Benevento turns up the "oomph" at Logan Square Auditorium

Note: Photos by Aaron Facemire.

Marco Benevento's show at Logan Square Auditorium on Thursday was a great one, but I'm not sure how to describe it.


Listening to his latest album Me, Not Me didn't really prepare me for what I saw. Yes the songs were the same ones, and Benevento is just as out-there live as he is on record, but there was a lot more power to it.

They had a lot more "oomph," and most of the credit goes to drummer Simon Lott, who was the equivalent of a hard-rock jazz percussionist. I don't know how else to describe it, except that he kept time with such force that is unusual for jazz (and with his funny faces, he was probably the most entertaining player to watch).

Bassist Reed Mathis gets credit too, for holding down a low-end that often gets lost in the style they were playing.

The show featured a heavy sampling of songs (mostly covers) from the new record, as they began with My Morning Jacket's "Golden." Started with a sampler of a rhythm, the band kicked in full force, bringing out different emotions in each section of the song.

As the night went on, the band got looser but just as weird. Their jazz gave way to rock, pop and many unclassifiable tunes (at one point there were girls dancing onstage), and they covered songs by Neil Young ("Don't Let It Bring You Down") and Deerhoof ("Twin Killers").

And Benevento's own material was just as strong. He has a real ear for melody, so even his improvisation wasn't based on showing off. Instead, he tried to find the best piano line to mesh with the other instruments.

And then there were the effects. Benevento himself stuck pretty much to his upright piano, but he found plenty of uses for it with his array of effects pedals. Sometimes it sounded like the wind, other times it sounded like a guitar. But he was able to make use of an acoustic instrument and turn it into something it is not.

Benevento and the band closed with a cover of The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There," which had everyone bashing their instruments. It managed to be more joyful than the original, which was pretty much the theme of the show (it got the 30 or so people in the audience dancing too).

As pointed out by cohort Aaron Facemire, this was real music, and it sounded good to hear that for a change.

Opening band The Liquid Beat Allstars went on for about an hour, and that was about 40 minutes too long.

It was like Phish gone jazz. They jammed for too long on a sound that got very repetitious (smooth jazz with funk bass lines and synthesized strings), often having four or five points in each song could have logically ended.


Prince does that in his sleep, and I'd rather hear him than them.