Friday Funk: Lettuce

Words By Karen Dugan (Tiny Rager)
Photo By Jeffrey Dupuis

James Brown Tribute, Jazzfest 2008

Lettuce Live at Tipitina's French Quarter on May 2, 2008. <--- Direct Archive Link

Having just gotten off Jam Cruise 9, my mind is overwhelmed with funk music. The horn’s, the attitudes, the beats. James Brown’s horn section consisting of Pee Wee Ellis, Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley played alongside of one of my Top Ten Funk bands, Lettuce. I can’t go another week without speaking of this amazingly funky nasty group.

Led by the virtuoso guitar player Eric Krasno (Soulive, Chapter 2), Lettuce consists of Adam Deitch (Break Science) on drums, Neal Evans (Soulive) on organ and keys, E.D. Coomes on bass, Adam Smirnoff (Lady Gaga) on guitar, Sam Kininger on alto Sax, Ryan Zoidis on tenor sax and Nigel Hall (Chapter 2, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band) on vocals and keys. Every member of this band is as dedicated to their instrument as we are to live music. They are EXCEPTIONAL musicians, blow up every single stage they touch and channel their older counterparts 110% while building on what funk was made from.

One of my favorite Lettuce shows occurred in New Orleans on James Brown’s Birthday in 2008 at the legendary Tipitina’s during Jazzfest. As the members of Lettuce, Dumpstaphunk and other Jam Cruisers lined the beach in Costa Maya, Mexico only a few days ago, I played this set for them, prompting Adam Deitch to ask for the link.
Special Guests include Maurice Brown on trumpet and Ian Neville on guitar. I hope you take the time to download it. It’s a damn good show!

www.tinyrager.com

www.royalfamilyrecords.com/lettuce

Comments

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. www.octopusnebula.com Big Gigantic Big...

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least ...

Billy Strings 4.18.19

Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B...

MUSICMARAUDERS

Search This Blog