WAMC Performing Arts Studio
News and Reviews
| Sancious’ piano delicate; Dunnery’s songs inspire By Dave Singer (First published in the Daily Gazette of Schenectady, NY: Saturday, December 10, 2005) It’s impossible to pick which musicians will make it and which won’t. It’s like picking a winning stock on the market. Even industry insiders will place bets on a well-run, solid company, only to watch the market ignore it. Take David Sancious and Francis Dunnery, who performed together at the WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium Friday night. Musicians like Santana, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Eric Clapton and, of course, Bruce Springsteen, who had Sancious on his first three albums before he left the group after "Born to Run," know the talents of Sancious. Dunnery also has a strong resume, though not as outstanding. But together they couldn’t even fill up the small theater Friday night. No matter. For those who showed, we had them all to ourselves, and right from the start Dunnery made us sing lyrics like "You got all of those teeth but you keep licking on my chocolate heart." Through the night, Dunnery did the singing, "Like Too Much Saturn and Not Enough Moon," while Sancious accompanied him with the delicacy of his piano playing. The two of them belong together. You can’t call them super tight. More like brothers who walked the same path to school everyday for years and know how to share a narrow sidewalk. Sometimes you thought you could hear Sancious playing a chord from, say, "Jungleland" or "Sandy," but he’s decades away from that music. During songs like "Good Life," Sancious’ playing melted into silence and reemerged as gently as it left. Dunnery is a wonderful storyteller. Before "Give Up and Let It Go," he talked about his unfortunate ability to trap himself in selfimposed myths until he learned to move through it. The last tune he sang from his latest release "The Gulley Flats Boys" was "In My Father’s Eyes," about how men have poor relationships with their fathers until the father passes away and the sons begin to wonder who their fathers were. "You have to forgive us," Sancious said at one point, "we know each other too well." That’s for sure, the two of them without a set plan, playing songs the other never heard, yet they dissolved into each other’s tunes like a drop falling into water. Early on Dunnery warned everyone in his thick English accent that his songs would leave them all depressed. Audience members called him wrong. The audience was right, his songs were inspiring, like one at the end of the night that closed in high spirits: "I’m riding on the back of a giant bird, bigger than me and bigger than you." In that same tune are two lovers, one a painter and the other a turpentine salesperson. That’s not a great analogy for Dunnery and Sancious, but along those lines the two of them sure are a unique and interesting duo, enough to make it a memorable night. Back to News and Reviews |
| Used with permission of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. Re-use rights may not be assigned to a third party without prior written permission from the Daily Gazette. |