Vida Blue - The Illustrated Band (2003)

What a difference a year makes. Page McConnell has revamped the direction of his extra-curricular band, Vida Blue--named after the Cy Young award-winning pitcher--nudging them more in a traditional jazz direction and leaving all the obeisance to rock posturing of the first record far behind. On this second outing the Phish keyboardist doesn't sing a single note, but instead employs what seems to be snippets of training films to provide some kind of quasi-political cohesive narrative arc on the title track "Illustrated Band," adding the shrill squawks of tropical birds, and oddly a sample of LaWanda Page, who you might remember as Aunt Esther from the seventies TV show "Sanford and Son"--again displaying McConnell's fascination with the pop culture of his childhood. A trip to Miami introduced him to the Afro-Cuban rhythms of the Spam Allstars, who provide a saucy Latin exuberance to the disc's four tracks; their feral and dangerous rhythms and witchy incantations grounded by Otiel Burnbridge's solid and steady basswork, and the Meter's Russell Baptiste's graceful and deft drumming