Boston’s Club d’Elf launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to complete a new studio album. The ever-evolving collective led by bassist/Moroccan sintir player Mike Rivard is offering a variety of bundles and add-ons as part of the Indiegogo campaign.
Club d’Elf features Rivard alongside a rotating cast of musicians performing “Moroccan dosed psychedelic dub jazz.” The pending album was recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic just north of Boston at Chris Rival’s Middleville Studio. Joining Rivard were Club d’Elf regulars Dean Johnston, Brahim Fribgane, Paul Schultheis and Mister Rourke along with John Medeski, Duke Levine, Kevin Barry, David Fiuczynski and Amit Kavthekar.
“Sessions for the album began with the whole band gathered at a studio north of Boston – playing live and sharing sweat, hugs and laughter, summoning the spirits and creating the sort of interplay that only comes when musicians inhabit the same physical space,” Rivard wrote. “We even recorded onto an ancient analog 2” tape machine, on instruments ranging from Moroccan sintir to vintage Mellotron. Then came the pandemic, which put an end to our gigs for the time being, but not to our passion to keep the project rolling.”
The currently untitled album pays tribute to musicians that have inspired the +20-year-old project, including Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Gnawa, Joe Zawinul and the Moroccan band Nass el-Ghiwane. Rivard further explains the fundraising campaign to cover costs of completing the record — and plays the Moroccan sintir — in this video:
As part of an update on the campaign (which is now 80% funded), Club d’Elf published a video for the track “Power Plant” from the album Live at Club Helsinki. Fire dancers Jazmin Jade and Nikki Rae are featured in that video below:
Rivard discussed his “Musical Mentors” on the 13th episode of The JamBase Podcast. Listen here:
