home | sounds | bio | events | contact | mailing list | sights | press | links

Bassist brings eclectic sound back to Mobile Thursday, September 27, 2007 By LAWRENCE SPECKER Entertainment Reporter BayFest usually features a number of musical homecomings and familiar faces, mixed in with a heaping portion of novelty. With Christian Grizzard's Electric Experiment, next weekend's festival has all of the above in one package. Grizzard is an Atlanta native now living in Nashville. Though he spent only about three years of his career in Mobile, from 2000 to 2003, he nonetheless made an impression, playing bass with Molly Thomas, Hank Becker & the Boogie Chillin, jam/jazz/funk band Kung Fu Mama and an offshoot, the Cozmos. Since leaving Mobile, he's been even more active. Band projects have included the jam group Bee Speed, which has played in the Mobile area, and the newer Cosmic Blues Authority. He's worked as a sideman for acts including Jimmy Barret and Carolina Rain. And somehow, in his spare time, he's managed to put together his first solo album, "Life on the Blue Dot." It's a freshly pressed disc full of brand-new music that Mobile gets to hear live for the first time next weekend. The album is remarkable on a couple of levels. For one thing, while it includes no shortage of tasteful bass playing, it serves primarily as a showcase for Grizzard's songwriting and singing. For another, it includes a virtual Who's Who of his talented friends, including many contributors with Lower Alabama ties: guitarists Corky Hughes, Guthrie Trapp, Beau Berman and Ricky Chancey; drummer John Milham; didgeridoo player Joel Andrews; and vocalists Jimmy Hall, Donna Hall, Stan Foster and Lisa Mills. In all, 24 musicians had a hand in "Life on the Blue Dot." "I knew I was going to use a bunch of different people," Grizzard said, "but I didn't know it was going to be that many." Given the way it was put together, you can make the case that Grizzard should have named his troupe the Electric Illusion. About a year and a half ago he got together with percussionists Justin Amaral (of Nashville, a Bee Speed partner) and John Milham (Mobile, Kung Fu Mama) to lay down percussion tracks. Then he started carrying the same portable recording deck to his collaborators, adding instruments and voices piece by piece, sometimes in Mobile or Florida, sometimes in various Nashville "living room sessions." Hearing the finished project, it's difficult to believe. The album opens with, "3D," a dreamy, bass-centered instrumental fringed with sitar and didgeridoo, and it ends with an acoustic version of the same song. Both sound like in-the-moment jams from a very tight circle of musicians. Other than a few songs where the background vocals resonate differently that the leads (and many of them weren't even recorded in the same state, let alone the same room), the illusion is seamless. The swampy call-and-response between two slide guitars on "Standing Still"? Both played by Mobile guitarist Corky Hughes, formerly a partner in Kung Fu Mama and the Cosmos. The soaring lap steel line that makes "Lost Song" so memorable? Grizzard was thinking about having Hughes try his hand at the part when he bumped into Ricky Chancey on a trip to Mobile. "He was like, 'Man, come over, let's record,'" Grizzard said. "So that's how that happened." In terms of overall feel, the album is dominated by Grizzard's affinity for jam music, favoring upbeat, slightly trippy imagery and mellow meditations rather than anything dark or edgy. Musically it folds in Caribbean flavor, rock, raspy blues and touches of country. Aside from "3D" and "Lost Song," standout tracks include "Gabriel," a gentle song where Grizzard hits a sweet spot with voice, tempo, emotion and instrumentation. Named for his infant son, it benefits from soft trumpet and rich backing vocals from Ann and Regina McCrary, sisters who've sung with everyone from Elvis to Stevie Wonder to Bob Dylan. Once serendipity and his itinerant recording process brought them into the picture, Grizzard said, it took him "about one and a half seconds" to decide to ditch his own backing vocals. Also memorable is "Tomorrow's Yesterday," a song that pairs Grizzard's bass with Clint Parris' piano work in a way that's deliberately reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi. "When I wrote that, I wanted it to sound like Charlie Brown on acid," Grizzard said. Grizzard gives a good deal of the credit for the album's flow to co-producer Trina Shoemaker, who not only made her Tennessee studio available to him, but guided him through the mixing process and then mastered the album herself. During all the many hours he spent at the studio console, he could see one of Shoemaker's four Grammy statuettes was sitting nearby. "It was quite inspiring," he said. "Next time I definitely would like to have a rehearsed band all in the studio together," Grizzard said. "That's just kind of the way it worked out. It worked out well in the fact that I was able to get really good musicians who could make it sound like they were all playing