12-10-15 Today on Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #193 we welcome very special guest Eric Lee, an Easthampton, Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter and brilliant improvisatory violinist, to share an hour of improv and songs with Mariam Massaro, Craig Harris, Bob Sherwood and Dameron Midgett of The Gaea Star Band. Also honoring us with his fiery multi-instrumentalism on flute and mandolin is Rhode Island-based Gino Cicchetti, a very talented and welcome addition who joins us for the third time on The Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour.
First up today is the driving protest folk of Mariam’s “Calling In The Realms”, a call to action against the flurry of gas pipeline activity that has mobilized the people to action in Western Massachusetts. Eric decorates the piece with his rocking treated violin over a driving ragtime-inflected piano arrangement from Bob and earth-shaking didjeridoo blasts from Dameron. The coda features chiming mandolin from Gino and futuristic hoedown violin from Eric as Mariam interjects lovely, spacious commentary on native flute. Mariam’s lush “Procession” flows through with more beautifully modal violin work from Eric and compelling slide mandolin from Gino over a minimalist, driving piano motif. Mariam’s native flute converses with Eric’s violin in a sweet duet over a frantic conga-and-piano framework.
Mariam picks up her sitar after the break from the lovely raga narrative “Lalli Gorans Of Nepal”, a fantastical tale of the Himalayas from Mariam recalling her times there in the late ‘70’s. This lovely, spacious travelogue is an ideal space for Eric Lee to work his violin magic, and he soars ever skyward as the piece progresses. Next we take on Eric’s mysterious and evocative original song “Hands Of Fortune”, featuring a plaintive vocal and beautiful acoustic guitar from Eric as well as exquisite flute from Gino Cicchetti. Finishing up the hour is Mariam’s hypnotic “Grateful For The Rain”, a beautiful, sedate rumination lifted to a new place by the sensitive flute-and-violin duet from Gino and Eric. A fine show characterized by many interesting solo voices interlocking and interacting.
