Max Creek
Old State House
Hartford
Aug. 5, 2024
Hartford Live’s latest concert at the Old State House was something of a homecoming for headliners Max Creek.
The band, which today features guitarist Scott Murawski, keyboardist Mark Mercier, bassist John Rider, and the drums and percussion team of Bill Carbone and Jamemurrell Stanley, has existed for 53 years, with Rider serving as the anchor of an ever-changing lineup of artists performing under the Max Creek banner. It was formed right here in Hartford, when Rider was a student at the Hartt School of Music with original members and fellow students David Reed and Bob Gosselin.
“Fuck yeah man, you fucking rock after 53 years!” someone shouted from the crowd, to which the band members took a bow.
The first thing that stood out to me about the band was the extended sections in the middle of their songs where the various band members soloed for minutes on end. It reminded me of the improvisation that characterizes jazz performances, so it came as no surprise when I learned later that the band was formed in one of the country’s most renowned jazz schools. There’s even a term for this kind of ensemble: “jam bands.” For a jam band, the traditional structure of a song is just the beginning, and serves as a canvas for greater musical expression.
But it wasn’t just the band riffing that earned them a crowd that filled the area between the Old State House and the food court. There was also a melding of styles and techniques that came through in each song. Mark Mercier was the blues man of the ensemble, and when he took to the mic with his gravelly voice, it transformed the band into a kind of hillbilly bluegrass and Mississippi Delta mashup that channeled the great blues performers of the past. Mercier was my favorite of the group, not only for his blues singing but also for the deftness with which he worked the keyboard, rocking out when necessary but dialing it back to an almost somber accompaniment at times.
I don’t recall many bands where the drummer is an active singer, but that’s another unique aspect of Max Creek. Bill Carbone contrasted Mercier’s gritty blues with a more upbeat, almost funk-like take on the genre. It was almost like sprechgesang, a kind of talk-singing that falls between both but is lyrical in its own way. It was yet another stylistic wrinkle thrown into the performance.
Music is an art style that is perhaps most rigidly defined by genre and technique. This is this, and that is that, and that’s it. So at first I found Max Creek’s approach to music challenging as I tried to categorize it. But as my head filled with contradictory terms- bluegrass funk? Rhythm and rock?- I began to understand what the appeal of the band was, and how it’s managed to endure for more than half a century. It doesn’t pursue artificial reinvention or chase music trends to stay relevant. Instead, it playfully stretches and contorts all of those genres, blurring them into a mash of music that defies expectation and definition. Max Creek definitely has a new fan for the next fifty years.
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The Summer Concert Series at the Old State House features the Cherry Pie Band on September 13.
It’s the weekend! I’ll see you next week.
