Who Needs An Apple A Day?  Dr. Dan Matrazzo Speaks His Mind

By Hunter Pope

I'm going to go out on a limb. I decree that a doctor's waiting room is bland and in need of a total revamp. When I walk into the sitting area, several disheartening sensory underloads greet me. First, are the morose stares that penetrate your soul as you glance at Sports Illustrated's premier interview with Ty Cobb (yes, most magazines in the local caregiver's office are slightly out of date). Second is the (what shall I call it?) music that sends sharp spindles of pain into my ears.

I don't get it. A visit to the medicine man should be an enlightening one, not a doomsday march, ode elevator music. Fortunately, I have an easy solution. Get rid of all the furniture and ornaments, burn the wallpaper and jaundiced magazines, and, by all means necessary, kill the music. Now, all you have to do is buy a bubble machine, a dance floor, and eye-gouging lights (preferably of strobe origin). Finally, you need a piano player that understands the universal equations of all things funky. I suggest one Dr. Dan Matrazzo, a dazzling finger magician who can collectively ripple the body and mind.

Who shall I jot down for an appointment?

Dr. Dan's "medical school years" trained him to be a keyboardist front man. He became a teen star in Tokyo performing with Japanese pop sensation Char. The flood of stardom lights mellowed to a pleasant hue when he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He became acquainted with guitarist Steve Vai (Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth) and percussionist Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Leftover Salmon) and formed the band, Winter. In 1982, he moved to Atlanta where he began a lifelong relationship with "underground" guru, Colonel Bruce Hampton. Alongside the Colonel, Dan first helped form The Aquarium Rescue Unit and then The Fiji Mariners. The quest for solo expansion led Matrazzo to venture out in 1999 and reap the satisfaction of becoming a household name.

His first solo effort, "Dan on the Moon" was released on June 27, and the debut is a casserole of musical genres. Dan delves into his vast knowledge of recipes and delivers a hearty mouthful of classical, jazz, rock, and a pinch of techno.  The topping is laden with dance grooves and ensures that one helping will not cut it. He even let a few "prep cooks" sit in to dish out the tasty morsels. The lineup includes guitarist Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule), bassist Sam Sims (Mariah Carey, Cher), and drummer Lil' John Roberts (Janet Jackson). Now, the keyboardist is on the road and he is ready to pulverize the dance floor with gravitational intensity. Be wary, intrepid music hall traveler, Doctor Dan is a thinking man's musician. His complicated jazz meanderings instill philosophical thought patterns while his groove morphs the body into one long muscle undulation. Still not signed up for an exam? Tsk, tsk. The waiting room is starting to fill to fire hazard capacity.

The Doctor was born and raised in Japan, and his musical interests blossomed in the toddler stages. "My uncle in Japan was nominated best big band for fifteen years straight, " said Matrazzo from his home in Atlanta. "They did a lot of TV shows and jazz concerts. I would say that they were a cross between Duke Ellington and a band that would play on the Carson show. My aunt was also a studio musician."

The sounds that emanated from his uncle's band created an everlasting residue that permeated through the younger's digits. "My mother bought me this electric piano when I was four years old," said Dan. "I played it for a year or two until I got a piano. My dad had some Dixieland records and some jazz here and there. Out of the blue I started playing this boogie-woogie piano and I had never even heard it before. It shocked my parents. I was lucky because I was one of those few kids at six years that said I want to do this for the rest of my life. I had the feel for it. My soul taught me to do that."

The label of prodigy followed Matrazzo throughout his teen years. It was simply inevitable that music stardom would become bedfellows with the gifted adolescent.  His road to infamy came courtesy of Char, one of the greatest pop icons in Japanese history " My old roommate had a friend that used to play bass for (Char). He introduced me to him and (Char) told me he was starting this band. At first I was reluctant, then I finally played with him and I thought, 'My goodness, this guys got so much fire and soul.' We started playing together, and I have never seen success so fast in my life."

Within six months to a year, they had a number one hit ("Smoky") and were doing three TV shows a week. Mobs of girls in the throes of puberty became a screaming herd of Doctor Dan followers. The popularity, however, became a nebulous point, as the call of the artistic howled soundly in the teen's ears. "I think it was too much for me. I really enjoyed it a lot, but I had this really cool girlfriend who told me, 'Dan I want you to be a musician. Other musicians would really enjoy listening to you. I thought,  'I really need to get better. This band is ok and all but I really wanted to get good.' The band started peaking out. I think it was success too quick." Dan soon left thereafter to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The "Char Obsession" festered for quite some time in the States. "The college mailroom was freaking out because I was getting 80 fan mails a week. It lasted for about two to three months."

Success this time didn't come in the form of greenbacks or ear-piercing teen squealers. It manifested in the form of instrumental expansion, courtesy of a young Frank Zappa disciple. "Steve Vai was really cool and (still is) an amazing guitarist. He was an absolute Zappa freak back then and Steve used to transcribe to his music ten hours a day." Along with Vai and Jeff Sipe, Matrazzo helped formed the band, Winter. Lavish experimentation was the norm. "Steve was like 17 at the time and Jeff and I were 18 Steve would make all these different sounds, like animal sounds. We were doing a lot of challenging stuff. I look at it now and it's still tough. We did some pretty complex stuff and we were recording in a studio. It got me really focused and playing well under a microscope at a young age."

After three and a half years of study at Berklee, Matrazzo headed to Atlanta. The lessons came quickly. He went from the complicated fray of Winter, to the effortless, yet intricate designs of the blues. "I played with Gatemouth Brown around 1986-87.  It was kind of a Ying and Yang to me from learning all that stuff in Berklee about technique and jazz. He sort of made me throw that away for a second. He said, ' Hey, kid. You have to have soul and be good enough to know when not to play any note. He taught me a lot. Gatemouth is a walking museum of American music."

Little did the Doctor know that the "Commander-in-Chief" of the Atlanta music scene was silently recruiting him. "Colonel Bruce Hampton first saw me with Gatemouth, I had gotten Jeff Sipe to move down here because, at the time, there weren't any good drummers in Atlanta. Jeff happened to hook up with the Colonel before I did and they started playing every Monday night in Five Points and (Jeff) finally got me involved in it. It got pretty out there. By the fourth or fifth show they had me playing the Star-Spangled with my tongue. It became a different creative outlet for musicians. The Colonel had that air about him that let you do whatever you wanted to creatively."

These Monday jaunts into the unknown led to the creation of The Aquarium Rescue Unit. In the early 90's The Colonel and the Doctor formed the duo, The Fiji Mariners, and their live shows became one of bizarre legends. Dan became an octopus as he maintained the duties of bass, drums, and keyboards. His tentacles were given a rest when the Fijis added a drummer and bassist, but the talent behind the keys remained the focal point of the band.

The Fijis came to an end in 1999 as Dan began his quest for singularity. "I wanted to do my own thing I had put my time into it and I needed to move on. The Colonel was starting to get into movies. I knew it was better now than never. I wanted to take it to the limits and see how far I could take a crowd of people with hardly any vocals."

Dan needed good representation on his sound. He turned to legendary producer, David Z., who engineered Prince's Purple Rain. The end result was Dan on the Moon, a veritable buffet of the keyboardist's genre jumping over the years. "I wanted to make a masterpiece. I threw all the ego out and just set out to make a damn good record. I wanted to have something that had a thread between each song so it had that same sound and vibe but with different kind of flavors. David Z. came in and put some twists on the album, the loops were his idea. It came out so organic sounding and didn't sound overproduced. He really got the best out of me. There was some kind of magic in the studio I have never felt before."

Dan on the Moon is a rich tapestry of all things danceable in a complicated sort of way. Check out the booty-shake-heavy "Uncle Hank."  Dan flies all over the board displaying his knowledge of jazz composition while still making every muscle in my body twitch with unadulterated funk. The energy level ascends with each tune until, "Mia's Tears", a classical solo that seems more at home on a Gershwin release. However, it's twists like these that make Moon a regular offender in my rotation selection. Throw in guest guitarist, Warren Haynes, and it's a wonder this disc ever makes it back into its original case.

The problem with Dan on the Moon is that the prescription runs out after an hour. What every able-bodied boogie addict needs is a live overdose of the Doctor. No worries, he's able to see hundreds of clients at once, meticulously making sure that each attendee leaves with a lighter step.  "I think you'll find that my music is a little more accessible to grooves and dancing, although it can get quite intense. I really enjoy the crowds. Even if there's ten or two hundred, it's the same. I give 110% at all times."

I wanted to throw my waiting-room idea at Dan, but I hastily hung up the phone before the endeavor could be preached. My advice is to carry around a disco ball to every doctor visit until someone recognizes the blandness of the situation. If he/she argues or says something about getting the law involved, throw a copy of Dan on the Moon in the muzak holder. The days of Southern Living casserole hints and okra-colored furniture will become a thing of hideous yore.

[Hunter Pope is a writer living in the hills of western North Carolina. You can read find more of his articles published at http://www.smokymountainnews.com.]

South Region New Groove of the Month: Dahrius

by Chip Schramm

The south region groove of the month this month is a band from the rich Memphis music scene that is just beginning to make a name for itself on a broad scale.  Part of the reason for this is because they have not had their name for very long.  "We were a nameless group for a little while there," jokes drummer Jess Norwood.  Norwood is joined by his brother Clint on keys, Jason Oattis on guitar, Jesse Robertson on bass, and Chad Cathey on percussion.  Together they are known as Dahrius (say da-RYE-us).  Each member brings a different element into the band stylistically, so it is not uncommon to hear them shift from Latin to soul to space sounds in a matter of minutes.  What makes them such an interesting group for a new band is their tendency to play original songs in much greater proportion to covers. Jess Norwood explains, "Well, Jesse and I have played together for about five years.  We started out heavy, you know, punk and hardcore mostly.  We had some songs or the roots of some songs that have stayed with us over the years."  The group would become a trio as Oattis took on vocals and guitar later down the road.  The addition of Cathey and Clint Norwood added strong expressive percussion instrumental melodies to the material.

As Dahrius grew larger, so did their commitment to the music.  When asked about the group songwriting process, Clint Norwood explains, "We might bring the songs into the group as individuals, but we've arranged them and rebuilt them as a group.  We had 4 or 5 tunes that were instrumentals for quite a while.  They developed a personality of their own and I wrote some lyrics to go with the music, so all of a sudden we had songs."  The creativity of their efforts was on display at the Taphouse the first weekend in August.  Good Life had a calypso undercurrent and steady groove that kicked their show of well.  Energy Guide was another upbeat dance tune that put the patrons in the right mood with the chorus "it's gonna be a good night."  Clint Norwood swapped vocal duties with Oattis throughout the night.  His upbeat songwriting provided a good contrast with Oattis' more laid-back style.  One of his songs had kind of a loose, jazzy swing to it, but they still made it work.

It's hard to tell that the founding members of Dahrius once performed punk and hardcore tunes.  Like so many things in life, the evolution of their sound is still in a constant state of flux.  Between some members attending college during the day and others schooling at night, they are working hard to expand the number of venues they play both in Memphis and on the road. They do throw in the occasional cover, usually a Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, or Grateful Dead song (on this night, Oattis sang a moving Wharf Rat).  Commenting again on the cover issue, Clint Norwood elaborated, "We're just slack when it comes to working on covers.  The covers you choose to play reveal a lot about your band.  It's hard for us to all agree about picking the right ones."

Dahrius is a local band with much promise.  Their potential is limited only to the amount of energy they are able to put into the project, so they are definitely in the formative stages in that respect.  Another sign of their development is the fact that they haven't fully developed a web site yet, so the pages of Jambands.com are your best source for information at this point.  Their fan-base has already begun to swell, so there is no doubt that Dahrius will be making music around the mid-south for a long time to come.  Look for upcoming tourdates in Jambase.com or better yet, subscribe to the local music listserv, MemMusicCrew@egroups.org.

Widespread Panic Spends a Little Time On the Mountain
Oak Mountain Amphitheater, Pelham, Alabama

August 11-13 by Chip Schramm

As summer slowly winds to an end, the daylight hours grow a little shorter, vacation days are exhausted, and the southern heat is really the only thing that lingers on.  So too all summer tours eventually end, always with a flourish, at one of the band's favorite venues.  Widespread Panic's summer tour ran its course from Colorado to Vermont to Texas to Alabama back to, well, Colorado.  What made the last 2 runs of this tour interesting is that they were played over a span of 14 days.  The band took 4 days off between an already legendary show in Winston-Salem and the first night of Oak Mountain.  The next weekend they finished the tour in Keystone, Colorado. The Oak Mountain show loomed particularly large, partially because the band was playing 3 nights in a row, a first for them at this venue.  But in reality, it was the rowdy, rabid Alabama fans that made "Redneck Red Rocks" an exhilarating experience for anyone who came in contact with them.

The hotels were braced for it.  The rates had been hiked sky high.  We might as well have been at a convention.  Everyone kind of convened in the parking lot as soon as it opened in the afternoons anyway.  Sunny Ortiz continued his recent involvement in the community by holding drumming workshops down front of the stage before each show.  They quietly announced that just a few days before on the band's official web site, and it was an excellent idea.  With their day-to-day tour schedule now over, the boys rolled into Birmingham tanned, rested, and ready to mount a three-night stand.  The Hanson brothers were also on the scene, continuing their summer-long taping of Widespread Panic and the dedicated fans that follow them around the country.  The movie from that taping could be finished and ready for showings as soon as soon as October, according to rumor.  One thing was for certain: there was electricity in the air and the excitement was contagious.

The first night of the run started out in fine fashion, with an Action Man opener.  This new instrumental seems designated for the opening slot and hasn't moved around much in the rotation since spring tour.  It has developed a bit though, as the attacking guitar lines build to a measured climax near the end of the song.  Jojo Hermann has also found room to slide in some of his ragtime piano within the instrumentation of the song.  Pigeons followed that without missing a beat as Todd Nance thumped on his mighty bass drum to keep the set moving briskly along. Pigeons has always been a solid song to place early in either set. The funky jam that follows at the end has really come to take a life of it's own.  The possibilities for combinations coming out of that seem endless and on this night it lead into a stout North.

Jerry Joseph's style meshes very well with the talents of Widespread Panic, so it should be no surprise that North is one of the most powerful songs in the band's current rotation.  John Bell sings with conviction as he matches Joseph's pithy lyrics with the might of the 5 others playing behind him.  The song is a long one, but not nearly as long as when Joseph performs it himself.  There's a whole passage called Nicaragua that Panic leaves out unless they are playing the song with Jerry.  It's OK that they played North in the shorter form, because that left room for Todd Nance's latest vocal offering Down.  Always in the background, both literally and figuratively, Nance has stepped forward in the past year to provide balance and vocal strength to an already powerful lineup.  His songs (which include the rocker Give, sung by Bell) are well liked by the fans but he doesn't play to them so much that they lose their luster.

This version of Down would segue into relatively rare cover song, Weak Brain, Narrow Mind.  This gave Bell the chance to warm up his growl a little.  Surely this song choice must be at his own request given how deeply he digs into the vocals.  The high point of the first set of the run was probably the Bear's Gone Fishin' pairing with Arleen. The first was good as usual, but the second reminded me of the Arleens from years past.  Bell and Dave Schools were throwing in all of the narrative references to the girl next door and the rhythm section (especially Ortiz) was really dialed into the groove.  The band would jam on this for so long that the sing-along One Arm Steve that ended the set was almost anti-climactic.

The second set was pretty standard for a Panic show.  Waker and Space Wrangler started things off.  In hindsight, the always frenzied ending to Wrangler was probably the most energetic moment of the second set.  Low Rider is usually an exciting song for casual fans of the band, but seems to be in the rotation a little much, especially being a cover song.  The band stayed away from the newer material in this set and instead showcased some of their classic songs like Love Tractor, Greta, and Fishwater.  They were all played well and peaked at the appropriate moments, but it was clear that the band was working their way into the run and saving up a few surprises for later in the weekend.

The encores were a surprising Papa Legba, a pretty rare encore choice, and a tune that Hermann used to sing with Beanland, his old band. They Legba paired with the cajun stomp Red Beans.  Hermann yelled out the chorus with gusto and tinkled the ivories, driving the fans into a frenzy to end the show.  As the band left the stage, Bell left one last instruction to the crowd, "Y'all stay up all night and we'll play all our slow song tomorrow."  A cryptic message to be sure, it gave the fans something to smile about as they wandered out of the amphitheater and into the parking lots and hotels beyond.

The following day brought sunny weather without being too hot and muggy. Fans of all descriptions filled the parking lot and set up a virtual tailgate village.  Security was by all accounts polite and perhaps mildly curious towards the growing masses that return to Pelham every year, but there were few incidents of trouble reported.  The Birmingham paper even gave the Saturday night show front-page coverage and another review in the main section.  Sadly, the article focused on a few tour rats trying to score free tickets instead of the actual music, but no matter.

The comment about slow songs was settled quickly on Saturday night.  After minute or two of tuning their instruments, the band broke in a dark and sinister version of Imitation Leather Shoes.  While not exactly a slow song, this brooding original is a good example of the band's return to guitar-oriented rock and roll.  Bell and Hermann's vocal harmonies on the chorus have really improved since spring tour.  This song is a great example of team song writing, with each member adding his own touch. Wondering took its usual place as an early first set transition song, jamming hard for nearly 8 minutes before leading into the first real slow song of the night, I'm Not Alone.

Alone would flow pretty smoothly into Climb To Safety in what seemed like a thematic shift.  The more I thought about it, many of the things on this night seemed like they were made for the movie.  Not in a contrived sense mind you, but the song choices and placement were all about what I have come to expect from a Panic show on a Saturday night.  There were no truly new songs or major bustouts, but everything was played well and with feeling.  Henry Parsons Died with its reference to Saturday was a fitting choice to end the first set.  The Airplane into Pusherman combo was very smooth as well.

