"Woodenhead has emerged
as probably the most important and certainly the most fascinating musical
unit New Orleans has seen in years...adamantly original, almost spiritual.."
Eddie Allman, BATON ROUGE MORNING ADVOCATE
"Ya'll suck!" audience member, Laplace Speedway, 1979
"Jimmy Robinson is a major talent who could easily become one of Austin's guitar heroes.." Michael Point, AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN
"Why Ya'll play dat music dat make people fight?" Audience member, 1978 after huge brawl breaks out among frenzied Bridge City Gumbo Festival attendees during Woodenhead's set
"A great band. Really great feeling" JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, 1985
"They've been around forever. They're not really happening" Editor of defunct New Orleans music magazine at meeting for defunct music conference. 1986
"Woodenhead is not for the faint-hearted, musically or in spirit...they play a hard-driving, challenging musi c that will literally rock you out of the comfortable cradle of Jazz, R&B and rock and roll into which life in New Orlesans has lulled you." Rock Adam GAMBIT
"The guitar is way too loud" audience member,Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, N.C. June 15, 1985
"I can't hear the guitar at all" audience member,Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, N.C. June 15, 1985
"Robinson is a killer guitarist, capable of removing the heads of most head banging metal freaks. He is also 'tasty' in the old-fashioned sense, rarely letting speed overtake the essentials." Mark Bingham, WAVELENGTH MAGAZINE
"You boys need some uniforms" Jimmy Robinson's grandfather repeatedly from 1975 until his passing in the mid-eighties.
"At the New Orleans jazz festival, Woodenhead gets a standing ovation for teaching traditional jazz fans just how far imagination and electricity can push the form" ESQUIRE MAGAZINE
"An innovative band of extraordinary instrumentalists"...TRIANGLE LIVE, Winston-Salem, N.C.
"A band dedicated to creating music of the highest integrity, and not compromising during their three decades of performances and recordings." MJ Brady PROGNOSIS
"It's kind of painful to my ear" Audience member, Tipitina's, 1980
MORE PRESS!
FROM JAZZREVIEW.COM
jazzreview.com® Featured Artist: Woodenhead CD Title: Perseverance Review:
The present wave of neo-progressive/fusion bands and/or instrumental rock
bands refuses to peak! As proof, please refer to the New Orleans-based Woodenhead:
they ³fit² into both categories. They are all instrumental, have the prerequisite
influences of 70s prog and fusion icons Dixie Dregs, The Mahavishnu Orchestra
and Frank Zappa (i.e., Uncle Meat, Lumpy Gravy) [with a touch of The Muffins,
too, maybe] and their compositions feature a lot of twisty, darting and angular
ensemble passages. What separates them from the pack is their lightness of
touch (a refreshing lack of bombast and excess) and their New Orleans temperament.
No, no one is likely to mistake Woodenhead for The Meters or The Neville Bros.,
but their sound is informed with some of the sly, earthy cool (and some of
the funky groove) that is common to much of the sound of New Orleans (which
is just as much a part of Tony Dagradi as Allen Toussaint or Dr. John). Highlights
include Fran Comiskey¹s keys, which have that neat chunky/shiny sound similar
to the mid-70s UK bands Hatfield & The North and Matching Mole and Jimmy Robinson¹s
guitar sometimes has a clean, surfin¹ Carlos Santana sound (as on the flamenco-tinged
³Little Blue²). The much-maligned rogue beasts known as Œprog² and ³fusion²
has got some lively years left, thanks to outfits like Woodenhead. Record
Label Website: http://www.lasercd.com Artist's Website: http://www.woodenheadmusic.com
Reviewed by: Mark Keresman FROM PROGRESSIVEWORLD.NET Reviewed by: Stephanie
Sollow, April 2003 Free Electric Sound is proving itself to be a label to
be reckoned with, further evidence provided by the third release from The
Laser's Edge offshoot Woodenhead's Perserverance. Though a name likely new
to many progressive music fans, they've been making music for more than 20
years. Formed in 1975 by Jimmy Robinson and Danny Cassin, after each had played
in various bands "influenced by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds,
Jimi Hendrix and Cream [Š ] Robinson led [Š] a [Š] Yes/King Crimson/Zappa
influenced band called Laugh In the Dark" before forming Woodenhead. The band's
biography forms the liner notes to the CD, bringing everyone up to the present.
