Club d'Elf
Club d'Elf Club D'Elf is a boston based collective, centered around bass player Mike Rivard and a core of main conspirators. After years as one of Boston's most in-demand bass players (the Story, Morphine, Either/Orchestra), Rivard has made many good musical contacts, and uses them to call in an extremely wide variety of guest musicians/club members. The band's self-described concept is "live dub-trance-groove excursions, incorporating electronica, hip hop, funk, and free jazz as well as Moroccan and West African trance traditions". The bottom line is the groove, but there's always far more going on than your basic jam band. Core members Jerry Leake and Brahim Fribgane add world music colorings, and guests range from Morroccan Gnawa musicicans to avant-guitarist Reeves Gabrels to country picker Duke Levine and beyond (John Medeski, Mat Maneri, Joe Maneri). After a two year residency at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA, Club d'elf released As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge, a double disc collection culled from six shows in November of 2000. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide