Growing up in Boulder in the 1970s, Oliver Wood was the kind of kid who hung out at home absorbing Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jimi Hendrix records. He didn’t see much live music.
“I remember that my dad was really into (local bluegrass favorites) Hot Rize,” says Wood, who brings his bottleneck slide guitar to the Fox Theatre tonight in a homecoming performance as half of The Wood Brothers. “Sometimes my friends and I would see a cover band play at CU. Not that there’s anything wrong with playing in a cover band; that’s a job too.”
Oliver has played in all types of groups, but he’s finally poised to seize the national spotlight with the duo’s debut CD, “Ways Not to Lose” (Blue Note), slated for an early March release. He sings with experience: Think of Dr. John and strains of Van Morrison. His guitar evokes his elders as well, and in tandem with brother Chris (also the bassist for famed organ trio Medeski Martin and Wood, who headline the Fox tonight), they mix it up nicely. The result is beyond category, but you’ll hear plenty of blues, folk and jazz.
“Chris was really heavy into jazz when we were growing up (in Boulder),” says Oliver. “He’s great at the avant jazz stuff, but he’s also great at playing that Sly Stone earthy, funky bass.
“It’s so easy,” Oliver says of the collaboration with his brother. “It’s nice that Chris and I really have that built-in innate thing. And the things we love to listen to really overlap.”
Chris has gone on to critical and some commercial success in MMW, and Oliver takes credit for introducing him to the bass when they were teenagers in Colorado.
“I started out with a bass. I wanted to be a bass player, but after a couple of months I turned to the guitar. It was in the house, and he took it up. He pretty much owes me big,” Oliver says with a laugh. “But I haven’t come up with a dollar amount yet.”
The Wood Brothers open up for Medeski Martin and Wood at 8 tonight at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets are $25, age 21 and over. Call 303-443-3399.
More Miles
What’s a year without a new box set from the late, venerated trumpeter Miles Davis? Postponed for several months and appearing too late to make the cut for anyone’s “best of” list in 2005, “The Cellar Door Sessions 1970” (Columbia/Legacy) arrived quietly at retail outlets Christmas week. That’s the only subdued thing about this wonderfully messy jazz/rock/funk monolith, however.
Committed to tape during a run of shows at a Washington, D.C., club in December 1970, these six discs showcase Davis at a point in his career that must have frustrated and even alienated much of his fan base.
His decision to embrace electric instrumentation was still radical for the time, at least for a marquee name like Davis, and the flailing onslaught provided by keyboardist Keith Jarrett (freaking out on Fender Rhodes like he never would again) and guitarist John McLaughlin hardly resulted in sunny, easy instrumental rock. This is a deep, rambling and ultimately satisfying kind of stylistic collision that has for the most part remained commercially unavailable (some material ended up on the 1972 “Live-Evil” album) until now.
Why has it taken 35 years for the bulk of this potent, worthwhile music to see the light of day? And what else remains in the vaults? When will we hear the rumored album Davis made with Prince? At any rate, this is enough to keep his legion occupied until the next box shows up. Recommended to fusion fans who got a hundred bucks in a holiday card from Grandma. She may not care for the music, though.
Set list
The Esbjorn Svensson Trio appears at the Boulder Theater on Tuesday. … Peter Cincotti croons and plays piano at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, and guitarist Joshua Breakstone is scheduled for Dazzle the same night. … Piano genius McCoy Tyner brings his trio to the Paramount Theatre on Jan. 22. … Flutist Dave Valentin shows off his chops at the Antlers Hilton in Colorado Springs on Jan. 28.
Bret Saunders’ column on jazz appears every other Sunday in A&E. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM. His e-mail address is bret_saunders@hotmail.com.
