The Nth Power presents: Time To Get It Together – A Tribute To Marvin Gaye
Saturday, April 27, 2019
New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s (actually the morning of 4/28/19)

Part 1 of 5: Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky) > What’s Going On, Distant Lover, Come Live With Me Angel > I Wanna Be Where You Are

Part 2 of 5: I Wanna Be Where You Are / Band Intros } I Want You, Got to Give It Up, Falling in Love Again

Part 3 of 5: Falling in Love Again } Anger, When Did You Stop Loving Me When Did I Stop Loving You, You’re All I Need to Get By

Part 4 of 5: You’re All I Need to Get By > Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing > Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Sexual Healing, Encore: Nigel speaks, Dedication to Kofi Burbridge

Part 5 of 5: Encore: I Heard It Through The Grapevine > JazzFest 4:20 > I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Heavy Love Affair

The Nth Power presents: Time To Get It Together – A Tribute To Marvin Gaye
Saturday, April 27, 2019
New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s (actually the morning of 4/28/19)

Sony EMC-MS908C stereo mic > Canon XA20 video camera > 16/48 WAV > CD Wave Editor > FLAC
Recorded by Funk It Blog

01. // Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky) >
02. What’s Going On
03. Distant Lover
04. Come Live With Me Angel >
05. I Wanna Be Where You Are / Band Intros >
06. I Want You
07. Got to Give It Up
08. Falling in Love Again >
09. Anger
10. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You
11. You’re All I Need to Get By >
12. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing >
13. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
14. banter
15. Sexual Healing
Encore:
16. Nigel speaks
17. Dedication to Kofi Burbridge
18. I Heard It Through The Grapevine >
19. JazzFest 4:20 >
20. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
21. Heavy Love Affair (with Eric “Benny” Bloom and everyone else)

The Nth Power:
Nikki Glaspie – drums & vocals
Nate Edgar – bass & vocals
Nick Cassarino – guitar & vocals
Weedie Braimah – djembe & vocals
Nigel Hall – keyboards & vocals

Guests:
Rob Marscher – keyboards
Paul Robertson – trombone
Steve Lands – trumpet
Bryan McNamara – alto saxophone
Chrishira Perrier – vocals
Kayla Jasmine – vocals
Erin Boyd (aka Phantom Vanity) – vocals
Eric “Benny” Bloom – cowell, then trumpet (only on Heavy Love Affair)

Notes:
The first 5 to 15 minutes are missing. They likely played Inner City Blues & Mercy Mercy Me before I arrived. Those are the tunes they opened with when they reprised this Marvin Gaye Tribute at High Sierra Music Festival on July 5th, 2019. I Heard It Through The Grapevine was played by just the core 5, without any guests. This was the first time Nigel has played with The Nth Power in over 4 years.

Words by Bee Getz, as quoted in his NOLA Jazz Fest After-Dark 2019 review at Upful Life / Live For Live Music:

Nikki Glaspie was a force of nature (once again) in this year’s annual The Nth Power tribute at One Eyed Jacks, an awe-inspiring homage to Marvin Gaye titled “Time to Get it Together.” This show was possibly the most emotionally-driven musical experience in a fortnight chock-full of them. Bringing together a collective of musicians to dig deep into Marvin’s canon, the squad featured Weedie Braimah, Nigel Hall, Phantom Vanity’s Erin Boyd, trombonist Paul Robeson (Soul Rebels), trumpet player Steve Lands, saxophonist Bryan McNamara, Star Kitchen keyboardist (and longtime Nth co-conspirator) Rob Marscher, vocalists Chrishira Perrier and Kayla Jazmine, and the core trio of Glaspie, bassist Nate Edgar and guitarist/frontman Nicholas Cassarino, with a special appearance from Lettuce trumpet-maestro Eric “Benny” Bloom. Nothing could prepare any of us for the tear-jerking, whiskey-swilling journey into the annals of Jazz Fest voodoo magic that we witnessed at One Eyed Jacks long into the night. The swollen massive careened through Marvin’s funkier deep cuts and transitioned into the bigger hits as the evening wore on. Merely twenty minutes in, Hall and Cassarino removed their sportcoats in unison, a clear indicator that shit was about to get real. Nigel, seated at a Rhodes at the front of the stage next to Cassarino, continued to turn around and face Glaspie at her drum seat each time she stunned the audience with soprano tones. “That’s My BABY!” Hall repeatedly exclaimed, and trust that he meant it.

The vibrant ensemble continued to scale the clouds, making lovers of us all, one luscious track after the next. “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, complete with multi-layered harmonies and vocal workouts taking us to church and back again. They came with the haymakers and nearly leveled One Eyed Jacks to its foundation by the time they returned, imbibed and inspired, for the undeniable triple encore. The air was thick and the vibes even thicker as the five original members of The Nth Power dropped into a positively orgasmic “Sexual Healing” that froze the entire room in its tracks, while dozens of panties hit the floor at one time. Presiding over this mouth-watering glory was none other than darling Nikki, ever the Evangelist, holding it down and hitting all the high notes like only this Empress can. “The Good Reverend Doctor” Nigel Hall and the “Master Prophet” Nicky Cake took turns talking some things out onstage, while the whole band (somewhat aggressively) passed a bottle around the horn. Then, somehow, they managed to dig even deeper. During a filthy “Grapevine” finale that made its way through Nth’s classic “Jazz Fest 420”, they exploded into “Heavy Love Affair”, manifested in the form of a salacious D.C. Go-Go joint. This final transmission saw Benny Bloom pop into the mix to get busy on trumpet, and the rest of the big band followed suit as they passed the solo around one mo’ time, with feeling, bringing back that District swagger time and time again. In a city and festival overwrought with tribute shows, The Nth Power delivers second to none, each and every year down at the Jazz Fest. Ring the alarm, we’ve got another instant classic on our hands. Astonishing how many times they can return to the well, yet always be finding forever.

I must save space to mention The Nth Power’s 6th Annual Last Hurrah, which takes place the Monday after Jazz Fest at the Blue Nile. Always a wonderful way to close out your Fest adventure, this year had added intrigue as the original squadron, no longer fresh from the waterworks and whiskey-town of the previous weekend’s Marvin magic, arrived at the Nile a weathered yet wiser assembly of souls. The band had mined so much out of the earlier performance that much of the emotional weight of this show was relieved before it even started. The core trio began by performing an hour of sparkly material from new full length LP, To Be Free. For the second set, Weedie and Nigel would join Nikki, Nick, and Nate for a terrific trip down memory lane. Alas, it was thrilling and heart-filling to hear the shelved Nigel-era classics revived in all their N’awlinz glory. “Jazzfest 420”, “Only Love”, “Holy Rain”, “Walk on Water”—shit, even the Doobies’ “What a Fool Believes” was busted out in all it’s shimmering Michael McDonald baritone bliss. These goose-bump melodies I thought I’d never hear sung in these same Nigel/Nicky Cake heavenly harmonies again, anchored by the dub-wise rugged-style of sturdy bassist Nate Edgar and the intoxicating riddims of Glaspie and Braimah’s gumbo elixir. So grateful that these musicians, this FAMILY, found their way back to one another, and the Last Hurrah was a gloriously graceful way to wind down the cosmic carnival that was this year’s NOLA expedition for Jazz Fest 50.

“There is no more beautiful music… that you will hear in your life… than music made among friends… and music that’s made with your family.” – Nigel Hall