Marco Benevento and Mike Dillon, the melodic elements behind the jazz-fusion supergroup Garage A Trios, played a long and excellent show at The Independent on Saturday, February 2.
It was a night of delightfully endless jams and improvisation, and the fun crowd was there to party, dance and celebrate life behind the exuberant leadership of the Tigerfaced headliner Marco Benevento.
Mike Dillon began the evening with an eclectic “New Orleans Punk” set. Since last summer, Mike Dillon has been touring with trombone upstart Carley Meyers, who is a New Orleans-based star in the making. Meyers plays the trombone with perfection, passion and she matches Mike Dillon’s punk rock stage persona. Meyers should be part of the NOLA staple of musicians that reign over Jazzfest for the foreseeable future.
Marco Benevento joined Mike Dillon, Carly Meyers & the rest of Dillon’s band for their final song
in his casual pre-show digs.
Benevento’s positive vibes and mellow, zen-like leadership capabilities are something to behold at a live show. He listens, adapts, reacts and obviously gets high from music. You can see it in Marco’s face when a song hits a peak or euphoric point. Benevento soaks up the moments, taking them in with a genuine smile.
This tour, Marco Benevento has been rockin’ futuristic coke-bottle glasses, and this night he didn’t leave the piano until the end of the set, when he put the tiger-face that had been adorning his piano on his head. This led to a couple more tracks from his 2012 LP TigerFace, and a show closing number with “Limbs of a Pine.”
Upcoming shows like Marco Benevento at The Independent:
•The Wailers perform Survival on Thursday, February 7.
•North Mississippi Allstars – Friday February 8, Saturday February 9
•The Dirty Dozen Brass Band – Friday February 15, Saturday February 16
There are two in the post Jimmy.
Where’s the pic when he is rocking the tiger head?