Reunited…
Like I said in my last Hittin’ post, I’m a sucker for an organ trio. When the anouncement came that L.A.’s most ubiquitous B3-master Larry Goldings would be re-uniting with Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart at Vitello’s for two nights this past weekend, I puckered up.

The three made their name collectively and individually when they first teamed in 1988 for weekly gigs in NYC. The trio has continued to evolve for over twenty years now and earned recognition as one of the genre’s all-time greats. From those seminal shows, Stewart went on to acclaim and drum-hero status with Maceo Parker, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, and as prolific bandleader. Still based on the east coast, he is a somewhat rare sighting in L.A., and the opportunity to see him just up the street in this musical setting was not to be missed.

Upstairs at Vitello’s is a Hollywood Drum friend and favorite. We reviewed a show there before and subsequently filmed on-location for our first Hollywood Drum Before Dark segment. Bookings like this one add to the club’s growing reputation as one of L.A.’s best jazz rooms. We made the final late show Saturday, and easy curbside parking on the cool, wet night was a good start. As were seats with a straight eye-line to the Gretsch-inspired (wink) four-piece arrayed with three high-ish, tilted Zildjians. The room was mostly full.

…And It Feels So Good
I saw these guys play about five or six years ago at the old Jazz Bakery. The things that made them great then are still the things that make them great now: world-class musicianship, symbiotic chemistry, sharp composition, hip concept. It’s all there. The evolution is subtle yet discernible. If rock is like beer—best when fresh; jazz is more wine. Over simple? Clearly. But, where the raw energy and cocky surety of youth subsides, the refined wisdom and humble confidence of maturity unfolds…ideally. The process just seems to serve jazz musicians well. (Nothing personal against Mick Jagger.) Six years later, the trio exhibited a bit more relaxed approach to their instruments and a slightly heightened (deepened?) sense of purpose. It was interesting and satisfying to hear these musicians who have grown together and separately over twenty-three years reunite.

Balancing Act
As the trio winded their way trough a mix of Goldings’ originals and deconstructed standards, Stewart’s brilliant drumming lit the way. Improvisation, essentially, is spontaneous composition. Some improvising musicians tend to be more spontaneity-driven; some more composition-minded. Stewart manages a compelling balance—supreme control of the instrument and attention to detail complement trusting abandon and big-picture sensibility.

Heads are thoughtful and defined; time-keeping is dense, interactive (physically and musically) and unrelenting; solos are hypnotic, polyrhythmic, and contoured. Everything is round, deliberate, and suh-winging. He created vibey mood on the slower pieces; seamless propulsion on the mids and burners; spasmodic motion and color in the free sections; and hints of cold-sweat syncopation from the Maceo days on a loose, funky straight-eight tune. Square-jawed, stone-faced and serious from the neck up, his body language is circular, fluid and playful. The visual contrast seems fitting.

Open Mic
Goldings is funny. Forget all that talent and resume stuff. Perhaps final-show fatigue and a leaky roof just above his organ on a rainy night had something to do with it, but a bit of slap-happy humor overcame him. During a certain rather lengthy and tangential, hazy but witty, out-loud runaway train-of-thought about set order and song titles (or something) that had me giggling well into the next tune, he—somewhat genuinely confused—checked out the mic and asked, “Is this thing on ramble mode?” I kinda feel the same way right about now. Great show!

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Thanks to April Williams and Upstairs at Vitello’s.

Soulive at The Roxy, December 16, 2010

Soul Kitchen
It was a Thursday night at The Roxy on Sunset and the dark, open room was throbbing with an electronic/funk&soul concoction mixed live by a bobbing silhouette dubbed Quikie Mart above in the isolated crow’s-nest DJ booth. Bodies were bumping on the floor and the bar was busy cranking ’em out. A wide-ranging—though largely young and hip— capacity crowd was simply biding time before the warm-up and main events. Pretty typical, really.

The interesting bit about this particular Thursday night at one of Hollywood’s most storied rock clubs is that the main event was an instrumental soul-jazz organ trio whose name is decidedly more underground than household. Even a few of my musician friends struggled with it: “Isn’t that the…?” with varying accuracy. But Soulive have been simmering—burning, really—beneath pop terra firma since ’99, and have attracted deserving attention among…well, as it turns out…a little bit of Everyone. A visual survey of the place revealed Hippies and Hip-Hoppers, music students (unmistakable) and pro players, Rockers and Jazzers, girls and boys alike.

Evans, Krasno & Evans

Three Course Feast
Opener, soul-singer and keyboardist Nigel Hall, took the stage with two-thirds of Soulive, brothers Neal (organ) and Alan (drums) Evans. This arrangement not only makes for more room on the bus, but a cohesive (if bordering on homogeneous) and seriously grooving night of music. Hall and Soulive share tastes for nostril-flaring funky soul music, and predictably, the same record label. It was interesting and simply good fun to see the band backing a singer, and the unusual three-piece orchestration of drums, organ, and singer/keys worked beautifully. On whole, the night followed a seamless and logical progression from the NOLA-inspired DJ set, to the R&B propelled songs of Hall, to the full-out funky instrumental explorations of Soulive.

Hittin’ hard behind Denson

Special Recipe
I’m a sucker for an organ trio. Smith, Burrell, and Bailey; Young, McLaughlin and Williams; Wall, Abercrombie and Nussbaum; and in the case of Soulive—Evans, Evans and Eric Krasno on guitar. The lush timbral and harmonic consonance of organ and guitar infuses warmth. The Hammond/Leslie combination, with a peculiar capacity to evoke the human voice (much like saxophone, only smoother tongued), personifies soul. Done right, the rhythmic chemistry of the organ and drums, with breathy and spacious pedalboard bass, react to yield uniquely bonding groove. Soulive hits on every level.

Still, to fill a rock club with bodies hippie-dancing, head banging, and ubiquitously moving takes more than configuration. It the case of Soulive, it takes infectious riffs, slamming groove, and urgent rock & roll energy. Across the spectrum, from high-swinging rocker to soulful ballad, the band remained committed and the crowd never wavered. It didn’t hurt that interspersed with original material spanning ten-plus records were a few well-conceived arrangements of Beatles songs off their latest, Rubber Soulive.

For Extra Measure
Toward the end of the night, Soulive became alternatley a quartet and a quintet with the addition of guests Karl Denson (Lenny Kravitz, Greyboy Allstars) and Hall. Denson’s unfailing sax and flute added gravity; and Hall lent himself to a theatrical highlight of the show, playing dual dueling-organ with Neal Evans.

Purple Pedal Eater

Quality Ingredient
Alan Evans is an informed, natural, and inspired player who is fully comfortable and confident in his role. He owns the throne in this band. He’s a guy who’s clearly studied and absorbed the great soul and R&B (when R&B was R&B) drummers before him, and understands the power of playing relaxed. Pocket. Funk. Intensity. The organ trio heritage and improvisational element of jazz are essential Soulive aesthetics, and Evans’ compositional, dynamic, and conceptual choices were right-on all night. He gets it alright, but as importantly, he also clearly enjoys it.

Damn!, That’s Good
A soul-jazz organ trio, truly a band in every sense; with rock attitude; able to fill a Sunset Strip rock mainstay with an ardent, rocking audience? Rock on, Soulive.

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