Evento

Mr. Sun

Mr. Sun is: Darol Anger, Joe Walsh, Grant Gordy,and Ethan Jodziewicz . If you haven't heard of the cheerfully named super group Mr. Sun, you've certainly heard its proponents, four of the finest musicians on the American roots scene: Renowned fiddler Darol Anger, now a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, who has released several solo albums in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss and Republic of Strings; Joe K. Walsh, a mandolin player and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before accepting a position as the Managing Director of the American Roots Music Program at Berklee; flatpick guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of Dawg Music guru David Grisman's band; and the phenomenal classically-trained bassist Ethan Jodziewicz (pronounced "yo-jeh-vits")who backs Sierra Hull and is also a protégé of double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer.

The quartet's debut album, The People Need Light (out July 31 on Compass Records) is a charming, largely instrumental release that intersperses intricate original compositions, including the freewheeling R&B-influenced title track (which clocks in at seven minutes long) and Anger's "The Fiddler's Boot," with interpretations of a wide-ranging collection of songs, ranging from traditional bluegrass tunes like "Dry and Dusty" to the jaunty "If I Were a Bell," a number from the musical Guys & Dolls. When there are lyrics, Walsh sings them, as he does on the opening track, a gleeful kiss-off called "The Likes of You"

Mr. Sun is a band that prioritizes and delights in collective improvisation. The varied backgrounds of its members combine to create an irresistible, wide-ranging sound more of a musical conversation than a song, incorporating bluegrass, jazz, swing, rhythm & blues, and an indefinable but unmistakable American insouciance.
With "The People Need Light," Mr. Sun illuminates and fully inhabits the multifaceted realm of American music. Call it progressive string band music, or eschew genre descriptions altogether: "damn good" works just fine when talking about this group of musicians.