together." As far as a touring band, next weekend's trip to Mobile will see Grizzard playing with Milham, Hughes and Parris. At BayFest he'll also be joined by Donna Hall -- who, as a historical aside, became the first artist to record one of Grizzard's songs when she put "Good at Being Blue" on her 2005 solo album "It's Never Too Late." Hall said "Life on the Blue Dot" makes her think of a blend of Grateful Dead, Leftover Salmon and Phish. "It's really good-time music," she said. "He was so creative in his arrangements." Hughes, whom Grizzard praises as his most enthusiastic and creative collaborator, said the recording process didn't strike him as being that odd, aside from all the travel involved. "In a way, it's no different from the usual process of doing a rhythm track and putting other stuff on top of it," he said. "I'm thrilled to be on there with all these cats," he said. "It's really neat." (Hughes, in what might be a record, expects to play five separate gigs at BayFest -- with Hank Becker, 2:30 p.m. Oct. 6 on the Cafe Stage; with the Vibration Configuration, 5 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Radio Avalon Jazz Tent; with the Electric Experiment, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 6 on the Launching Pad; with Dat "B," 2:15 p.m. Oct. 7 on the Cafe Stage; and with the "Pick of the Litter" jam session at 6 p.m. Oct. 7, also on the Cafe Stage. It'll all work out just fine, he said, "As long as I get to see Joan Jett.") Grizzard said he might someday record an album that puts the spotlight squarely on his instrumental chops, but in the meantime, he's happy with the balance he struck on this one. "With this, I really wanted it to be about the songs that I had written," he said. "But I also wanted it to kind of be about the musicians I used, too. ... I really wanted my friends to shine." As for what he hopes "Life on the Blue Dot" will do for his career, he said, "I hope it allows me to keep playing my own stuff." He enjoys working as a sideman, he said, but he wants to keep this outlet open as well. And as for listeners, he said, "mostly I hope people are entertained by it. Secondly, I hope it makes people think a little bit." They'll have the chance for themselves next weekend. And if he looks like something of a familiar face and a newcomer at the same time, well, it seems that way to him, too. He's played BayFest before, with Gravy, with Molly Thomas, with Kung Fu Mama and with Hank Becker. "I guess I've done it four or five times," he said. "But never standing up front in the middle." ABOUT THE BAND: THE ELECTRIC EXPERIMENT is scheduled to play two shows next weekend. The first is a 10 p.m. set at the Royal Scam, 72 S. Royal St., on Friday, Oct. 5. The second, the band's BayFest appearance, takes place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, on the Launching Pad. The group also will return to the area for an Oct. 18 show at the Ravenite pizzeria in Fairhope. "Life on the Blue Dot" is available locally at Dr. Music in Fairhope and Satori Coffee in Mobile. It can be ordered online through sites including www.itunes.com, www.theelectricexperiment.com and www.cdbaby.com. Othere sites of interest: www.christiangrizzard.com; www.myspace.com/theelectricexperiment

Bee Speed with Christian Grizzard by Ron Garant Originally from Atlanta, GA, Christian received a music degree from A.I.M., studying under Adam Nitti and Randy Hoexter, and even a few classes taught by guitar great Jimmy Herring. After finishing school, Christian worked on projects in Birmingham and later, Mobile, before relocating to Nashville where Bee Speed was formed. In addition to Bee Speed, he´s been involved with several recording projects - the new CD "Dig it Up", by Rob Thorworth, a Baltimore based singer/songwriter, and Bee Speed recently finished recording as part of the rhythm section for Nashville artist Jimmy Barret. Work on the second Bee Speed record is about to begin, and Christian is also starting to work on a solo CD. How would you describe the music of Bee Speed and do you take any special approach playing with electric banjo? The Bee Speed sound is a mix of rock, jazz, bluegrass, afro-Cuban, latin and free improvisation. The trio consists of Charles Butler on electric banjo and vocals, Justin Amaral on drums and percussion and myself on bass and vocals. We´ve sometimes been billed as "The Psychedelic Electric Banjo Show", and descriptions of our music have ranged from "rustic bluegrass" and "galactic jazz rock", to "an amalgam of roots rock, jazz, jammy psychedelic stuff". This is the first time I´ve been in a band with a banjo player and my approach has definitely evolved over the last year. When Charles runs his banjo through effects, he gets an amazing amount of sustain for the instrument, so I approach those moments much like I would a guitar trio, which is the setting I´m most familiar with. When he plays with a clean tone, I sometimes make adjustments, such as occasionally muting the strings with my right palm while picking the notes with my thumb. This gives me more of