El Buho ~ 4/15/00 @ Cicero's
Review by Jerry Iannucci
Well, I went to El Buho last night, and there was nobody there! There couldn't have been more than 40 people there at the peak of the evening. And on a Saturday even!
Before I say anything about El Buho, I really want to compliment Yamagata who opened. I headed down to Cicero's at around 10, but had to drop a movie off at Blockbuster first (ah, living in the Loop). Someone left the side door of Ciceros open so I could hear Yamagata from pretty far away. They sounded great and I knew I was missing a really hot show. I was pretty shocked when I got inside to see how empty it was. They're still pretty young and they played a few covers, but their jams were really tight. I'd definately check them out next time they are in town.
After a 15 min break, El Buho started at 11. They played a straight up jazz tune called Stella By Starlight. Very different sound than what I remembered from the show with Victor Wooten. After a Thelonious Monk song, they cut loose with some more familiar stuff like Phoenicians, Leviathon, and Children of the Rainbow (that's the Columbine song which is much better than you'd think). I think they played Theme for Thera and Dancing with Ishtar to finsh right before 1:00, but I may be missing a song or two (not that you know them anyways).
These guys are really good and it's a shame there weren't more people there. The guitarist, Erich Avinger, really displayed some of the most soulful playing i've seen in awhile. Lets try and make a better show of support the next time their in town.
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