B3 dissapointment in Seattle//B3 awesomeness

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

so u guys: this soul live, when they 1st came out you know how they were like a funky b3 trio in the BN vein? well today their live show sucks Sooooooooooo bad: they have this singer now, and the music is like generic funk, in fact he hardly touched the b3, had he was on the bass synth and clav more than 1/2 the show....they sucked soooooooo bad.....i wanted to tell them i want to place a call to Bruce Lundvall 1st thing tues morning because they were deviating wayyyyyyy to much from their blue note predcessors.......

..........sam yahel was also disapointing because he didn't cover any big john patton songs!! but besides that it was okay i guess, kind of mellow and boring but hes a talent, no doubt

the good show was THE GREYBOY ALLSTARS- they BROUGHT IT for the whole set- so glad i saw them instead of Wu-Tang clan who were playing next door/// 1/2 way through the set, Karl D was all: "I WANT EVERYONE TO SAY: ****HOT DOG!!!!!!!***** then the bass player was all "I only eat veggie dogs"--- then they brought out a 2nd guy on alto, and ripped the HOT DOG with TWO altos playing the lead and then trading off, etc!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys know HOT DOG? the lou donaldson song! it was so awesome

[Jim Alfredson]

Sam Yahel is great, but his playing is the anti-thesis to BJP, so it is unfair to compare the two.

[kenny weir]

I still like Soulive's first album, Turn It Out, on Velour and before they gots to BN. Was playing it a couple of days ago, in fact. I'm tempted to slam their, ahem, progress since then - including their latest, which sounds like the stuff you heard them doing. But it would be pointless, coz it's not so much that I consider it rubbish, more that it's something that simply doesn't interest me.

[suitandtieguy]

well today their live show sucks Sooooooooooo bad

a) yes. that's because when they started out they did a good job of sounding like old BN/Prestige tracks but more focused on uptempo stuff and now they do a bad job of sounding like Medeski Martin & Wood but without all that sonic exploration. they basically sold out to the hippie jam band juggarnaut ... trading their suits for hemp, and their ties for tie-dye. they epitomise everything that's wrong with that scene, a market that can take something totally cool and turn it into complete shit.

b) Sam Yahel is a super awesome guy for whom i have driven on after hitting a deer with my van (totaled it even) to make sure he had an organ for the gig. in Chicago. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe was the best band i've seen play at Chillicothe's bullshit Summer Camp hippie fest. they're both guys whose acts i would always look forward to doing backline for again.

Edited September 5, 2007 by Suit & Tie Guy

[Shawn]

Would love to see the Greyboy All-Stars sometime...I've seen Karl Denson a few times and the man puts on a SERIOUSLY great show.

[Aggie87]

Soulive isn't even a MMW ripoff anymore, now they're on the new Stax label with a full time singer. They're rebadging themselves as an soul/funk/R&B outfit, not a jazz/jam group.

I don't know how successful they'll be at this, but it sounds like they're trying to appeal to a different audience, so it's not really a surprise that anyone who liked what they were doing before may have issues with what they're doing now.

[suitandtieguy]

Soulive isn't even a MMW ripoff anymore, now they're on the new Stax label with a full time singer. They're rebadging themselves as an soul/funk/R&B outfit, not a jazz/jam group.

yeah. i really don't know what to say about that. when i saw they were on the new STAX label i was pretty much dumbfounded.

btw, it's nice to see Porcupine Tree fans on a soul jazz board. i'm not really into them, but my favourite album of all time might be Jansen & Barbieri's "Stone to Flesh."

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

ok ill bite: what in the holy hell of all things holy is the "new" "Stax" "label"???????

question #2: will Rufus be on it?

[Jim Alfredson]

Since Concord bought Fantasy, they now own the Stax name and have ressurrected it. Soulive's latest was the first release on it. I think it is safe to say there will be no Rufus.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Since Concord bought Fantasy, they now own the Stax name and have ressurrected it. Soulive's latest was the first release on it. I think it is safe to say there will be no Rufus.

I think it's safe also to say that there will be no Soul music on it.

Karl Denson is, I find, curiously uneven; and for some time at least, ambivalent about his direction.

He made some very hard bop albums for Minor Music - I don't know if any were made available widely in the US - but it seemed to me that the guy was just trying too hard to impress with this stuff.

At the same time, he was a regular member of Fred Wesley's band, also recording for Minor Music. He was a good bit more relaxed, it seemed to me, on those albums, but still playing hard, you know? The band made a live album, "Swing and be funky" for Minor Music, and Karl is a BURNIN' MUTHAFUCKA on that one!!!! (And so is everyone else.) It's one of my ten most favourite live albums.

If you like funky stuff and happen to see a copy of this, don't toy with your scruples - just buy the thing!

MG

[marcello]

ok ill bite: what in the holy hell of all things holy is the "new" "Stax" "label"???????

question #2: will Rufus be on it?

Rufus Thomas is dead, so no.

[Tom Storer]

Sam Yahel is a super awesome guy for whom i have driven on after hitting a deer with my van (totaled it even) to make sure he had an organ for the gig.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. What did you drive Sam Yahel in if you had just hit a deer and totaled your van? The narrative isn't clear here.

[Jim Alfredson]

Sounds like he was delivering an organ to a gig for Sam Yahel and hit a deer, but made it to the gig anyway.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

OH GOD-- you're kidding aren't you? they locked the prestiges up in deep storage........but RESSURECTED THE "STAX" name for new crappy funk albums?!??!?!? you have to be kidding me.....if you had told me they inciniterated the Moodsville master tapes, i would have been less suprised

[suitandtieguy]

Sounds like he was delivering an organ to a gig for Sam Yahel and hit a deer, but made it to the gig anyway.

that is correct. Sam Yahel is too super awesome a guy to let a horny deer and 3 more hours of driving get between him and my Hammond, if he needs her for a task.