On Friday March 22nd and Saturday March 23rd, Soulive took to the Brooklyn Bowl stage to finish off their eight night “Bowlive” residency. The coveted residency is in its fifth year, and always brings out special guests from all over the musical spectrum. Each night features The Shady Horns, which currently consists of Ryan Zoidis (alto and tenor saxophone), James Casey (tenor saxophone) and Eric Bloom (trumpet). In addition, each night has its own special guests. Friday night featured Marco Benevento (keyboards) and Sonya Kitchell (vocals), and Saturday featured Bill Evans (saxophone) and Scott Metzger (guitar). This was just what was on the bill, but Soulive brought plenty of unannounced guests of their own.
Friday night’s show started off with Soulive sans The Shady Horns for a few burning classics, “Shaheed” and “Aladdin.” “Aladdin” is a track in which Neal Evans’ precision becomes obvious. He uses a gritty, distorted tone for this one that causes just about everybody in the audience to display their own version of the “wince-y funk face.” Soulive then brought The Shady Horns to the stage, dropped a Lettuce cover called “The Dump” and proceeded into a sultry cover of “Lenny” by Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s always a treat when you get to hear Soulive play this cover, because it always brings out the best of Eric Krasno’s improvisation, with bends and licks that you can feel touch your soul. After this relaxed “Lenny”, Soulive brought it way up with a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.”
Marco Benevento came out for this one, and didn’t leave the stage the rest of the night. This wasn’t just any version, but a version that included the first unannounced sit-in of the night, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer. The 11 year-old guitar prodigy shredded through solos and didn’t slow the band down one bit. Krasno got the sound guy to boost him up in the mix and the kid completely stole the show. As the song came to a close, the crowd went wild and as he left the stage Alan said, “See this is why we need more instruments in schools, y’all.” Building on the high energy, Soulive brought out Felix Pastorius (son of the legendary jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius) for a jazz standard. This version of Billy Cobham’s “Stratus” was the highlight of the night and included solos by Pastorius and Benevento.
Friday night’s second set included an all-star lineup of guests that played an all-star lineup of covers. The additional unannounced guests included Roosevelt Collier on pedal steel guitar, Oteil Burbridge on bass and Kofi Burdbridge on flute. The covers in this set were all over the genre map. The set opened with a medley of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America” and “If You Want Me to Stay” by Sly Stone, and progressed to “Revolution” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles. The set came to a close with “The Ocean” by Led Zeppelin and then onto an encore of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” by The Beatles. Friday night’s penultimate show was an amazing show full of special guests, Soulive classics, and fan-favorite covers.
Going along with the previous nights’ trend, Soulive came out alone to do a few classics, “Uncle Junior”, “Bubble” and “Brother Soul” before welcoming their guests. “Uncle Junior” is one of those fast-paced grooving songs that is perfect for getting the crowd dancing and interested in what’s to come next. Bill Evans was the first to take the stage for another Soulive original, “Cannonball”. Evans brought a heavy jazz-fusion influence to the mix with solos that were a bit more adventurous, even a bit dissonant at times. The perfect song to fit Evans’ style was the next one they played, “Nubian Lady” by Yusef Lateef. Soulive did quite a few off of their Melvin Spark’s tribute album Spark! on this magical night. Soulive brought out Maurice “Mobetta” Brown (trumpet) of Tedeschi Trucks Band to play another track from the Sparks cover album called “Povo.”
As expected, the second set brought special guests and covers galore. Sonya Kitchell came out for a sweet version of “Grandma’s Hands” which then segued into Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues” with Mark Rivers on vocals. Next, Saunders Sermons (trombone) of Tedeschi Trucks Band graced the stage for “When I’m Kissin’ My Love.” The night ended in an unbelievable encore that included all the guests of the night and The London Souls. Neil Young’s “Down By The River” and “Feelin’ Alright” by Dave Mason were the last two songs played on this magnificent eight-show run.
These two nights of music contained some of the best performances I have ever seen. I will most certainly be back next year and would recommend any night of “Bowlive” residency to anybody looking to go out and see live music done right.
At 77 years old, Charlie Daniels is a true road warrior. He is presently touring with over 60 scheduled stops throughout the United States until the end of the year, including two more stops in NY on May 31 and June 1 in Albany and Rochester. Daniel’s genre defining Southern rock anthems and his award winning country hits have left an in indelible mark on America’s musical landscape and is sure to make a mark on the Paramount this Saturday. The Charlie Daniels Band is set to release Off The Grid – Doin’ It Dylan, a studio album featuring covers of 10 Bob Dylan songs, shortly after this show on April 1.
Five-time Grammy Award winner Robert Cray will be joined by his band for an evening of blues. Cray is set to release his 21st studio album, In My Soul, on April 1, just two days after his appearance at the Paramount. With his performance near the release date, one could speculate that he may debut a few songs from In My Soul. There’s no April Fool’s about this weekend’s shows at the Paramount Hudson Valley.
Taking the stage quickly after Assortment of Crayons, The Jauntee started with “I Wanna Love You > J.M.O”, the latter of which was short and goofy, always a plus when a band doesn’t take the music too serious. “Mr. Murderin’ Man” had some early jam potential that built up with hypnotic guitar and keys, to the point where it was hard to tell which instrument was making what sound. Beck’s “Devil’s Haircut” wedged inside what later turned out to be the not-always-jammed “Gravity of Thought” was impressive, not just for matching the complexity of the Beck song, but putting a little twist on the song, dropping it down a tempo to create a signature sound. “My Shadow” had a dash of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” inside, an example of great band chemistry on stage – even when bassist John Loland bolted off the stage for the bathroom, the other three never missed a beat, and he was back on stage a half a minute later to fall right back into place. Impressive, but another show or two might convince me further. The Jauntee are certainly talented musicians and put on an impressive show; I’d expect their festival appearances this summer raise their bar even higher, for they are still young but the talent is already apparent to many, including myself.
The performance on the album isn’t purely singer-songwriter or indie lo-fi. Davis starts with a simple one guitar, bass, and drum lo-fi core but refines it to a much cleaner soothing sound. Where one would typically hear a droney guitar line we hear the that graceful harp sound which complements the rival indie sound trying to make its way to the forefront. The album combines elements of classical, ambience, noise, and energy orchestrated into a well-rounded eclectic composition. Davis’ placid, melodic voice bundles this all up like a cozy knit scarf and presents it to you in Fortune Teller.
“I Wouldn’t,” a song with love as its theme, leads the album in with a simple singer-songwriter feel while building anticipation for the more eclectic sounds throughout the rest of the album. In “Lady Lavender” we hear the highlight of how Davis’ harp compliments McCarthy’s guitar along with a bridge introducing a synth line that goes beyond lo-fi to blend musically into the song. “Interlude In The Sky” seems to build of the solo harp outro of the previous “Lady Lavender.” This one is a beautiful instrumental track incorporating woodwind sounds which would serve well as the soundtrack to stargazing on a warm spring night or walking down a trail on a crisp, colorful fall afternoon. “When The White Horse Takes Me Away” takes us away on an atmospheric journey with an ambient harp and vocal mix before picking up in energy in the later part of the song. “Feels Like Forever” features more of the vocals carrying the melody with a stringer prominence of the classical-indie rivalry. Lastly, the title track “Fortune Teller” rounds out the album with a similar style heard in “I Wouldn’t,” though the sounds of Davis’ harp are more at the front of this track.