You can play a shoestring if you're sincere”

Yesssse.....Yessse....A Magic night indeed, when Jonas came and sang, Baye Kouyate was around , here is the encounter, Baye singing in Mandingue the language from Mali, singing how Jonas with his Love shinning is influencing us, and how important what he does is for us...i will cross one hundred Sahara just to see , just to see , if your face is beautiful tonight , the story of his life ...here is the recording , now is a fact...Jonas Mekas is singing ...You are Beautiful...Keep playing... that's the message...
Podcastwww.jonasmekas.com

...a new project , a story , his story, and the reason why is the Man he is...we are very fortunate to welcome Cooper Moore and his memory , here is the first take, i like to share it with you, specially that one , really touched me...Beautiful tale...incredible...something about America...and the south...and the music...and Love...thank you Cooper Moore, you made zebulon , that particular evening a Rare place to be...a must feel...
PodcastCooper-Moore

Louie Belogenis sax tenor, Shanir Blumenkranz bass, Kenny Wollesen drums...they love to play with each other...they really love it...so every time they step in zebulon, it's a gift...a place to be...first row...and feel, the fraternity, the communion, here is an example of it...we are happy to give that music, and hope it will find along the way ...the smile who was on ours faces when we recorded it....something special...you are Beautiful...we love you...
Podcasthttp://cdbaby.com/cd/unbroken

we always dream of a record label...and the name could be...Close your eyes...because if you do, as we experience it, you just enter to the real dimmension...i closed mine of that song...something else, one more time...for a better world...on this day of ...Fete de la musique..i like to dedicate that song for all the people who play around that planet, without thinking about any market...that's are the ones ...like those guys from Tuva...bon voyage...
Podcast

here we go , from Tuva, Alash , beautiful quartet, another way to think music, to play, something else...with them the Extra Terrestrial from Philly....Elliot Levin and Co...as we said...freshly baked..june 17th , live at zebulon...we had such an incredible moment...now we can share it...that love ...au dela des mots...one more time let's feel it....www.myspace.com/alashensemble
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her name was...she was our grand mother...la bas in Provence...where we grew up...now Jonas Mekas and Benn, on a sunday promenade, stop by zebulon ...hello, hello ...ca va...always fantastic to see them...Love...today there is a movie...roses...everywhere, and we go back to Provence on sunday, when Rose was cooking that magic meal, laughing, with Mimi, Bea, Jef, the family...later she will bet on horses with her friend Varda...drink mint tea and eat some algerien cookies...and that cigarette around the corner, ROSE...Jonas you bring us so much...merci ... ...avec l'Ami Jonny...et le chien Candy...

Yes , Yes,Yes, it was a beautiful night...surely we will find each other in your continent ...Africa, where you learned and became...thanks for your music, energy, everything...
you are a fantastic player...and soon a lot more people will know it...it is a gift to play with you...i once heard Cooper Moore saying that to you...he knows!
here is the band improvising, what you do all the time , Missia from Guinee with her incredible voice, Nick Gianni on sax...Patrick Krouchian on bass...Jonny Cragg on drums...Famoro on balafon...and all the people present that night at zebulon...i let you check the sound of love....a Coustellet.!!!
Podcast

here we are, the zebulon team working that night ...Baye, Patrick, Jess, joce...it's late...we improvise...it's about sharing...going further, thanks to the music helping us to go beyond....and you will hear , something is happening...a beautiful thing...the reason to put it out...for all the friends around the world...special dedicace to the childrens....
Podcast

here is a voice... she came and sang at zebulon once...we fell in love...listen to that voice ...sure she will touch a lot of people ...in a beautiful way , it's simple...it just come from deep inside...i can hear it...alors, one more time we share it...hoping you will have 3 minutes of...let's feel...
Podcastwww.myspace.com/ravenmayhem

...ok we know it, the best times, moments, are the ones we don't think and they just happen...here is the example...2 in a morning Mamadou shows up at zebulon..." Hey Guys can i play"...so you don't say no to a beautiful player like him...especially when Baye Kouyate is around, they played together , still , they have that connection ...Mali...on that night we had Itamar on Bass, Tomer percussion, Ori on sax, Yuval on drums, they were having a drink , and jumped on ...the tune became a favorite of us...we like to put it out one day..for now...here it is...you tell us...live music...for sure...so now it's time for a little party...welcome to zebulon...thank you all...
PodcastWelcome to the official website of Mamadou Diabate, kora master from Mali