an "acoustic" bass tone. I see you have a bass banjo, tell us a little about that. I saw that bass at the NAMM show here in Nashville a few years ago and knew I had to have one. Now that I´m in a band with a banjo player, it´s perfect! I mostly bring it out for "acoustic" sets and radio appearances. Since I don´t have an upright, it´s nice to have a bass I can play that doesn´t require electricity. In addition to 4-strings, you also play a 6-string...which is your main instrument with Bee Speed and why? The bass I mostly play with Bee Speed is a Curbow six-string. Greg built it for me in 1997 when I was still living in Atlanta and it´s been my main instrument ever since. I need all those strings to play a lot of our music, especially on a piece like "La Maddalena", where I play chords and open strings at the same time. It was sad to hear of Greg Curbow´s sudden passing in August. He was a gifted craftsman who took pride in what he did, which is rare and refreshing to see in this world. He will be missed. In addition to the bass banjo and the six-string, I´ve recently been playing a Dean Rhapsody 12-string. I´ve been using it live on some of our newer songs, sometimes with a pick and sometimes with my fingers. The sound is huge! How did the name Bee Speed come about? From Charles´ brother, who lives in Hawaii and is studying the wonderful art of beekeeping. According to him, once you learn to move at "Bee Speed", you no longer get stung. That concept really resonated with the three of us, and the name stuck. Radio Bean is in 7/8, can you tell us anything special about coming up with the bass lines for it? It didn´t take long to come up with a line for the A section of the tune. When Charles showed me his part, the bass line just sort of fell into place without much effort. It was a fairly organic process. Some of the passing tones and licks I use in that section were developed during rehearsals and playing the song live. The bass part for the B and C sections had already been written out, so it was just a matter of me spending the time to learn them. The C section is pretty unpredictable, and took a while to get. We refer to it as the "Krusty the Clown" section. I enjoy playing Radio Bean live. We always stretch it out, which allows me to experiment with new ways of playing in seven, something I don´t often get to do. Focusing on our weaker areas with the intention of improving always helps us become better, and learning this song was a good example of that for me. Bassics Magazine Issue Number 40 CD Track Listing: 1  Celebrating Sipho - Gerald Veasley 2  Accelerated Development - Vail Johnson 3  Radio Bean - Bee Speed 4  Dreamin - Al Turner 5  Rooster - Oteil and the Peacemakers 6  Tap Dance on a Cloud - Nielsen-Goodman 7  Melody in Black and Grey - Gregg August 8  Altair - Bazar Blå 9  Blues for KJ - Yellowjackets 10  Waiting for Relief - Steve Venz 11  If - King´s X 12  Nimble Attitude - Bad Haggis - A transcription of the bass line to Radio Bean was also included on the enhanced CD .pdf file of transcription

December 2005 | Volume 2 | Number 5 Bee Speed CD Review by Jess Marich Bee Speed is unlike any other group out there. This interesting trio features electric banjo as lead instrument alongside a solid as stone rhythm section of Christian Grizzard on bass and Justin Amaral on drums. Charles Butler is moving the banjo into new territory not even traversed by the like of Bela Fleck. He plays electric guitar riffs and finds a multitude of different tonal approaches on banjo to an extent where the listener forgets what instrumentation is making this fine music. The name comes from Butler's beekeeper brother, "When you handle bees, you´ll get stung a lot less often once you learn to move at bee speed". The groups influences are bluegrass, latin, rock and world music, but as they travel those roads they wind into their own new paths. Butler´s approach is light on twang and more about the tones and articulation usually exercised by electric guitarists. Their music is a blend of jazz, pyschedelia and bluegrass. Besides their engaging originals it includes Chick Corea´s "Spain", Billy Cobham´s "Red Baron" and the Grateful Dead´s "Black Muddy River". Charles writes most of the bands material though Grizzard and Amaral each chime in with one. Butler states, "The banjo is an amazing instrument that has tons of unrealized potential." Charles´ banjo was originally a Nechville Aurora Borealis, but has been modified by Tom Stadler, a Nashville Luthier. The primary pickup is an EMG magnetic which is blended with a piezzo under the bridge. He recorded through two different amps simultaneously and panned them. One, a Roland VGA-5, was for a warm midrange palette, the other, a Crate acoustic guitar amp, was for bass. Bee Speed´s music has been called a "psychedelic electric banjo show". That's not a bad moniker except for the fact that it might be overlooking just how strong the other two musicians are. Whatever you call it, it´s different and pushes the envelope. In today´s music world that´s definitely a good thing.