In the immediate future, Woodenhead have been tapped to play at the NEARfest
2003 pre-show along with Izz and Miriodor Š making the pre-show as diverse
as the main festival itself. From the first few notes of the first track you
will be struck with two thoughts. The first is that you're hearing country
music's version of contemporary instrumental. But don't let the twang of "Big
G" which is a very neat, nice and mellow piece fool you. There's a jazz
fusion heart inside this quartet. This becomes immediately apparent in the
funky "Bone Wars" that follows, a piece that also features the "trombones
from hell" (hence "bones") Mark Mullins, Brian O'Neil and Rick Trolsen. Yes
there is something dark and sometimes menacing about them to be sure. And
in the rumbling, King Crimson like "Little Blue" we hear darkness of another
sort, though the mood of this track shifts from moody to frenetic back to
moodyŠ in and out of the blues, as it were. And in that frenetic section,
they quote a phrase from a well-known pieceŠ even if you can't name it, you'll
instantly think of a Latin-tinged western. Crimson will come to mind with
"Buzz Beat" at times as well. The other thought that will come to you, and
be accurate throughout is that this is some high quality stuff. That stuff
is a sharp, sweet, sometimes tart guitar from band leader Jimmy Robinson,
who plays with that "less is more" philosophy, making each note count. The
bounce and throb comes from the bass of Paul Clement, punctuated by the solid,
tight and yet loose drumming of Mark Whitaker. All this is given some wonderful
texture from keyboardist Fran Comisky, whose keys sound more like vibes on
"Dance #2" along with some piano like textures. And then there's those trombones
what a sweet, deep sound they make Š throaty at times ("Funk Tune"), ballsy
at others ("Chef Of The Future"). This is a CD that hits all the right notes
playful at times, sounding as if they had fun playing with and off each
other. Perhaps never more so in one of the 10 tracks here that I absolutely
love, the rolling, rollicking "Yes And No," where Robinson and Clement really
go all out, leading into one of the sweetest guitar solos from Robinson. "Chef
Of The Future" is the perfect summer time song big, bold and funky. It is
the perfect driving piece to zip along the freeway or highway, given its ballsy
sound by those 'bones. Robinson bends notes with a measured control, yet signaling
that what the chef is cooking up is not going to be tame in any way, shape
or form. There's some cool, muted wah-wah guitar from Robinson as well. In
amongst all the "showing off" is the mellower "Ayo Aise." Mellow doesn't mean
in any way staid, as another lovely guitar solo from Robinson is backed by
some equally lovely piano stylings from Clement (where again, vibes will also
come to mind). Perseverance is one of those albums that begs repeated plays.
Oh, by the way, I said "Yes And No" was one of the 10 tracks that I love --
there are 10 tracks on the CD. Surely one of my top picks come the end of
the year. Very, very cool stuff.
Rating: 5/5
FROM GAMBIT
The city of New Orleans
is not generally referred to as a haven for progressive-rock or jazz-fusion
bands. With six recordings supporting a 28-year (!) union, Woodenhead has
maintained a cult-like following in these Southern parts amid stints opening
for like-minded bands like The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Not your typical stock
and trade rockers, the quartet's methodologies consist of pumping rhythmic
structures, laced with climactic movements and much more. For instance on
the piece titled "Bone Wars," the band interweaves complex '70s-style progressive
rock stylizations a la Gentle Giant with a dashing, contemporary vibe. Guitarist
Jimmy Robinson and keyboardist Fran Comiskey commingle polytonal treatments
with traces of psychedelia on occasion. As the ensemble injects a personalized
stamp into multi-genre explorations, such as hard-rock drenched flamenco episodes
and funk/groove motifs with odd-metered time signatures. Moreover, Robinson's
slick picking on "Yes and No" steers the band into a quasi hoedown/modern
rock-type opus. This unit has evolved into a tight-knit entity, subsidized
by drummer Mark Whitaker and bassist Paul Clement's disciplined timekeeping
along with a few well-placed twists and turns. An added pleasure resides within
the musicians' penchant for integrating memorably melodic themes into their
repertoire, where Ms. Comiskey fuses multi-hued synth treatments with jazzy
lines into the mix. Needless to say, this group deserves widespread exposure,
as they loom rather large within the sometimes-stagnant progressive rock arena.
Its perseverance has paid off with this fine release. --
Astarita
FROM MUSICDISH INDUSTRY JOURNAL
www.musicdish.com/mag/archive Much to my surprise Woodenhead has been making music since 1975. It is literally impossible to keep up with all the bands that are coming out with music, so the fact that this is the first time I had ever heard of this band, came as no surprise. I do however feel a certain amount of frustration that I did not know about them because I really enjoyed their music. "Perseverance" is a very interesting and contemplative gathering of instrumental tracks that offer a remarkable variety for the perceptive listener within each composition. I heard so many different things going on with this album. The first influence I detected was an authoritative Celtic sound in Jimmy Robinson¹s guitar playing in different parts of several songs, and then elements of jazz and funk bubble up to the surface. Each track from beginning to end continually evolves and breaks off into different musical segments with varying degrees of jazz, rock, fusion and blues influences. Jam band fans will most definitely find a common ground with this music because of the eclectic and tasteful sounds. This music is not absorbed with merely one listen, several is more realistic in order to grasp what this ultra talented band is trying to impress upon you. If you think the cover of this CD is rather odd and original, just wait until you hear their music, it just gets better as it gets further into the album. If you look up the term progressive, chances are you will find this bands¹ name as part of the definition.
FROM HIGHBIAS-AURAL FIXATIONS
www.highbias.com/archives/2003..
New Orleans progressive fusion quartet Woodenhead has been slogging in the
trenches reserved for such things since 1975. So Perseverance is an apt title
for its latest album. You can tell by listening to this band that it's no
spring chicken‹these cats can play and they know how to put a song together.
Guitarist/composer Jimmy Robinson knows the importance of a strong melody,
especially in instrumental music; cuts like "Ayo Aise" and "Bone Wars" are
more than just outlines for soloing. Robinson is definitely the frontman here;
his legato-filled lines dominate the proceedings, especially on the Steve
Morse-like "Dance #2." But keyboardist Fran Comiskey gets plenty of room as
well, even if some of her tones (will that damned 80s "bell/piano" sound ever
go away?) are suspect. Like many bands of this stripe, Woodenhead doesn't
just draw from jazz and prog, but also C&W ("Drop Dead"), funk ("Funk Tune,"
natch), pop ("Yes and No") and even a touch of Celtic music ("Chef of the
Future"). A well-rounded ensemble like Woodenhead will give fusion a good
name.
Michael Toland [buy it]
