Mad Cow with Medeski et al

Philadelphia Weekly
November 23, 2005
A-List

JAZZ

G. Calvin Weston and Dion Paci's Mad Cow

Fri., Nov. 25-Sat., Nov. 26, 9pm and 11:30pm. $12-$15. With John Medeski, Steven Bernstein, Tom Spiker, Skerik, John Buck and Marco Benevento. Tritone, 1508 South St. 215.545.0475. www.tritonebar.com

For those of you still swillin' the Philly-as-sixth-borough Kool-Aid, let's just say the lineup at Tritone this weekend easily cements its status as Knitting Factory South.

In a near-year-end blowout of sorts, local loud-as-fuck-yet-still-jazzy percussionist G. Calvin Weston adds a splash of stardom to the stew of his consistently solid monthly resident Mad Cow Series.

Friday evening the centrifugal core ensemble of Weston and guitarist Dion Paci trade licks with svengali keyboardist John Medeski and Sex Mob founder and frontman Steven Bernstein on the trumpet. Medeski and Bernstein-both legendary alumni of the Manhattan loft scene-are joined by local luminary Tom Spiker on the bass tip.

If'n ya just don't know, this is gonna be the cap sauce, kiddies. And-seriously-nary a trucker hat in sight.

Saturday night finds Weston and Paci going toe-to-toe with Skerik on sax, Marco Benevento on keys and John Buck on the thunderstraps. Skerik, an export from the Pacific Northwest (think Elliot Levin on crystal), lends the obligatory skronk to Benevento's pensively aggressive keyplay while Caveman's Buck and Weston promise to keep it lively. On the six-string, Paci can weave texture with the best of them.

As the neo-jazz crow flies, this is the stuff dreams are made of. (Joshua Valocchi)