Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: 11/6/08 - Will Bernard Trio - Yoshis SF.

Well, this was our first trip to the new Yoshis. Much the same as the old Yoshis, except a taller ceiling in the "jazz room" and a balcony to take advantage of the height of the room.

It was a good show, definitely not a LOT of folks in attendance, but a pretty good crowd for an underpublicized show at 8pm on a Thursday.

Accompanying Will for this show and what i would assume is the west coast tour were:
Wil Blades - Berkeley's Own - B3 extroirdanaire, this kid flat rips the keys. He's still young, very precise and funky. Love seeing him play, he's played a lot with Will in the past, and was hoping he would be tickling those ivories.
Eric Kalb - Drums - (Greyboy Allstars, Deep Bannana Blackout among other groups, he's an NYC dude) Very tight drummer, very slap funky and a solid foundation. had some great solos to go along with his glowing grins all night.

This tour is in support of Will's new album BLUE PLATE SPECIAL that he recorded with some heavy hitters (and was very proud to have had them all record with him). Medeski, Andy Hess and Stanton Moore round out the foursome on his new record.

Tunes that he played off the new record in no particular order:
Baby Goats, Magpie, Blue Plate Special, Fast Fun, 571, Gen Pop
Tunes off of his last album:
Share the Sea, Party Hats, and Fold the Green.
They also played Wil Blades' funky 32nd Street.

Will has an edgier sound than his last album/tour. He's added a little roughness having moved to NYC and possibly playing with some of those "edgier" musicians. But he still has that classic Will Bernard sound, just with an edge, and maybe a little more feedback. ha.

All in all, we had a great time, they played for about 1:45 minutes, and then signed autographs for cd sales and the what not. i already have the album so we just thanked Will and left.

I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be playing in Berkeley tonight at JUPITER and also in Eureka at the RED FOX soon.

check 'em out. they have a good time, incredible musicians, will writes some awesome music, and you're guaranteed to keep your head boppin' and your feet tappin' all night.

oh yeah, go buy the album, support local (formerly local) musicians.

THANKS WILL! We'll be waiting your return.

Cool, I always dig him, never manage to hit enough of his shows though.

Thanks for the review... Really wanted to hit this and the Jupiter show but school got in the way... Blue Plate Special is friggin nasty!

yeah, jupiter show was really fun too.
they were in the middle of the third set (short sets, beer breaks) when we dipped out of there.
unfortunately our table wasn't too close to the stage.
could hear the music, but no real indepth review or anything.

played a lot of the songs from the new album.
FAST FUN is becoming my favorite off the album.
ITs got a great little groove to it.

So no Keith MacArthur? Just Will ,Wil, and Eric?

Correct.
No Keith, No Jan.

Just a trio, Will, Wil and Eric.

Good stuff.
Check 'em out.
Buy the album!

Wanted to make the show, but was leaving for Singapore the next morning. Now that he's in NYC, you gotta take the opportunities as they come.

The album is very good, better than Party Hats to my ear. Buy it.

Enjoyed Party Hats much, great stuff. Saw him this past summer at a jazz fest here in Cols, OH with a 5 piece band. Excellent.