voila Charles , and Hill Greene, on bass +jay Rosen on drums...ah mister Gayle...the beautiful, you see him walking in east village, what a presence, style, elegance, like when he play...it's a great pleasure to welcome that gentleman , knowing is a part of that story...so much...you just have to listen, or even better see or meet him , to know ...there is no bullshit here ...he's playing the right game..digging ...searching...and when is finally putting his sax back to the case...he looks at you , smiling and say..." I don't know man...i try..."....thank you Charles ...i love you...
PodcastCharles Gayle

here is the song we've been hearing at zebulon ....so i asked my brother Baye Kouyate....what is that song all about ?....and here is the answer, old, old traditional song, about a man...seducing others...bringing to the table his love, always smiling, so when he left, it was a big hole, a need for a song to keep him alive...for ever...now thanks to Baye, Yakou, Samba, Tim, Famoro...he lives in Brooklyn...i let you discover that man...and may be go to Mali for few minutes, everyday in your life...Bon Voyage...
Podcast

somewhere in Barcelona...a plaza...people playing music, dancing, laughing, a big family...yes indeed we all dance ...except the police surrounding us...but one day...so ,that's the kind of sound ...you just can't help...you are moving...la magie de la rue...merci to all....now we never forget....
Podcast

the music grows inside myself...i feel saxophone...here is John Sinclair...with the Eye Contact...and Dorothy Goodman....something magic again happened...you know how much i love John Coltrane, and here is a Man...declaring his passion....the one he saw, felt...never forget..the force of the music...having John Sinclair with us that night , it was like...very special...crazy...just felt Coltrane was in the house...so i share it with you...
PodcastJohn Sinclair (poet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

it's a great pleasure to share that piece, recorded at zebulon, yes we did record and now you can hear, listen, cry, smile, something is going on...the magic again, life..live...something else...thank you IRA....always beautiful to see you...i love you...
PodcastAKASHIC WEEK-END: IRA COHEN

voila 3 years...of dedication, of love and hate...the music...the venue..one more...here at Zebulon, we trying , what else can we do, trying to give some feelings, music, atmosphere , of course we spend our life inside a place , so you better love it, and make sure some others are going to do so...here comes Jonas, and his family, the friend, the godfather, the supporter, helping us, yes so much, you know it is important to love your child and telling him every day..I LOVE YOU...so here is Jonas coming and acting , being in that story with us, here is a film , one more thing he did, just to tell us , keep playing, like he does all the time...Jonas i Love you... jonasmekas.com

here is a magic moment happening, for all the people who were in the room, dancing, singing, smiling, dreaming, and more...now we can share that moment with others, and may be the magic will happen again...let's feel...one more thing....being say in the song....WE SHARE WHAT WE WANT....and ...CHANGE YOUR MIND....for a better future...may be....
Podcastwww.myspace.com/himalayasmusic

An Injury to One Is an Injury to All: Kenny Wollesen and His Marching Band at Zebulon
by David Varno

