Page turner
Phish's McConnell comes into his own as a bandleader
Unlike his bandmates in Phish, keyboardist Page McConnell didn't have a lot of extra-curricular irons in the fire when the jam-band icons went on an extended hiatus in 2000. Although he kept busy on records by Gov't Mule and Tenacious D, McConnell, more than any other member, seemed to be defined solely by his work with Phish.
The perception was one even McConnell himself seemed in no real hurry to dispel. "Obviously," he says, "Phish is my primary thing, and my first love, I would say. So oftentimes, I'll gauge things by how they affect me in Phish."
To many Phish fans, that insular view was born out by McConnell's eventual side project, Vida Blue. A collaboration with two of the most accomplished rhythm players in the subculture of jam and funk bands — drummer Russell Batiste (The Funky Meters) and Atlanta-based bassist Oteil Burbridge (the Allman Brothers, Aquarium Rescue Unit) — Vida Blue struck many in that scene as a tentative, unfocused work. One observer, on the jam-scene nexus Jambase.com, went so far as to opine, "If there was a lead voice and band leader coming through, the music would have some power, direction and force!"
"I disagree with that," McConnell, the band leader in question, says. "I think we're actually a very strong band as a threesome. I also think we've gotten better over time. When we first got together, I had no idea what I was doing, and I was maybe a little more timid. [But Vida Blue] has strengthened me, and made me a stronger voice on the keyboard."
Still, McConnell had no immediate plans to record another project with Vida Blue. Until, that is, he met the Afro-Cuban sextet the Spam Allstars while on vacation in Miami last year. After sitting in on an Allstars show, the keyboardist was so taken with the group that he took its turntablist, DJ Le Spam, on a short tour with Vida Blue soon afterward. The vitality of that configuration gave him an epiphany: "I had a feeling of, 'I'm not going to go out again unless we have something very exciting we're going to be showing to people.'"
Energized by that mini-tour, he convened the entire assemblage to a Miami recording studio. The resulting jam sessions were edited into Vida Blue's second album, 2003's The Illustrated Band. An hour-long assemblage of four expansive jams, Band sways breezily between the poles of dance-jazz and jam-funk, its horn-fueled explorations grounded in the percolating percussion of the Allstars and the increasing precision in the interplay of the central trio.
"Now that we've played together for a couple of years," McConnell says, "I felt that Russell and Oteil started clicking in a way I'd always hoped they'd be able to. We broke through a little bit musically, in the way we interact and improvise with each other."
The results gave McConnell exactly the "something very exciting" he'd been searching for. Most exciting, he says, is "the possibility that Vida Blue could be opened up to so many different things. We could be a rhythm section that works with different people."
That renewed sense of possibility, and his gradual maturation as a band leader, have had a beneficial effect on McConnell's day job. "I became stronger and more confident in my playing," he says. "And I've gained a new respect for the various roles of my bandmates in Phish."
As for the future of his pet project, McConnell's newfound optimism has allowed him the confidence to let it come naturally. "Whatever is in the future with me and Vida Blue, I'm not going to just book shows so I can go out and play some more. I play out on the road a lot anyway, so it's got to be something I'm excited about. And I can't necessarily search these things out. Sometimes they find me."
music@creativeloafing.com
The perception was one even McConnell himself seemed in no real hurry to dispel. "Obviously," he says, "Phish is my primary thing, and my first love, I would say. So oftentimes, I'll gauge things by how they affect me in Phish."
To many Phish fans, that insular view was born out by McConnell's eventual side project, Vida Blue. A collaboration with two of the most accomplished rhythm players in the subculture of jam and funk bands — drummer Russell Batiste (The Funky Meters) and Atlanta-based bassist Oteil Burbridge (the Allman Brothers, Aquarium Rescue Unit) — Vida Blue struck many in that scene as a tentative, unfocused work. One observer, on the jam-scene nexus Jambase.com, went so far as to opine, "If there was a lead voice and band leader coming through, the music would have some power, direction and force!"
"I disagree with that," McConnell, the band leader in question, says. "I think we're actually a very strong band as a threesome. I also think we've gotten better over time. When we first got together, I had no idea what I was doing, and I was maybe a little more timid. [But Vida Blue] has strengthened me, and made me a stronger voice on the keyboard."
Still, McConnell had no immediate plans to record another project with Vida Blue. Until, that is, he met the Afro-Cuban sextet the Spam Allstars while on vacation in Miami last year. After sitting in on an Allstars show, the keyboardist was so taken with the group that he took its turntablist, DJ Le Spam, on a short tour with Vida Blue soon afterward. The vitality of that configuration gave him an epiphany: "I had a feeling of, 'I'm not going to go out again unless we have something very exciting we're going to be showing to people.'"
Energized by that mini-tour, he convened the entire assemblage to a Miami recording studio. The resulting jam sessions were edited into Vida Blue's second album, 2003's The Illustrated Band. An hour-long assemblage of four expansive jams, Band sways breezily between the poles of dance-jazz and jam-funk, its horn-fueled explorations grounded in the percolating percussion of the Allstars and the increasing precision in the interplay of the central trio.
"Now that we've played together for a couple of years," McConnell says, "I felt that Russell and Oteil started clicking in a way I'd always hoped they'd be able to. We broke through a little bit musically, in the way we interact and improvise with each other."
The results gave McConnell exactly the "something very exciting" he'd been searching for. Most exciting, he says, is "the possibility that Vida Blue could be opened up to so many different things. We could be a rhythm section that works with different people."
That renewed sense of possibility, and his gradual maturation as a band leader, have had a beneficial effect on McConnell's day job. "I became stronger and more confident in my playing," he says. "And I've gained a new respect for the various roles of my bandmates in Phish."
As for the future of his pet project, McConnell's newfound optimism has allowed him the confidence to let it come naturally. "Whatever is in the future with me and Vida Blue, I'm not going to just book shows so I can go out and play some more. I play out on the road a lot anyway, so it's got to be something I'm excited about. And I can't necessarily search these things out. Sometimes they find me."
music@creativeloafing.com