by Jordan Lewis
Lovers of country, folk, rock, jazz, blues, and gospel music alike came together at The Bell House this Wednesday to catch the The Little Willies’ only live performance to follow the January 10th release of their second record, “For the Good Times,” on EMI’s Milking Bull Records. The quintet features Dan Rieser (drums), Lee Alexander (bass), Jim Campilongo (guitar), Richard Julian (guitar, vocals), and Norah Jones (piano, vocals). This group of all-star players and long-time friends starting jamming informally in 2003 at The Living Room on the Lower East Side, but decided quickly that their chemistry as an ensemble was undeniable. Nine years and two records later, that chemistry is still palpable.
Based on the crowd dynamic throughout the two twelve song set, I gathered that a majority of the crowd came expressly to see Norah Jones’s performance. As the night went on however, it became clear that this was no one-woman show, thanks to the tasteful contributions of the rhythm section, Mr. Julian’s soothing vocal harmonies, and Jim Campilogno’s scathing, flawlessly idiomatic tone. As for Ms. Jones, many of us are accustomed to hearing her soft, almost whisper like singing, but on Wednesday her strong, sassy delivery embodied the true spirit of country music.
The band’s performance consisted of a mix of original compositions alongside carefully chosen and thoughtfully arranged covers drawn from the folk, country, blues, and jazz traditions. Their repertoire includes arrangements of tunes by Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Quincy Jones, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Scott Wiseman, Cal Martin, Tompall Glaser, Fred Rose, and Cliff Friend. Being a life-long lover of minor music, my favorites were the dirgy, call and response heavy arrangement of Quincy Jones’s “Foul Owl on the Prowl,” and a bluegrass rendering of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”
All-in-all, The Little Willies put on an excellent show and their enthusiasm and
excitement kept the audience riveted from the downbeat of the first set right through to
the encore. Despite some of the spatial-acoustic problems with the space itself, The Bell
House provided an undeniably appropriate setting for this quintet to peddle its meddle.
Unfortunately, The Little Willies have no more live performances scheduled, but
you can check them out on NPR's World Café on January 19th.