The Bowery Presents

Music Hall of Williamsburg upcoming shows

Soulive VIP
* VIP Pass = $100 for both shows, $75 for NYE and $50 for 12/30 (includes recording of show, signed poster, meet & greet, champagne toast, commemorative RAGE pass laminate and access to VIP section)
Soulive
official website
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March 2009 marks Soulive’s 10th Anniversary – ten years since Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and his brother Neal Evans got together for the first time at a home studio just outside of Woodstock, NY and recorded Get Down.

Over the past 10 years, Soulive has covered a lot of ground – musically and literally.

The band has traveled to nearly every corner of the world, touring Ghana, Russia, nearly all of Europe, Brazil, and Japan (nine times!). They’ve been across America on dozens of tours. New Orleans Jazz Fest has become a home away from home. And in their actual home, New York City, they are closing in on their 100th show.

Not many bands can say they’ve recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. Nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour. The musical relationships the band has developed, from the aforementioned artists to Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, speak volumes about both how versatile these talented musicians are. Jazz, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk, R & B, Blues – musically, there is not much the band hasn’t done.

In developing their own history, Soulive has been in the company of legends both new and old. In 2000, Bruce Lundvall signed the band to Blue Note Records and Soulive became part of recorded music’s greatest jazz legacy. Soulive joined the ranks of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter and Grant Green and was part of the niche label’s rise as Norah Jones captivated the nation. Six years later, Soulive would be the first band signed to the new incarnation of Stax Records, joining the incredible soul tradition built by the likes of Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding.
Soulive has always been creatively restless, never content to ride a sound (or a look) for too long. The band has led their fans through many incarnations: both male & female singers, a horn section, and repeated returns to the trio format. The band and the fans have endured, grown and morphed. Consistent through all of the different line-ups, though, was the groove – Neal’s club-shaking left hand pounding out bass lines, Alan’s ride propelling the music forward, and Eric’s solos soaring on top. Every show has that moment where Neal leans on the organ up high and the whole band breaks free. Every Soulive fan knows that moment. That is something that has never changed.

While ten years is something to celebrate, Soulive is not a band to look backward. The band is more concentrated on the future than concerned with revisiting its past. Unencumbered by record contract and fully equipped with a state-of-the-art recording studio, Soulive is embracing the new music business model by launching their own record label, “Royal Family Records.” With a focus on digital distribution, the label will be an outlet for all Soulive recordings as well as numerous Soulive affiliated projects such as Lettuce, Eric’s project “Chapter 2”, Alan’s and Neal’s solo records and Break Science featuring Adam Detch. The label will also sign emerging talent and develop them on tour with Soulive. The first artist to join up is soul singer Nigel Hall, who will release an EP this spring and join the band on the road.

Soulive will launch their label with the release of their new studio effort Up Here. The LP was recorded in Alan’s new studio in Hatfield, Mass in the fall of 2008. “This is the Soulive album I've always wanted to record – it’s what I've been hearing in my head for years,” says Alan, who also tracked and mixed the record. “It's like when people say ‘if I could go back in time knowing what I know now.’ Well, that's what we did with Up Here. The session had the vibe and energy of Get Down but with all of our experiences from the past 10 years put down on tape in a very meaningful way.“

The record’s opening track “Upright” immediately sets the tone with a completely infectious hook featuring Neal on an old upright piano. There are some nods to the “old-school” on the record. “For Granted” is a tip of the hat to Grant Green, and Eric plays licks reminiscent of his early solos on Get Down and Turn It Out. Guest vocalist Nigel Hall tears it up on “Too Much” while Eric’s guitar sings like D’Angelo on the laid-back grind of “Put on Yo Pajamas.” The entire record features tight horn arrangements from long-time Soulive collaborators and friends, Sam Kininger and Ryan Zoidis.

No matter how you listen to Up Here, it sounds like you’re listening to vintage vinyl. One of the most difficult things about making a record with a great live band is capturing all that live energy while still making the record that’s about songs. Up Here does as good a job as any record could in accomplishing this. “Straight up,” says Alan, “this is the first Soulive album that I can say every tune on it is my favorite on the album.”

Up Here isn’t the only thing Soulive has on tap for 2009. The band has a double-live LP recorded in Japan last summer that will be released as four separate EPs throughout the year. There is also a full length live DVD from the same sessions. Soulive also hopes to have another studio record ready for public consumption by the fall.
In his recent book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says it takes ten years of experience before anyone can really hit their stride. If he is right, then Soulive fans better watch the hell out.
Lettuce
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Lettuce, the seven-person all-star collective originally formed in 1992, returns to the funk jazz forefront with its third album, RAGE!, a hyper-charged outing of tunes that are equal parts artsy and party. The CD is a tantalizing tribute to funk music paying homage to all stripes of funksters, including James Brown, Sly Stone, Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, the Meters, Earth Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelics, J Dill ”music that reflects our way of life" says bassist Erick .D. Coomes, who is joined in the groove onslaught by his co-ragers: keyboardist Neal Evans, saxophonists Sam Kininger and Ryan Zoidis, guitarists Eric Krasno and Adam Smirnoff, and drummer Adam Deitch.
Break Science
official website
myspace
Break Science is the culmination of a career of beat bending by its brainchild, Adam Deitch. Whether performing a DJ set with drums / programming or helming a live band, Break Science is club music in the vein of a “live mix tape,” blending live trip-hop, broken-beat, dub, drum & bass and hip-hop. Adam is the son of two professional funk drummers, first picking up sticks at the age of two. Adam’s career crosses genres but has focused on hip-hop, funk and jazz, where he’s played the role of both drummer and producer. Inspired by hip-hop at an early age – in particular, by Public Enemy and Eric B and Rakim – Adam began his production career by making loops on a tape deck in his bedroom. He’s gone on to produce and play with some of today’s top artists, including 50-Cent, Redman, Talib Kweli, Snoop Dogg, KRS-One, MF Doom, J-Live, Jurassic 5, Justin Timberlake, John Medeski, and his own Fyre Dept as well as being a regular part of Wyclef Jean’s band.

Adam honed his drumming and production skills while attending the Berklee College of Music. While in Boston Adam began several successful groups including Lettuce, a cult-status funk band that has been recording and touring for 15 years. In his third year in Boston, he joined the world renowned Average White Band, with whom he performed with for the two years. Adam also has deep roots in the jazz world, recording and touring with jazz legend John Scofield. Adam has recorded on two of John’s latest records (both released on legendary label Verve Records): Up All Night, on which he shares composers credit on many of tracks, and the Grammy nominated Uberjam.

Adam is constantly creating and continues to play with new groups all the time, insuring his positive contribution to the music of the future and beyond…..
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