Soulive/Lettuce |
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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Posted: 31 May 2012 at 7:54pm |
Anyone here into Soulive or Lettuce? Both bands are fronted by legendary guitarist Eric Krasno. Both bands have featured Sam Kininger, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, John Scofield, and others, with Adam Deitch on drums in Lettuce, Alan Evans on drums in Soulive, and brother Neal Evans playing keyboards in both bands.
Lettuce's new album "Fly" is coming out June 5 and I'm pretty excited. Edited by darkshade - 31 May 2012 at 8:04pm |
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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Yeah, like em both. I just dropped off a review for Lettuce's live album just the other day. Playing Soulive's "Steppin" is kind of a given with funk-jazz bands around here.
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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Lettuce "Live in Tokyo"
People who like their funky jazz with a lot of pyro-technical fusion type skills and high energy virtuoso solos will find much to like in this live album by Lettuce. Although Lettuce is often grouped with other acid jazz and jam bands that came up through the new century, they are much more skilled than their contemporaries and have more in common with classic funky fusion bands like The Brecker Brothers, early Billy Cobham and Tower of Power. After a brief intro number, second cut “Nyack” establishes what this band is capable of. As the different band members spin off rapid fire solos, the rest of the large ensemble engages in a dense interplay of syncopated figures that sounds like a tornado of interlocking rhythms. This band’s ability to have all members firing at once and not step on each other’s toes is remarkable. Just pick any moment in this song and listen to how busy every member is, its hard not to be impressed that this is the top live funk jazz act today.
Lettuce is a large and loose ensemble made up artists who are often active in other bands including John Scofield’s band and Soulive. For “Live in Tokyo” Lettuce has a three horn frontline backed by a rhythm section that includes two interlocking rhythm guitarists. All of the soloists are great, but alto saxophonist Sam Kininger stands out with his energetic punchy riffs that recall funk saxophone greats like Maceo Parker and Benny Maupin. On “The Dump”, he and tenor player Ryan Zoidis trade short solos that build to a feverish pitch. Lettuce’s use of two rhythm guitarists is very effective, on “Squadlive” they lay down infectious hooks that recall the classic sound of James Brown’s early 70s band. If you like high energy funky fusion albums like Cobham’s “Shabazz” or Herbie’s “Thrust” album, you will probably enjoy this very remarkable live set. |
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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^ Very nice review. I love Live in Tokyo. I hope they release another live album after Fly comes out, since the Tokyo live album only documents songs from their first album (Fly being their third). Their second album Rage is so good, it needs to be represented on a live album. I saw Soulive/Lettuce back in November, and the Rage cuts were so god-damned funky.
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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Sounds good, maybe they'll come to Memphis this time.
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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Hope so. I heard from a friend (who's a huge Lettuce fan, and a casual Soulive fan) that they're going to be doing some heavy touring for Fly, and of course Soulive will be there too.
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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If you spot any tour schedules, put em up on the site.
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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You got it
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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Squadlive on Live In Tokyo is sooooo funky.
Edited by darkshade - 09 Jun 2012 at 12:32pm |
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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Soulive are also releasing a new album "Spark" on June 18. It will actually be a quartet recording, the 4th member augmenting the trio will be Karl Denson from The Greyboy Allstars and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. Sounds like it'll be a cool record.
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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Yes it does.
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darkshade
Forum Senior Member Joined: 09 Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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Guys, I reviewed every Soulive and Lettuce album with much detail, here on this great site. I feel like John is the only one here who is familiar with their music. I recommend everyone at least check out an album by them (Soulive is jazzier, Lettuce is funkier, but they both cross over).
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js
Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 34175 |
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Nice job Mike. Soulive is great, and for all the people on here who like that sort of high energy fusion-funk, Lettuce's live album ranks with some of the best.
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