Thursday, September 29, 2005 Group brings banjo up to Bee Speed by Matt Wake First-time listeners of the Nashville band Bee Speed will probably ask, "What the hell is that?" "That" is an electric banjo. The instrument, played by Charles Butler, is featured prominently in Bee Speed´s self-titled debut. The groups music is a riveting blend of jazz, pyschedelia and bluegrass. Butler´s banjo is distorted and manipulated to create amazingly unique tones. Former Gravy bassist Christian Grizzard and percussionist Justin Amaral create and earthy pocket. The group formed in the summer of 2004. Butler was invited by Amaral to play at a Berklee Alumni party held in Nashville. Grizzard also happened to be at the gig. The three musicians hit it off and soon began recording "Bee Speed", which was released in 2005. The CD covers a dizzy spectrum of styles. It includes versions of Chick Corea´s "Spain", Billy Cobham´s "Red Baron", the Grateful Dead´s "Black Muddy River" and several originals. The band often finds itself nestled between rustic bluegrass and galactic jazz-rock categories. Butler began playing five-string banjo at the age of 15. His influences include Pat Martino, the Grateful Dead and Joni Mitchell. "(The banjo) is an amazing instrument", Butler has said, "one that has tons of unrealized potential."

Bee Speed CD Review By Dave Terpeny, KyndMusic Editor-In-Chief Sometimes going into things blindly is the best way to go. I mean, with no preconceptions you can really get to the honest heart of the matter and that truth is what´s most important, I feel. Such was the case with my review of Bee Speed´s self-title debut CD. Drawn to it by matters beyond my control, including the really cool honeycomb picture thing they do on the cover, I picked up the disc and put it in. My first impression was, ´wow, how does this guy tune his guitar to sound like that?´ A minimal amount of research (reading the liner notes) led me to discover that in fact, it wasn´t a guitar. It was a gentleman by the name of Charles Butler playing the electric banjo. So this of course led me to ask, ´how the hell does he make a banjo sound like that?´ But that is a question that will have to wait for an answer and, to be honest with you, I don´t much care. It´s just really cool. So, yes, we have a banjo that is distorted, bent, twisted, massaged, and manipulated to create amazingly unique but familiar and comfortable sounds. On top of that we have some pretty good bass rhythms by Christian Grizzard and wonderfully eclectic percussion by Justin Amaral. But what do they play? You thought I´d forgotten about that part, didn´t you? Well, Bee Speed plays an amalgam of roots rock, jazz, jammy psychedelic stuff, and a kick-ass cover of The Grateful Dead´s "Black Muddy River." But I´ll get to that later. First the roots rock/jazz/jammy psychedelic stuff. That is most evident on, well, nearly every song. From the frantic "Radio Bean," to the inspired and transcendent cover of Chick Corea´s "Spain" through the funky "Red Baron" Bee Speed blend genres into a wonderfully sweet Bee Speed honey-shake (sorry, couldn´t resist). And when they cover traditional music, like "Ground Speed" by Earl Scruggs or "Blackberry Blossom" (unknown) they instantly, almost instinctively, create a wonderful middle ground. By this I mean that they never lose the soul while always staying true to their own muse. But I digress. It´s time to go swimming in the black muddy river. I beat this dead horse for one reason only: this cover is majestic. Butler´s banjo conjures up a heavy, weeping flood with its token picking, while the restrained rhythm section allows Grizzard's voice to stretch out the words beautifully. Whew. This one is worth the price of admission alone. But I did want to mention one other song. "La Maddalena" by bassist Grizzard is the epitome of subdued psychedelics. The intermittent and sustained bass notes float over, above and around Butler´s moderated notes and Amaral´s percussion, which in and of itself is inscrutably appealing. And that´s Bee Speed. This will not be the last nor the best place that you hear about them. They are destined for greatness. And, really, how does he make a banjo sound like that?

