The Pickpocket Ensemble

Memory, independent release (2010)

The Picket Pocket Ensemble features acoustic café music on its independent release, “Memory”. Waxing nostalgic for Eastern European fare and the French musette (without the bagpipes), the ensemble hops and skips its way through global street side cafes. You can easily picture yourself sitting in a Bulgarian or Parisian café sipping designer coffee while buskers serenade you with these little gems.

Featuring accordion, guitar, banjo, piano, violin, percussion, and bass, this Bay Area ensemble will have listeners lapping from their coffee cups.

The musicians perform short songs, with the longest one, “Nowhere Else” clocking in at 4 1/2 minutes, and the shortest in less than a minute. The instrumental recording presents potent melodies with a circus tinge. However, on “For Those Who’ve Left” portrays an Erik Satie melancholy with its conversation between piano and violin.

The title track, sounds liked it hailed out of Bulgaria alternating with Central France with its plucky banjo, and swinging violin.

Sad or happy songs, you can hear the musicians having fun as they give their listeners an earful of yummy acoustic flavors. I’ll personally thank the bandleader and founder, Rick Corrigan (accordion, piano and composition), for leaving electronic music behind and charting in territory that journeys backwards in time. And after listening to heavier produced music, listening to “Memory” compares to eating an after dinner mint, it’s the final taste that lingers on the tongue.

Patricia Herlevi hosts the healing music blog, The Whole Music Experience and she has contributed reviews and articles to World Music Central since 2003. She has also published articles in Early Music America and Global Rhythm.