Live: Steve Martin at Walt Disney Concert Hall
The actor's considerable banjo-playing skills were in the spotlight, but his comedic talents pop in as well before a delighted near-capacity audience.
Were Steve Martin's instrument of choice a violin, piano or guitar, he might
well have shown up in the company of several top players in the field, as he did
Wednesday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and gotten by without so much as a
quip about moonlighting. But Martin, who long used the banjo as a prop in his
stand-up act, is all too aware of the inherent comedy that the instrument, like
the accordion, holds for most listeners.
"My wife inspired the title for
this next song," he told the near-capacity crowd by way of introduction. "It's
called 'When Are You Going to Stop Playing the Damned Banjo?' "
Unlike
Woody Allen, who can appear practically mirthless in concert when he sits down
with his clarinet to play traditional jazz, Martin was perfectly comfortable and
utterly engaging alternating between his two passions, humor and music.
The 64-year old comedian, writer and director -- who lately has turned
serious intention to both playing and composing with his first full album of
music, “The
Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo” -- easily held his own in the
company of the Steep Canyon Rangers, the North Carolina bluegrass quintet that
is backing him on tour, as well as his world-class guests for the
night.
Banjoist-singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn opened the show and
joined him for one number, and "newgrass" innovator Béla Fleck, who
had played a few nights earlier at UCLA, stayed in town to sit in with
Martin and Washburn, who also happens to be Fleck's wife.
Martin cannily
has chosen not to try adding his stamp to the bluegrass standards -- outside of
the obligatory run-through of "The Orange Blossom Special" that closed his set
-- but to focus on his own compositions. He's an inventive composer and
accomplished player, employing strong melodies, often surprising chord
progressions and savvy use of syncopated phrasing that sustain
interest.
Those qualities led to several recent award nominations for
"The Crow" by the International Bluegrass Music Assn., and it will be no
surprise if his name pops up again when Grammy Award nominations are announced
in December.
His mention of the IBMA nominations segued into a timely
reference in which he announced, with resignation, that the only prize he took
was the one for best liner notes. "I couldn't believe it. I was standing there
with my award, and Kanye West came on stage and said 'Doc Watson's liner notes
were better!' "
But once the music started, the wisecracking stopped --
for the most part. He added whimsical words to "Late for School," which he said
had started out as an instrumental. And for "Daddy Played the Banjo," which he
let Steep Canyon guitarist Woody Platt sing, he recycled some lines he'd written
as an exercise in bad poetry upon realizing that "It may be bad poetry, but it's
a pretty good country song."
Actually, it's a smartly crafted story of
invented cultural history, a confession by someone who wasn't born in Appalachia
yet loves the music of that region just as much as any native. Witty as the
song's punch line is, ultimately the joke is that in honestly exploring his
affinity for this strain of American folk music, Martin legitimately has been
adopted into that family.
Washburn's 40-minute set opened the eyes and
ears of the Disney Hall audience to one of the under-sung wonders of Americana
music. Washburn picked up the banjo late in life, after living for many years in
China, as a way of reconnecting with her own cultural roots.
She drew the
line from ancient Appalachian ballads such as "Bright Morning Stars" to even
older Celtic music styles that immigrants to the U.S. brought with them, and wed
her trans-global experiences in "Song of the Traveling Daughter," which she sang
in Mandarin while fleetly plucking her banjo clawhammer style with accompaniment
from fiddle and cello.
Now that's world music.
Photo: Steve Martin on banjo with Charles R. Humphrey III on bass. Credit: Brian Vander Brug.
A spectacular evening! I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the very front row, and thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Martin's slyly self-deprecating remarks as he demonstrated his serious love for, and accomplished pride in, making "banjo music." I guess we can now definitively lay to rest the nasty industry scuttlebutt that much of his early success (comedian, actor, playwright, writer, ad infinitum) was a cosmic fluke; with his clear mastery in both writing and performing his own music, he has finally quieted the nattering naysayers who have claimed he was merely a legend in his own mind. What the future holds for this renaissance man remains unknown; but surely Kobe Bryant lies awake at night, pleading with the basketball gods: "But white men can't jump!" Be afraid, Kobe, be very afraid, for there's a new white-haired power forward coming, and his name is Steve…Steve Martin.
Posted by: Danny Justman | October 29, 2009 at 05:35 PM
My husband and i saw the show. It was a delightful evening and full of surprises both fun and musically impressive. First time we saw and heard Steve - great entertainment. But the high for us was Abigail. Her singing voice and her wit and her connection with the audience were extraordinary. I just wanted more.
Chrissy
Posted by: Chrissy Washburn | October 31, 2009 at 06:54 AM