Photo by Carl Robinson
“Most people, when you talk to them, aren’t really saying what they mean,” says drummer extraordinaire Kenny Wollesen. “ They’ve always got some kind of thing they’re fronting. But when you go to a place like Zebulon, you really take something away. There’s a real communication that happens there. It’s not even about words. Part of the reason, I think, is that these guys are Europeans. Being French, they’re more sincere.”
More sincere, for sure, than the overabundant, irony-laden, dive-chic hangouts in the area. Zebulon, the music cafe on Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg, is as diverse as it is high-cultured. Run and staffed by musicians from around the world, the place is steeped in a multitude of music traditions—it’s not unusual to see Griot singer Baye Kouyate leave his place behind the bar to lend someone his talking drum. Here, it’s OK to admit to your friend, or a total stranger, that you really do like the music.
Kenny Wollesen, born in the four corners of America, has been playing music his whole life. Since the late eighties, shortly after he moved here from Santa Cruz, he’s recorded and toured with a host of legendary jazz and avant-garde players including Tom Waits, John Lurie, and John Zorn. He’s a member of the long-running Sex Mob, and was a co-founder of the Klezmorim, a group that fused klezmer with rock and jazz. Kenny’s talent might be described as the ability to capture what’s indispensable in a given musical tradition—be it New Orleans jazz, afro-Cuban, or klezmer—and raze its boundaries with his own imagination, which is transmitted by the subtlest of signals to his fellow players. His latest project is the marching band, most recently known as the Himalayas (aka Slam and other monikers—more surely to come), conceived with saxophonist Jonathan Haffner when Zebulon opened in July 2004.
“Joce and Jef [Soubrian, proprietors of Zebulon along with Guillaume Blestel] have real specific ideas in mind for their aesthetic—for the bar and for the music they bring in,” Kenny says. “But they told me to do whatever I want. And those are the magic words, man. So we did the marching band. I’m about playing anywhere. We take the band through the streets year-round—organize parades, events, whatever. That’s where the hippest people are, out on the street. The people who stop and listen on their way. They would never come to Zebulon, because you know they can’t afford it, or it’s just not their kind of place. I’ve played in a lot of places; playing on the streets is way heavier than playing in Carnegie Hall.”
Even though Zebulon has no dance floor and limited seating, the atmosphere when the marching band plays becomes as spacious as Prospect Park (where Kenny performed last year with a two-hundred-person band). Kenny will leave the stage area with the bass drum strapped to his shoulders and wander the bar, trailing an imaginary procession. On stage he’s also a conductor, guiding the anarchic modes of the fifteen-plus-member band through endless styles.
Zebulon records every show. They also broadcast them on the web and archive the recordings for download (from zebuloncafeconcert.com). The club released a CD last year, a compilation titled This Is It; volume two will be released this month. Also in the works is a record of the marching band, bringing together high points of over fifty hours of live performances. When we talked, Kenny wasn’t sure what the band would be called at that point; the name keeps changing. I mentioned an ancient Chinese proverb: “Once you give something a name, it begins to die.” “Yeah,” Kenny said, “maybe that’s why we keep shedding ours.”
We discussed the record as a post-download-era experiment. The hyper-availability of music lets us bypass the experience of discovering it, of participating in its communication, similar to the way computers and cell phones allow us to avoid committing things to memory. Performances by Kenny’s band are certainly memorable—can that experience be transferred to a cardboard-sleeved CD?
“You can’t play two shows a week and pay for rent, like you could in the forties,” Kenny says. “But at the same time, I think music should be free. If you look at traditions of music, in every culture, it’s a public happening, and it’s free. You don’t have to pay to hear it. Now nobody has to pay for records anymore. I love records. I’ve got rooms full of records and CDs. But I don’t think it’s necessary to make them any more. Everything is being recorded. Every time we play a show at Zebulon they’re recording. And everywhere else I play, someone is in the audience recording. What we’re doing now is thinking about making a pop record. It’s not impossible to have a hit without vocals.”


Photo by Carl Robinson
Zebulon is an ideal club for musicians like Kenny Wollesen to develop their sound. Admission is free, expectations are open, and Joce and Jef are among the biggest fans of the artists they book. “At least [Kenny] has the time to work on the many projects he’s working on,” Joce says, “and get as many people in as he can. We make it a special event when he plays. Every time. Everyone dancing and singing. He was really the first who was enthusiastic about us doing a music place. We knew Kenny would be a central guy. There are few guys you can count on, but he is one of them.”
Asked about who they plan to book in the future, Jef says, “We don’t know much about our schedule. When we began we knew a lot of jazz musicians, and right now we are looking in other directions. We’ve had other musicians from around the world, from Africa, from Asia.” In mid-March, Kenny’s band will be at Zebulon for five nights, with guest conductor Butch Morris, with sets at 7:00 and 9:00—“so you early birds won’t be too early for these shows,” he says.
The first time I saw Kenny’s band play they mixed Cajun jazz with Jamaican beats. When I saw them two weeks later, at the end of January (in celebration of the Chinese New Year), they started off with funky fusion before settling into more traditional Cajun for a while, then ended the first set with a wonderful disco jam. The myriad styles the band covers are traversed seamlessly—the genre terms I use are only a rough approximation. When they play it’s not about checking off one style after another; it’s the band, playing what is most necessary and most natural to the moment. And all the players contribute to this. Trombonist Reut Regev’s solo in the first set was played more soulfully, and memorably, than anything I’ve heard in some time. Regev drew more and more quickly, until it sounded like she was beat-boxing from behind the horn. Then Kenny reappeared from the street (yes he leads much of the band on marches during indoor gigs as well), and once all the players regained their positions he raised his drum to the rafters, rafters strung of red Moroccan lanterns that seemingly blinked to the beat, and he gave the drum a strong thump, and the band rejoined.
The band opens and closes their shows with a rich rendition of the bluegrass traditional “Down to the River to Pray,” beginning in somber, reverent unison. Then bass player Tim Luntzel hooks the backbeat, grooves on it, lets the percussionists play with it for a while. Kenny steps into the center of the stage, throws his sticks up in the air, quiets things, slams his drum, and it’s all back in swing.
Part of celebrating the Chinese new year has to do with shouting “Happy New Year!”—which the band did several times. The echo that reverberated after the three-and-a-half-week delay since the other new year was grossly refreshing: Why rush things? It was like being granted a second chance.
On Kenny’s bass drum is written: AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL: when he hits the drum we all feel the message that’s passed.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Varno writes regularly for the Brooklyn Rail, and is ba