There is something about a brass section that changes the air in a room. The moment the trumpet finds the pocket on a blues number, or when the tenor sax drops under a gospel bridge, the whole experience lifts off the floor and becomes something you feel in your chest rather than just your ears. That is what Bywater Call does — and they will be doing it at Retro Live in Plattsburgh on the night of Friday, April 24.
The Toronto band is one of those rare ensembles that seems almost too big for the clubs they play. Seven pieces: Meghan Parnell on lead vocals, Dave Barnes on guitar, Bruce McCarthy on drums, Mike Meusel on bass, John Kervin on keys, and a two-piece horn section with Stephen Dyte on trumpet and Julian Nalli on tenor sax. The sound they make together sits somewhere at the crossroads of Southern soul, roots rock, blues, and gospel — music that does not really belong to one tradition because it has clearly spent time in all of them.
Their new single “How Long,” released earlier this year, signals a fourth studio album on the way. It is a track that carries the kind of weight that comes from a band that knows exactly what they are doing — measured, unhurried, built around a vocal performance from Parnell that suggests she has been sitting with that question for a long time. If the rest of the record holds to that standard, this spring tour may look like a turning point in the rearview.
The show comes courtesy of Plattsburgh Blues & Jazz Concerts, the PB&J series that has been one of the better bookers in the North Country for years. Retro Live, on Margaret Street in downtown Plattsburgh, is the kind of room that suits this band — intimate enough that the horns do not need to fight for space, close enough that you can watch Parnell and the band breathe together through a turnaround.
Tickets are $20. Get yours here before this one fills up.