|  "It sounded like you have been together your whole lives... However, to me, you seemed like more than just a jazz band. All three of you have such a broad range of musical influences and they all came out in your performance the other night... The drummer was excellent... The guitarist, Joe Beck, I believe his name is, was awesome...I have never seen a concert with a stand up bass before and it real adds something to-the performance...I feel that the most important thing is that you looked like you were having a great time." "The music was so good that it was able to pull the whole audience together to either dance or to just enjoy listening to the music." "I was surprised at how intense the music was while I was listening... I was also taken aback by what appeared to me as the improvisational solos which each of the performers participated in... "Spirits Rejoice," the African calypso piece which was played during the first half of the concert, was my favorite... The transitions and breaks from the softer, beat of the Thunderstick into the heavier sounds of the guitar and drum punctuated the piece and brought the listener from a state of relaxation to the front row of a Doors concert." "The sound of Thunderstick was strong and definitely exciting... Another aspect of Thunderstick's performance that sets them apart from other-bands was their lack of vocals. The strong talent and excellent sound of the band enabled them to pull this off successfully... I have hear many bands play at the Levee in the past.This style was pleasantly different from the others. Thunderstick has successfully created a distinct sound." There is certainly room for (and I believe a certain longing for) that which cannot easily be put "into it's place." I believe Thunderstick does a masterful job of filling this void. Pulling on roots that seem at times to corme quite clearly from the old blues artists that played their parts during the first half of this century, the music can shift gears and turn into something that sounds like a direct descendant of some of our jazz greats... By connectedness, I mean that the audience seemed to blend with the performers, united by the music they were playing and experiencing... Thunderstick, however, was different - an active listening experience." "...was a great blend between rock and roll and jazz... Thunderstick was very intimate with its audience....a connection between the audience and the band... amongst the band members with each other." "The band worked so well together... he chemistry was almost flawless. The stage and set-up of that the band displayed created a sense of community... It was really fun to watch after a while." "In my humble opinion, I believe Torff has found his niche with his present lineup and style of composing. Torff has found his niche within the context of blues/jazz based composition, rather than rock... I also hope that perhaps their work may be brought into the studio, recorded and offered to the public. I would be proud to add a "Thunderstick" CD to my extensive collection." "The band created the sense of community... I don't know the real reason why Thunderstick plays but I didn't get the impression that it was for money. It looked as if they loved what they were doing which is in contrast to bands of today." "People were taLking about an affinity to Steely Dan, and of course, the encore number was instrumental in a Zappa-like style... Basically what stood out in my mind was the obvious pleasure that each of you as artists were feeling, and feeding each other, and giving back to the audience in the context of music." "I had not thought that only three musicians and three instruments could produce a complete full sounding band... The sound was full and deep." "Thunderstick seemed to be reflecting the artistic and often forgotten elements of music, rather than a commercially sounding, sappy recorded~ version of the same format we have been hearing for the past twenty years." Return to the Thunderstick Home Page |
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