Re: ELP (was: Hiromi)

[Dan Ash <Daniel.Ash@Verizon.net>]

I saw Emerson and his new band Monday night am pleased to say that they 
were very entertaining - mostly ELP classics and they mined some  very 
cool Nice material.  Several numbers from his guitarist Marc Bonilla and 
newer Emerson compositions.  Bonilla handles all vocals and doubles many 
of the keyboard melodies.  He did an interesting looping and e-bow thing 
which morphed into 'Lucky Man'.  Phil Williams is on Bass and Pete Riley 
on drums.  Riley swings way harder than Palmer ever did.

Aside from his significant accomplishments as a rock act back in the 
day, his style is immediately identifiable and his chops are pretty 
amazing (this despite a reported problem with repetitive stress 
syndrome).  The ELP compositions are a bit long by todays standards, but 
I wonder if part of this is due to our MTV-induced limited attention 
span - there - I said it. 

It's also easy to see why ELP's music was brought up in reaction to the 
Hiromi's video, which featured a selection with a very repetitive song 
structure.  My opinion is that most of the ELP material was much more 
ambitious - and adventurous - than this sample of Hiromi's more 
mechanical groove-oriented riffage.  I have to say that I enjoyed the 
Nice material over the ELP 'hits' - much of the earliest Nice numbers 
are  hilarious (O'List did eventually lose it entirely I think).

Emerson's touring with the full-blown Moog including the ribbon 
controller, and does a bit of duelling with his guitar player.  He'll be 
at the Moogfest at BB King's Thursday night.  Jan Hammer is supposedly 
performing there with (tribute band) Mahavishnu Project, who are amazing. 

Emerson is very animated (for an old geezer) and does really command the 
stage.  His younger comrades are supportive but each adds their own 
stamp to the material.  FWIW, I enjoyed it.

Dan Ash
White Plains, NY