07/14/05: GrooveLily at the Little Fox in Redwood City


I'm almost jealous of the joy this trio brings to their work

I originally saw GrooveLily when they performed their seasonal concert/musical Striking 12 at TheatreWorks last December. I raved about them then.

And they earned another rave last night. I was really struck once again by their compatibility as performers. Just the three of them, drums, keyboards and electric violin, managed to sound like a much bigger band. And each of them is disgustingly talented...both as instrumentalists and as pleasing vocalists. They are especially good at moving from distinctive soloing to perfectly blended group vocals at the drop of the hat.

But more than their musical talent, the quality that raises GrooveLily above the norm is their pure joy. You cannot help but be transported when watching them, because they are clearly transported themselves. If you ever had a longing to be a performer for a living, no matter how distant you are from pursuing that, or whether you ever pursued it, this trio will make you relive that longing.

GrooveLily sang selections from Striking 12, and from their in-development musical, Wheelhouse. They sang some earlier works of their own, and even a rare cover of a Patty Griffin song with which I was unfamiliar (and which sent me off to download the album from iTunes.)

I heard some new stuff...they were putting violinist Valerie Vigoda's instrument through more effects than they did during the Striking 12 concert. Pretty cool to see violin but hear electric guitar! And we certainly saw some new stuff, like Vigoda's 6-month pregnancy...which didn't seem to slow her down at all!

But mostly I was happy to revisit a band live and have them deliver exactly the high-quality slightly theatrical, occasionally jazzy pop music that I remembered enjoying so much last year.

Buy Striking 12 or really anything by Groovelily at Amazon.com.

Download Groovelily at iTunes Music Store.

Really. Do it.

Posted: Fri - July 15, 2005 at 02:44 PM       EmailFeedback

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