Friday, December 3, 2004 Bee Speed bassist buzzes back to Mobile by Lawrence Specker How long does a homecoming take at Bee Speed? Eight months to a year, depending on how you figure it. At any rate, bassist Christian Grizzard returns to Mobile in the week ahead, about a year after leaving for Nashville. He'll be playing two shows with Bee Speed, the drum-bass-banjo trio that has become his main musical vehicle. The name, Grizzard said, comes courtesy of an anecdote from the beekeeper brother of banjo player Charles Butler: When you begin handling bees, you find you'll tend to get stung less often once you learn to move at "bee speed." Is this a band that goes with the flow? Within its own music, very much so. But it's also one that's doing its own thing. On his own Web site, Grizzard describes the Bee Speed sound as containing "elements of bluegrass, jazz, afro-Cuban, latin, rock, fusion and free improvisation." It sounds suitably eclectic for a player whom many local listeners will identify first and foremost as an alumnus of "interstellar trailer-park jazz" band Kung Fu Mama. But that's only part of Grizzard's story. An Atlanta native, he came to Mobile by way of Birmingham, where he was a member of Gravy, aka the Rob Thorworth Trio, from 1997 to 2000. Thanks to the group's frequent Gulf Coast stops, Grizzard began making connections in the Mobile area -- so when Thorworth moved to Baltimore, he came here. His first gig here was with Molly Thomas; soon came work with Hank Becker and the Boogie Chillin, Kung Fu Mama and a KFM spinoff group, the Cozmos. Since his arrival in Nashville he's found a variety of things to do, including an international tour backing up singer Carrie Folks, a former Miss Tennessee. He's also had a song recorded by Wet Willie backup singer Donna Hall, who's at work on a long-awaited solo album. But Bee Speed has been his focus from the minute he met drummer Justin Amaral and (through him) banjo-slinger Butler. If Grizzard seems to have found his way quickly in Nashville's thicket of opportunities and pitfalls, maybe it's because he went in with reasonable expectations. "I just came up here and wanted to meet some guys to make some good music. And I've done that," he said. "I don't feel like I'm in competition with anybody." Certainly, the music on Bee Speed's brand-new self-titled debut recording doesn't sound like a competition. This is no power trio, with three musicians frantically working to fill up every nook and cranny of the sonic range. Instead, they leave a lot of space. The Bee Speed sound has Grizzard and Amaral emphasizing flexibility over fireworks. Butler's electric banjo playing, meanwhile, is light on twang and heavy on tones and articulation more usual in the guitar world. It's his own sound, one distinct from that of Bela Fleck or the Codetalkers' Bobby Lee Rodgers. The easy-flowing tunes on the album fit well within the loose jam-band genre, but there's another side to Bee Speed as well, one that finds the group incorporating an appreciation for latin and classical composition.

7 May, 2001: by Trey Andrews It was a good, mellow, long weekend. Derby Day was very cool, a mellow gathering of people, food, booze, guitars, a mandolin, and a bunch of noisy toys... woodblocks, monkey skulls, bongos, a doumbek, two tambourines and a shaker or two. We made lots of noise. :) Check out the pix on Rich's site. Woke up on Sunday and cleaned up, then went over to Lezlee´s and laid out on a blanket in her back yard with a drink, a book and a guitar. Towards the end of the afternoon, Lezlee sat up and told me that Kung Fu Mama was playing down at Pelican Point, so off we went... a long pretty drive across the Bay and down highway 98 to the Pelican Point Grill at Week´s Bay. These guys are pretty amazing. They're a very accomplished jam band, who throw a little bit of everything, all extremely well done, into the mix. Jazz, funk, Southern rock, reggae (Van Halen's "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love" done as a reggae tune... hoo boy)... trying to classify them isn´t really gonna get you anywhere, since they´ll go from Dr. John to a jazz/funk/rock/triphop version of "Also Sprach Zarathusthra", take that out for a spin around Pluto, and kick right back into "Iko Iko". Grizzard´s bass is rock-solid and eloquent, Parker´s voice is a low, gravelly growl reminiscent of Mac Rebbenack... Milham's drumming is expressive, tight and fun... Milham and Spies have been playing together for so long that watching them play off of one another is like watching a married couple finish each other´s sentences. Each member of this group is one of the best that the Mobile area has to offer, so it would be wrong to try and say that any one of them stands out above the others... but Hughes and Spies can bring tears to your eyes any time they want to. Spies can go from down-and-funky, trembling and squealing Hammond licks to beautiful, rippling piano runs that make you feel like the sun just came out from behind a cloud. Hughes is innovative and expressive, casually pulling off things I´ve rarely seen another guitarist even attempt. He´s a polite lead guitarist, never getting in the way of the others while they play, but stepping right out front when it´s time for him to shine. He plays a seemingly never-ending succession of guitars, from a beautiful PRS to an ancient Sears mail-order Silvertone... but most often he´s playing a baby blue Hamer Stratocaster copy. I asked him why he played that guitar so much, when he has a vintage 60´s Strat. "It's just set up right," he replied. Like the rest of the band, he doesn't play in any one style, instead fluidly changing from fingerpicking to flatpicking to stroking the strings above the nut, striking the body of the guitar in various places... making that Strat copy sound like anything he wants it to. My personal favorite Corky experience is watching and listening to him play his blonde Fender 8-string lap steel. Liquid solos and growling slide... when he starts playing that thing, I smile so hard my face hurts afterwards. I´m planning on going down and seeing them again at the ZEW´s Second Tuesday concert on, duh, Tuesday, at the Original Oyster House on the Causeway, same place I shot Fez last month. Show starts at 7 - check it out if you get the chance. Chris Spies, keys... Christian Grizzard, bass... John Milham, drums... Shaun Parker, vocals and guitar... ... and the one and only Corky Hughes on lead and lap steel guitar.

ROB THORWORTH CD REVIEW by Robert T. Murphy Rob Thorworth, who hails from Birmingham Alabama, is a veteran of the road. His previous band Gravy, a rockin blues band, played to packed houses all over the southeast United States and sold thousands of their excellent debut CD "Gravy - From The Hip". When Rob attempted to license the name to his successful band, it was discovered that another band owned the name and he was unable to secure the rights to the name. Rob, with drummer Chris Fryar then formed the current band with jazz influenced bass player Christian Grizzard to form the current Rob Thorworth Band. Rob and the band basically locked themselves into a house and put together fifteen songs for the new CD. Some of the songs date from the "Gravy" days of the band; road tested but not recorded till now. Even though the band is a trio, and plays the blues, you won't find any SRV clone songs here. All the songs are original and there are plenty of guitar fireworks on this CD to keep most blues guitar freaks happy. The overall feel of the CD ranges from laid back blues to some rockin songs with bits of traditional slide blues, jazz and rock & roll thrown in for good measure. The musicianship is evident all over this CD and the production is excellent. The CD opens with "Nats Nut," a toe tappin' instrumental. "Hot N' Sticky" is a solid rocker with some fairly heavy guitar work. "The First Noble Truth" is one of those slow grinding blues songs that blues fans can get into which combine soulful guitar and emotional vocals. "Squeeze Play" is a slow song with some cool slide guitar. One of the older songs making it to this CD was the drastically reworked "Slap You Baldheaded" which has an old 50´s blues club sound to it, complete with horns, instead of the rocking arrangement I´ve heard in the live show. "The Stitch Ain't Strong" and "Pick It Up" are both rockers that finish out the CD. If you want to check out the music, samples in real audio are located on Rob Thorworth´s web site. If the Rob Thorworth Trio makes it to your area, I recommend that you check them out. They put on a solid entertaining show with good singing and great playing. Pick up the CD, which can be ordered from the web site or bought at the shows or found in better stores. You can even order copies of "Gravy - From The Hip" from the site. Rob Thorworth - Guitar & Vocals Christian Grizzard - Bass Chris Fryar - Drums, percussion This review is copyright © 1999 by Robert T. Murphy, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.