I’d never seen a concert hall set up like this: rows of seats on the right, empty floor on the left. That’s because the Marc Black Band wants you to dance. By the third song, people were up and moving; the social gyrations didn’t end till the last encore. (Wait, that’s wrong. The last two songs, before the encores, were Marc solo fingerpicking Neil Young’s “I Am a Child”—from Buffalo Springfield!—and Don Davis performing “On Top of Old Smokey” by flicking his fingernails on his teeth.) Years ago, I would see the historic performance artist Carolee Schneemann among the Marc Black dancers. One of her famous pieces is titled Meat Joy—and come to think of it, there’s a lot of meat joy at these shows. Marc Black knows how to create a temporary anarchist commonwealth, where dance moves replace money.
Like Dave Bromberg, Marc is a gifted storyteller, specializing in the genial shaggy dog story. Before one song he confided: “I was feeling very down. I couldn’t go on. I was deeply depressed. And then someone explained to me—not a guru, not a yogi – what the secret of happiness is. I found the secret of happiness! You want to know what it is?” And then the band launched into “Act Naturally,” the Buck Owens hit that Ringo Starr sang memorably on the Help! album:
Well, I hope you’ll come and see me in the movies / Then I know that you will plainly see / The biggest fool that ever hit the big time / And all I gotta do is act naturally!
Most of the songs are written by Marc, but some are medleys with rock anthems like “Gloria” (the one Patti Smith sings). It’s a one-guitar band (plus a bass), but with an attentive keyboard player, and two vocalists, there’s a big sound. Amy Fradon produced rich feline vocals, while happily dancing, sometimes in a Mexican Day of the Dead-style COVID mask. Don Davis played a mighty sax, and inquisitive flute curls.
If you’re old enough to remember when every rock band had endless, self-indulgent drum solos (and if you’re a Deadhead, you still must endure them), the crisp, danceable drum runs of Eric Parker are a singular delight.
Let me name the bassist and organist, both Woodstock sound-heroes: Michael Esposito & Pete Levin.
Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso, the dignified free jazz legends, came onstage—Karl on melodica, Ingrid on vocals—and began channeling incremental epiphanies. Marc jammed with them, and the whole band entered the trance (leading to the song “Don’t Let the Fight”). You won’t see that at a Who concert!
Should you forget why you once loved rock ‘n’ roll – as I often do while listening to Louis Armstrong: Rare and Unreleased Performances (a four-record set)—Marc Black will remind you. Suddenly one of his tunes—“Just About Time”—transforms into “Woolly Bully,” and your feet can’t stop flying!
This article appears in December 2021.
