Unusual Instruments, Unquestionable Skill

The duo of Matt Holsen and John Peiffer faced some technical difficulties early in their 90-minute set at Cassatt's Café on Lee Highway Saturday night when a speaker malfunctioned, sending Holsen back to his house to pick up a replacement.

Luckily, Holsen's been a fixture in the Arlington and Washington, D.C., music scene for a few decades, so there was a back-up ready to save the night. Good thing for the handful of patrons enjoying their dinner and desserts: The incredibly talented and multifaceted musical team put on a far-reaching set, featuring the songs of Duke Ellington, Jim Croce, Bill Withers and a Matt Holsen original.

Holsen usually plays Cassatt's the first Saturday of each month with his musical partner-in-crime Roger Hart, who was unable to play on Saturday due to a family engagement. But Peiffer was happy to step in, saying he performs with Holsen "as often as I get the chance. Unfortunately, that isn't very often."

Maybe that's because Peiffer's regular gig is playing with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. (He was in the band Sunday night when the Kennedy Center honored Merle Haggard and Paul McCartney, among others.)

Regardless, the two men shuffled through a lovely set, with Holsen on the acoustic guitar and Peiffer rotating between a French horn, a natural horn, a harmonica and a ukulele.

The inspiration for playing the ukulele came from a very Beatle-y place, it turns out.

He wanted to learn to play after "watching the video of the Concert for George (Harrison, right around the time he died), and Paul McCartney played 'Something,' and since I already played the four string tenor guitar, it seemed like a natural progression and one that I am happy I made."

Holsen said he's been playing at Cassatt's for the better part of five years, and while there aren't songs he'll particularly reserve for performances at the cozy eatery, he finds himself very comfortable playing amidst people eating dinner and admiring locally produced art.

"I certainly take more risks there than elsewhere, since I've been there forever," he said.

Holsen, whether performing with Hart or Peiffer, rejects the idea of a formal setlist, and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy the "just wing it" attitude of the duo Saturday night. When asked afterward if he could identify some of the songs he'd played, Holsen said he "couldn't tell you what we played three songs ago."

The very talented pair took some performance risks as well. Holsen imitated a flugelhorn, a brass instrument he describes as "mellower than the trumpet," using only his mouth.

"Coming up with the lines is just a matter of listening a lot and doing it a lot," he said. "I've noticed that the lines I come up with when I'm doing the 'trumpet' are quite different than the ones I do if I'm scatting or playing an instrument. That's understandable with the instruments, but I don't know why scatting should be so different."

When he wasn't making what his friends call the Flugelface, Holsen frees up his vocal chords for some very nice singing. There's a Willie Nelson quality to his voice, tried and true, which makes Holsen a great musical storyteller. In fact, Holsen literally told a very personal story during their performance Saturday night, in a song called "World Without End."

"At the start of the first Gulf War, I was saddened to see crowds in the clubs where I was working cheering at the bombing sequences on TV, as if we were in a football game and not raining death on people from 30,000 feet," he said. "I needed to speak my mind. I gave away about 500 cassettes, including a few dozen to people who said they were active duty military."

He adds that at least one recipient wasn't quite so gracious.

"I had one guy, about 40 and with the look of an officer, get angry and walk out of the place, giving me the finger," Holsen recalled. "At least he listened and understood."

Peiffer had his own teaching moment Saturday night, holding up a brass horn without valves and explaining that it's called a natural horn. The instrument has a nice brassy tone, but without keys, the player has to be creative to make different sounds.

Peiffer explained that, by placing his hand part way into the bell of the instrument, he can make many lower register notes; the farther his hand reaches into the bell the higher the note.

He also plays a mean harmonica, wiggling his fingers before he starts playing so the instrument is hidden and the sound seems to come out of nowhere.

There's quite a difference between playing the grand, elegant halls of the Kennedy Center and the homier setting of Cassatt's, but Peiffer said he likes the smaller settings.

The challenge is "having the sensitivity not to blast (the audience) out of their seats," he said. "I love the intimacy of small venues."

Holsen will be back at Cassatt's on January 8 and is scheduled to be playing with Hart that evening. More information about his musical work, including a biography and list of the groups with which he's performed, is available at www.mattholsen.com. Peiffer will be playing in the orchestra for the upcoming production of "South Pacific" at the Opera House, which runs December 14 through January 16.