me: tomato sandwich, some roast chicken breast, a sweet potato, and a sliced red pepper. Susie bought a quesadilla from the food truck that parked behind the brewery, while Beck abstained.
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
The band included a sax/clarinet player, keyboardist, drummer, and a double bass musician. The drummer is the band leader, Willie Green.
Good sound in the room and huge, complicated jazz energy.
A long drink of the jazz below, with the drum highlight beginning around minute 6:30:
Some sips of other tunes here and here.
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
An interesting dynamic, though, when the drummer is the leader and you've got a sax player with a lot of presence at center stage.
If you're the drummer and the band leader, you better have a lot of stage presence of your own because you've got to compete with heavier-weights under the lights, such as sax or string players. Willie Green doesn't have this .... yet.
On one hand, I'm thinking, "Willie Green, you've got some big chutzpah to head up your own band - including gathering Grade A musical talent around you. Whew, good on you!"
On the other hand, I'm thinking, "Willie Green, you've got to grow some voice because I can't hear you in the background."
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| Willie Green Project, Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 2019. |
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