Live Music Review // Diane Buettner / Michael Larocca & Jack Wright / Hans Young Binter at Willimantic Records, Willimantic CT, July 20th 2024



Additional photos can be found in an album on Facebook here :::

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1526208211442728&type=3


This was a nice afternoon show back at Willimantic Records when this was also the last place we went for live music.   When we got there, a little bit before 2pm, Hans Young Binter and Michael Larocca were both warming up and I thought that they somehow were playing together and we'd missed it.   The warm up did show that it would be interesting to hear the two play together some time though. 

Hans Young Binter began the afternoon with a keyboard and if you're wondering what keys can do this was a good exploration of that.   The set started off sounding like we were floating around in space, just in that way in which keyboards can feel ambient, but then it picked up in pace.   As the rhythm carried through it would become interrupted by these tones which almost made it feel as if it was glitching.

By the end of this whole showcase it felt like the sounds we were hearing were that of a car trying to start up its engine.  That revving was likely some kind of effect, but just the whole idea of knowing what the keyboard could do was fascinating.  In some surface and simple ways, everyone should know what a keyboard would sound like but this just showed us so much more than what you likely think.

Jack Wright was up second and wasted no time getting into a solo set.  Utilizing two different saxophones, the notes came blaring out, starting and stopping in a way which only Jack Wright can play.   While there are other musicians out there playing saxophones, there might not be anyone doing it better than Jack Wright right now.  

This solo set shifted into a duo with Michael Larocca, which was interesting to see because as Michael Larocca has done duos with Caleb Duval and then played as part of larger groups, I've never heard Michael Larocca play percussion with a saxophone and nothing else accompanying him.   That being said, I also don't think Michael Larocca will ever play with anyone else quite like Jack Wright either.

During this set we almost saw a different side of Michael Larocca, one which doesn't usually come out.   As an example, he had the shells I like but didn't use them.  It just feels like there is this certain set of tools Michael Larocca utilizes in his style and it's something you get used to seeing the more you see him perform live.   But with this duo set it felt like that whole game plan kind of got thrown out of the window which made everything that much more wonderful.

Diane Buettner headlined this show with a solo clarinet, I believe.  I want to say that the two different instruments played were a clarinet and oboe but I might be wrong (and if so, please correct me somewhere)  This kind of leaned back into the solo sound of Jack Wright, but was still also a different instrument played in a different way.   Still, it felt like it kept the different sets connected so there was a theme throughout the day.

This show started a little bit after 2pm and was over by 4pm sharp.   There was still time before that 4pm mark though, so Diane Buettner did a bit of an encore.   When I'm at shows I like to post photos to Instagram of who is playing and before I could even get to put a photo of Hans Young Binter into a new post on the app, Jack Wright was playing.   So it really all moved by that fast, like a flash, but that moment in time is something that those who experienced it won't soon forget.  


Hans Young Binter can be found on the web here :::

Jack Wright can be found in many places, one of them being on Bandcamp here :::

Michael Larocca can be found on Bandcamp here :::

Diane Buettner can be found in this YouTube video here :::


Willimantic Records can be found on Facebook here :::

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