STEVE BERNSTEIN'S MILLENNIAL TERRITORY ORCHESTRA at (Le) Poisson Rouge, Mar 7, 2009
MAR 7, 2009 -- W. VILLAGE: While dancing to the Millenial Territory Orchestra's performance on a crowded Saturday night at (le) Poisson Rouge, I couldn't help but suspect that bandleader Steve Bernstein possessed a time machine. I'm hard pressed to come up with any other explanation for MTO's expert blend of so many styles. The styles weren't simply musical, rather, Bernstein's dress code and on stage mannerisms seem rooted in the past, but feel revived for all the right reasons. A purple suit and big blue shoes calls attention to the person they're attached to, and in Bernstein's case, the more attention on him, the better. Being the only member of the 9-piece band not rooted in a fixed location, Bernstein hopped around the generously wide stage, spontaneous conducting the band through refrains. This hands-on leadership of the band displays a level of showmanship that is seen less and less these days, perhaps a symptom of everyone taking themselves a bit too seriously.
Musically, the melding of styles and decades was prevalent throughout the entire performance. Bernstein announced that one song would feature the "string section," kicking off a very slow building introduction by guitarist Doug Wamble, bassist Ben Allison and violinist Charles Burnham, sparsely hinting at and dancing around, then eventually sitting right on top of the four bar chord progression to Prince's "Darling Nikki." Five minutes later, and the progression is still sounding, with the full band rocking out, drummer Ben Perowsky hitting as if his life depended on it, and it would have been perfectly fine if things didn't change for another 30 minutes. Eventually, however, the band dropped, and Bernstein belted the melody to Prince's tale of a self pleasuring sex fiend on the slide trumpet, perhaps the only instrument truly suited to approximate the sonic sex needed to be worthy of covering such a song. The band swelled again and cut completely, allowing guitarist Doug Wamble to rise up and sing the first verse of Prince's lyrics, the older members of the audience looking a tad unsure about the lyrics "I met her in a hotel lobby masturbating to some magazines." But that represents the true beauty of the Millenial Territory Orchestra. They feel no need to censor, limit, or alter themselves in any way. The band is a true party, leaping from the avant garde, to dixieland, to pure rock and roll (rollicking versions of "Cry Baby Cry" and "Signed Sealed Delivered" were true crowd pleasers), and the fact that the band was visibly having so much fun only pushed the party mentality to the highest point.
The only downside was (le) Poisson Rouge's table seating. It seems like wasted space to seat people debating how many gourmet tater tot appetizers they were charged for over a potential dance floor, especially for this show, but it did seem like the majority of the audience was happy to be sitting down. Still, I think an MTO audience should take some notes from Steve Bernstein, and get up out of your chairs and look alive.
