Everyone Orchestra Brings Fire to Syracuse and Buffalo

Matt Butler’s Everyone Orchestra provided high-energy, improvised music to fans this weekend.  The improv based show featured members of moe., Twiddle, Dopapod, Piegons Playing Ping, Tauk, Sophistafunk and vocalist Hayley Jane. The three-night venture stopped in Syracuse on Friday to the Westcott Theater and closed out in Buffalo on Saturday at Buffalo Iron Works.

Both nights opened with Syracuse based band Sophistafunk. Frontman Jack Brown brought the crowd to their feet with his unique style of vocal flow, immediately encouraging the room. The funk/hip-hop outfit offered a varied sound to the room filled with fans of the line-up notable jam focused musicians.  Tim O’Hara of Buffalo was impressed by the opener. “The message in the lyrics was inspiring. He said it himself, ‘I’m not a rapper, I’m an activist.’ It’s great to see someone putting forth positivity in the way the band did in general, but specifically the way their lyricist does.”

The Buffalo crowd was in full energy by the time Butler and crew took to the stage Saturday.  The show was at near capacity and the energy instantly kicked Everyone Orchestra into high gear.  Each member of Butler’s Orchestra brought their own distinct sound the evening.

This weekend’s Everyone Orchestra  featured drummer Vinnie Amico (Moe.), bassist Zdenek Gubb (Twiddle), guitarists Rob Compa (Dopapod) and Jeremy Schon (Pigeons Playing Ping Pong) as well as keyboardist A.C Carter (TAUK) and vocalist Hayley Jane (Hayley Jane and the Primates). Tommy Weeks (Sophistafunk/Funky Dawgz Brass Band) sat in for saxophone duty.

Butler used hand signals, mimes and a whiteboard to steer the musicians to create one of a kind musical moments. Each member of the crew was encouraged to take the lead and start a tune.  Butler and even sometimes the audience helped to carve each song’s direction. The audience was encouraged to participate from the very first song while interjecting a high-energy “YES!” into the perfect group vocals.

Half way through the evening in Buffalo, hometown bassist Evan McPhaden of Aqueous stopped in for a surprise sit-in to the delight of fans.  The crowd roared in support as Compa sang, “Yes! It rhymes with Aqueous.” By song’s end, the crowd was singing along to a number of words that rhymed with the moniker.

Matt Singer caught his second Everyone Orchestra show on Saturday in Buffalo and noted that it was nice “to see so many great musicians on that stage who are there to have fun and create something so pure is really magical. The artist’s smiles were so contagious and that joy really just bounced around that room all night long.”

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And it wasn’t just fans that caught the evening’s show. Mister F keyboardist and vocalist Scott Hannay caught the show courtesy of Buffalo.FM’ live stream. He noted that even though he knew the music was improvisational, it seemed seamless.  “One jam that Rob [Compa] kicked off later in the show was definitely more complex than you’d see most bands throw out there to jam over. It was a quite colorful jazz progression, definitely not the typical one-or-two-chord jams that a lot of bands get into, or when musicians who don’t get to play together often are just starting to feel each other out onstage. ‘This sounds like it should be an actual song’ was something I thought a number of times.

Fans wanting to catch more of Butler’s Everyone Orchestra can “plan to improv” throughout the festival season as Butler will be showcasing the skills of a variety of musicians all summer long. After a few west coast based shows in late May, Everyone Orchestra heads to the Summer Camp Music Festival and Electric Forest as well as a late night show as part of Twiddle’s Tumble Down in July.

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