The second set built upon the intensity generated during the first set and turned things up a few notches.  Big Wooly Mammoth seems like it is Jojo's anthem from the past few summer tours, but the one that opened the second set segued very abruptly into a white hot Chilly Water as was never really finished.  They left out the "in the middle of the summertime" rap, but things were proceeding so quickly from there most fans didn't care.  During Chilly I saw something that left me rubbing my eyes. "Are those people up there throwing WATER?!?"  The crowd participation of throwing lighters at Jojo during Big Wooly is one thing, but these morons were far too close to the tapers for this kind of nonsense.  I thought it would look funny on the movie, regardless, so I had to just laugh.

From there, things got a couple of degrees funker as the boys segued into the new fan favorite Thought Sausage.  Bell growls and rants like a man possessed as the band creates a thick harmonic stew brimming with improvisational possibilities beneath him.  I think it sounds somewhat reminiscent of a Parliament song from the 70's, albeit a little harder-edged.  By now the crowd was all stirred up as well, so the Red Hot Mama that came next seemed perfect.  Very possibly the highlight of the show, this was indeed a scalding version of the George Clinton classic. The band would slip the anthem Porch Song in next, and that would be the last song before drums.

By the end of drums, Nance was on the Marimbas and Hermann was creating some spacey sounds with his synthesizer.  At one point Schools came out and played portions of his Tears of a Woman jam, so that he and Hermann were along on stage.  For some reason, I heard the same sounds coming from Hermann's synthesizer that I had heard during drums in St. Louis and Houston.  I had guessed Surprise Valley would come out of drums in Houston and been wrong.  They played Mercy first, then Surprise.  I figured they might try some of the same along those lines and the boys followed the script perfectly.

The second set ended with Papa's Home into Surprise back into Papa's, before closing with All Time Low.  The whole segment was very intense and well played, with Ortiz continuing his energetic drumming throughout.  The encores had the crowd standing up with their lighters in the air.  Wish You Were Here is a favorite of thousands, and one of the most special covers the band plays.  Flatfoot Flewzy with its bawdiness and references to Saturday night was the second song of the encore and a perfect fit.  Dave Schools seems to enjoy that one more each time he sings it.  It has been featured in the rotation pretty frequently as an encore as well.

Just one split second after the house lights went back on, the soundman threw in a live Talking Heads album and cranked the PA up as loud as it would go for Burning Down The House.  Much like New Year's in 1998-99, the whole amphitheater stood up on their seats and continued to dance.  The crew and management walked out onto the stage at this point to stare in wonder and many of them began to clap for the fans.  That was the absolute high point of the weekend for me.  I felt very grateful that the Hanson brothers were there to capture such a dramatic moment.  Work would force me back to Tennessee on Sunday, so I missed the excellent show that concluded the run.  There was no doubt that the first two nights provided enough entertainment to cap a memorable summer.  Catch it coming soon to a theater near you.

King Konga
9/9/00 - Zydeco's, Birmingham, AL

by Mike Jones The boys from King Konga rolled into Birmingham on Saturday September 9th for a show yet another show at Zydeco's.  There was an average crowd there but the ones that were there loved their King Konga.  There were some die hard fans there that seem to make it to every show, no matter where it is.  At one point they even had a cell phone out during the show to call one of their compadres that couldn't be there that night so that they could listen in. 

Some of the guys in the band were fighting colds but they didn't let that slow them down.  Some of the in between song chatter referred to their show the night before at which they had played at Vanderbilt University in which they shared the bill with Sir Mix Alot (of Baby Got Back fame).  A unique and interesting combination for a show. 

On this night, the band played songs like, "Virginia", "Dancing Girls", "Say Mercy", and the title track from their current release, Halo.  They also dipped into the "old school Konga" a time or two as well as playing new material from their upcoming release, which will hopefully be out around the first of the year.  The setlist also included covers of Peter Gabriel's song, "In Your Eyes", Bob Marley's, "No Woman, No Cry", and Living Colour's, "Love Rears It's Ugly Head".  Percussionist Tony Lymon takes center stage for the Living Colour jam and more than does the song justice. 

If there was anything bad to say about this night it was that it seemed too short but I can't really complain about that.  I was thrilled enough to see them again as this was my first time since last May to see them. Check out http://www.kingkonga.com for their upcoming tour dates.  They have many shows in the Southeast coming up as well as some on the Atlantic Coast and the in the Midwest.  Definitely check this band out if they are in your area, you will not be disappointed!