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The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 2002-08-11 The Maple Leaf - New Orleans, LA - Peak Caffeination 


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The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 2002-08-11 The 
Maple Leaf - New Orleans, LA 

October 31, 2018 by peakcaffeination 


(Checkout my intro to The Johnny Vidacovich Trio) 

I believe this was the first regular Trio gig at the Maple Leaf. There probably were one off 
shows at the Leaf before but this was part of the regular Sunday night gig that had been 
happening at the Ole Point Bar across the river. I like the Ole Point Bar but I rarely went 
because it is about 20 minutes further from my home than the Maple Leaf. In no traffic I 
could drive to the Leaf in an hour. I would regularly drive home after or sometimes stay 
with my brother if I was tired. So moving to the Maple Leaf allowed me to go more often 
which I embraced. 


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12/20/2018 


The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 2002-08-11 The Maple Leaf - New Orleans, LA - Peak Caffeination 


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the New Orleans scene with a wide variety of artists since the 90s. He is a founding 
member of Bonerama which is how most people nowadays would recognize him but I 
believe the first time I saw him was sitting in with George and the Pardners. He is a very 
talented Trombonist and this gig allowed him to do some interesting improvisation that he 
may not have a chance to do with Bonerama. 


They started out abruptly with a jam that is hard for me to describe. It’s funky but heavy 
and a bit dark sounding. It’s an excellent example of how George and Johnny can 
improvise and play creative improvisational music. The jam stayed interesting and moved 
seamlessly into the next jam. It can be hard to figure out where one jam ends and the 
other begins. I try to look at it from a tempo standpoint but if I can think about the jams 
thematically I prefer to do that. I find the rhythm dictates the theme of the jam to me. 
What I mean by theme is the building up to and moving out of a recognizable melody. In 
non improvised music a theme is easy to understand but in music like this the theme is 
always a work in progress. I view the first set as having four separate jams that flow 
together seamlessly to start off but someone else could listen and easily disagree. Johnny 
eventually pulls his mic down and goes into Nature’s Rock n’ Roll which changes the 
tempo up again. They did a fun jam after Nature’s Rock n’ Roll he goes into his Coffee rap 
(rap or poem or song?, I don’t really know how to define it). This is my favorite rap of his 
probably because like Johnny, I love coffee! They finally took a pause to introduce the band 
and chat with the crowd. They played a short jam before George capped the first set off 
with a soulful rendition of Paul Barbarin’s Second Line. 


The second set started with a jam that began sluggishly but really caught on before George 
steered the trio into a very unique Africa. The tempo was more relaxed and Mullins did not 
try to replicate the guitar or keys instead just did his own thing. They didn’t stay in this 
mode too long before proceeding to a different jam that changed the vibe up again. The 
music started to spread out again as they tried things out. Johnny did his Playin’ The 
Drums rap and George did Happy Song. I really like it when George gets emotional in his 
music and Happy Song is a prime example of it. I would write off a lot of people doing a 
tune like that as cheesy but George can pull it off and have you moving. They wrapped it up 
with the Earl King classic Come On (Let The Good Times Roll). 

This was a damn fine gig when I listened to it again. I don’t remember it standing out 
being that exceptional at the time but Mullins plays great with these two. 


On The Recordings: 


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The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 2002-08-11 The Maple Leaf - New Orleans, LA - Peak Caffeination 


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few problems. The crowd hangs pretty tight up to the stage and talks and clinks beer 
bottles. I can get rid of a little of that with Izotope but don’t find it distracting. The spatial 
image is good buy I would improve on it. Now the higher frequencies are not as prevalent 
here but that’s how it sounded. This trio had a lot of bottom end and not much top end. 


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The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 
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The Johnny Vidacovich Trio 
2002-08-18 The Maple Leaf - 
New Orleans, LA 
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Matt Perrine, Johnny 
Vidacovich, Anders Osborne 
and John Gros 2003-06-27 
Maple Leaf - New Orleans, LA 
In "Anders Osborne" 


tagged george porter jr, johnny vidacovich, maple leaf, mark mullins, nola 


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