Ivory coast?

Parillo and Curti stop and smell the flowers

by Michael Caito

Joe Parillo

Brian Curti's Piano & Beyond (Peridot/Caprice Records 11-song CD) and Joe Parillo's Morning In the Garden (Neoga Records 9-song CD) are peaceful and perplexing. Native Rhode Islander Curti assumes all musical duties on Peridot debut, and jazz pianist Parillo sets up shop in a trio with bassist Nick Cudahy and drummer Mike Connors. Both discs aim to aid chillin' through isolation and the sharpening of sensory skills, and on that front they succeed with thorn-free aplomb. Curti, who previously worked with rockers Outnumbered and Siren and more recently viotarist Bob Schlink, incorporates some classical music sensibilities culled from his years of studying under like-minded instructors, yet the record is soaked in New Age-isms, never opting to trot when meandering will suffice. I've never been wound loosely enough to grasp the Yanni/Tesh music vector, yet the public's fascination with New Age (and the market for it) exists, undeniably. Curti has garnered distro promises from German-based Incontro Records, lined up a Nashville promoter, and hopes to use these accomplishments plus the susurrant Piano & Beyond as a springboard. In retrospect, who will be able dispute New Agers' contention that music lovers in the late 21st century will look back at New Age and number these composers as kindred spirits to the Mozarts and Beethovens and their prowess?After all, the masters elucidated emotion on a mind-expanding plane. For some. Who's to say our descendants will be wrong? Not me. I'll be dead.

Parillo's disc may be problematic for fans of enticing, envelope-pushing jazz composers hereabout. His prior work within his Joe Parillo Ensemble sextet was tasteful, and here the trio luxuriates, tastefully, in the olfactory remnants of, well, the title. More focused than the smoothly-sanded Curti disc, its high points are those which hint at breaking out of the pleasingly placid tonalities which, unfortunately, play chicken with good old-fashioned torpor. Specifically, "My Lullaby" co-written by Parillo's Sonic Explorers pal, Jerry Sabatini, and especially Cudahy's winking, bubbling "Charles Lloyd's Red Maracas" show a wellspring of heart which the balance of Morning In the Garden struggles to maintain. You can't question the musicianship on either disc, given the pedigrees involved, yet if the point is that there doesn't have to always be a point, Curti and Parillo both succeed. Just relax, soak it up, and everything will be fine. Passivity to the people! Quibble? Life is sensual, interactive, sweaty. A contact sport, physically and mentally. Relaxation is a lovely respite, but escapism, even in the name of flower-sniffing, provides only a 20-second timeout in life's pageantry.

STARS & BARS. It was a benefit for a small, cash-strapped, globally-respected music magazine. Of the dozen-plus national and international reviews of last year's Terrastock Festival in Olneyville, more than one cast aspersions on the host city. This when critics weren't heaping praise on the music. Seems there was a misunderstanding about the presence of fire marshals, and long story short, it cost organizers about two long to appease the Providence Fire Department. Twice more said marshals, giddy on overtime fumes, were quoted dishing the articles for sale at the artists' vending kiosks inside Rogue Gallery on Manton Avenue. From the Los Angeles New Times:"One of the fire marshals shook his head and turned to his partner. `I just don't understand what any of this shit has to do with anything else.' " To their credit, no one died at Terrastock, so it's OK that the capital city's budget is now bleeding red due mainly to a certain department's unforeseen OT costs. Maybe budget shit and OT shit is different. I just don't understand. The Chicago Reader quipped:"just before the concert started, the Providence fire department shook the organizers down for more than two grand to pay for overtime for the four fire marshals who spent the weekend monitoring a space that held fewer people than attend a sold-out show at Metro." Which is smaller than Lupo's. Let's talk arts-friendly city. Let's.

This year it's in San Francisco, and here's hoping Medicine Ball and V Majestic's presence at Terrastock II on April 17-19 (a.k.a. Terrastock West, the Left Coast Ptolemaic Perambulation) will re-build goodwill enough to persuade organizers to reconsider Providence for future fests. The alphabetized lineup: the Alchemysts, Alva, the Azuza Plane, Bardo Pond, the Bevis Frond, Clockbrains, Cul de Sac, Damon & Naomi, Mick Farren and the Deviants, 50 Foot Hose, Green Pajamas, Lothars, the Loud Family, Major Stars, Medicine Ball, Scott McCaughey, Roy Montgomery, Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band, Mountain Goats, Mudhoney, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Pelt, Tom Rapp, Silver Apples, Kendra Smith, Spaceheads, Stone Breath, SubArachnoid Space, V Majestic, Brother JT & Vibrolux, Wellwater Conspiracy, Windy and Carl. Plus surprise guests. Tickets through Aquarius Records (1055 Valencia, SF, CA, 94110) with checks payable to the Ptolemaic Terrascope. Prices at aqua@sirius.com.

HEARTY FOLK. Pendragon's new record, Beyond Borders -- A Celtic Journey, is due next month, and will be very much in evidence at Belcourt Castle on Friday when the band host a Valentine's concert as part of the Newport Winter Festival. Meanwhile, Atwater & Donnelly perform at In the Square Coffee House in Olneyville's Church of the Messiah on Friday, and on Saturday Chan's hosts a prodigious sax summit with Dick Johnson, Nick Brignola and Greg Abaté. Sterling bari player Brignola received kudos in both Downbeat and Jazz Times' Readers' Polls, Johnson leads the Artie Shaw Orchestra and Abaté's star continue to rise in the alto realm, whether immersed in Latin jazz, post-bop intricacies or swing. Monday at Chan's Leon Redbone makes his semi-annual stop. Back to festivals, Hear in Rhode Island seeks performers for their India Point Park bash June 13-14.

HEARTY-HAR-HAR. Japonize Elephants arrive at AS220 this weekend. One of few bands capable of making Amoebic Ensemble sound disinterested, the Elephants' adrenaline rush precludes even the tiniest moment for introspection, and Bob's Bacon Barn (Secretly Canadian Records) shows that while a certain silliness factor is a major artery in their work, there are a kazillion sneaky capillaries of canny musicality coursing through an eight-piece hillbilly-on-steroid sound. They sometimes go for the pirate motif live, just to warn you. There'll be waltzes, fugues, Celtic jiggery and loads of folderol a la Big Nazo. One dude goes as Francisco Baroni, Minister of Cess, so why should we be surprised to hear Croatian bluegrass via the United Arab Emirates? A joke band . . . maybe . . . only if your mind is closed off to the Elephants' early pop godfather nods toward Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and Ray Davies. The midwesterners are the perma-wry, melodically spry, sugared-up kids run amok in some poor sod's music appreciation class. Baffled? Likewise. But if yr. Valentine's sucks, rebound with yucks.

MORE 88S. Avery Piano, longtime associates of the RI Philharmonic, are making several pianos of every style available for bid, with partial proceeds to benefit RIPO during their Benefit Week. Upstairs at Avery on Sunday at 6 p.m., the Solati Trio (pianist Ludmilla Lifson, violinist Sophia Herman, violoncellist Hrant Tatian) will perform works by Beethoven, Dvorak and more to kick-start Benefit Week. Bernadette Peters croons with the RIPO on Saturday, and the Classical Series resumes next Saturday. Limited seats at Avery Hall means you should ring ahead (888-AVERY-88) for the Solati; those interested in the pianos for sale should phone in a pre-selection appointment for the 20th and 21st before their public sale on February 22 at noon.