Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle: Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer

It has been four years since my first — and last ‘Taz’ experience, ‘discovering’ the 11-year-old Brandon Niederauer at what turned out to be the last Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival in 2014. I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to see and hear him again on Jam Cruise 17 (January 15-21) as an Artist at Large.

In that anticipation, I am sharing again just how knocked out I was hearing this superb young musician for the first time. I also had the opportunity to speak to one of the people traveling with him at the time, so delighted to find out that ‘Taz’ is also an outstanding student and wonderful young man. This was initially published in four installments on my own blog, Tie Your Shoes Reviews.

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Throwback Tuesday: Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival 2014

THURSDAY 11.13.14

I almost didn’t go to the Music Hall to see the Main Squeeze. That would have been a HUGE mistake! The band had similar instrumentation to Orgone and a very similar feel. Here was the fascinating part. Vocalist Corey Frye’s alto voice was a near-perfect match to deLeon’s! Very cool! It worked perfectly in back-to-back sets like these.

Once again, the playing was superb. After knocking out a few great tunes, they were joined by the name at the bottom right on the list of artists-at-large (you know, the part of the list I didn’t read): Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer. Write that name down now, because you’ll be hearing it endlessly in the near future — and on the lips of every Bear Creeker.

Taz is a superb guitar player with great technique, nice use of pedals, and amazing musical ideas and invention. Did I mention that he is ELEVEN YEARS OLD? Looks about four feet tall? Awed all of the musicians at Bear Creek? A straight-A student? Seriously, many, many adults I have heard on guitar don’t have his chops OR his ability to solo.

After Taz’s spot, they covered MJ’s “Off the Wall,” which was OK. Some time and several good originals later, they let a spacy jam lead its way into “No Quarter.” Zeppelin? From a funk band? Hell, yeah!

FRIDAY 11.14.14

I split the Umphrey’s set two early to head back to the music hall to see NOLA’s Earphunk. (OK, that and warm up. It was gettin’ chilly!) Their twin-guitar funk attack is delicious. The first tune was sort of “meh,” but the second one grabbed me by the throat and throttled me but good. And soon, it was time for another Taz sighting.

After this day (and the following two), Bear Creek 2014 will go down in history as the Taz Experience (and he soon after jammed a Hendrix tune with Soulive). His solo with Soulive was stunning, and, as it turned out, we hadn’t heard anything yet!

SATURDAY 11.15.14

By the end of Saturday, it would be official (with a ceremony Sunday afternoon): the Taz Bear Creek. Remember this name: Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer. The day was full of spectacular performances, made more memorable by our gaze into the future. The 11-year-old displayed maturity, poise, flare and confidence many players twice or three times his age struggle to muster.

One of the most anticipated sets on the schedule was Rosie and Oteil. This is the sixth year I’ve seen Roosevelt Collier at BC (the first time with Shak Nasti in 2009 – still one of my favorite BC sets of all time – get it on archive.org 11.14.09), and he has risen from new face to royalty. And Oteil Burbridge has credentials beyond imagination. You can appreciate the enormity of the event when we saw Nikki Glaspie on drums and Nigel Hall on keyboards. This promised to be pure BC nirvana.

And nirvana it was. They blasted P-Funk’s “Put Your Hands Together” and grooved through Michael Jackson. And then: Taz time. Oteil launched into “You Got Me Floatin’,” and Taz took off. TOOK OFF. Tears for the second time at the festival. Roosevelt showed such respect that he stood up, stopped playing, and stood behind Taz to let him own the moment. At the conclusion of the song, Roosevelt went over and hugged Taz. Respect, my brother Roosevelt!

And then it was a cavalcade of stars on stage: horns, Krys Royal, PeeWee Ellis, Bernard Purdie, Grant Green, Jr., and Jennifer Hartswick. Eleven people minimum. They ended with James Brown’s “Ain’t It Funky Now.”

I knew I’d missed half of the Dumpstajam, anchored by the Dumpstaphunk boys. In years past, they have tackled entire nights of other artists’ music, such as Led Zeppelin, Sly Stone and George Clinton, so I was delighted to waltz in just as they rocketed into one of my very favorite P-Funk tunes (from Mothership Connection), “Unfunky U.F.O.” It was NOT ‘unfunky!’

So that was the first song I heard. Then, honoring their Zep set at Wanee, they veering into “Black Dog,” with Glaspie singing and drumming up a storm. Out came Taz. And he Tore. It. Up. The place was going bonkers. When the song finished, Tony Hall, or maybe it was Ian Neville, announced, “Tomorrow he’s giving me lessons!” All of these musicians were so nurturing, so warm in welcoming Taz to the musical Bear Creek family. It was a joy to behold.

SUNDAY 11.16.14

Skerik’s Orchestra at Large took shape last year on Sunday with an amazing line-up of musicians. Beyond Skerik’s mind-blowing talent on saxophone, his ability to arrange and produce such an event, in the vein of his Syncopated Taint band, is second to none. For that reason alone, it would be worth seeing what he had “thrown together.”

As if…

Here was the initial line-up, as I looked from left to right: Skerik, PeeWee Ellis, Pretty Purdie, Roosevelt Collier, Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer, Oteil Burbridge, Grant Green, Jr., Jennifer Hartswick, Farnell Newton, Carly Meyers and Khris Royal.

Immediately, the band launched into “Watermelon Man,” not Herbie’s original version but the one from Headhunters, and that led into “The Chicken,” a jam favorite if ever there was one. PeeWee, Newton, Taz and Roosevelt all took solos. Then Hartswick stepped up to the mic (mike?) to blast Stevie’s “Higher Ground,” with Roosevelt, Taz, Carly, Khris, Nicholas Payton (yep, he’d hurried from over from the amphitheater), and Roosevelt again taking a turn.

Next up was a stomp through Billy Preston’s “Will It Go ‘Round in Circles?” I don’t remember when George Porter, Jr., had taken over on bass, but Eric Vogel was bass-ifying things as well. Taz got a great solo on this one, and Khris evoked Eddie Harris with his electrified alto sax. Corey Fonville, Payton’s drummer, had also slipped into the other drum kit. One of the greatest aspects of the entire event was watching Fonville and Purdie looking at each other, having a blast. Purdie is such a great showman and has that elan, that flair.

It might have been at this point that I said to Rev. Hugh and Jenifer: “Past, present and future.” I would like to amend that remark. There is nothing – I REPEAT – nothing past about Ellis, Purdie, Porter, Payton and Green. Every one of these cats still has it. Every bit of it. But we were certainly seeing three distinct musical generations on stage. Carly Meyers, at the ancient age of 22, is a true revelation. She was the trombone queen for the day. And volumes will be written about Taz, the 11-year-old guitar whiz. Kudos to Paul Levine and crew for having all these musicians at Bear Creek and for assembling them for the Orchestra at Large. Levine was stage left beaming. We saw you!