It finally feels like summer in Los Angeles: the kids are out of school, the June gloom has subsided, and the sun’s warm rays stretch through the end of dinner. It was a particularly fine night on June 28, 2019 to attend Jon Brion’s monthly show at Largo at the Coronet. And if this recap seems a little shorter than usual, then see the first sentence.
Opening the show was comedian/actor Whitmer Thomas, an L.A. transplant from Alabama who delivered a loose set filled with unbelievable personal stories from his childhood and unfiltered jokes. Some of his material connected well, but other times it was met with only a few chuckles or near silence. This seems to be part of his style — to make the audience uneasy and then sling a solid line in to relieve the awkwardness with laughter. If you’d like to catch a glimpse of his style, the first two minutes and 10 seconds of this video clip are the same bit that he did at Largo.
Largo-owner Mark Flanagan briefly stepped on stage to introduce Jon Brion. The tractor beam on the piano pulled Jon immediately to it. He began by picking out a few notes on piano with his index fingers, before easing into a soothing sequence of chords that allowed a perfect transition from comedy to music. In this piece, as in others that followed, he wove parts of songs into what he played, keeping familiar songs fresh. This opening section incorporated his song “Trouble” from his album Meaningless and as he played he intensified the song through increased tempo and volume.
The somber mood remained as Jon next played the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind “Theme” followed by a companion piece from the score called “Row.” I have included the image from the soundtrack here, because there were moments in Whitmer Thomas’ set when he reminded me of an Ace Ventura era Jim Carrey — something about his overall look, combined with a few silly face pulls. Did Jon catch that too on seeing him?
Recollecting a different movie score, we then heard “Strangest Times” from I Heart Huckabees, performed as another instrumental piece on the piano. Finally, he sang his unreleased song “Trial and Error” and his right hand strayed from the piano to the lower keys of the nearby celesta, creating golden tones in accompaniment of the piano mastered by his left hand.
Remaining uncharacteristically mum to the audience this far into the show, Jon next stood and selected a rhythm on the beat machine (1, 2 & 3 -, 1 & 2 & 3 4). He switched the piano tone to tack and played and sang a mid-tempo version The Yardbirds’s song “For Your Love.” He switched to the celesta to close the song, yet instead of sounding a final note, with seamless expertise Jon trotted through a small catalog of musical clips, including, but not limited to: the James Bond 007 Theme, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” Buddy Holly’s “Everyday,” Nirvana’s “Lithium,” The Zombies’ “She’s Not There,” Deep Purple’s “Smoke in the Water,” and the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood theme “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” Jon then delivered a good portion of the Cheap Trick song “Surrender,” transitioning over to the piano with his left hand, and closed out with a verse and chorus of Cheap Trick’s “Voices,” which he also covered on Meaningless. So much pure, glistening celesta left me feeling like:
Changing pace, Jon walked across the stage and picked up a Gibson electric guitar, concocting a colorful sonic palette through frequent adjustment of switches, and activation and deactivation of guitar pedals. The sound was heavy in vibrato throughout as Jon put the guitar through its paces.
Upright bass player Sebastian Steinberg was welcomed to the stage as Jon took a request for Bowie’s “Lady Stardust.” She is gracefully handled on piano and celesta as Sebastian comfortably fell into support on the low end.
Another query for requests yielded Survivors’ rock classic, “Eye of the Tiger,” which began in traditional fashion, but soon turned into a percussive, experimental hunt. In honor of this moment, I have titled this post with a lyric from the song. Sebastian slid around the bass strings like a speed skater accelerating across the ice as Jon scratched across the strings in the opened piano case, first with the back of his fingernails and then with the head of the microphone! He also tapped the mic head inside the piano case creating loud thumping sounds. Despite the abstract antics, the song clung slightly to its original form until the tiger was vanquished, slain by the wicked bow of Sir Sebastian and the thunderous blows of King Jon. An eerie eulogy of rhythm commenced in the shadow of what once was.** In celebration of its demise, listeners’ imaginations danced along to an extra funky version of “Linus and Lucy.”
** No actual tigers were injured in the breakdown of this song.Jon returned to providing balm for the soul as he launched into a jazzy version of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” He and Sebastian found a delicious groove in this song and anyone could see they were having a fun time with it. Jon played unrestrained, tapping his feet to the beat and digging his fingers in, even as he switched from piano to celesta. Totally thrilling moment to experience and oh my, so much dazzling celesta in one evening!
Next up was the song stumper of the night, played by Jon on piano after he asked for requests. It was evocative of a 1930s or 1940s jazz standard, but not something I recognized or could pick up from the battery of requests aimed at the stage. It had Jon tapping and humming along again, but never issuing any lyrics to give away the title.
When he completed the song, Jon asked for a singalong request and audience members shouted a few options and then fell into silence. Sebastian cajoled, “Where’s the title wave of obscure information?” Eventually we numbly and mumblingly settled into Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” After failure to deliver a coherent second verse, and further ribbing from Sebastian, Jon launched into the Floyd’s more familiar “Wish You Were Here.” A hearty vocal response by the audience redeemed us in Sebastian’s mind.
The improved singing was rewarded with another singalong, the perennial favorite by Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” Then, following a torrent of requests for Patsy Cline, Jon delivered the goods, playing “Crazy” with enthusiastic singing from the requesters (sounds like a back up band: Jon Brion and The Requesters), including one lady that he proclaimed was like Ethel Merman after straight three days (what was it? on stage? on crack?). Whatever, it was hilarious.
To close the main set, Jon teased us with a snippet of “Ride of the Valkyries” after donning the horned helmet that resides atop the Largo piano. Instead of continuing the song, he launched into one of his own that seemed to suit the moment, another tune from I Heart Huckabees, “Knock Yourself Out.”
Well, that left the crowd clearly wanting more, so despite his exit from the stage, the Largoites weren’t letting him get away with that as the finale. When he came back on, being visible in the front, I pointed toward the guitars, but he vocally wrote them off, expressing that the equipment wasn’t behaving so well earlier in the evening. As he headed to the piano, a gentleman, also in the front row, pleaded for Jon’s original, yet unrecorded song, “She’s At It Again.” Jon noted, “I see what you are doing,” as that meant he would have to play guitar. The audience member responded, “But I NEED that one.” Me too, dude, me too. Jon obliged, picking up his black and white Gretsch from the rack and plugging it in. The sound was better than when he was using the Gibson earlier and we enjoyed the full effect of this grungy tune.
Jon concluded the night with a slow and ornamented version of “I’ve Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good,” played in the style of Oscar Peterson. Take a moment to listen to Peterson’s version below, enjoying the soothing the sounds yourself, and imagine you are at Largo bathing in the glow of another fantastic Friday night.