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Richard Thompson Band

Even a less-than-perfect sound system can't take the edge off a performance by the Richard Thompson Band.

The great British guitarist, who rivals Eric Clapton in technique and style, led his quartet Wednesday in a concert at the Byham Theater, Downtown. The show, before a nearly full house, was dominated by songs from his new album, "Sweet Warrior," but the album has such good material that is wasn't a problem.

Songs such as his politically sharp "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" and the beautiful "Sunset Song" are wonderful, new examples of his work. Of course, the show also featured such classics as "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," perhaps one of the best songs written in the past 50 years. It drew applause three notes into it and had fans standing at the end.

The only weakness was the sound system. It was hard to hear his speaking voice, thus robbing listeners of some of his wit. It also pushed aside some of the work of Pete Zorn, who played rhythm guitar but also baritone, alto and sopranino saxes as well as flute.

-- Bob Karlovits

River City 6

Members of the River City 6 ought to stop thinking of themselves as the River City Brass Band Lite.

At the sextet's premiere Pittsburgh performance June 26 at the theater at Upper St. Clair High School, the talented ensemble did far too many works that were trimmed versions of what the larger group does.

It needed to perform more pieces such as the finale from the brass sextet by Oskar Bohme, where it showed just how good a small ensemble it could be.

The group did a great reading of euphonium player Matthew Murchison's arrangement of two Astor Piazzolla tangos. The full band did those well, too, but the chart translates well into six pieces. More works such as that and the Bohme were needed, not "lite" versions of "Bugler's Holiday" or "Shepherd's Hey."

Really, guys, "Stars and Stripes Forever" is not a sextet piece.

-- Bob Karlovits

Rick DiMuzio

It wasn't exactly impromptu, but it certainly wasn't completely planned out.

So like a lot of good jazz, it was improvised when New Kensington native Rick DiMuzio -- now not just a sax player but an associate professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston -- got together Friday at Sassy Marie's on the North Side with Tony Martucci on drums, Jamie Moore on trumpet and Philip Kuehn on bass.

Martucci drove up from Washington, D.C., and Kuehn and Moore arrived just before the start time; with a little bit of a huddle, they were off.

It was a little hesitant at first: after all, there was no rehearsal and no set list, but by the second number, "Along Came Benny," which, after a little chatter, turned into a Benny Golson mini-tribute ("Hey, do you know 'Stablemates'? OK."). And by the time they hit "Body and Soul," and Charlie Parker's "Confirmation," strong solos by DiMuzio and Moore showed the way the rest of the evening would go. They players were having fun, and you knew the audience would too.

-- Vaunda Bonnett

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