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BOURBON PRINCESS
Bottom up

At the Lizard Lounge a week ago, Monique Ortiz of Bourbon Princess joked that this, the last night of her band’s month-long Tuesday-night-residency, had drawn more people than the rest of the nights put together. Which means she should be packing ’em in on July 21, when the band return to the Cambridge club for a one-night-only appearance. As was evident at the Lizard, Ortiz has the songs, the sound, the voice, and the charisma to hold a good-sized club crowd and more.

As for the band, they come across as a hybrid of Morphine and PJ Harvey. They embody the low-rock sound put forth by the late Mark Sandman’s outfit (Sandman encouraged Ortiz early on, and Bourbon Princess’s 2003 Accurate release Black Feather Wings was recorded at Morphine’s Hi-N-Dry studio), and they share Morphine’s core instrumentation of baritone sax, bass, and drums. At the Lizard, Either/Orchestra honcho Russ Gershon handled the bari (with an occasional turn on tenor), original Morphine drummer Jerome Deupree laid down the cross rhythms, and Ortiz herself played fretless electric bass. Balancing the bottom-heavy timbres was guitarist Jim Moran.

The PJ Harvey side comes out in the band’s subtle rhythmic interplay and the blues-tinged tunes. Ortiz has Polly Jean in some of her keening middle and upper register, but her glorious low notes are all her own. She sang love songs, songs about scraping by as an artist, a song about riding the T and looking at the dozing fat man across the aisle sneaking looks at her while a train operator changes shirts between cars. The ensemble created a rich, swinging throb, suggesting a variety of sonic illusions. Gershon made guitar-like noises with his mouthpiece and played with echo delays. A formidable bassist, Ortiz created sliding, hornlike effects as well as a good groove. When she said before one tune, "That’s too bassy," she adjusted and came back with a tuba-like brass sound.

Dark, high-cheek-boned (with a well-placed facial stud), and wearing a tank top that showed off thick, sculpted biceps as she held the neck of her bass, Ortiz was a formidable stage presence as well, dancing in place between verses. During the first act (a provocative set of punked-out roots rock by Simon Ritt, lately of the Darlings), she’d been wearing a black turban, which she removed after one song. She also has a sense of humor, and she even invented a drink for the club to serve at the gig, a Bourbon Princess — a shot of Maker’s Mark cooled by a few frozen raspberries. One more reason to come back on the 21st.

BY JON GARELICK

Issue Date: July 9 - 15, 2004
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