Concert Reviews
JamBands.com
Saturday got off to a very strong start, with possibly the best 1-2 combo I’ve ever seen at a festival before 2 PM. Bonobos Convergence, fresh off their well-received set the night before, announced their arrival with a bizarre combination of “Crazy Train” and The Price Is Right theme before getting down to business. Their music is similar to great prog-rock bands like Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and besides the multi-talented Trucks on guitar and bass, keyboardist Pete Orenstein and drummer Frank Registrato are also top-tier musicians with enviable chops. Trucks’ guitar solo on “Flag for Utopia” was nothing less than thrilling, and the title of the song was appropriate, seeing as Wanee seemed like a little weekend utopia all its own. The most impressive part of their set was an intricate arrangement of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse,” a high-octane, up-tempo jazz number that most of you have heard used in classic cartoons.
Hittin' The Note magazine
Bonobos Convergence played a fiery and precise set of their prog-flavored rock at the Homegrown Stage. Vaylor Trucks proved that Derek isn’t the only guitar-playing Trucks worth listening to, mixing fluid lines with Robert Fripp-esque avant-shredding. Keyboardist Pete Ornstein kept the B-3 pulse strong at even the strangest moments, and drummer Frank Registrato plays with a swing and gusto straight out of a jazz big band. When they locked together during the complex progressions and tight transitions that are the hallmark of their music, the collective effect was stunning. As the set ended, one dreadlocked young gentleman exclaimed “That was the best set I’ve seen all weekend!” Heady praise, bro.
CD Reviews
Walter Kolosky - allaboutjazz.com
Who's Chuck Fimp? is one of those rare CDs that delivers both on monster chops and popular appeal. As a general rule, I don’t often get the opportunity to listen to music that I think should be registering on the pop charts. But this is one of the happy exceptions. The album is full of jazz-fusion, blues, jam band energy, engaging lyrics and absorbing hooks. Some tunes on this album should be receiving widespread radio airplay.
If anything, since we don’t hear it all that often in modern music, the trio’s dominant sound is the organ. Because of this, at times BC is very much a modern jam band version of early Grand Funk. Orenstein’s singing even sounds like a “cooler version of Mark Farner.” If that wasn’t weird enough, Registrato’s vocals sound like Yes’ Jon Anderson, without the reverb! In fact, you would have been hard-pressed to convince me that he is not Jon Anderson on the opening “Whimsical Fantasy.”
The third member of the band, Vaylor Trucks, does no lead vocalizing, but he kills on guitar. Whether playing a laidback acoustic or burning like an electric mother a la Tommy Bolin, Trucks is a driving force throughout.
Who's Chuck Fimp?, one of the best albums of 2006, is evidence of what can be accomplished by terrific, imaginative musicians utilizing the tools of their influences. In the end, this is a unique sound presented in a creative and fun way. I consider myself to be one “chucky limp” to have heard this album.
Hittin' The Note magazine
Anybody who has seen Vaylor Trucks play with the Allman Brothers, or his previous band Yeti, knows that the Trucks musical gene didn’t skip him. However, Bonobos Convergence is the most fertile musical environment he has ever enjoyed, and his playing on this cd is remarkably fluid, imaginative and melodic. ...
Berklee-trained keyboardist Pete Ornstein and drummer Frank Registrato, a veteran of UCF’s jazz program, contribute equally to this remarkably full-sounding trio. ...
Bonobos [is] one of the most exciting new bands on the scene. Rock power, jazz improv and classical compositional structure all combine to make a glorious noise ...
Besides contributing many of the songs, Ornstein’s pumping B-3 sound is a cornerstone of the band. His classical chops allow the band to pull off intricate maneuvers that recall prog-rockers like Yes and ELP. ...
In a world of copycat jambands, Bonobos Convergence takes a different approach, and they are a band to watch.