Update: Guitarist/songwriter/composer/vocalist Janet Feder was scheduled to perform at Live at Thrive in Corrales on August 4, but pesky circumstances beyond everyone’s control prevented that from happening. This weekend, she is making good on her pledge to return and will be appearing both at Live at Thrive in Corrales and at Littleglobe in Santa Fe. Check the updated concert information at the end of this post for details. The Corrales concert is a benefit for Littleglobe 501(C)(3) in Santa Fe. Littleglobe is committed to interdisciplinary, collaborative art projects that foster life-affirming connections across the boundaries that divide us.
Shelter,Kristina Jacobsen’s new album, touches on a wide-range of subjects, from hard-won personal epiphanies to the liberating properties of a down-home Cajun dance hall. She’ll celebrate its release with a party this weekend before heading off to Sardinia on a Fulbright grant for a year of teaching, research, and of course, songwriting.
Bébé La La: Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan. Photo by Adriana Lopez Jameson.
Martha Reich
New Mexico is hip deep in talented singer/songwriters, and the two acts headed to the Outpost this weekend most definitely make the cut. Bébé La La, which comprises Alicia Ultan (vocals, guitar, viola) and Maryse Lapierre (vocals, accordion, harmonium), identifies as Albuquerque’s folk Americana Français duo, and they’ll be adding a rock and roll coefficient this weekend, appearing as the Bébé La La Band, with Arnaldo Acosta on drums and Mike Fox on bass. Multi-instrumentalist Martha Reich (the “ch” is pronounced sh), a New England native who settled in Santa Fe 20 years ago, is riding on the wave of her latest album, Brave Bird. It has collected the Gold Medal for Female Vocalist in the Global Music Awards, LA Critics Award for Best Folk Artist, and a Clouzine International Music Award for Best Indie Album, as well as three New Mexico Music Award nominations. She’ll be appearing with her longtime colleague, cellist Michael Kott.
Engine: Robin Gentien, Pierre Lauth-Karson, Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez. Photo by Trevor Meier.
Back in 2017, when the trio Engine was invited to perform at Tricklock Company’s 17th Annual Revolutions International Theatre Festival and at ¡Globalquerque!, likely no one suspected that it was the beginning of a love affair between the band and New Mexico. Two years later, however, thanks to the Theater Department at UNM and Neal Copperman at AMP Concerts, the Franco-Argentine trio—Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez (vocals, acoustic guitar), Robin Gentien (vocals, electric guitar, cascas), and Pierre Lauth-Karson (vocals, harmonica, shaker)—has established a North American home base in Albuquerque. Last spring, their Encuentros Íntimos (Intimate Encounters) concert series here quickly developed a devoted (and SRO) audience and produced a live recording, Encuentros Íntimos: Unplugged in Albuquerque, and the band also recorded a studio album, Si viene la muerte, before taking off on a four-month European tour. This week, the band—now a sextet for its New Mexico appearances, with the addition of Terry Bluhm (bass), Jefferson Voorhees (drums), and Caro Acuña (percussion)—is launching another set of Encuentros Íntimos. This year’s edition includes four appearances in Santa Fe and four in Albuquerque. Anyone interested in an ecstatic musical experience should mark their calendars accordingly.
On Trio Tapestry, his first recording on ECM as a leader, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano called on pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Carmen Castaldi—and his own long history with the likes of Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Gunther Schuller, and Hank Jones, among others—to create an album of expressive and intimate beauty. The trio will bring their atmospheric grace to the stage at the Outpost on March 12.
