Clear your afternoon schedule. This week’s Austin Music Weekly spotlight’s a real doozy.
Filth “Footprints” & “Tutu”
Filth is the new project from three of the smoothest cats in Austin jazz: drummer Brannen Temple, keyboardist Bobby Sparks, and trumpeter Ephraim Owens. In this 30-minute medley at the Highball, the trio melds two standards from the Miles Davis pantheon, Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and the title cut from 1986’s controversial Tutu, into
a seductive bitches brew of orbital funk with plenty of room to maneuver.
Trail of Dead “Weight of the Sun”
As mentioned in last week’s face-off between Jason Reece and Conrad Keely, Trail of Dead performed “Weight of the Sun (Or the Post-Modern Promethus)” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday. It’s the now-quartet’s best dressed, if not strongest, late night performance to date, and merely hints at the epic scope of the album, Tao of the Dead.
Hacienda “Mama’s Cookin’”
Keeping with this week’s live theme, here’s some quality footage of Hacienda opening for the Greenhornes at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The San Antonio family band has taken quantum leaps since backing Dan Auerbach, which is plainly evident in this rendition of “Mama’s Cookin.’”
This article appears in February 4 • 2011.