Umphrey's McGee Floats Back to Lexington

(pictures from Bonnaroo 2010)

Lexington continues to see an upward trend of musical acts stopping through to give a dose of their magic. On Thursday, Umphrey’s McGee will be settling into Busters with Orchard Lounge for their only schedule Kentucky stop this year. They got their start at Notre Dame in the late 90’s and have been going for the past two decades. If you haven’t heard of the band, the name is something of folklore. They started out as Hubert Humphrey's Traveling Band featuring Flappy McGee, later interpreted by the crowd as Umphrey’s McGee due to the slurred words and sketchy microphone of the late great Rodney Dangerfield. The name now has become the favorite band for scores of fans across the globe.
I was privileged to spend a little time talking to Joel Cummins, keyboard player and founding member. We kicked things off by reminiscing on the heat of this past Bonnaroo (my first dose of UM), his iconic Book-It shirt he and the legendary Stevie Wonder. “Stevie is one of my heroes. Just played Sir Duke on our New Year’s Eve run in Chicago with a horn section and our drummer Kris Myers came out and sang it. Stevie produces such beautiful wonderful that’s equally enlightening and funky. It’s really special. The accuracy of both his keyboard playing and the amazing range of his voice, he still has it all. One of his heroes that’s one of my heroes is Donny Hathaway. I put on his records all the time when I am at home. Its cool to hear that influence on Stevie and to hear him talk about big Donny was in his life.”

For modern times, it’s tough to keep a band together, let alone keep the founding members attached. Joel talks about how unity and the bond of friendship played a factor. “The main thing is that we have rooted ourselves in our personal relationships just as much as we have musically. Being close to each other makes making music easier. We don’t have a lot of the hang-ups and egos that a lot of bands are faced with we’ve taken time to break down the walls from the get go. We realize we’re stronger coming together as a unit than we are individually. The ultimate goal was to avoid sitting behind a desk and so far we’ve achieved that and to get health insurance, those two things. We’re two for two.”
The sound that Umphrey’s brings to the stage is a full and robust explosion of sonic goodness. In a band with so many instruments and skilled musicians, I was interested to see who leads the music on stage. “We know each other well enough and been in a band for so long I think we’re all comfortable leading. If someone’s feeling it and want to step out and write a set list or take an improvisational section a certain direction, we are all comfortable with that. Kind of who has the hot hand is who we pass the ball to. Every time we have some sort of improvisation, there’s that open-ended ness of we don’t know what might happen but be very open to whoever is doing what they are doing, going with that idea and seeing where it takes us.”
Comparisons have been made between Umphrey’s and Phish, both considered jam bands. A lot of that comes from a generalization to explain a music type or genre.

Joel responds, “I think in general, we have a lot of things in common. A lot of the influences are the same for sure, from Frank Zappa, Beatles, Floyd, Talking Heads. We have a similar outlook on the improvisation with those guys. Although they don’t do the communicating with each other verbally or with any kind of signals, it’s kind of more osmotic. I am happy to be compared to those guys because they are fantastic band and group of musicians that I’m definitely a fan of. “
Lately, Joel has faced a tough dilemma with affection for the grand piano vs the utility of analog instruments. “I love playing Yamaha Grand pianos, but sonically it’s an incredible challenge with all the open mics we have on stage. As a tradeoff, the guys are ok with me having 6 keyboards up there, which I would rather have the flexibility of crucial analog instruments like the Hammond B-3 organ, Fender Rhodes, mini Moog Voyager, etc. It makes the show a better experience for the audience, sounds better, less feedback. There are always pros and cons.”
As a growing musician, I asked what he thought it takes to make it in music today. “I think the most important thing, I got this reading a Malcolm Gladwell publication and that is you need 10,000 hours working on your instrument, working on whatever you are doing, be it performing be it song writing, playing together as a band, that’s where the change happens where you start to understand music as a different language that you may have perceived it as before. There’s really no short cut to putting in the time.”
Lexington has been starved of Umphrey’s for sometime now. We talked about how the music scene has changed since they played here last and the future of the scene. “I’m really excited to be coming back to Lexington. We last played The Dame with Monte Montgomery in 2003 or 2004. I am glad we are able to make it happen at Busters this time around. Its going to be a crazy, crazy fun night. Expect to be hung over the next day and to remember you had a great time even though you might not be able to remember specific events.” If what I saw at Bonnaroo and Forecastle is just a taste for what they are capable of, this Chef is ready to hit the kitchen. For fans of or in the Music City, Umphrey’s hits Nashville Feb. 18th with Keller Williams. Check out their live show archives at UMLive.net and on the web at umphreys.com. See you at the show.

Printed in Ace Weekly, 2/2/11

(Photo credit by Kevin Browning)