Yesterday, enigmatic outsider musician Jandek played a free concert at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, organized by the good folks at WCBN. He was playing bass and singing, accompanied by Christian Matjias on harpsichord, James Cornish on trumpet, and Biba Bell on voice and interpretive dance. It was a weird show, to say the least. It will probably be released (on CD and/or DVD) by Jandek himself in the near future, but here are two slightly shaky video clips to give you an impression of the event.
The first one is a really beautiful song, no idea what it is called. Unfortunately, it cuts off before the end. The second video shows Jandek walking off the stage, in his very own Jandek way.
YouTube links: Song | Exiting the Stage.
Sorry for the crappy sound and picture quality, I am looking forward to better quality official releases myself. By the way, some local events calendar only called Jandek's music "emotionally dissolute blues and folk songs", probably copied from Wikipedia or the press release. They did not mention that "blues and folk" in this sentence is used in a more than slightly non-traditional way. It seems that quite a few people at the concert didn't really know what they were getting themselves into, and left early. Or maybe they were all Jandek fans who preferred his earlier solo work on guitar...
Thanks, Lukas.
I really enjoy his live records, particularly the ones featuring piano, but I am also a fan of Jandek's earlier work. One of my friends is going to be playing drums for him in Denver later this year. I can't wait to finally meet him. No prob on the sound quality. This is a real treat.
Posted by: Jim | May 19, 2008 at 02:16 AM
Awesome. I would love to see him live.
Posted by: aaron | May 19, 2008 at 03:58 AM
Amazing what 2 and a half years does to the public reaction of seeing Jandek on BotB (see comments on the above post and the old one!)
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/excuse_me_jande.html
Posted by: Brian Turner | May 19, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Amazing what 2 and a half years does to the public reaction of seeing Jandek on BotB (see comments on the above post and the old one!)
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/excuse_me_jande.html
Posted by: Brian Turner | May 19, 2008 at 11:41 AM
SELLOUT! SELLOUT!
Posted by: illlich | May 19, 2008 at 02:39 PM
I still stand by my original position from about 25 years ago that Jandek's records make good desk blotters.
Posted by: Krys O. | May 19, 2008 at 03:18 PM
I went to this show. It was a fun experience - after every song literally twenty people would leave. The auditorium holds about 600, and it was relatively full when things started, so the crowd didn't get too thin (I'm guessing about half of the people there left before the end). Two hours of Jandek will wear almost anybody down. My girlfriend, having never heard him before, was really pissed that I took her. It was awesome.
Posted by: i | May 19, 2008 at 10:41 PM
I was there - flew in all the way from Denver (I didn't know about his upcoming appearance in Colorado)and Lukas was right - people were clearing the fuck out of there after the first few songs. The interplay between Jandek and the harpsichordist (sp?) was sublime, though. Two hours of live Jandek was just about right.
Then we started drinking.
Posted by: dizboo | May 20, 2008 at 01:18 PM
Krys O -
Perhaps you are right, but if you think that Jandek is incapable of making beautiful, melodic pieces of (almost) conventional music, I highly recommend that you listen to "Glasgow Monday - The Cell," a live record from 2006.
It is at times moving, frustrating, exhilarating, and even a bit uplifting, in a morose, depressing, Jandek-y sort of way.
Posted by: Jim | May 20, 2008 at 07:45 PM
I was there and he gave us exactly how much Jandek that we needed. My girlfriend who had never heard Jandek before went with me and she loved it. She rules.
Posted by: Ed Corcoran | May 21, 2008 at 12:37 AM
i wonder if anyone would give a fuck about jandek if he wasn't this mysterious cult figure
Posted by: Jon McCane | May 21, 2008 at 07:51 AM
Those who weren't there have no idea what they missed, those who were but did not enjoy have no clue.
Posted by: Mike Garrison | May 21, 2008 at 12:46 PM
So - Denver guy: do you think this is worth paying twenty five bucks for? I'm in Denver and thinking about going but I like the rock stuff better. Who's this drummer playing, anyway? Is it going to be a rock show? Does anyone know?
I'll probably go anyway. I like these songs, and how many more shows is he gonna do? Especially in Denver!
Posted by: albert ayler | May 23, 2008 at 01:55 AM